Children

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Palistine

The legacy we leave our children is all we give them, it is truly the mark of what we have done with our lives. Do we really want to leave our children with nothing more than hate, destruction, violence, and death? Are our lives not worth living, do our children not deserve a chance at a true future? If all you have to give your children is your example, then lead them well, and walk them down the road of peace, for the one who walks this road is stronger than he who walks the path of violence and hate.

(AP Photo)

The days of quality, long lasting, domestic products are long gone, especially with toys, and while the toys are cheaper, are they better? Well the quality question has been one that many have been asking for years, and now the answer seem very clear to many consumers. As toy recalls seem to be a regular activity this summer frantic parents are increasingly finding themselves searching the house for potentially hazardous toys. A day tossing sofa cushions aside, crawling under beds, and digging though endless containers of toys, is not a parents idea of entertainment, but when the toy may actually cause long term harm to your child, you move quick.

Toxic lead paint is the biggest predator to come out of China, hiding in the innocent smile of Elmo, Diego, Thomas, and what seems to be countless preschool toys. Anyone who knows a child, knows how often a toy finds its way into a child’s mouth. The fear that that toy could be making your child sick, let alone kill them is a parents worst nightmare.

Across the US and Europe, news reports have been stirring concern for parents and governments have been accused of being lax in amending the situation. With China on its way to being the worlds largest exporter, the concerns by consumers and governments are well rooted. The EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Kuneva stated, “I don’t like to use the word sanctions, but Europe will not hesitate to impose them if necessary” (Poison Toys from The Middle Kingdom). In the US Mark Pryor, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Consumer Affairs Subcommittee, said; “The Consumer Product Safety Commission does not have the resources to catch this type of problem, we’re seeing this over and over. This is an agency that is withering on the vine” (Recalls Of Toys Pressure Agency).

“These are items that children are supposed to be playing with, it should be at a point where companies in the United States that are importing these items are held liable”, said Prescott Carlson, of Imperfect Parent.

So what is being done in China? Many claim that a great deal of ignoring the issue has been done, but it appears that international pressures, are starting to take hold, if a bit late on both sides. China has now banned two factories from exporting toys after the high-profile recall of Mattel toy products due to the fears about lead in the paint. However toxic toys are only part of the problem for the Chinese, as product such as toothpaste, dog food and some food products have also faced recalls. The Chinese government has also put on trial five managers of pharmaceutical companies, who have been accused of causing the death of patients with a tainted medicine. (As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China). But for many the blame falls on the manufactures, the US titans of toys, who are “entrusted the testing of these toys to the actual factory that was producing them,” says Don Mays of Consumer Reports. “We think that that was a mistake” (Parents, Toy Companies Stress After Recall).

The recall of millions of toys leaves parents to ask, “How did it even get this far?”. We all know that lead poisoning is severely harmful, especially to children, as it can damage brain cells, therefore should we even be sitting here in such a chaotic quandary over children’s toys? How can we be in such a global and knowledgeable world, and still have such major safety mishaps occurring as if it where just part of the normal routine? So who’s fault does it really come down to? The Chinese government, Manufacture, the Factory, or the Consumers for demanding such cheap products? Weather in China, Europe or the US, we know what is safe, so the enforcement of consumer safety seems to be the major issue.

The truth is that if we want cheap then we may have to continue to face these problems in order to purchase from the Chinese export superpower, who makes around 80% of US purchased toys. No longer are the days of British made matchbox cars or US made fisher price toys. As long as we continue to demand cheap products, we will have to import them from overseas. Maybe we should think before we continue to throw our money out the window with little regard to where we buy our products, let alone any thought at all as to how it’s even possible that it could be sold to us that cheap. So while our wallets aren’t seeing a hit, our children are suffering the burden.

Maybe we need to decide, is it worth it to buy your kids all these needless toys?  Do we really want our children to have more toys, or better toys? If we don’t bother to clamp down on safety, the next time you are forced to pry a Thomas train from the hands of a red faced, shrieking 2 year old. Just look at one of your old toys, like a matchbox car, to the version your child has, and the quality difference will shock you!

