BAGHDAD: The United Nations launched an appeal Wednesday for $17 million to rebuild essential health facilities for children in Iraq after a devastating three-year battle to expel Daesh.
The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said next week’s reconstruction conference for Iraq to be staged in Kuwait, with Baghdad estimating the overall cost at $100 billion, would be “a unique opportunity... to put children at the heart” of the process.
“The state of Iraq’s health care system is alarming,” Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative in Iraq, said in a statement after a visit to the northern city of Mosul which was recaptured last July.
“For pregnant women, newborn babies, and children, preventable and treatable conditions can quickly escalate into a matter of life and death,” he said.
Appealing for $17 million to help rebuild health facilities in Iraq, UNICEF said 750,000 children in the Mosul region, the worst affected in the battle against Daesh militants, were “struggling to access basic health services.”
“While violence has subsided, less than 10 percent of health facilities in Nineveh governorate (of which Mosul is the capital) are functioning at full capacity. Those that are operational are stretched to breaking point,” it said.
UN in $17-mln appeal for children’s health in post-Daesh Iraq
UN in $17-mln appeal for children’s health in post-Daesh Iraq
Iranian FM slams WEF’s double standards after revoking his invite, but keeping Israeli President’s
DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has criticised the World Economic Forum (WEF) for rescinding his invitation to the annual meeting in Davos amid his government’s harsh crackdown on nationwide protests, accusing the forum of succumbing to Western pressure and applying “blatant double standards.”
The WEF confirmed that Araghchi will not attend this year’s summit, running until Jan. 23, saying that “although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year.”
In a series of posts on X, Araghchi rejected the decision, claiming his appearance was cancelled “on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its U.S.‑based proxies and apologists.”
The Iranian minister criticised what he called the WEF’s “blatant double standards” for keeping an invitation open to Israel’s president despite ongoing allegations of civilian deaths in Gaza. He also referenced Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s participation in last year’s forum in Davos in January 2024 despite facing charges of genocide at the International Criminal Court.
“If WEF wants to feign a supposedly ‘moral’ stance, that is its prerogative. But it should at least be consistent about it,” Araghchi wrote, arguing that the decision exposed a “moral depravity and intellectual bankruptcy.”
