Children

When it comes to issues of children’s rights there is no debate as to the fact that children should not be abused either physically or sexually. Therefore when the debates do arise, they are mostly on the fact that we seem to be doing little as an international community to stop the continuous and often blatant human rights violations against children. Other debates rage on in regards to funding, legislation, and other related issues which seem to sit more at a political level than a human level.

The issue of child porn is a sensitive one, for its victims are never allowed to escape their abusers, as their abuse continues indefinitely, once circulated. While the persecution of pedophiles and the efforts of law enforcement have increased, so has the difficulty to catch these offenders and find their innocent victims.

However it is not these obvious and blatant abuses that I want to talk about today, it is a new kind of victim…a virtual victim! In our ever growing technological age abusers are continuing to grow more and more savvy about hiding their identities and and avoiding the law and persecution. But what do we do when the victim in a case of child porn is not a living breathing child, but a virtual child?

What is Virtual Child Porn?

It is pornographic material that appears to depict children, but doesn’t use real children. The use of the term “virtual,” with its connotations of “virtual reality”, makes some think that virtual child porn must involve the use of the Internet, however it doesn’t have to.

The types of virtual child porn:

1. Composites: The “models” in these virtual images appear underage, and are presented as such in the surrounding text, advertisements, etc. However, these “models” don’t really exist: they were “assembled” from perfectly legal photographs using an editing program such as Photoshop, and perhaps using the face of a child on the body of a underdeveloped adult. Therefore, the creation of this kind of pornography didn’t actually involve children. However it can be argued that it promotes child abuse, or does involve a child if a ‘real’ child’s face is used or if one believes that it is that ‘real’ child’s body.

2. Pictures of people who look underage with surrounding text claiming them as underage, but who are actually legal. Thus the pornographer has used an 18-year-old who looks 15 or 13 for example.

*In a recent United States Supreme Court decision (Ashcroft vs. The Free Speech Coalition), the Supremes held that these two forms of pornography were protected by the First Amendment.

Here are my non-researched, non-academic thoughts and fears on the idea of ‘virtual child porn’:

I wonder if the idea of ‘virtual porn’ is just a ticking time bomb to bigger things. To me it is like giving a person a teaser, a taste of something naughty, which only has them wanting more…wanting the real thing. My analogical comparison is to cake: it’s there all the time and with easy access, but you don’t want to eat cake all the time. However when you walk by a bakery and you smell cake, you suddenly want cake. You’re having dinner and someone orders cake, they offer you a bite, you eat it, and then you are not satisfied by a bite and you want a whole piece. You know you have cake down stairs just waiting there, so you want it, and you eat a piece and then think “well why not? I will just finish it!”. All the while you know that cake is bad for you, but it’s just there tempting you, so your inherent cravings get the best of you. However if there is no cake in site you don’t think much about it, nor do you continually crave it.

As they say, “The only way to kill a monster is to starve it!”

Therefore I wonder if by giving people the opportunity to experiment with the idea of child porn, are we allowing them an opportunity to increase their craving for the real thing. I am slightly divided personally on the legalization issue, for two main reasons; One, as it is hard enough to catch a person who is in possession of ‘real’ child porn, and spending resources on ‘virtual predators’ may not be the best use of already strained resources. Secondly, I know there are a lot of people with ‘bad thoughts’ or desires that have managed to avoid the temptation: people who have had the urge to kill but did not act on it, yet maybe if some one had handed them a gun they would have. However there is a flip side to this argument, and that is the argument that the use of ‘virtual porn’ keeps pedophiles and would-be pedophiles away from children, by giving them an outlet for their “sickness”. While it is surely a subject that could use more research and debate, I am not a scientist, but I do know that sex or thoughts of sex with a child are wrong, regardless of if ‘virtual child porn’ is legal or illegal.

Please share your thoughts on this subject, I look forward to hearing your view points.

