Children

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday the country should be ashamed of its frequent abortions of female fetuses, a practice that is widespread because of the country’s deep-seated cultural preference for boys. Every year, an estimated 500,000 female fetuses are aborted because of their gender, due in part to the traditional belief that sons will better support their parents when they are old.

“This is a national shame and we must face this challenge squarely here and now. No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated at a conference on ways to “Save the girl child” on Monday (Google/Associated Press).

The case of infanticide in India closely mirrors the case of infanticide in China, due to the high social desire for boys, which are seen as, however while China’s ‘one baby policy’ compounds the the situation, there is little difference in the plight of unborn females in either country. While infanticide is more widespread in rural populations, it is not only a rural issue and effects all social classes due to the culmination of both social stigma attached to girls and poverty. Girls are seen as an a burden, while boys are looked upon as an investment, and thus the gender balance in the country has heavily shifted. Now many rural areas has such hard populations of males versus females that finding a bride is often a challenge.

This public outcry over India’s continual blind eye to the large scale use of infanticide is a major step in the right direction to not only ending the large scale use of this practice, but to saving the future stability of a nation.

Please see my previous post, India’s Missing Girls for more information and background on the situation of infanticide in India.

Every year some 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders and some 27 million people remain enslaved across the globe, over half of which are children. Romania is in no way an exception from the scourge of modern slavery, as children, are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation and forced begging. Roma girls are especially vulnerable for victimization from trafficking both internally and externally.

Earlier this month in Romania more than 40 representatives of national and international NGOs, Churches and government committed to combating human trafficking met in Bucharest to establish the most efficient and effective strategies for trafficking prevention campaigns. The conference set out to find the most effective identification programs, efficient and consistent laws, therapy and support systems, as well as reintegration strategies trafficking victims. The program began in February 2008 through World Vision Romania, with a pilot project dedicated to preventing human trafficking in a rural areas, where large scale migration has increased the children’s risk and exposure to trafficking.

‘There are many people interested in working abroad, especially young people who are ‘charmed’ into believing unverified success stories presented by friends or relatives who have already left the country in search of a better life. Our work in this community right now consists of organizing monthly informational sessions for over 180 children and vocational courses for another 60 young people in the community, in order to help them access better jobs, here in Romania’, said WVR project coordinator. (World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO))

It is fitting that the conference took place in Bucharest, home to thousands of street children, some estimate as high as 10,000. Boys and girls who plague the cities streets begging by day and filling their nights sniffing glue to erase the pains of hunger and abuse that shrouds their lives. Young boys and girls, some only mere toddlers, who often fall prey to sex tourists and traffickers. This months conference is a step in the right direction in working to see these children of the streets, and so many others across Romania and the globe are properly identified, and that successful and sustainable prevention, prosecution, treatment and rehabilitation programs are established.

Links:
UNICEF Romania - Evaluation of Anti-trafficking Policies in Romania
UNICEF - Guidelines on the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking

This week UNICEF has launched “Unite for Child Survival: Advocacy Week” , a full week dedicated to raising awareness to all of the issues facing children around the globe. Part of the campaign is focused on encouraging citizens to use their voice to influence lawmakers and make an impact in saving children’s lives. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is urging supporters contacted their legislators, as they did in 2007, when some 10,000 contacts resulted in the larges US commitment to UNICEF, of $129 million.

Every year some 10 million children die from preventable causes, and organizations like UNICEF and others committed to ending the suffering of children around the globe continually need our help. So regardless of who you choose to volunteer with or support, take this week to learn about the issues facing children around the world, and see how you can use your voice to increase child survival rates. One child suffering is too many, but 10 million is a catastrophe!

More teenage mothers emerge in Texas polygamy probe according to Texas authorities said on April 24th, as they identified 25 more mothers under the age of 18 among those removed from a polygamist compound. There are some 460 minors at the center of what has become the states largest child abuse investigation in history

A U.S. Marine faces a court martial on charges of kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old schoolgirl on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa in February, U.S. military officials said on Friday.

Nigeria faces significant polio increases, as the number of cases have nearly doubled, according to new numbers from the World Health Organization, as a low immunization rate has spread natural strain and vaccine-related outbreaks. Nigeria’s poor health system and widespread fear over the safety of vaccines hinder government efforts to battle the problem.

