Children

“There are few more challenging places to have a healthy childhood than Haiti!”

-Adriano González-Regueral, UNICEF’s Country Representative
(UNICEF Press Release: Survival is Greatest Challenge for Haiti’s Children ).

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti truly is a country in crisis, plagued by poverty, disease, infant mortality, high illiteracy rates, human trafficking, violence and abuse among high numbers of street children and hunger.

A recent AP article showed the gravity of hunger that Haitians are reduced to…eating mud. Mud cookies, which are made from dirt, salt and vegetable shortening, are many children’s only source of food some days, and are now a staple of a large number of Haitians diets. Increasing food prices, which are mainly due to increased oil prices and hurricane’s, have hit many already fragile Haitians hard. Haiti is a nation which relies on 40% of its food from imports for survival, but rising prices in a nation as poor as Haiti, have only burdened those who cannot carry what has already been placed upon them.

In 2006 UNICEF issued a Child Alert Report for Haiti, highlighting the increased need for support and action in the country and internationally. Haiti has the highest infant mortality rate in the world for children under 5 years old, with diarrhea, respiratory infections, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are the leading causes of death. However this is not the only large scale issue facing Haitian children. According to UNICEF; Some 60% of Haitians lack access to basic health-care services. Some 19,000 children are infected with HIV/AIDS. At least 2,000 children are trafficked every year to the Dominican Republic, forced to work as child labors. Less than half of the children attend school, with less than 2% finishing secondary school. In Haiti some 1,000 children are forced to work as messengers, spies and even soldiers for armed gangs in Port Au Prince, in addition there is an estimated 3,000 children enslaved as domestic workers.

The long term future for most Haitian children is one of continued struggle.

Related Links and Articles:

Haiti’s President-elect René Préval pledges to put children on top of political agenda

Haiti: Grim reality for street children

Last week, on February 12th, UNICEF issued a press release urging donors to give some $856 million to aid women and children and women who have been victimized by such emergencies as the conflicts in Chad and Kenya, to natural disasters such as the floods in Mozambique. Launching its Humanitarian Action Report 2008, UNICEF stated that the funds are to be used to provide urgent assistance in the areas of health, education and nutrition.

There are a number of countries in urgent need of assistance including; Kenya where there are some 150,000 children, half of the estimated population that have been driven from their homes in the recent violence. In Chad there is an estimated 30,000 of those forced from their homes, some 52,000, who are vulnerable, many of which are children and in need of immediate assistance. Other countries with considerable needs are the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), the CAR (Central African Republic), Pakistan and the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.

However the greatest needs still remains in Sudan, where sexual and gender-based violence remains an immense concern as the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) continues to rise. There are some 2 million IDPs in Sudan, leaving camps stretched beyond capacity and aid agencies battling to meet the needs of those displaced as the conflict continues after nearly 5 years.

In reaction to the 230 page reports release, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, stated in a message to the Governing Council of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome on February 13th that efforts must be greatly increased to tackle poverty, especially in the realm of agriculture.

“This must be the year the international community renews its commitment to the needs of the weak, the disadvantaged, those who have been excluded from the mainstream of global society.”

Repeating his request that 2008 be the year that the international community seriously and effectively seeks to address the plight of the “bottom billion”, the poorest of the world’s poor.

While the bruises of the body fade in time, the scars of child abuse never fade. Children are never the same again after an abuser has entered their lives, they loose not only the innocence of childhood, but also the chance at a normal future. One cannot erase the memories of abuse, they live in conscious and the subconscious, invading every aspect of ones life. Child abuse victims are given a life sentence, forced to live in the shadows of their abusers.

It has been a month since the deadly cyclone hit Bangladesh, leaving families still searching and hoping for the return of the missing, which are estimated around 900 people still missing, mainly women and children.

“The sea took my baby,” one young mother said, recalling in vivid detail how she clung to a tree holding her daughter’s shirt in her mouth like a mother lioness - only to have her ripped away within seconds. “I can’t find her anywhere,” she lamented (Plight of cyclone missing continues).

Hundreds where orphaned by Cyclone Sidr, as it took more than 3,000 lives, leaving an told number of children parentless and to deal with the aftermath alone.

