#international ngo management

[jobsnotices]

INF Nepal Vacancy 2081 in Pokhara for Finance Manager, Assistant Monitoring and Research Officer, Communication & Graphic Design Officer

INF Nepal Vacancy 2081 in Pokhara for Finance Manager, Assistant Monitoring and Research Officer, Communication & Graphic Design Officer. Interested and qualified candidates are invited to apply 17th August 2024. JOB OPPORTUNITIES INF Nepal Vacancy 2081 in Pokhara for Finance Manager, Assistant Monitoring and Research Officer, Communication & Graphic Design Officer Vacancy Notice No.:…

[reasonsforhope]

Note: I super don't like the framing of this headline. "Here's why it matters" idk it's almost like there's an entire country's worth of people who get to keep their democracy! Clearly! But there are few good articles on this in English, so we're going with this one anyway.

--

2024 is the biggest global election year in history and the future of democracy is on every ballot. But amid an international backsliding in democratic norms, including in countries with a longer history of democracy like India, Senegal’s election last week was a major win for democracy. It’s also an indication that a new political class is coming of age in Africa, exemplified by Senegal’s new 44-year-old president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The West African nation managed to pull off a free and fair election on March 24 despite significant obstacles, including efforts by former President Macky Sall to delay the elections and imprison or disqualify opposition candidates. Add those challenges to the fact that many neighboring countries in West Africa — most prominently Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, but other nations across the region too — have been repeatedly undermined by military coups since 2020.

Sall had been in power since 2012, serving two terms. He declined to seek a third term following years of speculation that he would do so despite a constitutional two-term limit. But he attempted to extend his term, announcing in February that elections (originally to be held that month) would be pushed off until the end of the year in defiance of the electoral schedule.

Sall’s allies in the National Assembly approved the measure, but only after security forces removed opposition politicians, who vociferously protested the delay. Senegalese society came out in droves to protest Sall’s attempted self-coup, and the Constitutional Council ruled in late February that Sall’s attempt to stay in power could not stand.

That itself was a win for democracy. Still, opposition candidates, including Faye, though legally able to run, remained imprisoned until just days before the election — while others were barred from running at all. The future of Senegal’s democracy seemed uncertain at best.

Cut to Tuesday [April 2, 2024], when Sall stepped down and handed power to Faye, a former tax examiner who won on a campaign of combating corruption, as well as greater sovereignty and economic opportunity for the Senegalese. And it was young voters who carried Faye to victory...

“This election showed the resilience of the democracy in Senegal that resisted the shock of an unexpected postponement,” Adele Ravidà, Senegal country director at the lnternational Foundation for Electoral Systems, told Vox via email. “... after a couple of years of unprecedented episodes of violence [the Senegalese people] turned the page smoothly, allowing a peaceful transfer of power.”

And though Faye’s aims won’t be easy to achieve, his win can tell us not only about how Senegal managed to establish its young democracy, but also about the positive trend of democratic entrenchment and international cooperation in African nations, and the power of young Africans...

Senegal and Democracy in Africa

Since it gained independence from France in 1960, Senegal has never had a coup — military or civilian. Increasingly strong and competitive democracy has been the norm for Senegal, and the country’s civil society went out in great force over the past three years of Sall’s term to enforce those norms.

“I think that it is really the victory of the democratic institutions — the government, but also civil society organization,” Sany said. “They were mobilized, from the unions, teacher unions, workers, NGOs. The civil society in Senegal is one of the most experienced, well-organized democratic institutions on the continent.” Senegalese civil society also pushed back against former President Abdoulaye Wade’s attempt to cling to power back in 2012, and the Senegalese people voted him out...

Faye will still have his work cut out for him accomplishing the goals he campaigned on, including economic prosperity, transparency, food security, increased sovereignty, and the strengthening of democratic institutions. This will be important, especially for Senegal’s young people, who are at the forefront of another major trend.

Young Africans will play an increasingly key role in the coming decades, both on the continent and on the global stage; Africa’s youth population (people aged 15 to 24) will make up approximately 35 percent of the world’s youth population by 2050, and Africa’s population is expected to grow from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion during that time. In Senegal, people aged 10 to 24 make up 32 percent of the population, according to the UN.

“These young people have connected to the rest of the world,” Sany said. “They see what’s happening. They are interested. They are smart. They are more educated.” And they have high expectations not only for their economic future but also for their civil rights and autonomy.

The reality of government is always different from the promise of campaigning, but Faye’s election is part of a promising trend of democratic entrenchment in Africa, exemplified by successful transitions of power in Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone over the past year. To be sure, those elections were not without challenges, but on the whole, they provide an important counterweight to democratic backsliding.

Senegalese people, especially the younger generation, have high expectations for what democracy can and should deliver for them. It’s up to Faye and his government to follow."

-via Vox, April 4, 2024

[fairuzfan]

hi sorry is there any other way to donate to helpgazachildren? sadly it said my country (east asia) does not support donations to the recipient, and my country only has "plan international" ngo for official donation but I never saw people mentioned this organization so I am not sure how trustworthy it is. sorry again for bothering you!

hello thanks for sending this in. unfortunately we don't have another way to donate other than the paypal.

helpgazachildren is not an organization or official charity but rather a donation drive managed by Hussam in Rafah who is a close friend of a family friend of mine, and through this became a trusted friend of ours from the past month and a half we've known him. you can read the FAQ of the notion site for more information.

if you check my helpgazachildren tag on here, you can see how the money directly impacts people in Rafah so you know that the paypal owner, Hussam, is a trustworthy individual. You can also see the visual receipts/proof of purchases on the notion site.

the people in the north of gaza we are sending money to are also family friends who have taken it upon themselves to scavenge for food and other necessities for the community as much as possible. they've taken it upon themselves to risk their lives trying to find any food to feed the literally starving families of the north. the money sent will be dedicated to purchasing aid.