Photo by Ellyn W. Ogden, USAIDPolio is a disease most in the West think little about these days, as it was completely eradicated by 1994 in the Americas and 2002 in Europe. Polio was once the most feared of childhood diseases, in the early 20th century Polio epidemics crippled thousands of children each year, leaving many unable to walk, or live in an iron lung. The development of the Polio vaccine in 1952, brought both relief and joy the world over. However Polio is still very much alive, and campaigns to eradicate polio are still very needed, as every year polio still takes hold of the lives of thousands of children. As of July 31, 2007, there have been 337 cases of Polio, there where 1998 cases reported in 2006, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

As polio is an “acute viral infectious disease spread from person-to-person, primarily via the fecal-oral route”, thus it is more likely to be spread in rural areas with poor sanitation, a lack of health care and education…therefore the poor suffer in disproportionate numbers.

On February 28, 2007, the World Health Organization stated, that a ‘final attack’ on Polio was set into action, by states and international bodies. “Indigenous wild polio virus survives in only parts of four countries – Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan – where transmission has never been stopped…agreed to raise within 12 months, and then sustain for as long as needed, the levels of vaccination coverage and child immunity in the areas with endemic polio to levels that stopped the disease altogether in the polio-free parts of these countries. Ten other countries are currently fighting the tail-end of outbreaks caused by importations of polio virus” (WHO).

This month millions of children under the age of five are getting a fighting chance against Polio, as immunization campaigns are underway. In Northern Sudan a three-day campaign was launched with a target to immunize an estimated 5 million children. The Sudanese campaign comes in the wave of reports of [Polio cases in neighboring Chad (Campaign to immunize millions of children against polio). On August 7th, Pakistan launched its third nationwide immunization drive this year. The three days of immunizations are set to target 33.5 million children under five years old. Similarly in Afghanistan Polio immunizations are wrapping-up an immunization drive targeting 7.3 million children under five years old ( Cross border polio campaign targets 40 million children).  According to officials in Tajikistan, a three day immunization campaign was a success in the areas bordering Afghanistan, as 300,000 children under the age of 3 years old, have been vaccinated (Polio campaign in Afghan border areas a success).  Other campaigns began earlier this summer, such as the First-ever synchronized polio campaign between Namibia, Angola and Democratic Republic of  Congo took place in June, aimed at immunizing all children under 5 years old.

Photo by WHO

This month as millions of children are vaccinated against Polio, their lives are changed forever! This summer immunization campaigns are a huge step in the right direction, and we should see similar campaigns in the coming months. One can hope that the pressure set by the international community will finally put Polio in its proper place, the past!

The issue of child marriages is one the weighs heavy on the minds of many around the world. As the modern world continues to increase with globalisation, the issue is thrown into the spotlight. While those in the west are most often quick to say that all child marriages should be outlawed, many in rural and tribal settings disagree or our conflicted by the issue. Some feel that baning child marriages is in part ending a longstanding rite and practice, that will only further contribute to the dissolve their cultural ways.

Why are childhood marriages so common and desired? There are a multitude of reasons that societies continue to practice early marriage and feel the benefits out way any undesirable consequences. For example if a girl is married young her virginity is more likely to be guarantee, but the main reason is that with early marriage come increased economic and social benefits. A wedding in a rural community is a great source of joy and pride for a family, especially the family of the bride, for they can now see that their child is cared for and has a future. Marriage is also of social importance, as the family receives a great standing in the community, based on the family of the groom or bride. Economically the families of the bride additionally benefit with the increase in social status and having one less mouth to feed, and often benefit from a dowry. In rural agricultural societies once families are joined they often pull their resources together to increase their output and profitabilities.

Child marriages cover the globe, and are most common in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, including Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. However child marriages continue in other parts of the world, including South America and among the Roma of Europe.

Uness Nyambi, of Malawi, “said she was betrothed as a child so her parents could finance her brother’s choice of a bride. Now about 17, she has two children, the oldest nearly 5, and a husband who guesses he is 70. ‘Just because of these two children, I can not leave him,’ she said.” (Forced to Marry Before Puberty, African Girls Pay Lasting Price)