“I lost everyone, I don’t know what to do or where to go,” Mohammad Hasan, 12, said as he stood outside his home.

According to UNICEF some 8.5 million people where affected, approximately half of which where children. With an estimated half a million under the age of five affected, concerns have been raised as children are now at high risk for trafficking. In response UNICEF has set up special protection programs for some 20,000 at risk children, however more programs and resources need to be put into place to ensure the safety of the children, especially the girls who are at greater risk for trafficking and exploitation.

The recovery from Cyclone Sidr looks to remain slow, and more aid is greatly needed to assist in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.  More medical assistance, educational programs, physiological support, and protection programs remain in dire need for the children of Bangladesh. Despite any increases in aid, the effects of Cyclone Sidr look to be long lasting, and the ones who need the most attention and time to recover are the children.

“Where there is no hope, one must invent hope.” - Albert Camus

Recently I have written a few posts on the situation in Sudan, and I was fortunate enough to attend the prescreening last night of Sand and Sorrow, which premiers on HBO on December 6th at 8pn ET. The event was held Monday, December 3, at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association Theater, in Washington, DC. HBO, in conjunction with Enough and Campus Progress, which is the student arm of the Center for American Progress.

Bodies scattered across the barren land, their outline remains long after they are gone. Blood red sand stained from the bodies who spilled their blood fighting for their land, homes, and futures. Scorched bodies lie like an invisible mass of death, a plague haunting only those who have been forced to bare witness. A plague with no cure in sight!

Images seared on your brain, in your mind, in your heart…They cannot escape your soul, forever etched in your memory, and this is exactly what the films producers want you to walk away with. The film does not gloss over the horrors that plague Sudan, but shows graphic images of the bodies of those who have been burned alive, the faces of those who still cling to life, and burned out villages among the arid land. The film tells the real stories of tragedy from those who have lived to bare witness to the acts of genocide and systematic rapes. For too long the cries of Sudan have fallen on deaf ears, and thus “Sand and Sorrow” “examines the international community’s ‘legacy of failure’ to respond to such profound crimes against humanity in the past.” “Never Again!”, are the words we have failed to live by time and time again. The films Director, Paul Freedman, said in response to our failures to act, even as the ten year anniversary of Rwanda unfolded, and our continuous failure to end the genocide in Sudan;

“We will do it slowly and we will call it Darfur.
Everybody knows, yet we don’t do anything….
we stand idly by and do nothing!”

Narrated by George Clooney, the film relies heavily on the powerful interviews of Samantha Power, John Pendergast and Nick Kristof. However in its brief 93 minutes the producers take you into an American High School, and Capital Hill, to give you some incite into the concern and frustration back home. In the film also follows a contingent of African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur, which included Sabina Blay, an police woman from Ghana. Blay, organized a forum for rape victims at an IDP camp in Chad, seeing that many sought treatment for the sexual assaults that had been inflicted upon them. “What those children saw is something that human beings should never see”, Blay said with sadness in her eyes.

Burned bodies, utter carnage, terror and despair…that is the description of Darfur…the lives of millions of displaced children, many now without fathers, others the reminders of their mother violent attackers. But their suffering is far from over as those called to protect them are rendered helpless, only able to watch, video and document the horrors that continue to unfold before their very eyes. The innocent civilians of Darfur are far from safe, as under their watchful eyes the camps burn, and innocence continues to die.

Who will end the terror and sorrow in the sand? The US has condemned the acts in Sudan as genocide, yet still we sit sill, and no policies have yet been made. As South African President Mbeki said, “The solution doesn’t lie in making radical statements.” We can not condemn the crisis and then sit back and hope it will fix itself, for five years later we are only facing a new enemy of disease and hunger. Death and violence is common in every day life in Sudan, as IDP’s spend endless days in unknowing anguish, in fear and in hope, and day after day they wait alone and in silence.

“Human lives are heavy or light depending on where they are!” -John Pendergast

Following the film there was a Q&A discussion featuring John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project, and Director Paul Freedman, who also produced and directed “Rwanda—Do Scars Ever Fade?”. The discussion was moderated by Erica Williams the Issue Campaigns Manager at Campus Progress.

