humanitarian

With hardly one month until the 2008 presidential election in the US, yesterday’s second debate between Senator McCain and Senator Obama was a rather unspectacular event, at least from a substantive political point of view. There was little the average follower of the presidential election hadn’t heard already. However, from the perspective of international law [...]

Don’t use force on humans and they won’t die.  More people die from war from any other activity. Posted in Afghanistan, Ahmnodt, Belmont, campaign, debate, foreign policy, Iraq, Platform, satire   Tagged: Darfur, force, War   

I am thrilled to introduce you to Trivani’s Humanitarian Circle Program! The Program was created as a simple, exciting way to build a life of social, financial, and creative freedom while providing you and others with greater purpose. As a guest, host, or presenter, your Humanitarian Circle experience will take you on a journey through Trivani’s incredible [...]

EAST HAMPTONS, NEW YORK- A drop in the Dow Jones Industrials index this week of more than 800 points as well as the failures of half a dozen major financial institutions have left tens of thousands of Wall Street brokers and high powered investment bankers bereft of liquid assets and without hope. We've all seen the incredibly moving footage on the evening news, the throng of gaunt, lifeless figur

OCHA East Timor Humanitarian Update 2008/Issue No 16 17/09/2008 Extracts - Full Report is at -7JM8V8?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=tlsReporting Period: 30 August - 12 September 2008CAMP DECOMMISSIONINGThe EWASH-WG continues to decommission IDP camps as IDP returns are facilitated by The Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS).:• Arte Moris: Two families remain in this camp. The rehabilitation work, u

South Africa gave its 2008 humanitarian award to former Cuban president Fidel Castro for his contributions to "humankind beyond boundaries."Castro, who turned 82 Wednesday, becomes the first non-African and the third ex-head of state to win the "Ubuntu" award. Castro won the award "for the role he played in the Cuban revolution and worldwide contribution to the struggle for an alternative, just an

Let’s get together with some friends and family, and have a great time! We will join in some fun activities such as product sampling, and humanitarian fundraisers, to experience the true meaning of Trivani. A very special product, InstaLast, was designed for the Trivani Humanitarian Circle program- a program that directly benefits (all profits go to) [...]

As long as I have been alive ghastly images of emaciated and under-nourished African children with bloated bellies have illustrated story after story after story of the nightly news. The same images have accompanied infomercials for groups such as Compassion International since such groups were founded.Why don't the images get a little less gruesome? With all the millions of dollars and truckloa

I was checking the news today and came across a headline. "Soul Legend Isaac Hayes Dead at 65". After reading the headline, the first thing that came to mind was the theme to "Shaft". A song I had heard over and over while I was growing up and quite frankly never tired of it. A wickedly, smooth beat with no instrument left out. Drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, horns and the all too familiar deep v

We have heard on how computers have been pegged to change most issues in everyday living and today we are on the brink of seeing them resolve humanitarian issues through the World Community Grid. Apparently this has to do a lot with research. Computers are known to be your best bet towards soliciting information through the [...]

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeBen Affleck, writer and director of Gone Baby Gone, Academy Award winning co-writer of Good Will Hunting, and actor in several films, will now be discussing the humanitarian crisis in the Congo as a Nightline correspondent. Affleck had been to the Congo a few times before and then brought a Nightline crew with him to spread the story. The Congo story will air Thurs

Herinnert u zich de Humanitarian Lion nog? Enkele idealisten lanceerden het idee voor een nieuwe Lions-categorie op het festival in Cannes. Niet voor de beste reclamecampagne, wel voor de beste oplossing voor een van de vele nijpende problemen in de wereld. Nu Cannes is afgelopen, lanceren deze zelfde mensen een petitie om de categorie alsnog [...]

Humanitarian intervention is an armed intervention in one state by another state or states with the objective of ending gross violations of human rights, such as genocide or ethnic cleansing. Whereas the moral case for such an intervention is very strong, it remains controversial because of the fact that violence is used and that the national sovereignty of [...]

