UN agencies in Afghanistan are already mobilized to help those affected by the devastating earthquake that could have left up to a thousand dead.
The earthquake occurred at 01:30 in the morning, while people were sleeping. Hundreds of houses were destroyed by the 5.9-magnitude tremor.
Four districts in Paktika province – Gayan, Barmala, Naka and Ziruk – as well as Spera district in Khost province, have been affected.
The UN has already distributed more than ten tons of medical equipment and medicines and has deployed 80 medical teams with doctors, surgeons and specialists.
“The mobile teams have reached all the locations in the mentioned districts. But at the UN we don’t have equipment to pull people out from under the rubblethis depends on the de facto authorities, who also have limitations in this regard, and the rescue work continues”, explained Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN resident coordinator from Kabul.
The rain and cold make it urgent to shelter people who have lost their homes. There is also concern that there may be outbreaks of disease from drinking contaminated water.
UNICEF is distributing kitchen material, hygiene items such as soap, detergent, towels, compresses and buckets of water; warm clothes, shoes and blankets; as well as tents and tarps.
“We count on the international community to help the hundreds of families affected by this latest disaster. Now is the time for solidarity,” said the General secretary of the UN in a statement on the occasion of the tragedy.
Russian Nobel Prize winner Dmitry Muratov donates the 103.5 million from the auction of his medal to UNICEF to help Ukrainian children
UN News/Nargiz Shekinskaya
Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Russian journalist, Dmitry Muratov, has decided to donate the $103.5 million obtained from the auction of the prize medal to UNICEF, to help Ukrainian refugee children.
Muratov has explained in an exclusive interview with UN News that the record sale proved that “sometimes humanity can come together and show solidarity.”
The chief editor of the Russian independent news service Novaya Gazeta – which was closed by the Kremlin in March following sweeping new restrictions on journalists after the invasion of Ukraine – said he and his colleagues chose UNICEF as the best non-governmental organization to ensure funds reach everyone. Ukrainian children in need.
“UNICEF is not toxic at all, they have excellent professionals, they have programs, they report on how and what they do, this is what we need. We wrote them a letter and received a response from them. It was important for me that UNICEF pointed out that the money will go to all countries that border Ukrainewhere the refugees are, without exception,” said Muratov, who said he hopes Ukrainian children who are now in Russia will also benefit.
You can read the interview in Russian and English.
Experts from nine American countries are trained to detect monkeypox
© CDC/Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery
Monkeypox is a rare but dangerous infection, similar to the now eradicated smallpox virus.
Experts from nine countries in the Americas are being trained in Mexico in the detection and diagnosis of monkeypox.
In the training workshop, organized by the Government of Mexico and the Pan American Health Organizationscientists from Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic and El Salvador.
PAHO assures that it is necessary for the laboratories of the American countries to be able to carry out tests for molecular detection of the virussince it is difficult to diagnose based on clinical signs, due to the variety of conditions that cause skin rashes, since the disease in non-endemic countries is more atypical.
The Organization recommends testing anyone who meets the definition of a suspected or probable case.
Until June 17, 2022, 42 countries reported the presence of the virus. In America it has been detected in Argentina (3 cases), Brazil (5), Canada (159), United States (72), Mexico (5) and Venezuela (1).
UNODC/Laura Rodriguez Navarro
Girls from the indigenous community of the Arhuacos, in Colombia.
Indigenous women and girls experience serious, systematic and continuous acts of violence that permeate all aspects of their liveswhile the perpetrators enjoy alarming levels of impunity, a UN expert said.
“This violence has its roots in historical and unequal patriarchal power structuresin racism, in exclusion and in the marginalization that the legacy of colonialism allows,” said Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, in a report presented to Human Rights Council.
The rapporteur assures that the level of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators, both state and non-state, “is alarming” and that the magnitude and seriousness of the violence suffered by indigenous women and girls “are not adequately reflected in the compilation of data, legislation or public policies”.
Costa Rica: Hate speech increases 70% in one year
UNICEF / Louis Kelly
A study of social networks in Costa Rica detected more than half a million entries that promoted racism, discrimination and hatred. The UN and the Government fight together against these scourges.
Hate speech and discrimination increased by more than 70% in Costa Rica over the past year, according to a UN study, which found that lMen emit more than 60% of negative messages.
The study harnessed artificial intelligence to analyze social media content and found that people involved in politics, members of the LGBTQI community and women are the most targeted.
The UN team in Costa Rica is supporting the authorities to tackle hate speech and discrimination.
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