“The true measure of a nation's standing is how well it attends to its children , their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born.” -UNICEF

What is really a better life for a child in the long run? Does having more money really give your child a better life? According to a UNICEF study released earlier this year, what most think is true received some heavy debated and some somewhat shocking statistics where revealed. Report Card 7, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries, was most shocking for most people when it revealed that the worst offender was Great Brittan, closely followed by the United States. The 52 page report ranked countries based on six factors; material well-being, health and safety, education, peer and family relationships, behaviors and risks, and young people's own subjective sense of well-being. The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark where the top three countries listed in the report.

Both the UK and the US scored in the bottom ranking in 5 of the 6 factors, the UK scored in the mid ranking for Health and Safety, while the US scored in the mid ranking for Educational Wellbeing. The United States was included in the summary chart even though there was a lack of data for Subjective well-being. Some of the reports low ranking for Brittan and America are from obvious causes, like poor nutrition related to a high consumption of junk and fast foods. The comparisons of the countries can seem unjust in some ways, as the Scandinavians invest more in social welfare, than their counterparts, or the increased level of teen pregnancy in the UK, and so on. However the factors that divide the UK and US the most, are that our children seem to have weaker relationships with their parents and families, and are more involved in ‘risky behaviors’, like drug and alcohol abuse. Much of the emphasis is placed on the increased levels of single parent families, however these factors are not always a dividing line, as Sweden has a high number of single parent families, but do not have the same weak relationships. many arguments have been made that while we should look to curb our children's risky behaviors and work at stronger families, as well as relationships with others, the likely hood that many more countries on the top of the scale will begin to suffer with the same problems as the UK and the US (Suffer the Children).

The US was above 15% in regards to child poverty, which may surprise some to know that the Czech Republic ranks above us. The basis for the ranking is on, “relative income poverty: Percentage of children (0-17 years) in households with equivalent income less than 50% of the median”. The US also ranked low in regards to Material Wellbeing, which looked at situations like the number of books that is in a home, but also included issues like having their own bedroom, family owned vehicles, holidays, in addition to access to cultural diversity. Another ranking of concern is that of children's health and safety, as the US failed, in many respects, in regards to infant mortality and low birth weight, and in the death rate of those under 19 in accidents and injuries. Educational Well Being was the US's best ranking, however many should argue that it is an area of major concern.

There has been a good deal of coverage from the UK on the report and the concerns it raised about their children, but I must sadly say I did not find near as much coverage from the US on the report. The UK's fund for UNICEF site had an article on the report, while I was unable to find one on the US fund for UNICEF site. I did find the following article, Give U.S. Children Our Best, which discussed our lack of coverage compared to the UK, and how this is not our first failure to publicize our errors. Can we help our children if we cannot admit what is wrong? The answer is up for debate for many, but history only shows that by ignoring a problem it won't just go away, and the same is true when it comes to our failures as a nation to care for our children as best as we can.

 

Children so often suffer unjustly, just because they are children, for the world too often sees them as less worthy to have a voice. However all children have the right to be heard, and they have so much to say and contribute to the world. With age and power we so often forget the wisdom of a child.

Many children have spent all of their short lives in the turmoil of war, poverty, or being abused, and if we are not prepared to listen to their voices, then they will never be free. A child knows abuse, a child knows hunger, a child knows injustice and suffering, and we must allow them to speak and listen to what they say, for if we do we may actually learn something.

 

Children's Rights Photo Essay

Links:

Plan - Children Speak Through Media
RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Children Speak up to Shape Education Policy
Children in Haiti speak out on their rights
Girls speak out for their rights at UN-backed forum
YPress - A Children's News Network

This past year the media brought one particular issue of child trafficking and slavery to the public’s attention, camel jockeys. This year alone 43 children have already been recovered in the Middle East. Many of the children have been taken from poorer areas of Pakistan and many with the consent of their parents, as traffickers are known to have promised to educate the children, and even charge the parents a monthly fee (Daily Times). Other children are simply abducted from their families, or sold to other traffickers who will take them to abusive training camps. In some unfortunate cases poverty stricken families willing give their children over, disillusioned by the thought of a steady income that their child will bring the family.