Photo by Venessa Vick for the New York Times

Although many countries have now set minimum legal ages for marriage, the laws are often ignored, or even unheard. In many countries the minimum legal age for marriage is 16-18, however it is widely ignored in the rural areas, where illiteracy remains high, and it is therefore increasingly difficult to end this archaic practice. For example the minimum legal age for marriage in Ethiopia is 18, however children as young as 8 are already being promised in marriage, and though the marriages may still not occur for a few years, girls remain under the legal age at the time of marriage. (Rural Ethiopia Ignores Law Against Child Brides). In India, Parliament passed the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1978, setting the minimum age for women to get married as 18 and 21 for men. Despite the law child marriages still continue, especially in populous northern states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, and many believe Child Marriage, is a Curse That Still Prevailing in India. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, states in Article 1, that a child is anyone under 18 years of age, and in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states that persons must be at “full age” at the time of marriage, which must be entered into “freely” and with “full consent.” The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, requires minimum ages for marriage to be specified by states, and declares child marriages as illegal, under Article 16.

The facts remain that a girl who is married young is at a greater risk of abuse, regardless of ethnicity or religion. In extreme instances abuse can result in death, or honor killings, if a girl attempts to flee an abusive husband. In many countries the myth of using sex with a virgin to cure sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, remains widely common place. Girls who marry young, consequently give birth young, and therefore have an increased risk for complications or even death in childbirth. Child brides are also more likely to be voiceless in their marriage, regarding most, if not all major decisions. Child brides are also less likely to compete their education, maintain social circles, In the developing world it is estimated that 1/3 of girls are married as children.

A number of reports have been conducted in recent years, on the subject of child marriage, including the report Childhood Marriage and Domestic Abuse, which was conducted by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). The report stated that, “child marriage persists because these countries lack the resources, and sometimes the political commitment, to enforce the laws”. In the report Early Marriage: A Harmful Traditional Practice, conducted by UNICEF in 2005, it was found that “little overall change in the average age at marriage for age cohorts born between 1950 and 1970 in most regions, as well as little change in the incidence of child marriage.” In 2001 UNICEF published Early Marriage: Child Spouses, stating: “Real progress will come from introducing and promoting initiatives to change attitudes towards the gender roles of girls and boys in general, and towards the practice of early marriage in particular. This means that societies must reexamine traditional gender roles.”

Child marriages violate the rights of the child in many ways, but the most concerning violation is a girls right to consent, and this right is continually violated through the life of the marriage for most girls. How do we end this outdated practice, that continues to violate the rights of girls across the globe? The causes and implications of child marriage, are complex and interconnected, thus their is no simple solution in eradicating child marriage. In order to end child marriage for good we must look at all the source reasons that people continue to practice child marriage; poverty, marginalization of girls, illiteracy, lack of education, poor health. To find an end to child marriage, States and the International Community, must ensure that families are educated about the true effects of child marriage, and see that sustainable solutions are put in place. Making education available for girls, seeing families have alternatives to paying debts, eliminating poverty, providing health education on HIV/AIDS and other diseases, are all needed to end the suffering of girls across the globe, and put child marriage in the past, where it belongs.

Links:
UNICEF Child Marriage Statistics
Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages
The African Charter on the Rights Welfare of the Child
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa
State of the World Population 2005 - Child Marriage Fact Sheet
Population Council Works to Eliminate Child Marriage
Stop Child Marriage
UNICEF

Related Articles:
Roma rivalry over child bride ban
AFGHANISTAN: New contract to curb child marriages
India Tackles Child Marriage
Child marriages, trafficking on the rise in West Bengal
Marriage is Not Child’s Play
Health Consequences of Child Marriage in Africa
NEPAL: Child marriage still common in rural southwest

Are children being denied the right to play? When one looks back at childhood the memories of childhood games, toys and out door fun with their friends and siblings come flooding back. But todays children do not seem to have the same attitude at play as we did, so whats to blame, and who’s fault is it?

Kids today are increasingly spending more and more time in solitude, watching TV or playing video games. While some argue that kids are getting smarter, are they loosing much needed social interaction? Playing forges independence, teaches kids how to share, helps develop identity and their voice. By interacting with other children, a child also learns to appreciate the differences The more children a child interacts with, the more ethnicities, personality types, and social backgrounds, a child is exposed to, and this can help children to become more open minded and tolerable. Of course the setting for a child’s behavior begins at home, but most of life’s lessons are learned outside…on the playground.

In a UK report last year, experts warned that children are ‘forgetting how to play’ , and we are allowing children to be too structured, or isolated, in their activities. The report stated that:
“‘Regimented play activities can have negative consequences on the social and emotional development of a child because they are too organised and take away a child’s initiative and freedom of choice.”