The boys and girls from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) have been busy the past weeks.There were several airlifts of relief goods into Myanmar, and since a week, relief agencies requested for the shipment of humanitarian goods to China, in support of the earthquake disaster.Yesterday and last night, an Airbus 310 from Skycargo (Emirates Airlines) was loaded with relief goods from the It

I am back in Brindisi.I am sure you have seen the news of humanitarian relief goods being flown into Myanmar to assist with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. I bet all of that footage was on the Myanmar side...Those first relief flights actually all originated from here, from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi.Here are some pictures from the first relief flights into Myanmar on May 10th

US president Bush recently laid out a detailed budget request for $70 billion.It includes $45.1 billion for combat operations for the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, $3.7 billion to help expand the Afghan forces and $2 billion for Iraqi troops.Also included are $2.2 billion for projected increased fuel costs for military and intelligence operations and $2.6 billion to transport and maintain M

Here's your chance to become a philanthropist just by spending little time and having fun while you're at it. FreeRice lets you play a vocabulary game and donate rice at the same time. For every answer you get right, you are donating 20 grains of rice. This is a very nice way to enrich your word power.Their goals are to: provide free English vocabulary and put an end to world hunger by providing free rice. Rice donations come from advertising sponsors and are done through the United Nations World Food Program.According to Wikipedia, FreeRice became "Find of the Year" 2007 in the category charity.

Here's your chance to become a philanthropist just by spending little time and having fun while you're at it. FreeRice lets you play a vocabulary game and donate rice at the same time. For every answer you get right, you are donating 20 grains of rice. This is a very nice way to enrich your word power.Their goals are to: provide free English vocabulary and put an end to world hunger by providing free rice. Rice donations come from advertising sponsors and are done through the United Nations World Food Program.According to Wikipedia, FreeRice became "Find of the Year" 2007 in the category charity.

A tribute to mothers: By Pansy Hamilton Brown, For The Guardian - Nassau, Bahamas: Mothers should dare to be different and be the queen of their households. Be the mothers who in the face of difficulties and adversities embrace the joy of motherhood and fearlessly accept the challenges of nurturing your children and serving your husbands with dignity. Endeavor to give birth to new parenting skills and be a model for displaying a loving heart, irrespective of the situations as you teach the world how to love. Caring mothers are invaluable, and their sterling qualities exceed the language of the most excellent orator. They are the nucleus of their families, harmonized with the devotion of fathers. The sunshine and cheerfulness that most mothers bring to their families produce children

As the death toll continues to rise in the wake of Cyclone Nargis that struck Myanmar (Burma) last weekend, international aid is beginning to arrive from neighboring countries. China, India, and Thailand have been able to fly in supplies, but the military junta has been hesitant to allow other countries to help with the aid effort–including aid offered by the United States. According to the BBC, "The UN has urged the authorities to let foreign aid workers into Burma", but UN and other international efforts have been forestalled on account of the junta's slow issuance of visa's and other security clearance issues. Information about the destruction is also unavailable due to restrictions on journalists, many of who have been reporting from neighboring Thailand. From the American s

Despite being Heavily pregnant with twins, Angie still wants to make the world a better place!!!!and that’s why we just adore her, Jolie spoke at the ‘Iraq, Education, and Children of Conflict’ discussion at a Council on Foreign Relations forum at the Washington Club on Tuesday.And Above all She looked Amazing, all glowing. With her fame [...]

In the Bible, James talks about pure religion, which (summarized) is visiting the less fortunate and lifting them up.  This is the essence of humanitarian efforts throughout the world and according to James what religion should be all about. As a member, I give 10% of my income towards tithing and an additional 5-10% towards what we [...]