[mariacallous]

At the 2023 Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas, prominent AI tech companies partnered with algorithmic integrity and transparency groups to sic thousands of attendees on generative AI platforms and find weaknesses in these critical systems. This “red-teaming” exercise, which also had support from the US government, took a step in opening these increasingly influential yet opaque systems to scrutiny. Now, the ethical AI and algorithmic assessment nonprofit Humane Intelligence is taking this model one step further. On Wednesday, the group announced a call for participation with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, inviting any US resident to participate in the qualifying round of a nationwide red-teaming effort to evaluate AI office productivity software.

The qualifier will take place online and is open to both developers and anyone in the general public as part of NIST's AI challenges, known as Assessing Risks and Impacts of AI, or ARIA. Participants who pass through the qualifying round will take part in an in-person red-teaming event at the end of October at the Conference on Applied Machine Learning in Information Security (CAMLIS) in Virginia. The goal is to expand capabilities for conducting rigorous testing of the security, resilience, and ethics of generative AI technologies.

“The average person utilizing one of these models doesn’t really have the ability to determine whether or not the model is fit for purpose,” says Theo Skeadas, chief of staff at Humane Intelligence. “So we want to democratize the ability to conduct evaluations and make sure everyone using these models can assess for themselves whether or not the model is meeting their needs.”

The final event at CAMLIS will split the participants into a red team trying to attack the AI systems and a blue team working on defense. Participants will use the AI 600-1 profile, part of NIST's AI risk management framework, as a rubric for measuring whether the red team is able to produce outcomes that violate the systems' expected behavior.

“NIST's ARIA is drawing on structured user feedback to understand real-world applications of AI models,” says Humane Intelligence founder Rumman Chowdhury, who is also a contractor in NIST's Office of Emerging Technologies and a member of the US Department of Homeland Security AI safety and security board. “The ARIA team is mostly experts on sociotechnical test and evaluation, and [is] using that background as a way of evolving the field toward rigorous scientific evaluation of generative AI.”

Chowdhury and Skeadas say the NIST partnership is just one of a series of AI red team collaborations that Humane Intelligence will announce in the coming weeks with US government agencies, international governments, and NGOs. The effort aims to make it much more common for the companies and organizations that develop what are now black-box algorithms to offer transparency and accountability through mechanisms like “bias bounty challenges,” where individuals can be rewarded for finding problems and inequities in AI models.

“The community should be broader than programmers,” Skeadas says. “Policymakers, journalists, civil society, and nontechnical people should all be involved in the process of testing and evaluating of these systems. And we need to make sure that less represented groups like individuals who speak minority languages or are from nonmajority cultures and perspectives are able to participate in this process.”

[felipeandletizia]

December 24, 2024: King Felipe Christmas Message

Good evening and thank you for allowing me to accompany you for a few moments on such a special night of meeting and celebration, which I wish you, along with the Queen, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia, to be happy and peaceful.

This Christmas Eve I would like to refer first, and I am sure you understand me, to the terrible Dana that almost two months ago struck with unusual force several areas of eastern and southern Spain, especially in Valencia.

The people who lost their lives and those who disappeared deserve all our respect and we must never forget the pain and sadness they have left in their families. Thousands of people saw how what until recently was their town, their neighborhood, their work, their home, their business, their school, was reduced to rubble or even disappeared. A difficult fact to accept, but from which we should all be able to draw the necessary lessons that strengthen us as a society and make us grow.

We must never forget those first images of the flood that swept everything away, the rescues of people, some sick, elderly or exhausted, who tried to get out of their cars or took refuge on roofs and terraces. We also saw those who opened their homes to welcome the most vulnerable, opposing the relentless force of water and mud with the overwhelming force of solidarity and humanity. Neighbours, volunteers, civil protection teams, firefighters, security forces, Armed Forces, NGOs, and also companies that organised collections and donations, even mobilising their staff and machinery… the help and collaboration of everyone is helping, little by little, the more than 800,000 people affected to gradually recover a certain degree of normality in their lives. And that the medium and long term be equally addressed to really ensure recovery We have recognized this solidarity in its purest and most concrete sense day after day in the enormous work of anonymous volunteers and public servants; and we have also seen - and understood - the frustration, the pain, the impatience, the demands for greater and more effective coordination of administrations. Because all these emotions - those that move and comfort and those that hurt and sadden - arise from the same root: the awareness of the common good, the expression of the common good, or the demand for the common good.

Above the eventual divergences and disagreements, a clear idea prevails in Spanish society of what is convenient, of what benefits everyone and that, for that reason, we have the interest and responsibility to protect and reinforce it. It is something that the Queen and I have been able to see and value even more throughout this decade of reign. It is the responsibility of all institutions, of all Public Administrations, to ensure that this notion of the common good continues to be clearly reflected in any discourse or any political decision. Consensus on what is essential, not only as a result, but also as a constant practice, must always guide the public sphere. Not to avoid the diversity of opinions, which is legitimate and necessary in democracy, but to prevent this diversity from leading to the denial of the existence of a shared space.

It is from this agreement on what is essential that we must address the issues that concern us and that affect us in ways that are different from our collective life. The growing international instability, the climate in which our public debate often takes place, the difficulties in accessing housing or the management of immigration are issues, among others, that deserve our attention and that I also want to address tonight.

Immigration is a complex phenomenon of great social sensitivity that responds to diverse causes. Without population movements throughout history, the societies of today could not be explained; they are open and interconnected societies. Migration, therefore, is an everyday reality and can lead – without proper management – ​​to tensions that erode social cohesion.