“Ansar Burneywho practically rescued hundreds of such children, whose ages are from one and a half year to three from the most miserable circumstances said40,000 innocent children are waiting for rescue to save their precious lives (Asia Child Rights)”.

Life as a camel jockey not only places children in inhuman conditions, where they are ill treated, malnourished, abused physically, and often sexually, but worst of all they are often killed for the name of sport. Children spend grueling days in the blistering desert sun, where they are beaten if they refuse to continue working, often as many as 18 hours a day. Sadly more care and money is spent on the camels then on the children who are forced to ride them. A winning camel is worth a million dollars or often more, making it a multi-billion-dollar business.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, followed by Oman, banned the use of camel jockeys in 2005, after significant pressure from the international community, and has since replaced them with robots.

Video About the Robots Replacing Child Jockeys in UAE

The use of children as camel jockeys has been outlawed in Saudi Arabia, however the practices still continues, often with little regard for the law at all. The Ansar Burney Trust, recently reported the continuing use of child camel jockeys as young as 3, at Saudi races. Robots have also begun to replace child slaves in Kuwait, and policies have been put into place requiring a jockey to have a minimum weight of 45 kg (100 lb), these laws are often ignored. However many continue to ignore these laws, and one reason is that a large majority of those in the industry are actually government officials and heads of states.

Those working to rehabilitate and repatriate former child jockeys, know that many children are yet to be accounted for, and have proof of races still continuing. While children are harder to find in day races, many illusive night races are continuing to use children, and this only leaves one to wonder if these children are enduring even more horrendous abuses, as they have been pushed farther underground.,

The Independent, “A Race of Young Slaves’, tells the story of one boy of only six, sold by his own parents, who was seriously injured after he was crushed in a camel race, leaving him unable to speak and causing the lose of one eye. So why do countries participate in such a deplorable acts against innocent children? The answer as it always does, boils down to greed! Camel racing is a big business in the Middle East and can bring in millions of dollars a year to camel owners, and is a billion dollar a year industry. However is is also in part a laziness of sorts, for could one not find smaller adults, as we do with horse racing, to ride camels? Yes, of course with some effort this could be done, but many cultures in the Middle East buying child slaves is rooted deeply, and will continue until further efforts are made to strengthen and enforce laws, and continue to provide alternatives for the use of human slaves. Though great strides are being made, the road is a long, and the suffering of former child slaves will never end.

As thousands of children are being returned to their home countries and families, yet there are many who are still waiting for someone to claim them, and others are at risk to be sold again into slavery (Parents fail to claim freed Pakistani camel jockeys). Many families that sold their children, will only sell them again for the same purpose, or that of another form of child slave labor. Some of the children have been unable to be returned home, as they are disabled, no longer speak their native languages, or simply are now unable to cope with life outside the camel farm.

The case of child camel jockeys, illustrates the effect that the international community and average citizens can have the abuses of children around the world. Next time you think, “I am only one, person, what can I really do…”, remember your voice really can be heard and it can make a difference.

Links:
Ansar Bruney Trust
New Internationalist, “Riding for Their Lives” - Photo Essay
Camel Jockeys in the Middle East
Information and Resources on Camel Racing
Qatar Camel Races
United Arab Emirates and United Nations Children’s Fund Rehabilitation Programme for Children Formerly Involved in Camel Racing (CICR)
Dubai Camel Jockey’s
Child Jockeys: 40,000 children on slave labour as “child camel jockeys’ in Middle East and Arab countries

Education is a basic right for all children around the world, yet in the developing world there are almost two billion children, most of which are not receiving an a proper education, or any education at all. According to the Global Fund for Children one in five children, 120 to 125 million children, are not enrolled in school. Of those who do receive an education, mostly in the developing world, one in five will not make it past the fifth grade. The lack of education for much of the worlds children is of grave concern, and continues to impact not only the life's of the children themselves, but the development and progress of entire nations. If a large majority of a countries children are not educated, the prospect of the future business, political, religious and government leaders of is marred for many generations.

As a world community we are fighting poverty, disease, war, child labor, child soldiers, human slavery, trafficking, and so much more, yet our biggest fight and the root of so many issues is a lack of education. Children and adults who are illiterate or uneducated are more susceptible for victimization and therefore decreases life expectancy.

