Children

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict is visiting Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) to see first-hand the situation of war-impacted children in the two countries. From May 26-31 at the invitation of the Governments of the two nations, Radhika Coomaraswamy will look into child recruitment by State and non-State actors. She also intends to focus on key issues including the cross-border recruitment of children; the safety of humanitarian workers; the security of camps for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); and the increase of rapes and other sexual violence.

Bereaved parents lash out at Chinese authorities after their children were crushed in falling school classrooms during the devastating May 12 earthquake have begun voicing their anger at Chinese officials over shoddy construction that may have led to the collapses.

South Africa is to set up seven refugee camps around the country for foreign migrant workers who have fled a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence. The holding camps will take up to 70,000 people from the increasingly unsanitary conditions at temporary shelters put up around state buildings. The government decision comes despite strong advice from respected international aid agencies. They say South Africa does not have the expertise necessary to run the camps. Meanwhile, Nigeria says it will press for compensation from the South African government for its citizens who were victims of the violence. (BBC) After nearly two weeks of violent attacks on foreign nationals, migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers living in some of South Africa’s informal settlements, the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) is helping the hardest-hit cities of Johannesburg, Ekhuruleni and Tshwane to provide emergency relief supplies to vulnerable women and children. UNICEF has supplied adult hygiene kits, food, clothing and blankets for victims of the violence, most of whom fled their homes with few or no possessions. The aim is to ensure that babies, young children and mothers are adequately clothed, safely and appropriately fed and that basic hygiene is maintained.

Cuba plans to build 14,000 plastic homes a year to help ease a national housing shortage. Set to begin in September, the program will use polyvinyl chloride from a petrochemical facility to be built with Venezuelan aid at a refinery in Cienfuegos, Prensa Latina said. “Cuba will produce more than 14,000 houses annually with polyvinyl chloride, thanks to a bi-national project with Venezuela,” project director Julian Alonso told the news agency. Cuba is said to need about half a million homes to provide sufficient housing for its people. (Reuters)

Guatemala’s attorney general is annulling 15 pending adoptions by US couples after finding evidence of fraud or other irregularities. Attorney General Baudilio Portillo suspended all 2,286 pending adoption cases in early May to investigate them. So far officials have looked into 160 cases. Of those, 145 will move forward. But the 15 babies whose cases have been annulled will be put in foster homes until a judge locates their parents. Guatemala has been plagued by allegations of adoption fraud, including allegations that babies are stolen from their birth parents or even sold by desperate mothers. But a new law is aimed at improving the process. (BBC)

The US shipping industry cautioned Congress that a proposal to buy US food aid from farmers overseas, which the White House contends will help save lives when hunger strikes, will drain aid budgets and could even make things worse for the world’s poor. The coalition of shipping firms and industry groups hit back against mounting criticism of Congress’ opposition to the Bush administration proposal, which would free a quarter of emergency food aid funds from purchasing rules requiring US crops and, mostly, US-flagged ships be used in donating aid. (Reuters)

Some 150,000 Urdu-speaking Muslim refugees have the right to be Bangladesh citizens, a court has ruled. The Dhaka high court ruling applies to those who were minors when Bangladesh won independence in 1971 or born after. The Biharis, as they are known locally, moved from India to what was then East Pakistan following partition in 1947. Many of them were stranded in the majority Bengali-speaking Bangladesh without citizenship when the country attained independence from Pakistan. Correspondents say the issue has been controversial in Bangladesh because many of the Biharis sided with Pakistan during the war. (BBC)

In Iran a gay teenager who said he could be executed if he was sent home has been given asylum in Britain. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2005, but later discovered his boyfriend had been charged with sodomy in Iran and hanged. A 38-year-old Iranian soldier who deserted rather than lay anti-personnel landmines also won the right to stay. The soldier, identified only as BE, fled to Britain after refusing to plant mines in roads. In March 2001 the home secretary refused the man’s claim for asylum, saying he had not only undertaken military service but had signed up as a regular soldier “without any apparent qualms.” (BBC)

In a new report issued by Amnesty International, the 2008 State of the Worlds Human Rights, it has painstakingly come to light that after sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that human rights still widely abused in dozens of countries. The forward of the report was entitled, “Broken Promises”, where it went straight to the point stating;

“World leaders owe an apology for failing to deliver on the promise of justice and equality in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted 60 years ago. In the past six decades, many governments have shown more interest in the abuse of power or in the pursuit of political self-interest, than in respecting the rights of those they lead. “

The report, which comes out annually stated that people “are still tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are not allowed to speak freely in at least 77 countries.” Countries with the most apparent violations included Zimbabwe, Myanmar and Sudan, all of which can be repeatedly seen littering the humanitarian news wires with report of violations, abuse or mistreatment their citizens.

