Help our local partners realise their vision of hope for their communities
16 June 2017
HART news
- We are currently looking for a full-time Communications and Fundraising Executive. Click here for more information about the role and how to apply
- We are also looking for a Campaigns and Research Intern. Click here for information about interning at HART and how to apply
- We were pleased to welcome Dr Sasa at the UK HART office this week during his visit to the UK to raise funds for Health and Hope’s training centre which was devastated by the recent Cyclone Mora. A selection of Health and Hope’s significant achievements include:
- 300,000 people reached directly by Health and Hope
- 1 million people reached indirectly by Health and Hope
- 800 plus health-workers trained
- 10 medical doctors in training
- 11 student nurses in training
- 120 Traditional Birth Assistants trained in midwifery
Burma
- The United Nations has confirmed that its top official in Myanmar is being moved from her position. Diplomatic and aid community sources in Yangon have said the decision was linked to Renata Lok-Dessallien’s failure to prioritise human rights. Internal UN documents said the organisation had become “glaringly dysfunctional”, and wracked by internal tensions
- Myanmar’s ultranationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu has claimed Facebook temporarily shut down his account in a video shared on another Facebook account last Friday. A screenshot of Friday’s video displayed a report sent by Facebook saying the account was temporarily blocked for 30 days as the account holder had repeatedly made posts, which were not allowed on Facebook
- In what appears to be a revival of harsh practices of the former Burmese military dictatorship, police in Burma have arrested at least six people yesterday in the first major forced eviction of slum residents under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government
- Protests have broken out against the government’s ongoing citizenship review process and recent allotment of national verification cards to residents of the state, defending the controversial 1982 Citizenship Law, which deprives some minorities, such as Rohingya, of statehood
- With the recent outbreak of conflict between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese military, hundreds have been displaced, and calls have been made for both sides to guarantee safe routes away from conflict areas for civilians
- A damning new report from Amnesty International paints a picture of northern Myanmar in which the military continues to act with impunity, accused of human rights abuses tantamount to war crimes – abuses by both government troops and ethnic armed groups that it says could amount to war crimes, though the Myanmar Army is facing the brunt of the finger-pointing – to read the report, click here
- The UN special rapporteur to Burma has condemned the detention of children in Rakhine state after reports that at least 13 children have been held in police custody in Rakhine State since a counterinsurgency operation last October
Nigeria
South Sudan
- Regional leaders of Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) are quietly and increasingly worried that president Salva Kiir’s no show at the summit at Addis Ababa earlier this week with will make the region’s intention to resolve the conflict in South Sudan obsolete
- The Heads of the UN Mission in South Sudan have expressed their deep concerns about the exclusion of international journalists by the Government of South Sudan, as highlighted in the recent statement by the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of East Africa (FCAEA)
Sudan
- Since the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan, the capitals of North Darfur, Red Sea, and Blue Nile states are witnessing a severe shortage of drinking water
- Ethiopia and Egypt have called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to suspend International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations against Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir. Claiming “The case against the president of Sudan is so weak, its continuation makes no sense, in fact, it will only damage the credibility of this council’
- Meanwhile, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, has renewed calls for arrest of Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir over alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region
- Earlier this week, the National Epidemiological Corporation reported the death of 820 people and the infection of more than 23,766 people with cholera since the start of May in Sudan – The Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC) stated on Monday that it believes Sudan is a cholera-endemic country “and all factors for a large-scale pandemic exist…“During the rainy season the epidemic may find its way to the conflict-ridden regions of the country such as Darfur, Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains”
Uganda
- The United Nations Panel of Experts (PoE) monitoring international compliance with the arms embargo on South Sudan has said Uganda, Ukraine, Egypt and an arms dealer based in the Seychelles have violated the arms embargo by supplying weapons that have perpetuated the conflict
- Uganda hopes to raise $2 billion in donations at a U.N. refugee summit next month to help fund relief operations for refugees flowing in from neighbouring South Sudan – The east African country hosts a total of 1.2 million refugees, of which almost 800,000 are South Sudanese