Related Papers and Articles mostly on the Legal Aspects of ‘Virtual Child Porn’:
Virtual Child Porn Riles Law Enforcement 2007
Dutch demand ban of virtual child porn in Second Life 2007
2002 Supreme Court strikes down ban on ‘virtual child porn’
Does Virtual Child Porn Equal Child Exploitation? 2002
“VIRTUAL CHILD” PORNOGRAPHY ON THE INTERNET: A “VIRTUAL” VICTIM?
Virtual Child Pornography - a paper for the legalization
Virtual Child Pornography - An overview written by a First Amendment Scholar
Japanese Poll on Manga Child Porn Regulation 2007
Web a playground for child porn

Recently Uzbekistan has begun to receive some scrutiny over the use of forced child labor in the cotton fields, however for many its long over due. The use of children in the cotton fields dates back to the Soviet era, and as a signatory of The Convention on the Rights of the Child, Uzbekistan has received little if any repercussions by the international community over the years.

Uzbekistan is the worlds third largest exporter of cotton, and according to UNICEF some 1.4 million children, 22.6% of the population 5-14 years old, are forced to work in the exploitive government run industry. However the Uzbek government has repeatedly denied the forcible use of children in the cotton harvest.

In an open letter to the European Council, The US Administration, The International Cotton Advisory Committee, UNICEF, and the International Labor Organization (ILO), dated January 17, 2007, a group of some 100 Uzbek dissidents and activists abroad and 40 in Uzbekistan, say that use of forced child labor in the Uzbek cotton industry has become a “deliberate state policy” aimed at “acquiring extra profits.”

Nadejda Atayeva, a former schoolteacher, who was fired from her job in Uzbekistan for refusing to send sick schoolchildren to the cotton fields, now runs a Paris-based Association on Human Rights in Central Asia, stated the signatories are all Uzbek’s with firsthand experience of conditions in Uzbek cotton fields. Atayeva claimed that those who deny their accusations appear to have been deceived by the Uzbek government. “Our appeal is based on our concern over the fate of Uzbekistan’s children, who are deprived of a proper education at the expense of collecting ‘white gold,’” Atayeva says (Cotton Industry Targeted By Child-Labor Activists).

The letter directly followed the November 15, 2007, Call for Uzbekistan cotton boycott by a group of civil society activists from Uzbekistan. Following the call for the boycott the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) issued a letter, dated November 30, 2007, stating that a boycott of Uzbek cotton in international markets would be “highly impractical”, and .

The media revelations over the past year, including an eye opening expose by the BBC, of the abuses of children in Uzbekistan have promoted some companies to act, such as Swedish based H&M, Finland’s Marimekko, and Estonia’s Krenholm. The newest companies to join the boycott are the UK’s Tesco and Marks and Spencer, who announced this month that they will no longer purchase cotton from Uzbekistan. Tesco stated that they will now required all suppliers to identify the source of raw cotton.  While these efforts are a giant step forward, they are a long way off from freeing Uzbek children from the cotton fields. The true fate of the children lies in the hands of the Uzbek government who continue to deny and skirt the truth, and the international community who looks on with blind eyes.  Until both the Uzbek government and the international community on the whole act to make an honest industry of Uzbek cotton.

 

Related Links:
Please see my previous post, Child Picked Cotton…Central Asia’s Child Labor

The Curse of Cotton: Central Asia’s Destructive Monoculture
The Environmental Justice Foundation - Child Labour and Cotton in Uzbekistan
Focus on child labour in southern cotton sector
Elliott Cannell’s paper, ‘The Role of Children in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest’, published at the SOAS confrence ‘The Cotton Sector in Central Asia: Economic Policy and Development’,

Afghanistan has fallen off the radar for many in the wake of the ongoing war in Iraq, however the struggle in Afghanistan is far from over. Rebuilding after a war, and years of repression, is never easy, especially for the children. The children of Afghanistan have been born into hardship, they dream of prosperity, and they continue to suffer needlessly as the remnants of war remain. The fight for adequate housing, healthcare and education are not the only struggle in post war Afghanistan, but children are also suffering from preventable diseases, landmines, and mother nature.

Too many young children dying of preventable diseases, as some 600 children under five die every day in Afghanistan due to pneumonia, poor nutrition, diarrhea and other preventable diseases, according to the State of the World’s Children 2008, which was released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). While the country has made substancial improvements to the healthcare system, they have the 3rd highest infant mortality rate, and has the 2nd highest maternal mortality rate, in the world. While these figures are high, the child mortality rate in the country has dropped 25% since 2001, due to an increase to 80% of basic health services for citizens.

