Children

The AIDS pandemic effects not only those who sub-come to the deadly disease, but to both their families and communities. Villages have been stripped of generations, families have fallen apart, and children have been orphaned in extraordinary numbers. The long reaching effects of HIV/AIDS cannot be ignored, and nor can the children for which it has left behind.

• Over 15 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, over 12 million children have been orphaned by the pandemic.

• Experts believe that millions more orphans remain unaccounted for in India, China and Russia.

• By 2010, the number of AIDS orphans worldwide is expected to reach at least 20 million.

Children are not only left traumatized by the death of one or both of their parents, but also remain heavily stigmatized by the disease which has led many children to be turned out to the streets and left many children in poverty.

World AIDS Orphans Day has surprisingly has its roots on Wall Street, as it began with a demonstration on Wall Street in 2002, as activists carried signs that read: “What is the value of an orphan on the New York stock exchange?” The fight six years later has hardly changed, and the face of the largest victims to the pandemic remain the same. Children who are orphaned by AIDS are some of the worlds most vulnerable children, often born into struggle, all raised with the stigma and the fear of the disease. Each child left to fight for both the present and the future, disadvantaged and left behind they are a generation of instability that affects the entire global nation;

“There are many, many awful problems in this world today, but our first task is to raise the next generation in a way that they can become productive citizens and not become child soldiers or terrorists or drug dealers or prostitutes or whatever. All the things we’re seeing,”says Albina du Boisrouvray of the FXB Foundation (VOA).

Therefore today is a grassroots campaign which calls upon donor countries to commit at least 10% of their AIDS funding to that of the needs of AIDS orphans and vulnerable children. Let us look to a future where a generation is not orphaned to disease and left to struggle against poverty, violence and stigma. For more information please see World Aids Orphans.

UN treaty for world’s disabled people takes effect A United Nations pact aimed at boosting the rights of the 650 million disabled people around the world took effect Saturday. Twenty-five countries so far have ratified the treaty, which outlaws discrimination based on disability in the workplace and in education.

Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro has been designated the laureate of the 2008 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The investigative journalist exposed the involvement of wealthy Mexican businessmen and politicians in prostitution and child pornography rings. She also wrote about the violence in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, where hundreds of women have been killed. The prize will be awarded in the Mozambican capital Maputo on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day. The award includes a cash prize of USD 25,000. (Radio Netherlands)

Saudi women are being kept in perpetual childhood so male relatives can exercise “guardianship” over them, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) group has said. The New York-based group says Saudi women have to obtain permission from male relatives to work, travel, study, marry or even receive health care. Their access to justice is also severely constrained, it says. The group says the Saudi establishment sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women. Saudi clerics see the guardianship of women’s honor as a key to the country’s social and moral order.

Study links autism to parents. In another sign pointing to an inherited component to autism, a study released on Monday found that having a schizophrenic parent or a mother with psychiatric problems roughly doubled a child’s risk of being autistic.

Child labor may seem like a thing of the past, a relic last left in the cloudy days of the Depression, sadly the use of child labor has never been erased and it has proved to be a stalemate in societies. In India, child labor proves hard to end, as millions of children continue to work to aid their families financial burden. The ‘old tradition’ of child labor has become an increasingly difficult cycle to brake, in spite of both government efforts and international pressure. The biggest hurdle in combating child is that in India it is not illegal, bar the work is not seen as “hazardous” for those children under 14 years old. According to the government there are at least some 12.6 million children out of school and engaged in labor, however NGOs put the true number as high as 60 million children.

India’s child labor includes girls like Jasmina, who was sent to work with her sister as maids, by her mother, after her father died. Jasmina revives 100 rupees, or $2.25, for her work each month. Abuse is ripe in the world of child labor, and stories like Jasmina’s are not unique:

“I get tired and forget things, so they hit me,” Jasmina said, her eyes cast down. “They want the shoes polished. If I don’t do it fast enough they hit me with a cooking spoon. They want to go to the toilet. If I don’t get the water fast enough I get a beating” (International Herald Tribune).

Children are not just forced into domestic work, as millions are found working in industry such as glass-blowing, fireworks, and more commonly, carpet-making factories. Children are forced to work long hours for little or no pay, often given little nourishment and no education; leaving a generation with no sustainable skills for the future, and leaving them ripe for abuse and exploitation. While societal pressure is increasing, the battle to end child labor in India is one that will not be won over night and it is blatantly clear that legislation alone will not end the suffering of millions of children. The root of child labor is deeper than just cultural backwardness, while it is a huge factor for change, the deeper root lies in the economic stability of families and communities.

“Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations. All this is put in your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children.” -Albert Einstein

Children inherit our mistakes, our wars and the backlash of our greed. The mistakes of history are never truly seen until the reach the children of future generations. Often I hear people say, “but it doesn’t affect me.” or “It won’t effect my children.”, when it comes to so many global issues, such as the environment, poverty, modern slavery and so forth. The truth of the matter is these ‘global’ issues affect us all and it is the children of the future who will suffer the consequences of our mistakes or our turning a blind eye. Let us remember that the future is in our hands and our values and our actions is what marks the future, so dare we leave it scared or do we leave it in hope for a better tomorrow, the choose is ours, the price is the children’s!

Quarter of kids don’t meet vaccine schedule, as more than a quarter of American children do not meet the U.S. government’s recommendations for childhood vaccinations, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers.

Viral outbreak hits China province, as the deaths of 19 children and the infection of more than 900 people with enterovirus 71, which can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, have panicked residents of China’s Anhui province and pushed authorities to set up a daily reporting mechanism to track the virus’ spread. World Health Organization officials are urging parents to keep their children away from public places until the outbreak subsides.

Cambodian school food program faces suspension as the continual rise in global food prices are now endangering a World Food Program initiative supplying free breakfast to 450,000 Cambodian children at more than 1,300 schools across the country. In just under a month, the schools’ rice stocks will be gone and the breakfast program suspended indefinitely.

Radiohead song to raise awareness on human rights Pioneering rock band Radiohead has lent its song “All I Need” to an MTV campaign to raise awareness about sweatshop labor and human trafficking. The move builds on the British band’s previous efforts to highlight slave labor and environmental issues.

UNICEF: Climate change mainly hits poor children, according to UNICEF warned in a new report. Problems such as floods, droughts and malaria, which experts say are worsening because of global warming, already are taking a big toll on children in developing nations, the UN agency says.