In Northern Ireland, Playboard, has incited a mobile play project, to encourage children to rediscover outdoor playing. Projects like this are gravely needed across the world, especially the developing world, where children’s TV time is increasing. TV’s in households are increasing, as many TVs are now found in the bedrooms of children under 10, and TV is now becoming the most common use of a distraction technique, replacing the old…”go out and play”.

All children have the right to play, and this should be seen as an essential part of all children’s childhood’s. In the developing world children so often are denied play, as they are thrust into adult roles, at much younger ages. Children face early marriages, child labor, life in conflict zones, poverty, and other factors that limit their ability to play. The organization Right to Play is working to use play as not only a method to allow children the right to be children, and just play, but also as a tool for education. Peace and conflict resolution, health awareness, disease prevention, community development, literacy and basic education, are all part of the program at Right to Play. Play and sport, not only foster healthy and independent children, but assist in improving all aspects of children’s rights.

In a society with an ever growing obesity rate and a growing world isolation, we need children to not only gain from the physical aspects of play, but the social and mental benefits. When children benefit, we all benefit! As a society we need to encourage children to get out and play, to come home with a few scraped knees, develop relationships and just learn how to be a kid. Maybe if our children are allowed to be children a little longer, they will learn the value of freedom.

Uyghur Kids Playing

Photo by Mehmud Abliz

Links:
International Play Association
The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play
Right to Play
UN - ‘RIGHT TO PLAY BELONGS TO EVERYONE’

Imprisoned by the flesh

Raped of my spirit

Held captive by violence and fear

You cut me with your sword, disfigure me with your gun and scar me with your manhood

When will it end, when will you let me die?

No longer whole, no longer alive

I am nothing more than a dead soul trapped inside a body

Trapped in a body you seek to pillage for vengeance and greed

But I am only a child, what could I have done to deserve such hate?

Justice is no longer mine to hope for

Freedom is lost

The mind cannot forget the terrors you bestowed upon me

I live out my life sentence day after day, and face after face

No more do my tears spill, only my blood do I have left to wipe away

Unidentified Victim of Sexual Violence

“I was naked; the men had forced me to take my clothes off. Four of them were holding me down, one on each leg and one on each arm, while the other raped me. I was weeping so much. I couldn’t stop thinking…These men will give me diseases. I thought of HIV. The men said nothing at all, the five of them raped me one after the other. I had terrible pain in my abdomen and vagina; I was bleeding. I just lay there — I couldn’t move.” - “Pewa” was raped at only 9 years old, in her own home, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In times of war everyone becomes a victim, however children suffer more than anyone, and girls face an even graver fate than their male counter parts. Sexual Violence against girls is heightened in times of war, the degree of violence deepened. No child should ever face violence whether, physical, sexual or mental, the scars of violence never heal, but it is the scars of sexual violence that run deeper than one can imagine. When one thinks of rape, and other forms of sexual violence, they often think only of the mental scars, yet in armed conflict girls are disproportionately abused sexually, mentally and physically, repeatedly year after year. The physical violence that accompanies the rape in much of armed conflict today, is extreme and of a sexual nature.

Earlier this year, ‘The Shame of War: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict’, was published by IRIN, the book is a was composed to be a reference tool. The use of a portraits and testimonies from women and girls who have been victims of the sexual violence of war. This is the second publication on gender-based violence, IRIN, as ‘Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: violence against women exposed’ was published in 2005. It was this book that lead to ‘The Shame of War’, as the issue was covered as one chapter in the book, and therefore the issue received much concern, that it was felt more attention to the subject must be taken. The Report concluded that the key to ending sexual violence is to first of all address the crisis at hand.

“Addressing this crisis requires a response that includes immediate support measures for victims; access to legal services; and global, national and local advocacy to tackle embedded belief systems and social structures that discriminate against women and girls and allow sexual violence to continue unabated…Governments, donors and humanitarian agencies urgently need to harness the necessary resources …to eliminate gender-based violence in all its forms and ensure that women and children can live in safety and dignity….When states persistently violate human rights and when the international community fails to respond, it is a collective responsibility we have all failed to meet.”