One of the most dangerous remnants of war that plague the children of Afghanistan are the landmines that are scattered across the country, hidden from plain site. Children are at high risk for landmine death or injury, and with injuries comes another battle in a country with an already weak healthcare infrastructure, as some 95% of landmine injuries result in disability. According to the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMACA) landmines have killed 143 and wounded another 438 people in 2007 alone. The 2007 figures are down from 2006 when 124 where killed 124 and 697 wounded, however they remain too high and demining must be made a higher priority. The use of landmines by rebel factions is high due to their inexpensive nature as the report, Laying Landmines to Rest? Humanitarian Mine Action, shows that conventional anti-personnel landmines cost a mere $3 to $27 to produce, and according to the UK Mine Information and Training Centre (MITC), clearing these mines costs the international community $300-$1,000 per mine. Therefore

Sadly this winter has not been a friend to the the Afghans, as the cold-snap deaths top 300 (note, as of January 29th death toll rises over 500), as heavy snows have pounded much of the country over the last month. Most of the reported deaths have been children, and the death toll is expected to rise as the harsh weather continues. Most of those severely effected live in rural areas, with little to no access to healhcare, which is a major concern as children are more susceptible to cold related diseases such as pneumonia.

All of the factors heavily impact a child’s access to education, with attendence in schools remaining low, according to UNICEF attendence from 2000-2006 was estimated at 40% for females and 66% for males at the primary level and only 6% for females and 18% for males at the secondary level.

Therefore one can easily see that these are major concerns for the long term future of Afghan children and the sustainability of the country on the whole. Thus we must not leave the children of Afghanistan in the shadows of war, but increase our aid efforts and bring the continuing struggles of the innocent children to the forefront.

China’s “One Child” policy has been consistently broken by the country’s elites, but this issue is more than one of law braking and population control, it only brings light to the great divide between the countries rich and poor. Many elites ignore the laws and simply pay the hefty fines, which could amount to $130,000, while others are more blatant in their actions. Non-city dwellers are still allowed to have a second child if their first child is a girl, however the policy, which has been in existence for 30 years continues to cause great concern and divide among the population, especially as millions of girls have been systematically aborted, abandoned or killed over the years due to the policy.

Chevron gives $30m to global health fund, to be dispersed in cash over the next three years to the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria. The move to lend direct corporate support to international health programs, has been seen as a ground braking move by many, as in addition Chevron will provide local assistance through employees to Global Fund projects in six developing countries in Africa and Asia.

Health workers in Botswana have confirmed two cases of extremely dangerous TB strains, which are extremely drug-resistant, raising fears of a new health crisis. TB cases that show resistance to the first-line treatment drugs had already been rising in numbers for more than a decade in Botswana. Almost 10 million children die before their fifth birthday across the globe, with , this has many have been left baffled and confused at UNICEF with the mixed progress on children’s healthIndonesia female circumcision traditions continue in spite of the outrage and opposition to the practice in most corners of the world, the overwhelming majority of Indonesian girls are still being forced by their families to undergo female circumcision, usually before their 14th birthdays. Debate in Indonesia has only just begun, on whether or not to an the practice.

Sri Lanka has been engaged in a civil war for 25 years, causing displacement, death, and poverty, and while many have longed for peace it appears it now one step farther away at the country has withdrawn from the Ceasefire Agreement.  The agreement was negotiated with the help of Oslo in 2002 between Colombo and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE ).  According to an interview with a Peace Negotiator, ‘Civilians Are the Ones Who Will Suffer’, including the children who now know nothing other than conflict and despair.  Their are currently some quarter of a million people displaced, a large majority of whom are children, left without their basic fundamental rights to education, healthcare and nutrition.

Children truly are the messengers of the future, and it is up to us to ensure that the messages we give them are ones of truth, peace, hope and tolerance. If we give children only images of hate and war, we give them a future of hate and war. Let us not forget the power of youth, and the impact of our example upon their minds and future. Children have the power to shape the future, but it is our generation who give them the tools in which to shape that future.

“Child survival is not only a human rights imperative, it is also a development imperative,” said Joy Phumaphi, Vice President, Human Development Network at the World Bank. “Investing in the health of children and their mothers is a sound economic decision and one of the surest ways for a country to set its course towards a better future.”

