UNESCO decides to dedicate 2023 as International Day of Education to Afghan girls and women

UNESCO decides to dedicate 2023 as International Day of Education to Afghan girls and women

• Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay has decided to dedicate 2023 as International Day of Education (January 24) to Afghan girls and women. 
• On the occasion of an event organized at the UN headquarters, UNESCO will renew its call to immediately restore their fundamental right to education. 
• On the occasion of the International Day of Education, on 24 January, UNESCO is hosting an event at the United Nations in New York, with the contribution of the UN Secretary-General, the President of the UN General Assembly, as well as UNESCO’s Director-General. 
• The first panel discussion will be devoted to the education of girls and women in Afghanistan.

Brazil declares public health emergency for Yanomami people

• Brazil's ministry of health has declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory, the country's largest indigenous reservation bordering Venezuela, following reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining.
• A decree by the incoming government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the aim of the declaration was to restore health services to the Yanomami people that had been dismantled by his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
• The government announced food packages that will be flown to the reservation where some 26,000 Yanomamis live in a region of rainforest and tropical savanna the size of Portugal.
• The Yanomami are the largest native group in Brazil, with a population of around 30,000. They live in an area larger than nine million hectares (22 million acres), in the northern area of the Amazon rainforest, close to the border with Venezuela.