The effort to integrate, which is everyone's responsibility, respect – also by everyone – for the laws and basic rules of coexistence and civility, and recognition of the dignity that every human being deserves, are the pillars that must guide us when dealing with immigration. Without ever forgetting the firmness required to fight against the networks and mafias that traffic people. The way in which we are able to deal with immigration – which also requires good coordination with our European partners, as well as with the countries of origin and transit – will say a lot in the future about our principles and the quality of our democracy.

Another issue that worries, especially the youngest, is the difficulty in accessing housing. Cities, especially large cities, act as growth poles and generate a demand that supply cannot satisfy. It is important, once again, that all the actors involved reflect, listen to each other, examine the different options and that this dialogue leads to solutions that facilitate access to housing in acceptable conditions, especially for the youngest and most unprotected, because this is the basis for security, the well-being of so many life projects. And we really can do it.

Our lives are also affected by an increasingly complex and changing – and even turbulent – ​​external scenario. We see how international law is too often questioned, violence is resorted to, the universality of human rights is denied or multilateralism is called into question to face the global challenges of our time, such as climate and environmental crises, pandemics, energy transition or trade and the scarcity of natural resources. We also see how the very validity of democracy as a system of government is questioned.

In this context, Spain and the other member states of the European Union must continue to defend with conviction and firmness, together with our international partners, the foundations of liberal democracy, the defence of human rights and the achievements in social welfare on which our great political project is based. Because Europe - the idea of ​​Europe - is an essential part of our shared identity, of the legacy that we owe to future generations. In a world in need of strong and cohesive actors, but above all of behaviour inspired by principles and values, Europe remains our most valuable reference.

And if we look inward, our great reference in Spain is the Constitution of 1978, its letter and its spirit. Agreement on the essentials was the fundamental principle that inspired it. Working for the common good is precisely preserving the great pact of coexistence where our democracy is affirmed and our rights and freedoms are enshrined, pillars of our Social and Democratic State of Law. Despite the time that has passed, the harmony that was the fruit of it continues to be our great foundation. Cultivating this spirit of consensus is necessary to strengthen our institutions and to maintain the trust of the whole society in them.

A pact of coexistence is protected by dialogue; this dialogue, with dignity and generosity, must always nourish the definition of the common will and the action of the State. That is why it is necessary that the political conflict, legitimate, but sometimes thunderous, does not prevent us from hearing an even more clamorous demand: a demand for serenity. Serenity in the public sphere and in daily life, to face collective or individual and family projects, to prosper, to care for and protect those who need it most. The recent reform of article 49 of the Constitution, referring to people with disabilities, is a good example of what we can achieve together. And we cannot allow discord to become a constant background noise that prevents us from hearing the true pulse of the citizenry.

You have heard me say it many times and I would like to repeat it again: Spain is a great country. A nation with a prodigious history, despite its dark chapters, and a model for democratic development in recent decades, even defeating the terrorist harassment that caused so many victims. A country with a present that, despite the much we still have to do, for example, in terms of poverty and social exclusion, is promising when observing the performance of our economy – in terms of, among others, growth, employment or exports – and the general level of our social well-being. And looking to the future, I sincerely believe that we Spaniards have enormous potential that should give us hope, both at the national level and on the international scene.

This future lies mainly in our youth, the same one that has made our name shine in the Olympic and Paralympic Games and in the last European Championship, the one that undertakes despite the difficulties and the one that is at the forefront of our science; The youth who respect our elders and their valuable experience, the youth who most insistently demand progress in terms of equality, the youth who prepare themselves in our schools, institutes, universities, vocational training centres, to enter the labour market with energy despite the youth unemployment figures; the youth, in short, who seek opportunities and overcome obstacles based on merit and effort. But above all, the youth who have filled us with pride by turning out in droves to give their best in the streets of the towns affected by the DANA.

With this spirit of work and commitment to what belongs to everyone, to the common good, I end my words and return to the beginning. I return to all the municipalities and regions affected by the floods, in many of which there is still so much to do, where the need of the neighbours is so great that it makes all efforts seem small, even without losing hope.

May the solidarity that has united us in the most difficult moments continue to be present in every gesture, in every action, in every decision. May aid reach all those who need it, so that they can rebuild the future for which they have fought so hard, facing with courage and dignity the challenges of a sometimes implacable present. The sooner we achieve this, the more we will strengthen our sense of community, our feeling of country. Because the memory of the path taken, confidence in the present and hope for the future are an unavoidable part, perhaps the most valuable, but also the most delicate, of our common good.

May the spirit of these days of meeting and coexistence remain in the new year and may you have - I wish you, together with the Queen and our daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia - a very Merry Christmas.

Eguberri On, Bon Nadal, Happy Holidays.

[eretzyisrael]

The National (UAE) reports:

Gaza's Health Ministry has said it will stop co-ordinating with the World Health Organisation in evacuating patients and medical staff from hospitals, following the arrest of the director of Al Shifa Hospital, the largest in the besieged enclave. “We condemn the arrest of Muhammad Abu Salmiya and a number of medical personnel held by the occupation forces. He left the complex with the UN and WHO following evacuation orders from the occupation with dozens of patients and health workers,” Gaza's Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra told The National. “We are calling all sides to take responsibility to release the doctor and those with him. This is a crime against humanity."

Hamas called the IDF "Nazi" for the arrest.

This arrest comes after weeks of Salmiya's strenuous denials that Hamas operated from the hospital. 

Now, as journalists report on the large tunnel complex underneath Shifa, there is no question that Salmiya knew about the tunnels, since they used electricity siphoned from the hospital itself. Even Haaretz's headline says, "Did Hamas Operate Under Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital? A Tour of the Tunnels Leaves No Room for Doubt: Israeli journalists were shown a conduit under the facility stretching over 170 meters. There's no way the hospital's managers didn't know what was going on"

Which means that not only was Salmiya aware of Hamas' use of the hospital, but he was actively supportive of it, and tried to cover it up. For the entire month Salmiya was whining to the media about Shifa being hours away from running out of electricity, he knew that Hamas was using the hospital's electricity for military purposes.

