Children

“Come, let us put our minds together to see what kind of lives we can create for our children.”
-Chief Sitting Bull (Lakota Indian Chief)

The future of the worlds children is in all our hands, it is not for one alone to strive to see that the children of today and tomorrow are given the lives they deserve. As a global community we must come together as one, united for a better world…a better future for all children, then and only then can we create the best future for our children.

They say that two heads are better than one, imagine the the lives we could create for the worlds children if we truly worked together as a global community to ensure that all children are brought up in a world where poverty, discrimination, slavery, preventable disease, conflict and war, are not part of their future.

Yes, even if we work together, we are a long way off from a world free of pain and anguish for our children. However we sit here in a world riddled by preventable diseases, gender discrimination, low literacy rates, child soldiers, child labor…and we can work together to change these for the better. While the root cause to most of our worlds evils is poverty, we can work to increase education and advocacy…we can work for empowerment. Empowerment is the true key to the future for the worlds children and their families.

While aid programs are indeed necessary and vital, we must see that the aid and support we are giving is not only suited to the situation and culture at hand, but sustainable. We can not apply a band-aid to the future and pray that it fixes itself, meaning one cannot just toss aid at people without looking at what they really need and what will really assist them in the future. Therefore we must look at each situation, culture and climate individually and provide sustainable development programs. For example we can not put into place job skills programs such as sewing if there is no market or the market is saturated, we cannot put the same literacy programs into place for children and adults, etc. So let us not look to give people aid, but give them empowerment and no longer look at development as helping the week, but giving resources and empowerment to the strong. This is the lives that we must create for out children.

The Top 100 Civil Liberties Advocacy Blogs was just released, and it is with great pleasure that I inform you that the Foreign Policy Association’s Children’s Rights blog has made the cut. The list, which was compiled by the Criminal Justice Degree Guide, is broken down by subject matter. Featured our very own blog in under Women’s and Children’s Issues, along with others like, Field Notes, UNICEF’s blog.

The list was created due to the complex nature of issues surrounding civil liberties, and to simplify the search for relevant and reliable information, news, and civil liberties commentary. The list puts together the best in online resources relating to civil liberties legislation and news in one spot. Check out the full list for other interesting blogs of interest.

Making the list is thanks to all of the supportive readers and your great comments! Thank you for all of your support!

Today marks the 2008 World Day Against Child Labour, this years theme is: ‘Education: The right response to child labour’. This year the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has established the campaign to tackle the right to education for all children to brake the chain of child labour that envelops millions of children worldwide.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) there is an estimated 165 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 actively involved in child labour. Children are often forced to work long hours and are often forced to work in harsh and dangerous conditions. Child labour has a direct link to poverty, and provides a substantial barrier to a child’s education…thus enabling a barrier to a child’s education and increasing the literacy gap. Education is often taken for granted in developing nations, however many poor and impoverished families are forced to face the choose to send their child to school or work to help the family…it is that choice that has sent millions of children out of the classroom, often disparagingly girls, to toil in fields, factories, homes and the streets.

This years campaign has three main goals:

• Education for all children at least to the minimum age of employment.
• Education policies that address child labour by provision of properly resourced quality education and skills training.
• Education to promote awareness on the need to tackle child labour.

In order to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals by 2015, which has set to see that all children receive and complete a full their primary education, regardless of gender. However if the goals are to be meet then we must work to see that education is free, an issue which many families still struggle to attain funds for or are forced to choose between funds for school or often food for the family. Other issues of major priority include; gender equality in all levels of education, education and awareness about the issues and facts of child labour, and teacher shortages.

Education is not only a human right for all children, but the gateway out of poverty, as education is empowerment and empowerment is the key to brake the cycle of poverty.

For more information and resources on this years campaign see the ILO.

“For millions of people around the world, the fight against human trafficking is a matter of life and death,” she told the debate. “To reunite families that have been torn apart, to restore childhood to kids who have been robbed of their youth, to bring back dignity to all those violated by these abuses – we must act now.” -Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called on all countries to ratify the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, June 3, 2008.