The situation in the Gaza Strip is worse now than it has been since Israel has occupied the West Bank in 1967, a report by Amnesty International and other human rights groups revealed Thursday. credit. Amnesty internationals Report on Gaza Humanitarian CrisisIsrael's blockade of the Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian crisis ... food shortages, crumbling health services and a water and sewage system close to collapse are all part of the daily misery facing 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.Gaza is forced to become the biggest concentration camp and an enclave held hostage by the Israeli embargo, which it said had worsened poverty and unemployment, crippled education services and made 1.1 million people -- 80 percent of the population -- dependent on food aid.the health system was

I love this lady. And not for the reasons you think. Read on. Staying to Help In Iraq By Angelina Jolie For the Washington Post The request is familiar to American ears: "Bring them home." But in Iraq, where I've just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country. In the six months since my previous visit to Iraq with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this humanitarian crisis has not improved. However, during the last week, the United States, UNHCR and the Iraqi government have begun to work together in new and important ways.

I stumbled upon an interesting site today while surfing during breakfast. FreeRice.com, a greenish webby field environmental theme also noticed that it’s one of the United Nation’s humanitarian site to collect funding to provide free rice to the poor. This is no ordinary site requesting for donation or what so ever, it also provide a free service in a form of an English vocabulary word game. Not

Film and televisions writers are tentatively back to bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, resuming talks the Monday after Thanksgiving. Also, CBS news writers, graphic designers, and other staffers have voted to authorize a strike, which may or may not happen, depending on the outcome of the WGA’s resumed talks. In other words, your TV should still be off. While all eyes are on Darfur, the UN has reported that there is a more grave humanitarian crisis in Somalia. The region between Mogadishu and the market town of Afgooye is filled with refugees from the fighting between the interim government and Islamists. It has less aid workers and is getting much less money than the Darfur region, while being bloodier and more dire. Certainly shows that crises like the one in Darfur are not isolated problems. The JFA Institute has released a report outlining the rise of the prison population since 1970 in the US. It seems that, while prison populatio

Electronic Arts have announced they will donate the original SimCity — the blockbuster 1989 game credited with giving rise to the city-building game genre — to each computer in the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative. OLPC is a not-for-profit humanitarian effort to design, manufacture and distribute inexpensive laptops with the goal of giving every child in the world access to modern education. By gifting SimCity onto each OLPC laptop, EA is providing users with an entertaining way to engage with computers as well as help develop decision-making skills while honing creativity. This is the first time a major video game publisher has gifted a game to the world. Since 2005 internet users can play the original SimCity for free online! In SimCity, the player takes on the role of mayor of a new municipality—responsible for building and maintaining a place where citizens can work and live happily. Doing so requires laying out essentials such as housing, transport links, schools, fact

Folks!If you are a frequent visitor of this blog, you would know that I'm a member of a local Muslim NGO group. Like any other NGO groups, part of our activities is to look after the needs and concerns of our senior citizens.Well… I was surfing around in the internet for no obvious reason earlier today and stumbled upon a very nice site that I can say have the potential to be a very good resource for any NGOs and Humanitarian groups.I would like to introduce to you BetterCaring Dot Com! Their site is dedicated towards providing answers and guidelines to those who are seeking information about looking after their own selves and of course their loved ones. They have excellent ready-made resources that should help people in dealing with various important issues about their lives such as looking for information about a specific care home in the UK. They also have a special "news and views' column dedicated specially to highlight current news related with the subject in hand. While