That is direct support for terrorists - terrorists who murdered Noa Marciano on the hospital grounds. 

Moreover, Dr. Salmiya clearly supported Hamas using his staff as human shields. 

Beyond  that, Salmiya and the other senior staff at the hospital who were aware of Hamas' presence were all  voluntary human shields for Hamas, which makes them - according to many interpretations of international law - effectively participants in hostilities themselves.

Salmiya crossed the line from allowing Hamas to use his staff and patients as human shields into actively supporting this use by Hamas. "Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations" is a war crime.

Any real supporter of international law should be celebrating Salmiya's arrest as a step towards justice for victims of Hamas brutality.

But the "human rights" groups  have no interest in human rights when it comes to Gazans endangered by Hamas and their supporters. Not when Jews are in the vicinity, 

Hamas' cutting ties with WHO and the UN is also a message to all NGOs in Gaza: they only exist to support Hamas terrorism, and if they don't actively defend Hamas they are endangering their own work in Gaza. 

That little detail will not be mentioned by the mainstream news media.

[doraemon7]

In recent years, there have been many scandals in the charity field, which can be described as a blowout. Incidents of group solicitation of prostitutes, internal management loopholes, workplace oppression, corruption of donations, etc. In the past, when Internet information was not as developed as it is today, such international NGOs seemed to be given a halo. However, with the rapid development of Internet technology, many scandals cannot be contained by paper. Do people still trust nonprofits? #safeguard defenders

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Wallace White

A top Democrat fundraising platform hosts donations for an activist group linked to a Palestinian terrorist-tied non-profit, the Washington Examiner reported on Thursday.

ActBlue, a Democrat fundraising platform, hosts a portal for donors to give money to the Colorado Freedom Fund (CFF), a bail reform non-profit that is fiscally sponsored and managed by the Alliance For Global Justice (AFGJ), the Examiner reported. The Examiner revealed the AFGJ was aiding fundraising efforts for French non-profit Collectif Palestine Vaincra (CPV), a partner of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

In response, Zachor Legal Institute pressed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in January 2023 to investigate the AFGJ’s seeming support for terrorist organizations, the Examiner reported. Zachor attorney Marc Greendorfer said to the Examiner the AFGJ’s lack of due diligence was “surprising.”

“Alliance for Global Justice has a track record of funding terror,” Greendorfer told the Examiner. He noted that AFGJ has a duty to donors to “do a better job of vetting those who use its platforms, especially when the user has a long, documented history of supporting terror.” 

AFGJ has a history of fiscally sponsoring pro-Palestinian organizations, with credit card company Discover shutting down donations to the AFGJ in 2021 over ties to Samidoun, a non-profit with links to the PFLP, according to NGO Monitor.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters are gathering outside of the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on June 8, 2024, to express distaste over how President Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas war. (Photo by AASHISH KIPHAYET/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The CFF is a left-leaning criminal justice advocacy organization that posts bail for incarcerated people before trial and immigrant detention, according to Influence Watch. AFGJ gave the CFF $1.44 million in 2021 for “racial justice”, according to their 2021 tax filings.

“AFGJ fiscally sponsors and repeatedly defends Samidoun, a terror front that acts on behalf of Hamas and other terror organizations,”Greendorfer told the Examiner. “As a fiscal sponsor, AFGJ benefits from any funds it raises for its terror clients.”

ActBlue did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 A Palestinian man trying to recover the body of a murdered civilian in the middle of a street in Gaza is shot and killed by an Israeli sniper for his efforts. 🗺️ A map published by OCHA details the various crossings into Gaza, showing most are closed by the occupation, while the approach of the Mediterranean is blockaded by the Israeli occupation army. The few remaining crossings are only opened at the rare discretion of the Israeli authorities. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

DAY 223: MORE BRIGADES JOIN RAFAH OP, PALESTINIAN CHILDREN TORTURED BY OCCUPATION FORCES, CROSSINGS REMAIN CLOSED WHILE MASS MURDER CONTINUES IN GAZA

On 223rd day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 4 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of more than 39 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while at least another 64 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted, as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

"For days now, crossings into Gaza have been closed, unsafe to access or not logistically viable."

This is according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Palestine division.

OCHA goes on to add that "aid distribution is almost impossible, with no regular fuel imports, unstable telecommunications and ongoing fighting."

"The impact is devastating for over 2 million people," OCHA added.

On the 7th of May, the Israeli occupation army stormed the Rafah and Karm Abu Salem border crossings, taking control over the Palestinian side of the crossings, immediately closing the two crossings and preventing the passage of humanitarian aid, including food, fuel and medical supplies.

As a result of the closing of the two crossings, the slow drip of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip has further slowed to a hobbled crawl, forcing more than two million Palestinians into extreme food insecurity, while Gaza's healthcare system faces a looming catastrophe as hospitals run out of fuel and medical supplies.

In the meantime, the Defense for Children International (DCI), an NGO established to protect the Rights of children as articulated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), issued a statement which accused the Israeli occupation army of continuing to "mistreat and torture the Palestinian children they arrest in a systemic and widespread manner."

The children's rights organization has documented cases of abuse of Palestinian children detained by the occupation forces, including the story of the child Majd Radwan (14yo), who describes his treatment at the hands of Zionist soldiers.

According to the testimony given by Majd Radwan, he was with a group of friends in neighborhoods west of the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya and south of Tulkarm, in the west of the occupied West Bank, when they were approached and chased by Israeli military vehicles.

Majd's friends managed to get away, while Majd himself stopped running after fearing he might be trampled by the Israeli military vehicles.

