World Friendship day- why it is bad to be lonely

30th July was designated
International day of friendship by the United Nations

The original resolution seeks to promote understanding and bridges between communities

however friendship is also important to the mental health and well being of individuals. failture to address their needs impacts on the eocnomic and social well being of societies.
It can be difficult to define what constitutes social isolation. this paper  Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative 2014 considers the issues from an international angle

UK government strategies/ policies to reduce loneliness

the Campaign to End Loneliness has a research hub that links to recent examples of loneliness research
they cite a number of facts about negative impacts.
IoTUK has published a report on how technology might help

 Old Age
AgeUk has published an evidence review from 2015 which examined the literature
there is a 32 page summary
their website also has other articles and maps the latter including mapping of loneliness in neighbourhoods
Ambition for Ageing has said that BAME individuals are often overlooked they published a report on the situation in Greater Manchester
Silverline loneliness surveys- charity offering telephone helpline

Carers 

CarersUK report on the issues faced.

Families

A report looking into the impact of loneliness in children, young

people and families- NCH Children

search for more reports on the medical impact using NHS evidence . these include NHS documents as well as journal articles many in full text

Pubmed has references from the Medline database relating to medical journal articles.

Nelson Mandela International Day 2018

Nelson Mandela International Day 2018 marks 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918). it aims to refelct on his life and legacy
the official UN website has a timeline of events and links to his key speeches plus United Nations resolutions.

Google Arts and Culture has a digital archive of Mandela material. these include photos, timelines and primary source materials relating to Apartheid.
Nelson Mandela Foundation has links to resources they include a searchable speech database with transcripts. A bibliography database of books about Mandela and a filmography

 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Nelson Mandela Resource Guide.
this links to resources available in the New York Public Library. this has links to archives, photos and film clips. many are available free online.

South African Government has an official Mandela site. it includes details of his funeral plus speeches, videos and quotes.
C-Span Video library has an online archive of speeches and addresses from 1990-2008

Teaching resources
Oxfam free lesson plans

World Population day - free resources

11th July is World population day - here are our free recommended resources.

the official UN website

states that the theme for 2018 is family planning is a human right.

it links to related UN resolutions and documents.

the UN website has a number of publications on family planning

they include 2017 paper on demand and unmet demand for family planning.

there is also a dataset on World Contraceptive use 2018

UNFPA issues regular reports see this December 2017 publications  on reproductive health and human rights in a world of inequality.

WHO documents on the medical and political and development aspects of family planning

Family Planning 2020 is an international partnership organisation. its data section measures progress in over 60 target nations using a range of indicators.

search for articles

Free access to abstracts 

Pubmed explore the mesh headings for greater accuracy in searching.
Popline- POPLINE provides access to 380,000 carefully selected publications and resources related to family planning and reproductive health. POPLINE is a free resource, maintained by the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Global Health, Office of Population and Reproductive Health, and is led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Pride in London - why it still matters.

This week we celebrate pride in London.

LSE Archives has an online exhibition of images from early gay pride marches on its flickr library 
Find out more about the archive and library collections.


why is it still necessary today?
in 2017 NatCen analysed public opinion towards same sex relationships  charting  greater acceptance than in the past.
In 1987, at the height of the AIDS crisis, those who agreed that same-sex relationships were “not wrong at all” were in the minority (11%). Two thirds (64%) said that they were “always wrong”.
now  thankfully attitudees are much beetter however, 
This week the Government Equalities office published  a national LGBT survey
which continued to reveal problems 
as a result they have launched an action plan
LGBT Action Plan that sets out what steps the government will take in response to the survey findings.

shocking headline findings included:

• More than two thirds of LGBT respondents said they had avoided holding hands with a same-sex partner for fear of a negative reaction from others
• At least 2 in 5 respondents had experienced an incident because they were LGBT, such as verbal harassment or physical violence, in the 12 months preceding the survey. However, more than 9 in 10 of the most serious incidents went unreported, often because respondents thought ‘it happens all the time’
• two percent of respondents had undergone conversion or reparative therapy in an attempt to ‘cure’ them of being LGBT, and a further 5% had been offered it

Stonewall reaction to the news.
they also launched a report this week that Half of BAME LGBT people (51 per cent) face discrimination within the LGBT community. browse their website for examples of research and surveys relating to attitudes and discrimination faced.

FRA has examples of news and surveys which reveal the extent of discrimination faced in EU nations.

 there continue to be many countries worldwide where to be gay is illegal - se the map and summaries of legislation on the ILGA website

It’s time to ‘eliminate the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence- see our resources

"Conflict-related sexual violence is a preventable crime, and should be a priority for the new UN Secretary-General". the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in conflict is held on 19th June read what Angelina Jolie said about this in a 2016 LSE event.

United Nations statements  

official website

the official resolution establishing the day in 2015.

2018 Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence (S/2018/250)

Illustrated version

Closing the protection gap for children born of war LSE report by Joanne Neenan

UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) unites the work of 13 UN entities with the goal of ending sexual violence in conflict. It has information about the Stop Rape Now campaign

It website has field updates with programmes for specific regions

testimonies

Special UN representative

web site has recent press releases, speeches and reports

UN team of experts reports

United Nations Peacekeeping hub has specialist training guides they include procedures for protection of staff

Peace Women - Womens International Legaue Peace and Freedom has a resource library wioth statements and reports on this issue