Distribution of Children Enrolled in School Worldwide

 

UNESCO

The lack of education in the developing world means more than just another generation of illiterate children, who will enter into the same cycle as their parents. This is a generation of children who will continue into a life of poverty, with no real tools to fight the cycle that plagues their families and villages. Children do not go to school, or our pulled from school, for a number of reasons, however the largest is that children are used to assist the families and work. It must be clearly understood that while many children are forced to work in horrid child labor conditions, much of which is child slavery, many are working along side their families in the fields or home.

World Bank

The problem with education in poorer countries, is not only a lack of funding for education, but also a lack of infrastructure, so therefore while basic education may be mandatory in many countries, the quality of education is far from adequate. As the educational demands around the industrialized nations increase, the developing world is falling even farther behind. With a the basic educational needs of children so often not met, children are not being given a fighting chance at braking the cycle of poverty, disease, abuse, war, and so much more. Education is more than an escape, it is a fundamental right, and we must work together to ensure that all of the worlds children receive a basic education. However we must not stop with basic education, we must work to ensure that children have the opportunities to obtain all levels of education, and close the educational gap between the unindustrialized and industrialized countries. Children are our worlds most valuable resources, and therefore we must make substantial investments into developing those resources.

Links:
UNICEF
ILO
UNESCO
The Global Fund
Visit the World of the United Nations - Slideshow, shows importance of education and why children don't get an education.
Time for Kids: School Years Around the World
Peace Corps Kids World
Cool Planet
Education in Japan
ThinkQuest: The School Systems Compared
Time for Kids: India
Republic of Lebanon
A Day in the Life of an Italian Student
PBS: Africa for Kids
ThinkQuest: A Day in the Life of an African Student
Time for Kids: Egypt
Time for Kids: Mexico

The key to peace is in the eyes, hearts and minds of children. Children all across the world belong to all of us, they are our future. Forget not the child that is not within your sight, keep always in you heart and mind the children who suffer needlessly each and every day.

Photo by Mark Edwards

In honor of today being International Refugee Day, I want to draw your attention to the millions of child refugees, who are parentless and alone in their struggle for safety and a home.

For millions of children home is a word has very little meaning, or serves only as a painful reminded of what they have lost and fear will never have again. While for most of us in the west, home is a word we take for granted, to most of us having a home is symbol of what we have accomplished and achieved in life. A home is a symbol of family and safety, a place of warmth and love, yet for all too many children, home is nothing but a fading memory, or a dream. Like the story your grandparents always told you about their childhood, the story of home for many children is that far way land that they can only imagine through the stories of their parents or grandparents. Home often only reminds refugee children of what they have lost, often home is just a fading memory. What refugee children have lost is much more than a physical home, it is the loss of their entire families, their homelands, their culture, and their safety.

Once in a Refugee camp, safety and security, especially for children, is a daily struggle. While all refugees are vulnerable, children are are particularly vulnerable, many children are unaccompanied in the camps, and are therefore at even greater risk. Risks in the camps can often come from those who are put in place to protect refugees, as the infrastructures of refugee camps, and of other law and immigration officials, often prey on children…children can be misled, abused both physically and sexually, and are prime potential victims for trafficking and other horrendous crimes.

Joung-ah Ghedini, a UNHCR spokesperson, spoke of a child Ghedini met in a camp in Burundi, who's parents where killed in a raid. The young girl told Ghedini:

“I don't know what to think about anything. Living here, I don't hear the gunfire, or the shelling, but I’m still scared; maybe I’ll be scared like this for the rest of my life.” Ghedini said of the girl, “Here's an 8-year-old who has survived more than most adults, and she's not griping, not complaining. That's all she knew: being scared about being able to go to sleep at night and not worry.” (National Geographic News; For Refugee Children, “Home” is a Changing Concept)

According to UNHCR there are 20.8 million refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, and persons of concern worldwide, however the 2006 Global Trends:Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons report, states that the number has risen dramatically to 32.9, which is of grave concern, and should be to all persons and states. In the report the UNHCR was unable to get clear statistics on the ages brake down of refugees from the total refugee population, however it is estimated that almost half, or more, of the worlds refugees are children. Additionally it is approximated that half of all refugees,and others of similar status, are female.

