Children

Congo warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers set free
Judges at the Hague released a Congolese warlord, held on charges of coercing thousands of children into military service, after prosecutors withheld evidence supplied by the UN that would seem to exonerate him on certain of the charges.

Egypt launches campaign to slow population growth
A new campaign in Egypt attempts to dissuade citizens from having large families as the country struggles with population growth. Birth control is legal but frowned upon by some Egyptians, while abortion remains outlawed and vasectomies are not commonly performed. Egypt’s population has nearly doubled since Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency in 1981.

Fistula crisis in Uganda
Experts say that, though many women in the Teso subregion of Uganda suffer from fistula, many cases are neither known, reported, nor treated, due to ignorance, limited materials, and limited personnel. It is estimated that nearly 3% of Ugandan women suffer from fistula.

Low-tech filters give Sri Lanka safer water
The introduction of clay pots fortified with low-tech filters by the American Red Cross has provided thousands of Sri Lankan families with access to safe drinking water and is helping to prevent the spread of disease. Water-borne diseases are the country’s number one cause of malnutrition.

Abortion rate on the rise in Middle East
Despite legal and religious restrictions against abortion in much of the Arab world, changing social values and economic realities as well as demographic shifts have contributed to an apparent increase in the number of the procedures in the Middle East.

Chinese protest corruption in case of girl’s death
Images of riots in China’s southwestern Guizhou province showed cars burning and cell-phone cameras snapping, as protesters responded with violence to evidence of police corruption. Following the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl by an individual with government connections, police called the death a suicide and brutally killed the girl’s uncle, who pressed for justice. Chinese government officials deployed paramilitary soldiers and riot police after 10,000 individuals took to the streets.

Leaders call for funds for women at Glasgow summit
Some participants at the 8th Civicus World Assembly in Scotland say not enough money is going to aid women in the developing world as outlined under the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals. Activists stress that worldwide gender equality is an integral part of the program’s success.

ZIMBABWE: AIDS organisations still grounded
As Zimbabwe’s political crisis deepens ahead of the presidential run-off election on Friday 27 June, and the status of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remains uncertain, the situation for HIV-positive Zimbabweans is more precarious than ever.

I wanted to bring your attention to IRIN’s  latest film, Love, Positively, which follows the lives of four young adults living in Ugandan capital, Kampala who were infected at birth, and explores the challenges they face growing up with HIV and the courage they need to overcome it.  To see this and other IRIN film click here.

Worldwide more than two million children and adolescents are living with HIV. Close to 90% of pediatric infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa.  Read More Here

On July 6 at 8 and 11 PM ET on CNN, the US Fund for UNICEF will air, “The Survival Project: One Child at a Time”. UNICEF is encouraging supporters to not only to watch the broadcast, but to host a viewing party to discuss these important issues of child survival. UNICEF has developed a viewing party guide to help you to easily host a party. The first 100 parties registered will receive a packet of materials including UNICEF signs and buttons. Register your party today!

The broadcast will be hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, who will highlighting progress and challenges in child survival. In the broadcast CNN will explore why 26,000 children die every day from preventable causes, and what UNICEF doing to save young lives. The show will look at four areas where UNICEF works on-the-ground to save children’s lives:

• Child protection in Iraq
• Water and sanitation in Laos
• HIV/AIDS in Peru
• Child survival interventions in Ethiopia

New polio threat prompts mass vaccination campaign, as seven million children in nine of the 11 provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being vaccinated against polio, a disease thought to have been eradicated in the vast country. The campaign, which began on 19 June, targets children up to the age of five, the age group worst affected by polio. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, according to the WHO.

Condom use not catching on among youth, in spite of massive spending on efforts to counter HIV/AIDS, experts warn that many young Thais are still having unsafe sex. “Many people know HIV is transmitted by having sex,” he said. “We also know we should stand up and give our seat to old people on the bus, but we don’t do it,” Sittichok Chaisupasin, a 16-year-old peer educator.

Typhoon Fengshen death toll rises to 224, as it moved out of the Philippines on 23 June towards China, leaving at least 224 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless, according to the Philippine National Red Cross and Office of Civil Defence. Heavy rains and winds of up to 195km an hour caused landslides, flash floods and storm surges.

Landmines impede civilians’ return to volatile Arghandab, as dozens of landmines have been discovered in Arghandab District, in the southern province of Kandahar. It is estimated that some 60 people, many of which are children, are killed each month in the country by landmines. Millions of landmines were dumped across Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s, killing and wounding over 70,000 people so far, according to the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMAC). In other news, insecurity, uncertainty stop return of Afghan refugees, from Pakistan. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has repatriated 3.3 million Afghans since 2002, including 120,000 from Pakistan in 2008, but some two million registered Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan. The number of unregistered refugees is unknown.

