Diario de aprendizaje de UNICEF

 Razones y motivación curso

Conocer los Derechos del Niño, los principios que la inspiran y los fundamentos de su integración en el colegio

Conocer la educación para el desarrollo y su vinculación a los ODS para cumplirlos.

Valorar la importancia y los beneficios de la educación en derechos de la infancia.

New government in Iraq

Elections were held in Iraq in March and the parliament has now established a new government in the country. The eight month delay on establishing the government has provoked a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of the services in Iraq. Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, has not appointed the security ministry as he considers himself as the leader of security issues.
There has been a growing anger from the citizens to the Prime Minister over the years, but all the parliament members approved the 34 ministers he proposed. There was only protest from some lawmakers, mainly women, and one small party.
The new government comprises the four main blocks in Iraq. There is two Shiite, one Sunni-backed and multi-sectarian and one Kurdish. All of the groups have different agendas, which might make it difficult to bring the country forwards and resolve their problems, when the American troops will be leaving Iraq at the end of this year.
The U.S President Obama has stated that this is a “significant moment in Iraq’s history”. Furthermore, the US ambassador in Baghdad said that the establishment of a new government in Iraq was seen as a Christmas present from Iraq to Americans.
The question is, Will the US troops stay in Iraq in 2012? The US has committed to leave them in Iraq if asked, but no request has been made. This is due to the certainty by the Prime Minister that the troops should leave the country, even if the military has argued the need of some sort of “residual force”.
In my opinion, the withdraw of the US troops at the end of this year it is not clear. Furthermore, even if this is seen as a success, in my opinion the US act too quickly giving their support. We cannot forget that the establishment of this government was delayed over 8 months and imagine the dissatisfaction of all the Iraqis that risked their lives in order to vote. Nobody knows if this new government will be beneficial to the country, it is a matter of waiting. Moreover, the former Prime Minister was re-elected, And he stated that there is no need for a security ministry at the moment, as he is the head of the department by now. This is seen by many as authoritarian, and I think we should appoint the ministry.

Serbs clash with Nato in north Kosovo

In Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo, Serbs have built a big roadblock. It's made of buses and trucks full of gravel and topped with
barbed wire, intended to stop KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force, from cutting a road used by Serbs. This wednesday, Serbs
went out the streets to defend barricades against the Albanian authority. Nato troops fired tear gas in this region and moved to dismantle one of the roadblocks
Although Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with a 90% of the population were Albanians, Serbs concentrated in North Kosovo oppose to accept this secession.
As a country willing to enter the EU, Serbia has been pressured to remove this barricades and make progress in ties with Kosovo, the bloc meets on December 9 and the resolution is still on hold.
The Serbian government is also concerned about the current situation in the EU and studying if it's really an advantage to join this institution at this point.
If the Serbians that are now in the North Kosovo haven't accepted the Russia offer of repatriation back to Siberia (east of Urals), complete with free land and jobs, and haven't left to Serbia already, i don't think they'll ever do voluntarily.
The main question in my opinion is if the serbs in Serbia are to be blamed for this situation. Should state of Serbia sacrifice everything in order to protect this minority?
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Serbs-clash-with-Nato-in-north-Kosovo/Article1-773268.aspx

After a discussion on Facebook, she was killed with a knife

A 16 year-old-girl was stabbed to death in the back by the mother of another girl of 14 that came out in defense of her daughter, when both fought in the hallway of a building in Ciudad Evita, following a dispute that had begun days ago in the social network Facebook.

Law enforcement sources assured that after killing the teenager, the aggressor, her husband and her daughter fled the scene and are still at large, although they are identified and could be held in the coming hours.

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon at the apartment complex Villegas, located in Crover and Homer, Ciudad Evita, La Matanza, where the teen, Claudia Molina, lives with the rest of his family.

According to investigators, Molina and the other 14 year old had been friends for several years, but then drifted apart because they both played the same guy.

A few days ago, the girls had met through Facebook and aggressive phrases began to be published in the wall of the other.

Yesterday afternoon, tired of the insults, the youngest of the teenagers went with her parents to the other girl’s house where the youngest girl’s father incited the girls to fight in the hallway.  Apparently in the middle of the fight, the youngest girl’s mother pulled out a knife and stabbed twice in the back to the other, who fell badly wounded.

The woman, with her husband and her daughter fled to the run of the place, while Molina was assisted by her 30 year-old-brother who took her to a hospital area, where she eventually died.

Police sources claimed that the woman accused of being the author of the crime is already located by what she could be arrested in the coming hours.

This event is completely crazy, something that started between two young girls fighting for a boy, has ended with the death of one of them. The hardest to believe for me, is that the person who is supposed to educate and give example to her daughter, was the one who committed the crime, so how is this girl going to grow up? And which values and education is she going to have with parents like these?

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1425713-tras-discutir-en-facebook-la-mataron-de-una-cuchillada

Ever heard of Abkhazia?

Last October, the domino world championship was held in Sukhumi, the capital of a tiny state known as Abkhazia. As surprising both the domino championship and that "new" territory can be, what is important to us is the questions its participation on a world event had. Abkhazia is a territory only recognized by Russia, Venezuela and other two states. It is situated between the Black Sea, Georgia to the south and Russia to the north, meaning that its existence as an state is not yet approved by most states, such is the case of United States.