Unaccompanied child refugees is of grave concern, due to the specialized needs and protection of their situation, however a full consensus on treatment of these children has yet to have been made. This includes the ages by country which determines their status as an unaccompanied minor. Therefore this is a large gap in the protection of children, and even more so with unaccompanied children, and it is apparent worldwide. As not only are unaccompanied children ripe for violations in refugee camps, but also when in industrialized nations seeking refuge and asylum. The main reason for this gap in protection, is that children are not seen as politically viable and they do not have a strong voice in the system, and without parents, guardians or agencies to protect them, they can be shuffled around even more as stateless citizens. Children often have no documentation, to prove age or origin, and this can often compound the situation even further.

“These migrant children thus labor under the triple burden of alienation, isolation, and minority status. One of the starkest examples of the tension between state law enforcement mandates and a children's rights perspective is found in the asylum system. It is here that children regularly face insuperable hurdles and rights-violating procedures. Far from receiving compassionate or protective state intervention, many migrant children encounter punitive and degrading measures that cast them as delinquents and "urchins," rather than as particularly vulnerable refugees. ” (Triple Burden: The Obstacles to Protection Facing Unaccompanied and Separated Child Migrants Today)

Commenting on the situation of unaccompanied children in the UK, Margaret Lally of the Refugee Council said,

“It's clear from this report that separated refugee children are not getting the same level of care as any other child would receive under UK childcare legislation. But we should never forget that any child is a child first and foremost and a refugee second. We have a duty to these children under domestic and international law and they must be protected.” (Refugee children arriving alone are being left unsupported and unprotected, reveals UK report)

How do we move forward, and ensure that we are working together in a sustainable and collective world effort to assist those who are forced to leave their homes?

Marc Giménez, Campaign coordinator of Federation of Young European Greens, when asked about the situation of refugees stated, “…a high percentage of migrants are young people and thus it is important to create projects which contribute to the exchange of realities between migrants and young activists of destination countries. Only when sharing experiences and working together, we will be able to row in the same direction”.

We need to look at refugees, especially children, for what they are…normal people who have been forced from their homes, who are scared and vulnerable, they need our help and understanding. No one flees their homes in the darkness of the night, with only the clothes on their back, because the want to…refugees are refugees, because they have to be! Whether desperately waiting for war to end in an a bordering country; living in an internal camp to escape natural disaster; or seeking asylum, for fear of persecution and death, in the West, refugees are people just like you and me, who have been forced to live through the unthinkable.

Please see yesterdays post for more information and links. You may also be interested in Child Detainees, An International Crime, posted on April 9, 2007. Please also see my fellow FPA bloggers Cathryn Cullver and Rich Basas,on their Migration Blog, for more information on this and related issues.

Links:
UNHCR - State of the World Refugee's 2006
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Refugee Studies Centre
European Council - Refugees and Exiles
Human Rights Watch
Refugees International
American Refugee Committee International
The International Refugee Committee (IRC)
International Committee of the Red Cross Displaced Persons Site
Amnesty International - Refugees
The International Rescue Committee
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
NineMillion.org
Middle East Info - Has a good forum with lots of photos and discussions on refugees
Human Rights Watch - Forgotten Children of War
2006 Global Trends:Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons Report
Trends in Unaccompanied and Separated Children Seeking Asylum in Industrialized Countries
SeparatedRefugee Children in the Untied States: Challenges and Opportunities
American Near East Refugee Aid

Photo: Karel Prinsloo - AP

There are 12 million refugees, as of 2005, and an additional 21 million Internally displaced persons scattered across the globe today, approximately 44% of which are children.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 is World Refugee Day, a day set to honor the plight and resilient struggle of refugees around the world. World Refugee Day was created on December 4, 2000, by the United Nations General Assembly, to demonstrate a sign of unity with Africa and coincide with its predecessor, African Refugee
Day. The day is a day to raise awareness to the millions of refuges, many of which have, and continue to live their lives in a harsh, uncertain and unstable environment.

Whether they are from Sudan to Palestine, Bosnia to Burundi, Afghanistan to the Congo, the feeling of isolation and despair remains the same for refugees. Millions of people have spent endless years in refugee camps, children are born in refugee camps and know no other life outside that of a camp. Other children live with haunting memories of a life before war, when there families where happy and whole, now they anguish over the unknown future that lies before them, the future they must make alone. The struggles of a refugee are more than that of food, health care and education, but also of rebuilding a future in their home counties. Take this day to look at refugees for what they really are, people forced from their homes, torn from their families, children whom war has made orphans, mothers trying to care for dying children, but most of all they are people who only want once again to have normal lives.