“World leaders are in a state of denial but their failure to act has a high cost,” Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said in the press release accompanying the report.

The report singled out many countries, including pointing to the United States for violations of Article 11, “Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law”, at Guantanamo Bay. The report stated that, as “the world’s most powerful state” it “sets the standard for government behavior globally.” But, Amnesty International said, the United States had “distinguished itself in recent years through its defiance of international law.” The US State Department has previously accused Amnesty International of using the United States as “a convenient ideological punching bag.” (The New York Times).

Violations against children cross over into all areas of the report, however under the reports ‘Global Themes’ one area stands out more than others was Stop Violence Against Women, for which it highlights the disproportionate abuse against women and girls, including rape, domestic violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), etc. The report, while not disputing the significant progress made in the last sixty years, serves to illustrate the lack progress that has been made in many areas of human rights development and the long road that lies ahead if we are to work as a global world to eradicate human rights violations, especially against children.

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
- Haida Indian Saying

When we borrow money we pay it back with interest, when we borrow a car we fill it with gas, and when we borrow our friends clothes we clean them before we return them. However when we borrow the future from out children we look to be giving it back to them broken and worn, with no resources to fix it with. Our world is not replaceable and our children’s futures should not be taken for granted. We must live today with the future in mind, so that our children will not inherit our failures.

Recent reports in Kenya of a Boy’s suicide reveals gaps in HIV education, the boy was in secondary school when he received his fateful results which was accompanied by no counseling. Soon after his results where received to committed suicide by ingesting lethal amounts of pesticide. The boys death which occurred last month has sparked grave concern over the gap in HIV/AIDS education in schools;

“Serious awareness-raising and counseling of students on HIV is non-existent in schools here; the little information they have is either gathered from public meetings, dramas or media. The results sheet was a death sentence passed to him; he was not counseled or offered words of hope, hence his belief that testing positive was the end of life,” “It is possible he also feared isolation by the community.” said one of the boy’s teachers, who preferred not to be named.

The boys death in Kenya was obviously trajic and highly preventable, but it leaves one to question how many other young people are committing suicide out of misinformation and fear of a life living with HIV/AIDS?  Education is a huge gap in many countries, especially in rural areas, and this case only highlights the urgent need to see that education and awareness programs are put into place in both schools and communities across Africa.

In Burma (Myanmar) cyclone Nargis’s death toll has reached some 134,000 people dead or missing, one third of which may be children according to UNICEF. Thousands more young children are expected to die within two to three weeks from hunger if doesn’t reach them soon according to Save the Children. According to Save the Children, an estimated 30,000 children under the age of five in the cyclone-affected Irrawaddy Delta were already acutely malnourished before the cyclone hit on May 2, and thus would already be suffering from aggravated conditions of malnutrition. Undocumented numbers of children have also been left orphans by the cyclones destruction, more than 600 are estimated thus far, leaving the military junta to work with UNICEF and the Red Cross to set up orphanages for cyclone orphans(AP).

The World Bank is working to coordinate international aid for cyclone-hit country from The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is ready to deploy teams to do damage assessments, Sarah Cliffe, Director of World Bank Operations for East Asia and the Pacific, said on May 20. The goal is to get humanitarian aid to victims, however the military government in Myanmar has said it won’t allow Western aid unfettered access to disaster areas.

The stonewalling of the government has left the European Parliament is threatening to bring the military regime before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It will vote on May 22 on whether to charge the government with crimes against humanity, Radio Netherlands reported. Thus far only small portion of aid has been able to get through to the 2.5 million people affected by the cyclone. On May 23rd in a deal negotiated by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and junta supremo Than Shwe, it was agreed to let in “all” aid workers regardless of their nationality (Reuters). However within days aid efforts were already appearing to be stonewalled, nonetheless some aid efforts have been able to seep in and thus many are hopeful that the block on aid will quickly dissolve (Reuters).

One can only hope that the aid will not be too late for the thousands of Burmese children who have been left in extreme cases of hunger and nourishment as a result of both the cyclone and the bureaucracy that followed.

On this Memorial Day as we remember all those who fell in the fight for freedom, forget also not the children for which so many have died for. Those children for whom freedom has been fought for around the world, those who have been left orphaned by the violence of hate and war. Remember the children in America and across the globe, remember the fight for freedom and peace is the fight for the future.

Dear Esteemed Readers,

Appologies and thanks for your patience, while I have been busy on other projects traveling, thus not giving the Children’s blog my full attention. However I wanted to report back to you that my trip to Budapest, Hungary was a success, I attended the 7th Annual Conference on Violence and the Contexts of Hostility, where I sat and presented on the panel on Sex, Sexuality and Violence

My paper was, Rape as a Weapon of War: The Long Term Effects on Victims and Society (See link to full paper below). The theme of this conference was on ‘Violence, Victims and Others -Understanding violence by understanding the impact it has on its victims.’ The paper studies the use of rape as a tool of war, including the short and long term effects it has on the individual, as well as the societal and political future of a country.