Next weekend kicks off Portland’s First Humanitarian Concert Series to support Mercy Corps efforts in Northern Uganda. 35 of Portland’s top acts are donating their time and talents throughout 10 concerts to raise money and awareness for communities in the war-torn region of Northern Uganda and Mercy Corps efforts there on the ground. McMenamins is donating the venues and 100% of the ticket sales will go directly to this cause. Go to www.voicesforsilentdisasters.com to check out more info. Concert Schedule: _____________________________________________________ Fri Nov 2, Mission Theater, 8pm STEPHANIE SCHNEIDERMAN/JOE MCMURRIAN/ RICHMOND FONTAINE Sat Nov 3, Mission Theater 10pm CLIMBER/ TEA FOR JULIE/ DAHLIA Sun Nov 4, Crystal Ballroom 2pm (all ages show) MARCHFOURTH MARCHING BAND Thu Nov 8, Mission Theater 8pm JACKSTRAW/ 3 LEG TORSO/ STOLEN SWEETS Fri Nov 9, Mission Theater 9pm HOSKINS AND BREEN (genius improv comedy duo) Sat Nov 10, Mission Theater 8pm “Songwriter’s Night”

According to custom, “the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is given periodically at the Academy Award ceremonies for outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes. It is named after screen actor Jean Hersholt, who served as the president of the Motion Picture Relief Fund for eighteen years. The award trophy is an ‘Oscar’ statuette. Past recipients have included producers, directors, writers and actors.” This year, come Oscar time, no person is more deserving of finally being bestowed the humanitarian award as actor, comedian director, writer Jerry Lewis. In a career that has spanned seven decades, from his first days as part of the Martin & Lewis comedy team (1946-1957), he has worked consistently and passionately for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, which he founded in 1966, and continues in his yearly Labor Day telethons aired for decades as well as off camera despite his advancing age. He has raised over two billion dollars that have been used to fu

UN OCHA official website: http://ochaonline.un.org/OCHA offices around the world (OCHA Presence) : http://ochaonline.un.org/Geographic/tabid/1084/Default.aspxBurundiColumbia Cote d'Ivoire DR of Congo Ethiopia Guinea Indonesia Japan Nepal oPT Somalia Sri Lanka Sudan Zimbabwe

Thanks to the power of internet, with a single click you can contribute to 1.1 cup of food to a hungry person. And all it costs you is 2 seconds and nothing else!It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Many in the world at this moment are dying of starvation. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, hunger and malnutrition are the underlying cause of more than half of all child deaths, killing nearly 6 million children each year. Yet the world has all the resource for us all, its just made imbalanced by our selfish hoarding of resources. The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger. At The Hunger Site, you can click on a link and through the sponsorship of advertisers to the site food is donated to organizations that distribute it to those in need. THIS COSTS YOU NOTHING! The Hunger Site provides a feel-good way to help promo

This morning, as we were still preparing the emergency simulation exercise, on the other side of the base, the "real thing" was going on: They were loading a cargo plane with humanitarian goods bound for Uganda. (Check here for more photos and details)

I am a relief worker. Yet, I am not the one handing out food to the hungry, I do not help stacking bricks to build houses in remote villages damaged by floods. Nor do I work in a hospital taking care of those wounded in a civil war. I am a technical person and work in a technical area. I have a support function in the chain of things. Sometimes I feel far from the reality of the actual relief work (see this post and this one). Rewarding then are those moments when one of the technical products or services I am involved in, catches on, and is seen as having a direct and relevant impact on our relief work.I just found back this article, written by Paul Harris in Alertnet (a Reuters subsidiary) ten years ago. It describes a system called DFMS, the Deep Field Mailing System. DFMS brought 'affordable Email' to the masses using 'free air waves', during the times where satellite communications costed USD 5 per minute at 9,600 baud... This post might be a bit techy, but interesting for tho

The fifth batch of materials for humanitarian aid provided by the Chinese government for Sudan was shipped on Friday at north China’s port of Tianjin.    The 40 million yuan (5.2 million U.S. dollars) worth materials include cross-country vehicles, ambulances, medical instruments, and mobile houses. A container is loaded to a ship at the Tianjin Port in Tianjin Municipality, north China, Aug. 24, 2007. The fifth batch of aid materials worth 40 million RMB yuan (5.2 million US dollars) provided by the Chinese government for Sudan’s Darfur region were shipped to Sudan from Tianjin Port on Aug. 24. The humanitarian aid included SUVs, ambulances, sphygmomanometers and temporary houses. (Xinhua/Zhang Zewei) Photo Gallery>>>     China had sent four batches of materials to help residents in the Darfur region improve their living conditions.     In 2004 the Chinese government pledged five batches of humanitarian aid to Darfur to ease the humanitarian problems