The US Department of State released the 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report on June 4, 2008. According to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, “The 2008 report covers more countries than ever– 170 total” and for the first time ever examines global prosecution data to unveil new findings regarding the sentencing of perpetrators, see her full comments. For further information visit the U.S Department of State’s Office to Monitor & Combat Human Trafficking.


The UN General Assembly took on human trafficking Tuesday, debating what should be done to best tackle the scourge that is exploiting an estimated 2.5 million people, mostly women and children, around the world. Read the UN News Centre’s release.


Burkina Faso steps up penalties for child as they have enacted new legislation to increase penalties for those found involved in child trafficking. But observers worry that a lack of resources to combat the trade means the battle is far from over.


In Burundi the Forces nationales de libération (FNL) rebels ’still recruiting children’, despite steps to end the conflict. The FNL is the countries only active rebel group remaining, however they continue to hold strong and have increased their recruitment efforts. On 6 May, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, called for the immediate release of all children in the hands of the FNL. Welcoming the release of 232 child soldiers after months of negotiations involving the government, civil society, UN agencies and a faction of the FNL, she said: ‘Grave concern remains for the approximately 500 children associated with the FNL of Agathon Rwasa.’

Is this the end for the cluster bomb? For many the idea of placing a ban on a military weapon which is said to inflict a 98% civilian casualty rate is seen by many a no brainier. However when states unite on the issue feet seem to drag. It took weeks before the latest ban on the weapon, many of which have lain scattered across countries for decades, could finally reach an agreement. Last month in Dublin, on May 28th, representatives of 111 countries agreed to ban the use of cluster bombs. The use of cluster bombs have been highly criticized by human rights groups for maiming civilians, many of which are children, who pick up unexploded bombs scattered over a large area. The agreement was reached after U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown personally intervened, however the primary manufactures and users of this cluster bombs, including; the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan did, were are parties to the treaty (The Washington Post).

In wake of the treaty many landmine survivors have welcomed the ban on cluster bombs, including Uganda.

“As people who have been on the forefront of this campaign, we see the approval of the treaty as a major breakthrough and we pray that countries stick to the treaty,” Margaret Arach, the chairperson of the Uganda Landmine Survivors Association, told IRIN on 3 June.

In Laos the cost to is all to clear when you look in the faces of children like 9 year old Joi was badly injured and who’s brother was killed three years ago when they detonated a cluster bomb when they went into the nearby forest to dig for fishing worms

“It still hurts, but mostly I’m still scared … scared to go into the forest, scared to play there. I’m scared of the bomblets” (IRIN).

From 1966 to 1975 the US forces targeted 15 of 17 Laos provinces in an aerial campagin to stem the tide of North Vietnamese troops, who were infiltrating South Vietnam through the country, according to the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action Sector in Lao PDR. Based on records released by the US Air Force in 1999, an estimated 277 million bomblets were dropped on Laos over that time.

Right at the discussions for the treaty began landmines claim new victims in Casamanc, who is fighting for independence from Senegal, as one fatality and 20 injuries ensued as a bus drove over a landmine 70km north of the Casamance capital Ziguinchor on the 1st of May. Youssouf Coly, resident of a nearby village, agreed. ‘’I am convinced it is the rebels who have laid this mine and they are targeting the army,” he said (IRIN). The incident was the second in a week, along with other incidents of violence in violation of the December 2004 peace accord.

So will this treaty have the effect needed to see a true end to the cluster bomb? The sad reality is no, for even if all countries end their use of the weapon the harsh reality is still strewn across the ground. While demining efforts are in place in many countries, the cost of such is extensive on an economic, training and human toll. Thus leaving a mine free world as a distant dream.

Other Recent News on Cluster Bombs:
IRAQ: UN agencies call for international help to clear mines BAGHDAD, 6 April 2008 (IRIN) - Marking the third annual International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on 4 April, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called for a global effort to help Iraq in its mine clearance operations.