THEY FIND US IN THE FIELDS as we plant.
THEY FIND US BY THE RIVER as we fetch water.
THEY FIND US IN THE FOREST as we collect wood .

They are the nameless, faceless bandits-rebels-military
They abuse our bodies, take our souls, empty our guts
Then throw us away

We are the trash they leave behind in their wars

We are the silent ones you see by the side of the road
The ones once called mother, sister, wife, daughter
We are the ones discarded by husbands

We are used up, defiled by other men, dirty
Unwanted, unseen, unheard, UNDONE

We are the battleground - the ammunition
in a war never seen, never heard
Felt only by us…

(Our Bodies…their battleground: Gender-based Violence during Conflict)

Sexual violence in war, is unfortunately not a new concept, however todays rates, and forms of abuse are alarming. Sexual slavery and violence, in all forms, has become a modern plague, as it scourges across the globe. The use of sexual violence as a form of warfare has become an epidemic, in many of the conflicts 50% or more of the female population is raped. The World Health Organization (WHO), claims that violence against females is the cause of more death or disability, for girls and women aged 15 to 44, than that of cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and general warfare combined. However while in some conflicts all women, young and old, are essentially up for grabs as war booty, in others the younger girls receive the brunt of the violence, with repeated violence, increased gang rapes, and are kept often for years as ‘wives’. Many girls never try to escape, for fear of increased abuse, victimization of a family member, or death.

Recovery and rehabilitation is not easy for any victim of sexual abuse, but for victims of sexual violence due to armed conflict, the process often seems completely out of reach. There is often little to no infrastructure in place to deal with such abuses, safe havens are few and far between. Girls are often impregnated by one of their attackers, thus a new generation of victims is born, girls are given a life of sexual abuse and boys are abused as child soldiers. While if a girl does find refuge, it is often short lived, due to over crowding, long waiting lists, or lack of funding. This lack of care for victims of sexual violence, often leaves girls open to recapture, in many cases the ‘husband’/soldier will come looking for the ‘wives’ who escape.

Sudanese child draws image of rape

‘The Conflict in Darfur Through Children’s Eyes’

- Human Rights Watch

Everyday young girls bodies are used as weapons of war, claimed as the rights of a soldier, abused, enslaved, mutilated, and killed. These girls are only children, and their bodies and minds have been taken from them for the sake of war. No longer can these young girls live in peace, even when the war ends they will suffer the turmoils of conflict. We must work to end this horrid and sadistic practice of violence, and give the girls of war hope for the future.

“Safety and security don’t just happen: they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear. In order to ensure this, we must become tireless in our efforts not only to attain peace, justice and prosperity for countries but also for communities and members of the same family. We must address the roots of violence. Only then will we transform the past century’s legacy from a crushing burden into a cautionary lesson.” -Nelson Mandela, World Report on Violence and Health 2002.

Links:
‘The Shame of War: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict’ - A full downloadable copy, the book is also available for purchase.
Broken bodies — broken dreams: violence against women exposed
Our Bodies…their battleground: Gender-based Violence during Conflict
Razor’s Edge: The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation
The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur
Liberia’s child rape victims
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Local NGO works to heal victims of gender-based violence
Sexual violence, an ‘invisible war crime’

The blue beret, or the blue helmet, symbolizes not only peace, but protection and security for many who have spent their lives riddled by armed conflict. Children see these foreigners in blue hats, and they immediately trust them, they want to befriend them. Unfortunately these men are not always what they seem, many have used the trust and power that the blue beret brings with it, to abuse extremely vulnerable woman and children.

Sexual abuse, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, rape…these are not words one expects to hear when describing the actions of peacekeepers. However this is an unfortunate reality in many countries, and Liberia is just the most recent country with UN peacekeepers in the spotlight over abuse allegations. In Liberia sex-for-aid is ‘widespread’, and girls as young as 8 are being coursed into having sex in exchange for much needed food. Other countries with abuse allegations included, but are not limited to; Bosnia, Haiti, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Morocco, the Congo and Sierra Leone. The issue of peacekeepers in Bosnia was extremely grave, as peacekeepers where heavily involved in sex trafficking and enslavement of countless girls. Peacekeepers where ensured a safe passage in the the numerous brothels that has sprouted up, as brothel security was often peacekeepers themselves.