After stopping, Majd told DCI that around 10 Israeli soldiers got out of the two military vehicles, pointing their weapons at him before approaching him and beginning to kick and hit him.

"Then one of them came forward and kicked me in the face with his foot, and I fell to the ground. He continued to assault me with severe beatings for about 30 continuous minutes. He was hitting me with the butt of his gun, his hands, and his feet, and I was screaming. I cried from fear and pain, then he tied my hands with a single plastic tie to the back and blindfolded me, then he pushed me into one of the military jeeps and made me sit on its floor.”

Unfortunately, the abuse didn't stop there, following the initial assault, the child Majd was forced into one of the occupation military vehicles, where the abuse continued.

"Inside the jeep, two soldiers renewed their assault on me, severely beating me all over my body. One of them put the front of his military butt [of his gun] in my mouth, simultaneously stomping on my chest with his other foot. I was screaming and crying from intense pain and fear, and I felt like I was going to suffocate, and the assault on me continued."

"I was exhausted and could no longer cry or scream. I felt very thirsty, so I told the soldier about it, but he ignored my request and asked me to remain silent. After that, I was pulled and pushed into a military jeep, and there the assault on me was repeated. One of the soldiers said to me in Arabic, 'I want to break your hands and your feet' before he hit me hard on my hands and feet,” said the child Majd.

That was just the start of the abuse, occupation soldiers then took the boy to a police station in the settlement of "Emmanuel", where he was forced to stand for hours before being beaten yet again.

The child was further beaten, blindfolded, spit on, and sprayed with water while in Israeli detention, before being transferred to the Megiddo prison, beaten again, and then transferred to the Ofer Prison, where a lack of room led occupation forces to transfer the child back to another colony's prison.

For hours he was blindfolded, deprived of food and water, and deprived of access to bathrooms.

Eventually the child was brought to a village near the Ariel colony, where he was pushed unceremoniously from the vehicle and dumped in the street.

"I could not move or stand and remained on the ground until a Palestinian vehicle stopped next to me, and its driver took me to my town of Azzun after I told him what happened to me. There I was transferred to Azzun Governmental Hospital, where I received treatment and first aid, before I returned home."

This story is just one among thousands like it, where Palestinian children are abducted by the Israeli occupation forces, abused and mistreated, and often imprisoned for years at a time on trumped-up charges, such as throwing rocks towards army vehicles.

In other news today, 5 Israeli soldiers were killed, and 7 wounded, following a friendly fire incident near Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to reporting in the Israeli media, 5 occupation soldiers were killed and 7 wounded, three critically, following the firing of two artillery shells by an Israeli tank on a building occupied by the 202nd Battalion of the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade, an Ultra-Orthodox company.

The five soldiers killed were:

☠️ Cpt. Roy Beit Yaakov, 22, from Eli

☠️ Staff Sgt. Gilad Arye Boim, 22, from Karnei Shomron

☠️ Sgt. Daniel Chemu, 20, from Tiberias

☠️ Sgt. Ilan Cohen, 20, from Karmiel

☠️ Staff Sgt. Betzalel David Shashuah, 21, from Tel Aviv

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued their violent shelling of various axis of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night and into Thursday, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians while targeting them in their homes, vehicles, and in the streets of Gaza.

The occupation continued to expand ground operations in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, where more than a million Palestinians have gathered to take shelter from the Israeli bombardment, but are now facing further displacement and violence as occupation forces move deeper into the city and expand their bombing and shelling of various neighborhoods.

Israeli tanks also advance deeper into the city, with the 89th Commando Brigade being introduced to the fighting, joining the 401st Brigade and the Givati Brigade in their assault on the southern Governate of Rafah.

In on example, occupation forces bombed a house belonging to the Al-Halaqawi family in central Rafah, near the Rabaa School, murdering four Palestinian civilians and wounding several others.

IOF Merkava tanks advanced towards the Eastern Cemetery area, in conjuction with an advance towards the Mall of Arabia, as well as the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of Rafah, while continuous artillery shelling led to the deaths of four more civilians.

Occupation warplanes further bombarded the tents of displaced Palestinian families in the village of Abasan, east of Rafah, also in the southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Wednesday night, a civilian was killed as a result of an Israeli bombing on Aed al-Bashiti Street in central Rafah.

In another strike, occupation fighter jets bombed a Palestinian home in the Al-Husaynat neighborhood, east of Rafah, while the Zionist army went on to bomb several residential homes belonging to civilians in the Al-Nasr and Brazil neighborhoods of Rafah City.

Yet another assault killed a civilian, and wounded several others, after Israeli aircraft bombed the Al-Awda roundabout in central Rafah, while the artillery shelling targeted the neighborhoods of Khirbet al-Adas and Al-Geneina.

The bombardment of the occupation's aircraft also targeted several neighborhoods in the village of Abasan, as well as targeting Khan Yunis.

A civilian was also shot with the live bullets of Israeli soldiers' gunfire in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

In another raid, IOF warplanes bombed an apartment complex in Tower 6 of the Ain Jalut Towers, east of the Nuseirat Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, wounding a number of Palestinians.

Further occupation artillery shelling hammered the axis extending from the village of Al-Mughraqa to the city of Al-Zahra'a, north of the Nuseirat Camp, and into the Wadi Gaza area.

In another attack, occupation soldiers opened fire on a gathering of civilians west of Al-Zahra'a, killing one resident and wounding several others.

Meanwhile, in Gaza's north, violent airstrikes and artillery shelling pummeled Gaza City, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya, resulting in a number of casualties.

Another atrocity was committed by the Zionist occupation army in a bombing of a residential home belonging to the Journalist Hail Al-Najjar, on Old Gaza Street in Jabalia, resulting in the death of the journalist along, with his entire family.