US accuses LRA of abuses, calls for a quick peaceful solution. “The United States condemns the recent LRA attacks on Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Army forces at Nabanga, Sudan, and elsewhere, as well as the LRA’s abductions and other abuses of innocent civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Southern Sudan,” said a statement issued on 18 June. Along with four of his commanders Kony is charged by the ICC with carrying out abductions, killings, rape and conscription of Ugandan children as fighters among other war crimes. Some 30,000 children in northern Uganda have been abducted and forcibly inscripttion into the LRA. Government welcomes Kony’s “change of heart” but rules out more talks; “We only hope that he will put his pronouncement into practice. We note, however, that negotiations were concluded and there will not be a re-opening of the negotiations whatsoever,” Capt Chris Magezi, spokesman for the government delegation, said on 23 June.

“They torched our house, they burnt our livestock, I have nothing left and don’t know where to start.”, said 22 year old Precious, a mother of a six-month-old baby (Telegraph).

According to UNICEF the continued violence is damaging Zimbabwe’s children and the grip it has on the countries children fears to only be tightening. Just last week the government run by President Mugabe’s ordered that all international aid groups and NGOs to stop their field work. On June 4th all aid agencies where ordered to stop all work, as they have been accused of working against Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. The blocking of aid comes as the country is preparing for the presidential run-off election on June 27th.

Violence in the country arose after the the March 29th presidential elections, when Robert Mugabe was challenged by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU-PF), lost the majority in parliament for the first time since the country’s independence in 1980.

Children not spared post-election violence, as children and their families have been displaced from their homes, some 10,000 or more according to UNICEF. Children have been forced out of schools and worse children have been wounded and killed amid the violence and ciaos. Many, especially women and children, have fled to South Africa, such as the woman and child pictured to the right (NY Times).

“The net effect is as many as 500,000 children are now not receiving the health care, HIV/AIDS support, education assistance and food that they require. Many of these children are orphans,” UNICEF said in a statement this past week. As concerns about the children of Zimbabwe’s future rise, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern & Southern Africa, Mr. Per Engebak, said:

“This appalling violence damages children, their potential, and Zimbabwe as a whole. It must stop and it must stop now. All authorities have a legal obligation to protect children; and as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child there is an international obligation.”

However some 400 AIDS service NGOs allowed to resume operations, nonetheless the news has left many weary and many others wondering if international aid will be allowed in. For now the children of Zimbabwe continue to suffer amid the reigning madness of Mugabe’s hold on the country and the violence that continues to show Zimbabwe’s fragility.


Please see my esteemed colleague Derek Catsam’s posts on the FPA Africa blog and his posts on Zimbabwe for more information on the current situation.

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.

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.

India’s child malnutrition and stunted growth problems are on the rise, and as food prices across the globe continue to rise there appears to be no sign of a slow down. India continues to come to grips with one of the world’s highest child malnutrition rates, with one third of the worlds malnourished children. The current rate only looks to increase as over 1.5 million more children are now at risk due to rising food prices according to UNICEF. The high malnutrition rate has resulted in stunted growth in about half of all Indian children under the age of five, the UN children’s agency said.

Stunted growth is not only brought on by malnutrition in early childhood, but also in the fetal development stage when the mother is malnourished. The effects of stunting are most always permanent, and stunted children may never regain the height lost as a result. In addition most children will never gain the corresponding body weight, and stunting can also lead to premature death, as vital organs are never fully developed during childhood.

News of India’s large scale child malnutrition problem is not new, as was reported in the the 2005 UNICEF report, “Childhood Under Threat”, which not only reported that; 53% of Indian children are chronically malnourished, but that 63% go to bed hungry. The report also showed that some 77 million children do not use drinking water from a tap, 85 million are not immunized, 27 million where severely underweight and another 33 million have never been to school. In 2007 the National Family Health Survey reported, the survey when compared to the same survey in 2000 only saw a marginal drop in child malnutrition rates, leaving India behind Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is all to clear that India, the worlds largest democracy, is not doing enough to save its children and safeguard their future as they continue to remain worse than that of it’s African counterparts. And with rising rice prices heavily effecting the country the severity of malnutrition across the country is only becoming more grave and harder to ignore. Many fear that school feedings, which are often the only viable source of proper nutrition for many children, will not increase as needed.

In a climate of increasing insatiability the threat of increased child labor follows closely behind malnutrition fears, and India is no stranger to child labor. Therefore it is clear that the government and aid agencies must make maternal and child malnutrition a top priority as food prices continue to rise and following food shortages ensure that malnutrition rates remain high. Thus feeding programs alone are not enough, agricultural investments and training programs must follow, especially in regards to small scale farming programs, if we are to see a significant drop in malnutrition across the state of India.

Related News:
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters
BBC

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.

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.