Iraq refugee crisis response needs plan of action immediately and a better long-term response from the international community, according to members of the International Rescue Committee’s board. While the U.S. should lead efforts, they write, the scope and projected duration of the crisis will require concerted efforts from European and Gulf countries as well.

Today April 25th is World Malaria Day, spearheaded by the Roll Back Malaria campaign, which was launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. Malaria continues to kill more than a million people every year, mostly children, and remains an endemic in 107 countries and territories according to UNICEF. The them of this years World Malaria Day is, “a disease without borders”.

In a press release UNICEF called for stronger action against malaria, as Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, stated:

“It is unacceptable that malaria still kills more than one million people, mostly children, every year. Malaria is a curable and preventable disease that can be controlled by increasing the use of mosquito nets and other proven interventions, as part of integrated, community-based programmes.”

UN urges world to help Africa fight malaria, as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked World Malaria Day Friday by launching a new campaign drive, which is aimed at all African nations, which he claimed those countries where the disease is heavily concentrated, are well behind. “We have the resources and the know-how, but we have less than 1,000 days before the end of 2010,” he stated with urgency. The campaign aims to see that sufficient supplies of mosquito nets or high-quality household sprays by the end of 2010.

In recent malaria news, Sir Lanka, who is close to malaria elimination, with only 196 cases and no deaths from malaria in 2007. However while on the verge of elimination, the battle is not one to be taken lightly as government authorities and NGOs warn that “vigilance” is a must, if the eradication of the disease is to continue, especially due to the high level of vulnerability amongst the majority of the population.

Fighting malaria in children is a costly expense, one that many parents cannot bare, leaving children to suffer the consequences of the deadly disease. According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), malaria is the leading cause of death for children under five in the Congo, with some 21,000 child deaths each year. However drives to distribute treated bed nets continue to have a great impact in the reduction of child deaths. Much more needs to be done in the Congo, and many other developing nations where the cost of anti-malaria treatments continue to remain out of reach for parents.

In Sierra Leone villagers battle malaria in their communities, by administering free malaria testing and providing treatments in those rural areas where the healthcare system has thus far been unable to cope with such needs. While in the Philippines’ the malaria battle advances, as authorities declared 22 of 81 provinces have remained malaria free over the last five years.

As in all the for mentioned countries, the fight over malaria is far from over on many countries, as obstacles remain in the effort to see that global eradication is met by 2010, including economic hurdles, traditional beliefs, population movements and limited access to rural areas.

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” - James Arthur Baldwin

Children follow the path that we set for them, they look to their elders for examples and guidance. As we have all too often seen, as with the children’s poll I mentioned in my Earth Day post, the best example for the worlds children is not being set. If children only see hate, destruction, greed, violence and war then these are the examples we have given them to imitate and turn into the reality of adulthood. Let us give the children of today more examples of kindness, peace, and preservation to imitate, so that the children of tomorrow will need not look so tirelessly for good imitations of life.

Talk of HIV/AIDS in South Africa is nothing new, nor is the scale at which it affects children in the country, where the epidemic is one of the worst in the world. According to the, ‘The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa - National and Provincial Indicators for 2006′ report,estimates that almost half of all deaths, and 71% of deaths among those aged between 15 and 49, are caused by AIDS; leaving half of 15 year old in the country unable to reach the age of 60. According to the National HIV and Syphilis Antenatal Sero-prevalence Survey,conducted by the Department of Health between 2002-2006, there were around 260,000 children below the age of 15 living with HIV.

Sadly children who are infected with the disease are not the only ones who suffer from its sweeping effects. Even more children suffer the loss of their parents and family members from AIDS. UNAIDS estimated that there were 1.2 million South African children orphaned by AIDS in 2005, compared to 780,000 in 2003. This number is only expected to climb in the next few years as the wrath of the virus still has yet to be completely felt. Those orphaned by AIDS are more susceptible to poverty, poor health and a lack of access to education. These children form a lost generation of parent-less children, which then only adds to the strain of the social services and healthcare systems, which is already burdensome under the heavy strain of the ever growing epidemic.

Thus the epidemic in South Africa effects the lives of children in many ways including the obvious, and the not so apparent, such as the impact it has on children’s education. The impact becomes more clear in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, where in Chapter 4: The impact of AIDS on people and societies, it is noted that 21% of teachers in in the country were living with HIV, and thus resulting in less teachers.