IOF warplanes similarly bombed a residential home belonging to the Asalia family, also on Old Gaza Street, in the city of Jabalia, in Gaza's north.

Yet another horrific crime was committed when occupation fighter jets bombed a gathering of civilians at the Al-Oyoun intersection on Al-Jalaa Street, southwest of Gaza City, after which, the pieces and parts of the bodies of 4 victims were brought to the Baptist Hospital, in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Atrocious crimes were also recorded following the bombing of Al-Diri family home, in the Al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, resulting in a number of casualties, while two members of the Al-Ghafri family were also killed after their home was bombed in central Gaza City.

Following the withdrawal of the occupation army from the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, scenes of extreme destruction of Palestinian homes were recorded, including the destruction of five displacement centers, and the widespread destruction of local infrastructure, including streets.

Local medical sources are also reporting the murder of more than 30 civilians just since this morning, resulting from the bombardment of Gaza City by the aircraft of the Israeli occupation forces.

Included were the deaths of at least 10 children as occupation warplanes targeted the homes of the Al-Ghafri, Jahjouh and Al-Dalu families in the areas of Abu Iskander, Al-Sidra and Al-Sahaba Streets.

Five civilians were also wounded after an Israeli drone targeted the Abu Bakr Al-Saddiq kindergarten in the Al-Faluga area of Jabalia, in Gaza's north.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the current death toll has risen to exceed 35'272 Palestinians killed, including at least 15'103 children and over 10'000 women, while another 79'205 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

May 16th, 2024

#source1

#source2

#source3

#source4

#source5

#source6

#source7

#source8

#source9

#source10

#source11

#source12

#mapsource

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[jobsnotices]

ICIMOD Vacancy 2024 for Various Positions in Nepal

ICIMOD Vacancy 2024 for Various Positions in Nepal: Communications Officer, Water Resources Management Specialist, Air Pollution Mitigation Specialist, Energy and Emission Specialist, Publication Coordination Officer (Editor). International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) invites applications from interested and eligible candidates to apply by 18th August 2024. CAREER…

[reasonsforhope]

The Kenya Wildlife Service celebrated the successful transfer of 21 eastern black rhinos to establish a new viable breeding population for the species that was on the brink of extinction decades ago.

In an 18-day exercise executed by highly trained capture and veterinary experts, the Loisaba Conservancy received the 21 rhinos from three different locations, becoming the 17th sanctuary in Kenya where the mammoth animals can roam and intermingle.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be part of the resettlement of rhinos to a landscape where they’ve been absent for 50 years,” said Tom Silvester, CEO of Loisaba Conservancy.

Kenya had 20,000 black rhinos in the 1970s before poachers decimated them for their horns. By the time the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was established in 1989, rhino numbers had declined to below 400.

Since then, Kenya’s eastern black rhinos have made a remarkable comeback and today there are an estimated 1,004 individuals.

Kenya is a stronghold of the eastern sub species of black rhino, hosting approximately 80 percent of the entire world’s surviving population.

“Surpassing the milestone of 1,000 rhinos within four decades is a significant accomplishment,” said Munira Bashir, Director of The Nature Conservancy in Kenya.

The reintroduction this month of these 21 animals this month is a great milestone in Kenya’s rhino recovery action plan, and was made possible by support from The Nature Conservancy, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, other partners—and the three reserves from where the 21 rhinos originated, Nairobi National Park, Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Lewa Conservancy.

“In the recent past, one of the main causes of mortality of rhinos has been territorial fights due to limited space in sanctuaries which has also led to suppressed growth rates due,” explained Dr. Erustus Kanga, the Director General of Kenya Wildlife Service. “I am elated to be associated with this momentous effort to secure more space for this cornerstone species.”

Meanwhile, southern white rhinos continue to thrive in Kenya, having increased from 50 individuals that were imported from South Africa in the eighties and nineties to reach the current population of 971 individuals.

Kenya is also playing a critical role in efforts to save the northern white rhino from extinction, as it is host to the only remaining two females of the species left in the world. The international BioRescue project has developed thirty embryos awaiting implantation into surrogate females within the closely-related subspecies of southern white rhino.

“The return of black rhinos to Loisaba, 50 years after the last known individual here was killed by poachers in the 1970s, is a demonstration of how impactful partnerships between governments and conservation NGOs can be for restoring, managing, and protecting our natural world,” said Dr. Max Graham, CEO and Founder of Space for Giants, one of the project partners.

“And, of course, the return of black rhinos here gives all of us one of the most precious commodities of all: hope.”

-via Good News Network, February 25, 2024

[darkmaga-returns]

By Drago Bosnic InfoBrics

December 5, 2024

The US-led political West is known for its chest-thumping when it comes to buzzwords such as “freedom, democracy, the rule of law, nonpartisanship”, etc. To that end, thousands of major NGOs (and God knows how many smaller ones) are engaged in creating the image of the political West that “leads the world” in all of the above. If you go to websites of organizations such as Transparency International or the likes of it, you’ll find the US, UK, EU and other vassals and satellite states to be in the “blue” or “green”, while the actual world is all “red” or “orange”. The key takeaway is – the “jungle” is “horribly corrupt”, while the “garden” is “something to look up to”. There’s just one “tiny” issue with this – it’s all lies aiming to create a particular narrative that can be used to enforce the US/NATO viewpoint on the entire world.

In reality, the political West is essentially just as corrupt as any other place in the world (if not more, particularly on the top level). The treatment of Donald Trump is a testament to that. His flaws notwithstanding, Trump (or anyone, for that matter) certainly doesn’t deserve to be treated as a criminal if he hadn’t committed a crime. However, that’s exactly what happened, with the US ‘Justice’ Department targeting him in what was obviously a political decision. Expectedly, the mainstream propaganda machine joined the witch-hunt, all the while not only ignoring, but outright suppressing information about the elephant in the room – Hunter Biden. The incumbent’s son is perhaps one of the most prominent criminals in the world, as he has been involved in all sorts of repulsive illicit activities all over the world.