According to UNICEF almost 10 million children die before their fifth birthday every year, most of these deaths are from preventable causes. While some are celebrating that the global annual death toll is lower than ever before, others are continuing to fear for the mortality of children in several regions. The child mortality rates in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, remain high and the children in the region are in a constant state of vulnerability.

Yesterday marked the launch of The State of the World’s Children Report 2008: Child Survival, in which UNICEF stated that; “The enormity of the challenge should not be under-estimated”. The report highlighted that at current we are failing to reach the Millennium Development Goals for 2015, which would mean lowering the number of under-five deaths from 9.7 million in 2006 to less than 5 million by 2015. At current the numbers are too high, and child mortality, while lower, is not nearly low enough! Millions of children remain far from the reach of health interventions, and in order to substantially lower the child mortality rate depended on reaching all of the health-related Millennium Development Goals, especially the reduction of poverty. However to decrease child mortality rates we must also improving maternal health, work eliminating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, see that all children have access to proper sanitation and clean drinking water.

In a press release issued yesterday UNICEF stressed the grave need to increase programs and investment in children’s health and poverty reduction around the world to ensure that a drop in child mortality worth celebrating is finally met in 2015.

“Stepping up investment in health systems will be crucial if we are to meet the child health targets set by the United Nations, but progress can be made even when health systems are weak,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “Innovative programs in many countries show that an integrated approach where each child is reached with a package of interventions at one time can bring immediate benefits.”

If the children of today are to be the future of tomorrow, then we must look to reach these goals and beyond if they are to have a chance at life. We as a global society most work collectively to see that the progresses are made, and that children are truly born into this world with an equal and fighting chance at a future, for as it stands now we have given millions no such opportunity.

The word ‘Freedom’, has been used to wage wars and to stand in honor, yet one rarely thinks of the word ‘Freedom’ as something that the majority of the world is without, but as we dawn a new year that is the case for much of the world. According to a recent report by Freedom House, 2007 wasn’t a year of increased emancipation and advancements in freedom across the globe, but one of considerable hindrances. The decline of freedom, was reported on January 16 in the Freedom in the World 2008, an annual survey of political rights and civil liberties worldwide.

The classification of Free, Partly Free, and Not Free, as set by Freedom in the World, are as follows:

A Free country is one where there is broad scope for open political competition, a climate of respect for civil liberties, significant independent civic life, and independent media.

A Partly Free country is one in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties. Partly Free states frequently suffer from an environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife, and often a setting in which a single political party enjoys dominance despite the façade of limited pluralism.

A Not Free country is one where basic political rights are absent, and basic civil liberties are widely and systematically denied.

The report showed that there have been reversals in one-fifth of the world’s countries, showing 38 countries with a decline in freedom, and only 10 countries with an improvement in freedom. The most distinctive regions being South Asia, with the former Soviet Union, Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa all reaching significant levels of decline. Much of the effects of these declines have been seen in news headlines as countries like Russia faced scrutiny over parliamentary elections, Georgia found itself in a state of emergency with violent police actions on demonstrators, the recent assassination in Pakistan of presidential hopeful, Benazir Bhutto, and the continuous rioting in Kenya over reports of vote rigging of the presidential election by the government.

“This year’s results show a profoundly disturbing deterioration of freedom worldwide,” said Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House. “A number of countries that had previously shown progress toward democracy have regressed, while none of the most influential Not Free states showed signs of improvement. As the second consecutive year that the survey has registered a global decline in political rights and civil liberties, friends of freedom worldwide have real cause for concern.”

The concern over the level of freedom is grave, and as our world grows and modernizes, freedom seems to become more distant for many than that of the new hi-tech gadgets that line our shelves. As Americans we say we value freedom above all else, and we should, as in todays world freedom is a rare gem.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. - The Measure of a Man, 1958

Those words ring as true today as it did then, we still walk around in the light failing to to see the shadows that are all around us, ignoring the children of the shadows. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood not for the freedom and justice of black American’s, but for all of mankind, for the children of the world. It was the words of one man that helped to change a nation, and his words must not be ignored today, we must remember to look into the shadows to see those in need.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once said ” A right delayed is a right denied.”, and here we sit on the 40th anniversary of his death, and across the globe people are still waiting for their rights. Children who are born into a world without rights, children who are denied their rights and children whose rights are delayed as there just isn’t enough resources, laws, awareness… Will we learn from those who come before us, from those who have faced the battles so that we may have a better future?