PAKISTAN: Landmines ruin lives, leave hundreds dead - PESHAWAR, 4 April 2008 (IRIN) - Palvasha Ahmed and her two younger sisters know all too well the risks posed by landmines. “Our cousin, Maryum Ahmed, 19, was injured by a landmine nearly a year ago in her village in South Waziristan. She lost her right foot and now goes around on a crutch. No one will marry her,” the 17-year old said in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Malaria battle gains mainstream popularity through the “Nothing But Nets” program. The program for which a mere $10 buys an insecticide-treated bed net, has united people and organizations from all walks of life in the battle against malaria and helped make charitable action a wildly popular undertaking, The New York Times reports. Supporters that have rallied to the cause include the United Nations Foundation, the National Basketball Association, the TV show “American Idol” and more than 70,000 individual donors.

A three-day United Nations food conference in Rome ended Thursday, June 5th, with calls for urgent steps to boost food production and halt soaring prices. The global food crisis overshadowed the conference, originally organized to address climate change and biofuels. Conference organizers criticized the U.S. for policies they said contribute to inflating food prices, such as subsidies for wealthy farmers and trade restrictions on food (The New York Times).

HIV rates for women decline in South Africa, as health officials in South Africa have announced that the percentage of pregnant women diagnosed with the HIV virus declined to 28% last year from the 2006 rate of 29.2%. The overall rate for women aged 25-29 infected with HIV was 37.9%, down from 38.7% in 2006. South Africa still has the highest number of AIDS victims in the world at 5.4 million.

Myanmar survivors forced to work for food, Amnesty International alleged Thursday, that the country’s military leadership is forcing cyclone survivors to work for food rations as it continues to evict them from aid shelters and camps. The situation, the group said, is not only violating survivors’ basic rights but is further endangering the lives of tens of thousands.

Child labor in Malawi encouraged by poor record keeping, as legislation compelling birth registrations has been delayed by government infighting and the resultant political turmoil. This failure to More than a million Malawian children are still being used as laborers, according to the latest available estimates. The colonial-era 1904 Birth and Deaths Act, which does not require citizens to be registered at birth, nor deaths to be reported to the authorities, is still in force. Consequently, even though Malawi is a signatory to numerous conventions against child labor, including the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, the 1973 International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 138 (setting a minimum working age of 18), and the 1999 ILO Convention 182 (outlawing child labor), child protection officers cannot verify the ages of people suspected of being employed as child laborers.

This week Save the Children UK released the report, Someone that matters: The Quality of Care in Childcare in Institutions in Indonesia, the report showed that financial pressures in Indonesia are driving more families to give up their children. The report, which was launched in joint effort with the UN children’s agency UNICEF and the Indonesian government, found that of the some 500,000 Indonesian children in care institutions, only some 6% are actually orphans.

So why are so many non-orphaned children being placed into care? The problem according to the report appears to mainly be economic, and the rising food prices are only acerbating the situation. Families are finding it increasingly difficult to care for their children, not only to provide them with adequate nutrition, but also education, and thus they feel the best option for their child’s future is the mainly privatively run care system.

“Children have the right to know and grow up within their families and they also have the right to education. They and their families should not be asked to choose between these two fundamental rights”, said Save the Children’s Country Director Stephen Morrow.

In response to the report, and concerning the efforts of the Indonesian government to eradicate this large scale problem, Makmur Sunusi, Phd. Director General for Social Services and Rehabilitation in the Ministry of Social Affairs said;

“the Indonesian Government has recognized that families are the best environment for children to grow up in and this research is an important first step towards ensuring that children who are in need of alternative care are provided with professional and quality care and only institutionalized as a last resort.”

The reality is harsh and requires extensive research into alternative solutions to keep families together and see that children continue to receive a full and adequate education. Such mass scale economic abandonment will have serious future implications on not only the Indonesian economy and state, but also on the future structure and stability of the Indonesian family. The preservation of the family must be kept in as many situations as possible, and parents should not be forced to feel that the best option for their child’s future is to place them in care. At current it appears that more parents are sacrificing their children’s mental wellbeing for their economic and educational wellbeing, a choice no parent should be forced to face.

-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1899)

Millions of children are forced to grow-up in a conflict ridden nations, children from Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory/Israel, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, to Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Colombia, all faces the daily challenges, violence and destruction of war. The UN estimates that more than 2 million children have been killed in armed conflicts; another 6 million permanently disabled; and over 250,000 children are used as child soldiers.