Imagine you are a child who’s whole family has been murdered before your eyes, your home burned, and you have only escaped as they thought you too where dead. You have now walked for three days with little food or water…you see the camp ahead of you as salvation, the men who guard it as saviors, but your dreams of safety are quickly shattered as you are raped behind that fence of safety. While this narrative is fictionalized, the hideous acts illustrated are not, and the abuses of children are a far cry from truly heard.

Cases of abuse are as varied as they unspeakable, one of the most shocking was in 1997 when Belgian UN troops admitted to ‘roasting’ Somali boy. Other U.N. peacekeeping atrocities have included; an Italian peacekeeper sexually abused and strangled to death a young boy, and the discovery of human trafficking rings.

There has been a lot of public uproar over the delay in reporting such issues of Sexual abuse of children by UN Peacekeepers, including that of the abuses in Sudan which appeared to take at least six months to report. However the biggest concern is cases where the has stated that they cases of abuse have been unsubstantiated and that the UN rejects refugee sex abuse allegations. Regardless of the fact that many of these issues have now been restated, bares little cause for hope that justice is truly being served. It leaves many to questioning if there are countless other ghastly abuses by UN Peacekeepers, that have been kept under wraps?

In the 1996 UN study,The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, highlighted all aspects of war, and the effects which it has on children. In the study Graça Machel, former first Lady of Mozambique, stated:

“In 6 out of 12 country studies on sexual exploitation of children in situations of armed conflict prepared for the present report, the arrival of peacekeeping troops has been associated with a rapid rise in child prostitution.”

Earlier this year, in January, the UN sent a new group of peacekeepers to Liberia, to add to their current 15,000 peacekeeping troops. However the newest group of peacekeepers was somewhat different, they are all women, comprised of just over 100 Indian policewomen. This is the first attempt of the UN to send an all female peace keeping force, and many hope it will help the already vulnerable groups, including women and children. The anticipated outcome of placing the female peacekeepers, the UN hopes to see that woman and children feel even more secure and comfortable, while continuing to protect their rights.

Trading money or food for sex with young girls, is no less a crime for a peacekeeper, as rape, pedophilia, child-pornography, child sex trafficking, physically or mental abuse. The abusive nature of many peacekeepers is hindering the already strained role of the UN in countries around the world. In October 2005, for the 60th anniversary of the UN, the New York Times editorial heavily condemned the UN for the continuing abuse by peacekeepers:

“Nothing discredits the United Nations more than the continuing sexual abuse of women and girls by soldiers belonging to its international peacekeeping missions. And yet almost a year after shocking disclosures about such crimes in Congo, far too little has been done to end the culture of impunity, exploitation and sexual chauvinism that permits them to go on.” (New York Times)

The UN and the entire international community must ensure that when the men and woman in the blue berets show up to protect our children from predators, that they do just that. For if one cannot trust those sent to protect them, to look after the children , then who can one trust. Children who have gown-up and spent their entire lives in the middle of armed conflict, have little trust and security to begin with, we cannot standby and allow them to be continually abused and re-violated. UN Peacekeepers who engage in, or are suspected of such activities, should immediately be removed from the country in question, their actions investigated and their crimes punished, including a permanent ban on all associated activities with the UN, or any other peacekeeping, security or police forces.

However one must note that children who have been repeatedly victimized, especially by figures of authority, often do not report their abuse, or abusers. Those in power have an obligation to see that all children must feel safe and protected, it is their inherent right as a child. If children cannot trust someone sent to bring peace and order to their disrupted lives, then who can they see as trustworthy? One must hope that the acknowledgment and punishment of those who have committed such grave crimes against vulnerable children, continues. In addition that the UN and International communities continues to take strides to see that the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict feel even safer and securer than before. The deployment of the first all female peacekeeping force is one start in the right direction, but lets keep in mind that this is not just a problem for the UN, but all national military forces, and we must see that all predators are prosecuted, regardless of affiliation.

Links:
PEACEKEEPING WATCH: Monitoring Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers and the Efforts of the International Community to Respond
CDI - Children and Armed Conflict Resources
The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children
United States Outraged at Abuses by U.N. Peacekeepers in Africa
Must Boys Be Boys? Sexual Exploitation in UN Missions
“We’ll kill you if you cry”