As the epidemic continues to soar many have begun to search for alternative therapies and ways of dealing with the disease. In a recent article, Chakras and children, the use of alternative therapy programs, such as energy therapy, where being used to identify and work with vulnerable children. While many debate the validity of such programs, one thing is clear…the children of South Africa need to see a new light of hope at the end of the long and dark tunnel of HIV/AIDS.

For more information on HIV/AIDS in South Africa and it’s reach on children please see Our world
AIDS and childhood in southern Africa, June 2007

Today April 22, 2008 is Earth Day and it’s not only a day to remember to recycle and take a day off from the car, but a day to teach children about protecting their future…a day to learn how to safeguard their future.

This year children across the United States had a chance to share their views on the Environment and how they thing we are doing. For almost a year students have been sharing their views on some of the biggest environmental issues facing our world. The results have been published by Scholastic in the Kids’ Environmental Report Card, the survey is the first to ever be conducted to obtain on children’s views on the environment. More than 17,000 children, who ranged in school age from K-12th grade. When polled on the question: “How would you rate the response to the environmental challenge posed by global climate change?” 39% of them voted “F: Awful! Much more needs to be done”.

Other results include: 54% of kids said that “global climate change” is the most important environmental issue facing the world today, 77% of kids think we should “figure out new ways to recycle old stuff” as a way to deal with our trash. 56% think that only sometimes grown-ups are doing a good job to help the environment, while 20% said “Grown-ups are messing up the planet!”. 85% of kids say that responsibility for the environment belongs to everyone.

From the mouth of babes, we’re failing our children and the protection of their future. However it appears that the future generation may be more in touch with the environment than the last. Most children today appear to be more in tuned with environmental issues than we think, and it is up to us to instill more in them and lead by example. Therefore I hope you will find some of the links below useful. Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day Links and Resources for Children:
Earth Day 2008 Events World Wide
Earth Day Teachers Guide
Earth Day Lesson Plan for 2nd and 3rd graders
Kaboose - History, crafts, recipes and much more.
Earth Day.gov for Kids - Games and Learning activities.
Kids in Action: Earth Day Every Day
Children’s Crafts for Earth Day
Amazing Mom’s Earth Day Ideas for Kids and Classrooms
Earth Day for Earth’s Children: Three Books for Earth Day, 2008
Children’s books honor Earth Day

In the Online Africa Policy Forum, the NGO Women for Women International explains why ending sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) should be a global priority. Patricia Morris, the Director of Program Development for the NGO, went on to explain not only the horrors of gender based violence in times of conflict, but how the effects stretch beyond the victim and effect all of civil society:

“Women’s status in conflict and post conflict countries is a leading indicator of a state’s strength or fragility. Countries in the world where women are the most marginalized, oppressed, and victimized are the ones that are the most fragile; they are the weakest of states. The overwhelming majority of the productive, reproductive and community work that builds strong nations is done by women. When women are destroyed, societies are destroyed and when women are uplifted, societies are uplifted – weak women, weak states, strong women, strong nations. Women must be brought from the background to the foreground of discussions on peace, security and development.”

The epidemic of the use of rape as a weapon of war, I want to point out that while the DRC has one of the highest levels of use of rape in combat, they are far from alone. The use of rape as a weapon of war is rooted deep in our history, however in it’s modern form it has become more violent and more destructive to both the victim and society. The long-term reaches of rape as a tool of warfare go beyond victim and state, they are global and their impact will continue to be felt time and time again. Therefore it is imperative that we make gender inequality a global priority, and see that the use of rape as a weapon ends it’s long run of impunity.

To see the unspeakable horrors of rape as a weapon of war, and it’s effects first hand, you can tune into HBO this month. HBO is airing the documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo.

Countries where rape has been used as a weapon of war in recent conflicts include:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Chechnya, Congo, Cyprus, East Timor, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Liberia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peru, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam, The Former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia), Zimbabwe.

Countries currently engaging in the use of rape as a weapon of war include:
the Sudan, Chechnya, the Central African Republic (CAR,) Congo, and Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC).

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” - Shel Silverstein

Photo: Danny Wilcox Frazier
“Dreaming”, Conesville, Iowa.

Dream child dream…dream big, dream loud, dream proud…never, ever stop dreaming my child. For once you stop dreaming you are no longer alive. It is dreams that give us life, give us hope, and dreams that pave the way for the future. Dreams bring freedom, cure pain, end loneliness…dreams are the power of life the power of hope and peace. So dream child, dream!