The territory, which is fighting to be recognized as a country, is mostly criticized as a territory not respecting human rights. Due to its closeness to Georgia, there has always been conflict between both sides. Between 1992-3 Georgia and Abkhazia entered war and more than 200,000 people were displaced, but even more people had to move out of the territory when the short war between Russia and Georgia in 2008 took place. As a result of all those conflicts now Abkhazia's government is not willing to permit the entrance of all the people who had to move out of their territory, and although since the end of the 1993 it is true that many returnees have had the chance to get to Gali (the closest part of Abkhazia to Georgia), they don't seem to be enjoying the basic civil and political rights.

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Opinion:

I have to say that I had never heard of such an state and even less of its intention to gain a recognized sovereignty, but when I read how the returnees and people living in the territory are treated as a result of Russia's influence and tension with Georgia. At least I think that this must clearly be seen as an international problem in which countries should have a say. Before the territory can move on to be a country with an institutionalized sovereignty, its laws and concessions about human rights have to be revised and taken care for. It is good that this territory has brought itself to the international spotlight by holding a domino championship, but this attempt should not eclipse the real issue, which is not to play with human rights and people's life.

Source: The Guardian UK

The Egg War

An egg war has started between the EU and Bosnia. Croatia will join the EU in July 2013 and the new EU external border will separate the country from Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro. These two last countries have an effective government that warranties the EU food safety standards of their exports. They will not have problems to trade eggs and meat with Croatia. However, in Bosnia there is neither a ministry of agriculture to certify such standards, nor an agreement on who produces what. For example, Bosnian Serbs do not recognize their products as state level ones, but the Bosnian government does. If this situation continues, Bosnia will not be able to export either dairy goods or eggs or meat to Croatia once it will have entered the EU. Neither Bosnians nor Croatians like the situation; they think that Bosnians need to stick together in order to organize their production market. In addition, there will be only two crossings to trade food along the new border. Small producers’ businesses might not survive if their transport costs increase to get to any of those crossings, reducing Bosnian and Croat export rates between each other. Hopefully, the EU will bankroll more crossings. Also, trucks will waste more time and money during the new border controls. Even worse, this situation will cause inequality among Bosnians. Bosnia Croats who have a Croat citizenship (most of them) will become EU citizens while they will live in Bosnia. But, Bosniaks and Bosnia Serbs will not. Bosnia definitely needs to agree on who will certify EU food safety standards and also it needs to manage the new border traffic that they will have with Croatia.

Opinion:
I think the situation is very clear. Bosnia still lacks of unity among its diverse ethnic groups: Bosnian Croats, Bosniaks and Bosnia Serbs. For years, the leaders of the country haven't sought for common interests. This has led to the following situation: non common standards on production. It is comprehensible that the EU requires Bosnia to meet some specific food safety standards and to certify them, as they do with all their food imports. Croatia is entering the EU and maybe Serbia will soon do as well, since it has already submitted its application as a candidate for the organization. Bosnia, if they resolve their intern issues, might also one day join the EU. Now more than never, Bosnia needs to prove to the regional organization that their government is able to overcome this trade war by sticking together and strengthening their government.

Source:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/11/free-trade-and-old-grudges-balkans

Tijuana-San Diego: an unconventional tunnel

Last week, in San Diego, US authorities seized several tons of marijuana in a truck inside a warehouse. Where did that come from? Inside the building, they discovered something else: a mysterious tunnel, which seemed to be the answer. The tunnel –approximately 360 meters long- crossed the border with Mexico, linking the warehouse in San Diego with another in Tijuana. Both entrances were hidden, blocked by bundles. After clearing the entrances of the tunnel, Mexican and US policemen found inside another consignment of drugs, which added up to 14 tons.

With US intensification of security and restrictions on the border, Mexican drug tycoons have invented a new way to make their “products” reach the US market: building tunnels. These underground structures have lighting, ventilation and even rail tracks, which makes transporting drugs easier. Tunnels have been a good solution for Mexican drug traffickers to avoid the thorough controls on the US border. Besides, they are not very difficult to dig and build, thanks to the claylike soil of the area. More than 70 tunnels have been found on the border since October 2008.

The trend of using tunnels to pass drugs from Mexico to –mainly- California is posing a huge problem to the US police forces in the area, since it is very difficult to actually find the tunnels and prosecute the traffickers. Through these tunnels, huge amounts of drugs travel to the US and are then sold more easily, which undermines police efforts. Regarding this issue, should we just assume that crime is always a step ahead of law? or, is there any possibility to actually stop this problem? This is all again related to the drug cartels. How can the Mexican state bring down these crime organizations? Would more cooperation and coordination between Mexico and the US be positive in fighting drug trafficking? Let’s believe that, in a moment of desperation, Mexico or the US legalize drugs: what would be the immediate consequence for the cartels and the drug market?

The New York Times 17/11/11

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/us/us-mexico-tunnel-leads-to-tons-of-marijuana.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=mexico&st=cse