Sometimes ordinary people do extraordinary things Every day, young people across the UK act in a humane and generous way to make a difference to the lives of others. They help in lots of different ways – for example, by giving first aid, befriending vulnerable people, fundraising or campaigning for a worthy cause.

mia kirshner has finished working on the book I Live Here. In the book, women and children refugees from places such as Chechnya, Juárez (Mexico) and Africa will tell their life stories. It will be published in Canada in 2008. It was supported and funded by Amnesty International, which will receive proceeds from the book.Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she is the daughter of Sheldon Kirshner, a journalist for The Canadian Jewish News, who was born in a displaced person camp in Germany in 1946. He met her mother, Etti, a Bulgarian Jewish refugee, in Israel. She is a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.she studied Russian literature and 20th-century movie industry at McGill University in Montreal.In 1993, she played a dominatrix in Denys Arcand's movie Love and Human Remains and won a Genie nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. The year after she starred in Atom Egoyan's Exotica. In 1995, she auditioned for the role of Jenny in the controversial Larry

Humanitarian workJolie first became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming Tomb Raider in poverty-stricken and widely mined Cambodia. According to Jolie, "I discovered things about what's happening in the world... Cambodia was really eye opening for me."[43] Deeply affected by these experiences, she eventually turned to UNHCR for more information on international trouble spots. In the following months she agreed to visit different refugee camps around the world to learn more about the situation and the conditions in these areas. In February 2001, Jolie went on her first field visit, an 18-day mission to Sierra Leone and Tanzania; she later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed.[44] In the coming months she returned to Cambodia for two weeks and later visited Afghan refugees in Pakistan where she donated $1 million for Afghan refugees in response to an international UNHCR emergency appeal.[45] She insisted on covering all costs related to her missions a

Oprah Winfrey and Elie Wiesel with wife Marion Erster The Humanitarian award was created to recognize outstanding individuals who dedicate their time to fighting indifference, intolerance and injustice and whose accomplishments are consistent with the goals of the Foundation. ______________________________________________________________________ HOUSE OF GLTIZ: Oprah is my SHERO!!! SHE DESERVES ANY AND EVERY AWARD I LOVE HER!!!

An AP reporter has labeled him as "the unlikely new hero of Arab nationalism" (here). He is Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Today Israeli troops began a large ground assault on the militant group of Lebanon. What else could they do? They want to stop the rockets being launched across the border. Hezbollah began the fighting and the crossing of the borders on July 12 when members of the group captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others. The AP reports that 370 people have been killed in Lebanon and in Israel, 34. Reuters reports U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says any immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah would be a "false promise" (here). The U.S. and President Bush are currently opposed to talks of peace, vowing to not negotiate or go soft on terrorist Islam group Hezbollah. "Secretary Rice will make it clear that resolving the crisis demands confronting the terrorist group that launched the attacks and the nations that support it," Pr

*U2 front man and activist Bono has been announced as the recipient of the prestigious Chairman's Award at the 38th NAACP Image Awards. The outspoken humanitarian, who champions various causes in Africa - including AIDS awareness and the battle against hunger - joins other NAACP honorees Bill Cosby and Soledad O'Brien, who will receive the Hall of Fame Award and the President's Award, respectively HOUSE OF GLITZ: "BONO IS AWESOME HE DESERVES THIS WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE!!! HAT'S OFF TO BONO"!!!!

Freerice.com is one interesting humanitarian site focusing on providing free online education on English vocabulary. Inside this page is a simple vocabulary word game, and as the user plays along rice in a form of grain units are calculated as score. Once, the user decided they collected enough rice grains ...