What do we do, well John Pendergast made a great statement which says it simply;

“There has to be a cost for committing Genocide…they want to be accepted internationaly . These guys change their behavior if pressured hard enough, lets pressure them!”

Campus Progress and Enough are encouraging people to have a Party with a Purpose . Gather your friends, family, students and classmates, then register your party and get discussion materials. Following the film you will have the opportunity to participate in ‘Join a Call’ with John Prendergast, Samantha Power and Nick Kristof after the film.

Related Articles and Links:
HBO buys Darfur docu ‘Sand and Sorrow’
Save Darfur
Smallest Witnesses

Have you been bitten by the gift giving bug this season? Was my last post, Holiday Wish List, not enough to keep you busy, or satisfy your unquenchable need to help underprivileged children. Well then here are 20 more ways for you to help make a child’s life better this year. Why not pick a few off the list, or pick one that you can make a year long project!

1. Donate new blankets to kids in homeless shelters at projectnightnight.org.
2. Shop or donate to thrift stores such as, Out of the Closet, which helps support the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
3. Before you shop online, go to goodshop.com. Then buy from participating retailers and the site donates a portion of your purchase to the charity of your choice.
4. Spend an hour or two a week helping an immigrant learn English (check out literacyvolunteers.org).
5. Donate old cell phones to victims of domestic violence for emergencies (go to ncadv.org and click “donate”).
6. Vaccinate 50 children around the world against deadly diseases such as meningitis, measles or polio with a $50 donation at doctorswithoutborders.org.
7. Provide a month of care for a child rescued from sexual slavery for just $30 at sharedhope.org.
8. Find projects that help children in your neighborhood at dosomething.org.
9. Make a $10 donation to freethechildren.org and a special matching-funds program will turn it into $100 worth of medical supplies for kids around the world.
10. Mentor an at-risk teen online at icouldbe.org.
11. Help an aspiring student pay for college at scholarshipamerica.org.
12. Send a DVD or video game to hospital-bound kids via childsplaycharity.org.
13. Helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing at 826national.org.
14. Look at your medical history, then donate to a cause that could help your loved ones, be it the American Heart Association (americanheart.org), Susan G. Komen for the Cure (komen.org) or another charity.
15. Train your dog to be a therapy dog for children in hospitals at tdi-dog.org.
16. Sell gifts you don’t need through eBay’s Giving Works program (givingworks.ebay.com), which earmarks a percentage of sales for the charities of your choice.
17. Give to donorschoose.org; a small donation can help create cozy reading nooks for underfunded classrooms.
18. Upgrade your laptop; worldcomputerexchange.org will send your old one to a child in one of 61 countries.
19. Give blood and save a child’s life at givelife.org.
20. Become a bone marrow donor at www.marrow.org, it could be a child’s life you save.

“Naomi is 15 but looks 10. A horrible burn scar shrivels the skin across her chest and shoulder….She is one of the so-called child witches of Kinshasa, rejected by her family and community at six years old and left to survive on the streets…. ‘Grandfather become sick and my aunt accused me of being a witch. She said, “Why is everyone around sick? They are suffering because of you.”…The neighbours beat me and burnt me….I was caught by some soldiers and they said, you are a witch - we saw you flying with birds. They said they were going to kill me, but I escaped.’” (Thousands of child ‘witches’ turned on to the streets to starve)

Witchcraft is something most of us have quickly forgotten about since Halloween has now passed, and would not venture to think about again until Halloween rolls around again next year. However children are being cast from their homes over fears and actuations that they are witches. No, I am no looking back into the depth of history and embark on a journey back in time to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. I am talking about children who right this very moment have been, and are being, cast from their homes as fears of witchcraft have taken hold of their villages.

Sadly this is not a recent phenomenon which has only reared its ugly head in recent months, children have been facing alienation and persecution for a number of years due to accusations of witchcraft. “Children in Angola tortured as witches” by Paul Salopek (“The Chicago Tribune,” March 28, 2004), brought to light the horrors that many children in Angola where facing. At the time Matondo Alexandre, a child-protection expert with the United Nations Children’s Fund in Angola, said “This is something new to us, in African culture it is usually the older people who are accused of practicing witchcraft. Now we’re even seeing cases popping up involving babies.” But almost four years has passed and children are still being systematically abused and alienated from their homes, beaten and sent to live on the streets in fear and shame and they are the luck ones, as others have been tortured to death.