It should be noted we’re not only talking about “good old” corruption, embezzlement, drug and sex scandals, but even more disturbing crimes such as financing terrorism, development of bioweapons and child trafficking. Hunter Biden’s “vibrant career” spans well over a decade and it has always been a sort of “open secret” in the halls of power in Washington DC. However, over the years, he became quite careless, resulting in the laptop scandal that the corrupt federal institutions, including the FBI, tried to cover up (although they somehow managed to be sloppier than Hunter himself while doing so). You can only imagine the extent of his crimes when not even his family could prevent the opening of several cases against him. However, they still used their political power to drastically reduce the scope of prosecution.

[mariacallous]

Even before this week’s deadly hospital blast, Gaza’s health system was already on the brink of collapse. At least 3,700 Palestinians in Gaza have been declared dead since the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war, and an estimated 12,000 have been injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Gaza’s health system has faced a huge influx of emergency patients, while at the same time suffering the effects of bombardment and having utilities cut.

On October 13, the Israeli military told everyone in the north of Gaza to evacuate. This created an impossible situation for hospitals filled with patients who were too unwell to be moved. The World Health Organization said the evacuation order was a “death sentence” for the sick and injured.

“The whole health system is collapsing around us,” says Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a plastic surgeon with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) who is working in Gaza at Al-Shifa Hospital, the biggest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, located in Gaza City. He paints a picture of a system stripped down to the bare bones.

The orthopedic department has run out of the pins and rods needed to stabilize fractures, Abu-Sittah says. The water pressure has become too weak to run the sterilization machines that disinfect equipment, meaning the hospital staff are forced to rely on a chemical antiseptic that hasn’t been commonly used for decades. There are no ventilators available. There is not even enough room for the injured in the hospital. “There is no more space or mattresses to put the wounded on in the corridors,” says Abu-Sittah. Health care staff are exhausted and are struggling to deal with the overwhelming number of injured.

On October 18, Abu-Sittah helped treat a patient with a wound that had become infected and septic. But with all operating rooms full, doctors could not treat it in time, and the patient will lose a leg as a result.

Since Israel blocked access to electricity in Gaza more than a week ago, hospitals have been relying on backup generators. Now they’re running dangerously low on fuel. The United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Wednesday that Gaza’s Ministry of Health is redistributing fuel from other public facilities to keep hospital generators running. “They’re running out of everything,” says Zaher Sahloul, the president of MedGlobal, an NGO that is supporting medical facilities in Gaza. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that without electricity, “hospitals risk turning into morgues.”

Surgeons at Al-Shifa Hospital are operating without painkillers, according to Christos Christou, the international president of MSF. MSF team members say that they have “heard wounded patients screaming in pain.”

Al-Shifa is currently working at more than 600 percent over capacity, its director-general Muhammad Abu Salmiya said in an editorial published in The Lancet on October 18. The same day, Abu Salmiya told the Associated Press that the “hospital’s generators would run out within hours.”

Chris Hanger, a spokesperson for the ICRC, told WIRED that surgeons at Al-Shifa Hospital are working 24 hours a day to care for the wounded. “They have told us that the whole system is on its knees as they try and triage patients, but there is no way to manage the number of casualties,” he says. “All surgical theaters are occupied.”

Northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital is receiving “mostly burnt-out bodies, bodies full of shrapnel, mutilated bodies of women and children,” says Sahloul, who is in regular contact with Hussam Abu Safiya, MedGlobal’s lead doctor in northern Gaza. Almost all of their victims are women and children, Sahloul says.

Another concern is that the sheer number of dead bodies may lead to a disease outbreak. “The hospital is overflowing with dead bodies,” Sahloul says. Abu Safiya, the doctor working in northern Gaza, is worried that decomposing bodies will contaminate water and cause a disease outbreak.

On October 18, all five of Gaza’s wastewater treatment plants had been forced to shut down due to a lack of power, according to the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases. Al-Shifa Hospital is burying bodies in mass graves.

With limited resources, caring for the most severely injured people has been prioritized. That means patients requiring continuous treatment for cancer and other diseases can no longer be cared for. The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, located to the south of Gaza City, is on the brink of shutting down, meaning all 9,000 cancer patients in the Gaza Strip will be left without care. “Many of these people will die,” says Sahloul. “Not from the bombing, but from the lack of access to critical medications.”

Following US president Joe Biden’s talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was announced on October 19 that 20 trucks with humanitarian relief deliveries will be allowed to cross the Egypt-Gaza border, carrying food, water, and medical supplies. The aid will start moving Friday at the earliest, according to the White House.

In the meantime, Gaza’s health system will continue to crumble and casualties will continue to rise. Hospitals are so stretched that doctors aren’t able to prevent patients’ from dying, Abu-Sittah says. “You are just an emergency department where people come, and if they are going to survive, they survive, and if they are not, they are dead.”

[humanrightsupdates]

Saudi Arabia: Flawed Assessment of World Cup Bid

Law Firm at Risk of Being Linked to Abuses

(New York) – A flawed human rights assessment of Saudi Arabia’s FIFA 2034 World Cup bid by AS&H Clifford Chance, part of the global partnership of London-based law firm Clifford Chance, leaves the global firm at risk of being linked to abuses which result from the tournament, 11 organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said today.

AS&H Clifford Chance, which is based in Riyadh and sits within Clifford Chance’s integrated global partnership, produced an “independent human rights context assessment” that was published by FIFA. The assessment has helped pave the way for Saudi Arabia to be confirmed as 2034 hosts on December 11, 2034. But it contains no substantive discussion of extensive and relevant abuses in Saudi Arabia, documented by multiple human rights organizations and UN bodies, and has formed the basis of Saudi Arabia’s human rights strategy for the tournament, which was described by Amnesty International as a “whitewash.”

