Sun. Dec 22nd, 2024

Month: January 2019

Sierra Leone bans FGM in clampdown on secret societies

6 years ago

Sierra Leone has banned female genital mutilation (FGM) as part of a wider clampdown on initiation ceremonies by secret societies, a minister has confirmed.

With nine in 10 girls cut, Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of FGM in Africa, according to U.N. data, and is among only a handful of African countries where the practice remains legal.

Girls are cut during initiations into powerful secret societies – known as the Bondo – which wield significant political clout.

Nearly 30 million sick and premature newborns in dire need of treatment every year

6 years ago

Nearly 30 million babies are born too soon, too small or become sick every year and need specialized care to survive, according to a new report by a global coalition that includes UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

 
“When it comes to babies and their mothers, the right care at the right time in the right place can make all the difference,” said Omar Abdi, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director. “Yet millions of small and sick babies and women are dying every year because they simply do not receive the quality care that is their right and our collective responsibility.”

Gulf Migration, Remittances and Religion: Interplay of faith and prosperity among Syrian Christians in Kerala

6 years ago

Christians, including the Syrian Christians of Kerala, constitute 18.6 per cent of the population of Kerala accounting for 6 million people. Of them the Syrian Christians—one of the oldest Christian sects in the world—comprise nearly 3 million. Syrian Christians of Kerala are defined as persons born to Syrian Christian parents and who follow the ‘Syrian rite’. The Syrian Christians comprise different denominations like: Syro-Malabar, Malankara Catholics, Jacobites, Orthodox Syrian Church, Marthomites, Caldhaites, Cannanites and Protestant Syrians. Earlier, the community was concentrated in and around five or six districts of Kerala. But, with the high rate of education, occupational diversification, few local job opportunities in the community, Syrian Christians have migrated to other states in India and abroad.

In Support of Two-State Solution

6 years ago

The recent monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, published in September 2018, finds that half of the Jewish Israeli public thinks that Palestinians deserve an independent state, while (43%) think they do not. Analysis of the Jewish sample by age shows that support for a Palestinian state increases with age: among those aged 18-34 only a minority (35%) supports the Palestinians’ right to a state, 54% of those aged 35-54 support it, and in the oldest age group a 61% majority supports it. Arab-Israelis believe unanimously (94%) that Palestinians are entitled in principle to an independent state of their own. 47% of Jewish-Israelis support signing an agreement based on the formula of two-state solution while 46% answered that they do not. Among Arab-Israelis, 73% support such an agreement. 83% of Jewish-Israelis thinks that “the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people before peace talks with them can be revived.”  66% of Jewish-Israelis agree that “most of the Palestinians have not come to terms with Israel’s existence and would destroy it if they could.” This rate has remained more or less constant, with slight fluctuations, since the first Peace Index survey was conducted in June 1994.

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