The paper looks at the following key questions: Does rape as a tool of war leave a country with less chance of a solid and stable political future? What are the long term effects on the society as a whole? What are the ongoing effects of stigmatizing, victims, including a look into the effects of marriages among victims. This will also entails looking at the inequality and gender discrimination women face in times of war, including social exclusion, and how this symbolic form of violence affects that marginalization in the future and in times of peace. What promotes an individual to use rape as a tool of war, and what are key motivating factors? What function does rape have in modern day warfare, and how does it compare in a historical perspective? The paper concludes with recommendations on for more in depth analysis and studies on primary and secondary victims, as well as the rapist. These recommendations lead into how to work towards a sustainable end to the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Please see the following link to Download Conference Paper, but stay tuned as I will be doing a more in depth study and more extensive paper which I hope to have released for publication in the coming months.

Again thank you for your readership and support.

Cassandra

From April 2004 and October 2007 child soldiers participated in armed conflict in Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda.

The report also highlights the often forgotten use of girls as child combatants, cooks, porters and sex slaves, as does the report highlight that reintegration programs for former child soldiers are highly lacking, as children are continually left out of the demobilization and reintegration programs.

According to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in the 2008 Child Soldiers Global Report the number of conflicts that use child soldiers has dramatically decreased from 27 countries using child soldiers to 17 in the last 4 years. However while the report may highlight the decrease of child soldiers it is no time for rejoice, as children continue to be used as the pawns of war. Children are the largest victims of war in any conflict, however when children pick up arms, they become the collateral of war, forever scared by the images of war and abuse.

Children in many non-conflict countries remain in danger of being drawn into conflict, as the fragility of many states continues to place children at high risk of recruitment and abduction. One reason for the continued use and vitality of children in times of conflict is the impunity that remains for those who use children as combatants and sex slaves.

Please see my previous post on Child Soldiers for more information and details on many of the current conflicts.

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” -Mahatma Gandhi

Children are the root of peace, should we not invest in them and their future then peace will only be an enigma. Children who are only shown war see only a future where war is the only option. Peace must be a priority for all of life’s education and the best students and teachers of peace are children.

Turkey: Turkish-German Professionals: Young, Qualified and Unwanted Highly qualified professionals of Turkish descent are leaving Germany because they feel denied opportunities there. In contrast other countries, particularly Turkey, are vying for their talents. Experts warn of the disastrous consequences of this “fatal” brain drain( Spiegel).

Myanmar: Relief workers who are still prohibited from entering Myanmar warned that it could take weeks to reach many cyclone victims due to the nation’s decrepit infrastructure. Such a delay will increase the number of people at risk and raise the possibility of unrest, they said. As many as 1.5 million people — including more than 200,000 now believed to be congregating in temporary camps along Myanmar’s coast — face an increasing risk of epidemics of malaria, cholera and other potentially deadly diseases, aid workers said. (WSJ Asia)

Afghanistan: The killing and abduction of dozens of health workers in the past two years has prompted officials to shut down at least 36 health facilities in Afghanistan’s volatile southern and eastern provinces, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of basic health services, according to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). Afghanistan has managed to reduce slightly its high infant mortality rate from 165 under-five deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to about 135 per 1,000 in 2006, but it is still struggling to deliver basic health services in some 85 percent of the country’s territory. (IRIN)

Italy: Italian police are being forced to protect Roma Gypsies who have come under attack from local residents in Naples two nights running. Makeshift homes were set alight as demonstrators attacked two camps. The disturbance was sparked by an alleged kidnap attempt by a Roma teenager. There is deep suspicion throughout the country of the Roma community. The government is preparing controversial anti-immigration measures targeting Romanians in particular. The incidents in Naples began when a Roma teenage girl was caught inside an apartment, allegedly trying to steal a six-month-old baby girl. (BBC)

Israel: Israel’s Arab minority has a lower life expectancy than that of Jewish citizens; the Arab community suffers from higher infant mortality rates; and in relative terms the number of elderly Arabs without teeth is very high. A new report says these are some of the signs of discrimination within the health care system. According to official numbers, there is about a five-year difference between the life expectancy of Jews and Arabs. Muslim-Arabs have an infant mortality rate of 7.3 for every 1,000 births - and among the Bedouins it was 15.5 - compared to just 3.1 for Jewish citizens. (IRIN)

China: More than 80,000 dead or missing in quake , the government said on Thursday, up from the reported 70,000 issued on Tuesday. Concerns that the death toll could continue to rise as disease increased following the rainy season and aftershocks.