In some parts of Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, alarming numbers of children are being accused of being witches. The accused children are beaten, abused, and often abandoned, or driven in fear from their homes and villages. Cast out of their families and villages, children are left with no where to turn but on to the streets. However some children are not as lucky, as they never make it to the streets, as they are killed in the witch hunt or die on their lonely journey of fear and escape.

“The witches situation started when fathers became unable to care for the children,” said Ana Silva, who is in charge of child protection for the children’s institute. “So they started seeking any justification to expel them from the family (African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out).” However it has not just been poverty and economic hardship that has driven people to accuse their children of witchcraft, the increase of war has also helped to fuel the fire. Former child soldiers have been turned away from their homes and villages for many reasons, including accusations of witchcraft.

“The perception of children started to change very quickly in the 1990s, when you had child soldiers starting to appear with weapons,” says Mr. Aguilar. “So the general perception was that children were a threat. Congolese society is using children as a scapegoat.” (In Congo, superstitions breed homeless children)

In the heart of the DRC, poverty is overwhelming and now it appears that it diamonds are fulling a new battle. In the diamonds minds it is children who do the majority do much of the labor for these sparkling jewels of the earth. And it is the children who are and many are killed in the fight for diamonds, and through the poor conditions in witch they are forced to labor in. It is the death of so many children that has begun to pull entire communities apart and has led to superstitions, which have caused thousands of children to be accused of witchcraft. “Many people here believe in witchcraft. It’s part of Luba tradition…what is happening today…is new. Before, if someone was accused of having demonic powers the village would take the person and make them go through a purification ceremony. No one would ever be thrown out of their homes; certainly not a child. What’s happening today is a result of urbanization and desperation caused by diamonds, says Charles Tchibanza, a sociologist from Mbuji Mayi University (Diamonds, children and witchcraft).

It is clear that the governments of Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the international aid community must take a stand against these acts. Hands on efforts must be made in the local communities to educate them on the realities of their actions, and brake the cycle of these superstitions once and for all. We must also establish programs and awareness campaigns that work to remove the stigma from those children who have already suffered too long and needlessly.

Other Articles of Interest:

Poor Children: Child “Witches” and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa - This article examines two different aspects of the accountability of children: those children who are thrown away by their families because they are “sorcerers,” and those children who become soldiers and, through their involvement in armed conflict, inflict violence and death on others, including children.

The exact figures of children turned onto the street, or killed, as fears of witch craft continue to spread are unknown, and all are too high. Some figure I have seen include: 20,000 in Brazzaville, Congo’s capital, 14,000 in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, one northern Angolan town identified 432 street children.

UK Fund to fight ‘witchcraft’ abuse

NEPAL: Women tortured for being ‘witches’

The ‘cycle of abuse’, we’ve all heard the phrase a million times, yet I often think we forget what it means. It does not only mean the cycle, or stages, in which abuses are carried out. A child who grows up in an abusive home, is sexually abused, is a victim of trafficking, a child soldier…unfortunately the list of grave injustices against children goes on and on, is never able to escape the cycle of abuse. Therefore a child of abuse is at an increased risk to become an abuser, victim of sexual assault, become socially isolated, turn to drugs and alcohol, and various other form of self destructive behavior or susceptible to varying forms of continued abuse. We, as an international community must work to ensure that all children have been given their right to protection, both to prevent such abuses, and to assist the abused in their recovery. Therefore substantial physical and psychological care must be given to victims.

No matter what you say, or what you do, it all leaves a mark on the children around you. A child who witnesses violence and war, is forever scared by what they see. A child who hears nothing but negative, cannot erase the voice that says, “you can’t”. But the child who witnesses peace and love, will carry that with them forever and continue to share hope for the future.

We cannot erase the mistakes of the past, but we can leave a bigger impression on a child with hope, than with despair.