 

Most anyone knows that the first two years in a child’s life key to adult development, and it is the undernourishment of children and pregnant mothers that is the underlying cause of some 3.5 million preventable child deaths each year. After the age of two much of a child’s life is already permanently imprinted upon them, especially their future health. Children who spend their first two years undernourished face irreversible damage, the effects of which linger the remainder of their lives. The effects of undernourishment of children during their first two years of life can lead to irreversible damage, including stunting, shorter adult height, mental retardation, difficulty in school and with concentration, and decreased birth weight in offspring.  Children who are malnourished are at high risk for a number of vitamin deficiencies including; rickets, scurvy, anemia, spina bifida, osteoporosis, and a generally weekend immune system which can leave them susceptible to other diseases and illnesses.   All of these causes can thus lead to a shorter life span, and, or a decreased ability to in adulthood to preform and thus effect their income.

A series of reports by The Lancet: Maternal and Child Undernutrition, have shown that over 1/3rd of the deaths of child hood deaths, and 11% of diseases worldwide, are directly caused by maternal and children undernutrion. The series was done in 6 parts focuses on; Nutrition has slipped through the gap, Over a third of child deaths and 11% of global disease burden due to maternal and child undernutrition, Poor fetal growth or stunting in first two years of life leads to huge negative consequences in later life, Maternal and child nutrition interventions could prevent a quarter of child deaths in poor communities, 80% of world’s undernourished children live in just 20 countries, and The international nutrition system: fragmented, dysfunctional and desperately in need of reform.

The final paper calls for reform to the system, which is comprised of donor organizations, governments, academia and the private sector. The papers claims that, “The moment is ripe for these reforms. Their implementation would transform the political salience of undernutrition, and offer the chance of a better, more productive life to the 67 million children born each year in the countries most severely afflicted by undernutrition.” Such reforms that the paper calls for include, an increase in funding and funding flexibility, an increase in human resources, sustainable policies, coordination of and increasing interest in the issues.

With 80% of the world’s undernourished children living in just 20 countries and in only four of the worlds regions, Africa, Asia, western Pacific and the Middle East, one would think that targeting this preventable tragedy from befalling millions more children would be easy. However the truth is that we have stood face to face with this preventable killer year after year, and decade after decade. Will 2008 be the year we head the call of millions of children around the world?

In order to end undernourishment in children we must focus heavily on prenatal and postnatal care and nutrition for mothers, as this is the starting point for a lifetime of undernourishment and disease. Country specific plans to educate, prevent and treat undernourishment and all malnutrition related issues must be put into place. But the fight to end hunger is not one based merely on food, it is one based on sustainability and nutrition, so we can not just send food aid and think the problem is solved. As I mention in my earlier post, Can we find an end to poverty in 2008?, that ‘while food aid is an immediate need, it cannot be the end of the solution if we are to find sustainable ways out of poverty. What developing nations need is peace and stability, and this needs to be the number one resolution on the 2008 agenda, if we are going to heal the wound of poverty.’ Without peace and economic stability the cycle of poverty and the undernourishment of millions of children looks to continue well into the next generations.

Please these previous posts for more information:
Poverty’s Children…
A Call to Increase the Use of Ready to Use Foods to Fight Malnutrition
Looking to Kenya: Forecasting, preventing and alleviating famine…can we really do it?
Millions of Children Worldwide Die From Malnutrition, but a Few Dollars a Year Can Save Them!
Is Breastfeeding heading for extinction in the Philippines?
Will We Ever See an end to Hunger in Africa?

While the bruises of the body fade in time, the scars of child abuse never fade. Children are never the same again after an abuser has entered their lives, they loose not only the innocence of childhood, but also the chance at a normal future. One cannot erase the memories of abuse, they live in conscious and the subconscious, invading every aspect of ones life. Child abuse victims are given a life sentence, forced to live in the shadows of their abusers.