One can only hope that the children of war who survive its tragedies, those who witness it’s horrors will in truth be stronger adults. However the sad reality is that many children of war, do not survive, as war puts children at an increased risk for disease, hunger, and displacement. In addition many more do not grow in positive strength from the trials and tribulations of a childhood of war, as war makes them more prone to acts of violence.

For more information on children in conflict, please see the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for the office of Children in Armed Conflict. Please also see my other posts on Children and War.

One doesn’t have to think long and hard to realize that children who are born into conflict ridden countries are at a disadvantage to those children born into peaceful nations, however the disparity between the two when it comes to education may very well surprise you. Some 500 times more funding goes into the education of children who are born in countries seen as stable and prosperous than that of their counterparts born into a conflict-affected country, according to Save the Children.

For example: The United States spends more than $9,000 per child on primary education annually. In Luxembourg, some $12,000 is spent on each child for primary education a year. These two wealthy and stable nations tower in comparison to conflict countries such as Eritrea or Burundi, who spend less than $24 a year on an individual child’s education.

There are some 37 million children out of school in conflict affected countries, these children are not just denied their individual rights to education, but also denied a chance at a more prosperous future. Children who are denied an education are not given the opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty for not only themselves, but also their families and their communities. Additionally countries in which children are denied access to education have increased difficulty braking the chains of violence and conflict.

Wealthy and stable countries, donor countries, have a crucial role to play to help children in conflict-affected nations gain access to an education. It is for this reason that Save the Children released a new report, “Last in Line, Last in School 2008″,which shows how “donors are failing to protect children in conflict-affected fragile states”. The report focuses on the fact that wealthy nations are literally causing a deterioration to the lives of children as they fail to support education in conflict countries.

So how much is really needed of wealthy nations? Is it too much? No, in reality the report boils it down to some $45 per child, as Save the Children estimates that $5.2 billion should support children living in conflict-affected fragile states, out of some $9 billion in basic education worldwide.

The denial of education is the denial of a future of peace and prosperity!

To follow-up with yesterdays post, From Child Laborer to President, on Alejandro Toledo, who is now working with his organization Global Center for Development and Democracy, to combat inequality and poverty, especially among the countries child labors.

The Committee for Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor in Peru has estimated that 2.5 million children, most of them under the age of 14, are working throughout the country.

While Peru has ratified the ILO (International Labor Organization) conventions on the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) and the Minimum Age Convention (No. 138). The two are part of the ILO’s 8 core conventions which govern fundamental standards on forced labour, discrimination, freedom of association, as well as child labour. The ratification of these conventions commits Peru to establish and define policies for which to combat child labor, the country remains in embattled in the fight to poverty for which fuels the countries massive child labor problem. In 2000 the country established the legal minimum age for child workers at only 12 years old, the youngest minimum age in all of Latin America. that same year the ILO reported that some 79414 children between 10 -14 years old and 738238 children between 15-19 years old were considered economically active (ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 2001).

One of the major issues, and long term effects, of child labor in Peru, is that it takes children out of school either temporarily or permanently. Thus children are either behind in their studies or uneducated once the reach adulthood, which then places children at an increased risk to continue the cycle of poverty and child labor with their own children. Children like siblings Ada 11, Luis 8 and Carla 6, whose family lives off collecting refuse, of which the children spend their days and nights on the streets scouring for. Their work on the streets to help their family survive has left all of the children one or two years behind at school (2 Million in Child Labor in Peru).

While the efforts of those like Toledo are on the right track, the road a head is long and winding, and much needs to be done in all areas to combat poverty. Families of children who remain in poverty or on the edge of poverty must feel they have viable options for their children and entire family, and until these needs are address, as with the issue of raising awareness to families of the long term effects of child labor, then the trend will continue at its current pace. Education and health are key factors in a child’s development and if these needs are not adequately met then the fight to end child labor will continue to remain a steep one.

For more information on the situation of child labor in Peru please see the following links:
UNICEF - Peru Statistics
Child Labor Facts and Figures from the Department of Labor (DOL)
Peru Laws Governing Exploitive Child Labor Report - DOJ
Worst Forms of Child Labour Data - Peru
Forced Labor in Peru - ILO (Spanish only)