The Paths of Refugees

For more information on the situation and struggles of refugees around the world, please see the Migration blog, by my esteemed colleagues Cathryn Culver and Richard Basas.

Links:

World Refugee Day Events in 2007

World Refugee Survey 2006

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

IRC World Refugee Events

The Refugee Highway - Blog

The Refuge Council USA

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Refugees International

Refugee Stories

European Council on Refugees and Exiles

UK Refugee Council

This morning British police after 10 months of investigations, with agencies around the globe, finally broke through an international internet pedophile ring.

The internet site was dishearteningly called, “Kids the Light of Our Lives”, and its founder went by the screen name “Son of God”. Membership of the internet pedophile ring was is over 700, and British police are taking no time at all in making arrests of its members. 200 arrests have been made in the UK, while offenders came from more than 35 countries around the world. All 35 countries with suspected sexual offenders in the case, had agencies involved in the sting operation, led by the British Police.The ring leader is Timothy David Martyn Cox, 28, of Buxhall, England, and he was immediately placed in jail for an interim sentence, after Canadian officials tip off the British police. Following his arrest in January, Gordon Mackintosh, 33, of Hertfordshire in England, tried to revive the site and was subsequently arrested. Between Cox and Mackintosh, more than 86,000 sexually explicit images of children and 1,000 videos where discovered.

31 children thus far, have been said to haven been rescued from abusive situations as a result of the bust. The unfortunate nature of internet crime is that many of the victims, may not be found and rescued from their abusers, however agencies worldwide, with the help of technology, are able to track and find more and more victims. But the law is complicated and even when the laws are clear they do not always hold up, nor are they easily enforced in they cyber world.

“It's like a chess game,” said Philippe Dubord, an agent in Tampa with the FBI's Innocent Images National Initiative, which investigates computer child pornography. “They make a move. We make a move. We have to work within the law. They don't have to.” (Child Porn: Prosecution Problems)

To prosecute on behalf of each and every child or image, one must prove the child is ‘real’, and this is where the law and reality begin to shift apart. You may find a 100 images on one persons computer, and there may be 80 different children involved, but in order to prosecute on behalf of each image and child you must find each child, and often use them for testimony. This is where law enforcement and reality seem to crash and burn, for the identities of most children may never be found, and even if some are found they may be scattered around the world, and therefore building a solid case is often marred by distance and economics. Thankfully concerned citizens and law enforcement officials, are beginning to fill in many of these gaps, and they are working harder than ever to see that no one goes unpunished.

“Any individual who thinks they carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a very rude awakening,” said CEOP Chief Executive Jim Gamble. “The belief that the Internet provides anonymity is unfounded.” (Reuters - UK police break Internet child abuse network)

Sadly children who are victims of internet crime are not victims once, twice or even three times, they are repeatedly victimized day after day. The initial act of sexual abuse and assault may have ended, but the abuse continues as the images travel around the world to be viewed without end.

“Riddled with guilt and shame and immobilized by fear, I suffered a mental and physical breakdown. I couldn't eat or sleep. All I could do was cry and worry. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't my fault…” (Child Pornography - My Story)

Please see my related Posts; Awareness Saves Our Children, on April 11, 2007, and How does the Internet Drive Crimes Against Children, and How Does it Protect Them?, March 16, 2007, for more information.

Links:

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)

List of Links to Relevant News Articles About this Case

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

CVIP Information packet

Statistics on Households Computers and the Internet Online Almanac

NetSmartz Workshop - Keeping Kids and Teens Safer on the Internet

The Police Notebook - Keeping Kids Safe Online by the University of Oklahoma Police Department

Microsoft - Protect Your Family

Kids Health - Internet Safety

The Parents Guide to the Information Super Highway

 

Child Abuse Resources, Facts and Signs

Signs of Child Abuse

Find Counseling.com - Signs and Resources

Help Guide.org - Types, Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Help

Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute

American Humane - Fact Sheets

Child Abuse Statistics, Research and Resources