The 11 organizations, which include a Saudi Arabian diaspora organization, Gulf human rights groups, and labor organizations, as well as Football Supporters Europe, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, wrote to Clifford Chance’s Global Managing Partner, setting out in detail all the concerns in a statement and inviting the authors to publish an updated report. The firm, which says that it works in partnership with “some of the world’s leading NGOs and civil society organizations,” said in response that it would be “inappropriate” to offer any further comment on the report and shared a link to publicly available company policies.

“It has been clear for more than a year now that FIFA is determined to remove all potential obstacles to make sure it can hand Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the 2034 World Cup,” said James Lynch, co-director of the FairSquare human rights organization, which led the joint approach to the law firm. “By producing a shockingly poor report, AS&H Clifford Chance, part of one of the world’s largest law firms that makes much of its human rights expertise, has helped to remove a key final stumbling block

[blue-village]

The Greek government has long been accused of forced returns - pushing people back towards Turkey, where they have crossed from, which is illegal under international law.

But this is the first time the BBC has calculated the number of incidents which allege that fatalities occurred as a result of the Greek coastguard's actions. The 15 incidents we analysed - dated May 2020-23 - resulted in 43 deaths. The initial sources were primarily local media, NGOs and the Turkish coastguard.

-

In five of the incidents, migrants said they were thrown directly into the sea by the Greek authorities. In four of those cases they explained how they had landed on Greek islands but were hunted down. In several other incidents, migrants said they had been put onto inflatable rafts without motors which then deflated, or appeared to have been punctured.

One of the most chilling accounts was given by a Cameroonian man, who says he was hunted by Greek authorities after landing on the island of Samos in September 2021. Like all the people we interviewed, he said he was planning to register on Greek soil as an asylum seeker. "We had barely docked, and the police came from behind," he told us. "There were two policemen dressed in black, and three others in civilian clothes. They were masked, you could only see their eyes." He and two others - another from Cameroon and a man from Ivory Coast - were transferred to a Greek coastguard boat, he said, where events took a terrifying turn. “They started with the [other] Cameroonian. They threw him in the water. The Ivorian man said: ‘Save me, I don’t want to die… and then eventually only his hand was above water, and his body was below. "Slowly his hand slipped under, and the water engulfed him." Our interviewee says his abductors beat him. "Punches were raining down on my head. It was like they were punching an animal." And then he says they pushed him, too, into the water - without a life jacket. He was able to swim to shore, but the bodies of the other two - Sidy Keita and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana - were recovered on the Turkish coastline. The survivor’s lawyers are demanding the Greek authorities open a double murder case.

Another man, from Somalia, told the BBC how in March 2021 he had been caught by the Greek army on arrival on the island of Chios, who then handed him to the Greek coastguard. He said the coastguard had tied his hands behind his back, before dropping him into the water. "They threw me zip-tied in the middle of the sea. They wanted me to die," he said. He said he managed to survive by floating on his back, before one of his hands broke free from the ligature. But the sea was choppy, and three in his group died. Our interviewee made it to land where he was eventually spotted by the Turkish coastguard.

In the incident with the highest loss of life - in September 2022 - a boat carrying 85 migrants ran into trouble near the Greek island of Rhodes when its motor cut out. Mohamed, from Syria, told us they rang the Greek coastguard for help - who loaded them onto a boat, returned them to Turkish waters and put them in life rafts. Mohamed says the raft he and his family were given had not had its valve properly closed. "We immediately began to sink, they saw that… They heard us all screaming, and yet they still left us," he told the BBC. "The first child who died was my cousin's son… After that it was one by one. Another child, another child, then my cousin himself disappeared. By the morning seven or eight children had died. "My kids didn't die until the morning… right before the Turkish coastguard arrived."

-

An investigative journalist we spoke to based on the island of Samos says she began chatting with a member of the Greek special forces via the dating app Tinder. When he rang her from what he described as a "warship", Romy van Baarsen asked him more about his work - and what happened when his forces spotted a refugee boat. He replied that they "drive them back", and said such orders were "from the minister", adding they would be punished if they failed to stop a boat. Greece has always denied so-called “pushbacks” are taking place.

[femmefatalevibe]

Hi! Hope you’re doing great!

I love all of your advice :), it’s so helpful.

I’m currently in college and I would love to work for the EU or UN one day (fingers crossed?). How could I be in spaces that’ll lead me there - even though I’m a student? And how could I prepare for those spaces and pioneering for advocacy for the “voiceless?”

Thanks so much!

Hi love! Thank you so much.

I actually know a couple of women who interned/worked for the UN! So, from what I know, here are some important skills and experiences you should consider acquiring to work at these types of organizations:

Become as fluent in English and French as possible. Bonus points for additional languages including German, Spanish, Italian, etc.

Study and focus on gaining internship/volunteer experience in public policy, international relationships, political science, sustainable development, nonprofit management, pre-law/environmental science, and ethics

Consider applying for a volunteer, internship, or study abroad opportunity with the UN (I don't know anything about working with the EU, but that sounds so cool!)

Intern/volunteer with an NGO or another international nonprofit (Women for Women is a great organization!)

Visit or attend events at local international embassies

Volunteer, intern, or work in some capacity for events hosted by influential international figures (foreign ambassadors, global human rights activists, etc. – I met one of these women at a Fashion Week event a few years ago, so think outside of the box. Consider what events draw an international crowd in your area and go from there)

Leverage your university's and professors' resources to help get into clubs, networking events, internship opportunities, and informational interviews with people working at these organizations or the same/adjacent fields

Hope this helps xx