Two Zimbabwean Children in Search of Food

The children of Zimbabwe are no strangers to struggle, for they have fallen through the cracks from colonialism, civil war, and now to the long and frightful rule of Mugabe.  With the heavy hand of Mugabe has come the political violence that it has become everyday life under his rule. Children are suffering more than anyone in the country, which is torn by political violence, poverty, HIV/AIDS and a heavily lacking infrastructure, all of which is exacerbated by continuous food shortages.

Freedom’s are not always as they seem, especially of the press, which is often restricted, including the exclusion of some international media. International human rights organizations report that the government of Zimbabwe has been in violation of numerous basic human rights of its citizens. The right to adequate housing, food, freedom of movement, press and assembly top the list of violations.

The rights of Women are seriously violated in Zimbabwe, leaving children, especially girls, even more disadvantaged. As the country has become an ever increasingly dependent economically, the fight for essential human rights becomes an even more difficult. The fight for issues such as combating sex discrimination, forced marriage, domestic violence against women, and other abuses seems to only increase.

What do you sell when you have nothing left to sell, you have no money, no food, little water, and no prospects of employment? The future looks bleak and so you sell the only thing you have left…your own child! For if you cannot sale one child then how can you feed the others? This is a daily struggle for many in Zimbabwe, and as recent articles have illustrated, Daughters fetch high prices as brides. One man who sold his underage daughter, explained how he came to the decision to sell her:

“The pain of seeing my family go without food and other basic necessities drove me into such a decision. At that age, Miriam should have been in school and, being as intelligent as she is, might have ended up as a doctor or pilot, but poverty has rendered that only a pipedream.”

The biggest problem for women, and inherently for children, is that most are completely unaware of their rights, and thus violations continue with little, to no persecution. Children’s rights continue to be violated by the use of child labor, inadequate food and water supplies, housing and access to health care, but they are subsequently re-violated each time their parents rights are violated. The government of Zimbabwe and the international community has failed to protect the children in Zimbabwe, leaving them vulnerable for even more human rights abuses, such as sexual and physical abuse, and making them even more susceptible for illness and disease.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), life expectancy at birth 37 years for men and 34 for women, the lowest figures for any country in the world. With such a short life expectancy, children are doomed from birth, and almost instantly find their futures slipping away.

“The world must differentiate between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, speaking in Johannesburg. “Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS, every day children are becoming infected, orphaned, and forced to leave school to care for sick parents. The global generosity towards tsunami victims was inspiring, but it has dried up for Zimbabwean children who are facing a deadly crisis every day of their lives.” (UNICEF -Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children)

HIV/AIDS is main contributing factor to the struggle of children, as over 1.6 million people in the country have the virus, many unable to receive any medical treatment. In an already strained environment, countless children are being left orphans, many of whom end up living on the streets, amid the growing poverty and violence. ‘The under-five mortality rate has risen 50% since 1990 (now 1 death for every 8 births), One hundred babies become HIV-positive every day in Zimbabwe, One in five Zimbabwean children are now orphans (1 million from HIV/AIDS), A child dies every 15 minutes due to HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe, 160,000 children will experience the death of a parent in 2005 (UN).’ The AIDS crisis is only becoming more grave, as the number of orphans spikes as Zimbabwe crises deepens, now leaving over a quarter of a million children parentless.

With Mugabe’s government completely unwilling to doing anything to rectify the current political and social situation in the country, the future for Zimbabwe’s children continues to look bleak. Unless the international community puts a heavy foot down and steps in to aid the children of Zimbabwe with large scare humanitarian efforts. A well as the UN and international governments must push the Mugabe and his corrupt government for political change and action, otherwise little looks to change. Unfortunately history indicates that international bodies and states, will not act effectively and efficiently on behalf of the children of Zimbabwe, and Mugabe’s tight hold over the desperate nation is still strong.

Links:
This is Zimbabwe -blog
US State Department Report on Zimbabwe
Human Rights Watch - Zimbabwe Report
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
WHO Country Health System Fact Sheet 2006 - Zimbabwe
Orphans and Vulnerable Children Due to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
“The silent cries of the little ones” : Zimbabwe’s under-fives cry out for justice
AFRICA: Child Bride Symbolizes Reasons Why MDGs Will be Missed