Children

ISRAEL-OPT: Thousands of East Jerusalem children not in school
Thousands of Palestinian children in East Jerusalem do not attend school as there is no room for them in the state school system, parents and rights groups said, adding that the drop-out rate remained the highest in the Israeli school system.

PAKISTAN: Swat conflict takes toll on girls’ education
For the 300,000 children of Swat aged between three and nine, there are 842 boys’ and 490 girls’ government-run primary schools. But only 163,645 boys and 67,606 girls are enrolled at either private or public schools, according to official figures. Even before the destruction of schools began, about 50,000 were unable to get an education due to the scarcity of places.

MYANMAR: Health of cyclone-affected children improves
The health of children under five in cyclone-affected Myanmar is improving, say specialists, despite huge challenges. The nutritional status of children was poor even before Cyclone Nargis slammed into Myanmar, leaving almost 140,000 people dead or missing and affecting 2.4 million people more. Approximately one-third of children in Myanmar are malnourished, and about one-fifth of newborns are underweight, according to this year’s State of the World’s Children report.

AFGHANISTAN: 1.8 million children to be immunised against polio on Peace Day
The Ministry of Public Health, backed by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), is planning to immunise 1.8 million under-fives against polio between 21 and 23 September.

ETHIOPIA: More parents saying no to FGM
“The knowledge [that FGM is harmful] is increasing,” said Abate Gudunfa, head of the Ethiopian National Committee on Traditional Practices (commonly referred to as EGLDAM - its name in Amharic]. A network of 40 NGOs, including EGLDAM, the government and international organisations, are involved in anti-FGM campaigns in Ethiopia. Policies have also been reviewed to ensure participants are punished. A 2007 survey conducted by EGLDAM found that prevalence across the country had dropped from 61 percent in 1997 to 46 percent.

KENYA: Young girls the new bait for fishermen
Jaboya (a customer who is also a lover), the only way for fish traders to make a living, some say and now there is stiff competition for a catch that is often less than plentiful means offering their own bodies is no longer enough, so desperate traders have now resorted to making available their younger, more nubile relatives - many of them under 18 years of age - to ensure they have an edge. The updated version of the jaboya system puts a new generation in the crosshairs of the pandemic, local health workers say. Nyanza Province has an HIV prevalence of 15.3 percent, the country’s highest. According to statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, prevalence among Kenyan fisher folk reached 30.5 percent in 2006.

RWANDA: Vulnerable children living on the margins
“There are at least 2.8 million vulnerable children in the country,” said Gisele Rutayisire, the officer in charge of social protection and governance for child rights with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Kigali. An estimated 100,000 Rwandan households are headed by children. “There is a lot of vulnerability not only for children whose parents died in the genocide but also those whose parents are in prison as well as unaccompanied returnee children,” Rutayisire added.

NEPAL: Concern rising over illegal adoptions
A recent report, A study on inter-country adoption and its influence on child protection in Nepal by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Swiss NGO for child relief, Terre des hommes Foundation (TDH), revealed that the sale, abduction and trafficking of children was taking place in an under-regulated environment. The 62-page report was the result of six-month study conducted by researchers from a national NGO, the Centre for Research on Environment, Health and Population Activities and child rights advocates in Nepal.

VIETNAM: Dramatic rise in child abuse cases
A Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), surveys indicate that the number of reported cases is skyrocketing. Statistics released by MOLISA on 22 August in a preliminary report available only in Vietnamese show violence against children in the home tripled between 2005 and 2007. Violence committed by teachers against children increased 13 times.

South Africa to provide vaccinations against child-killing diseases
South Africa will provide children with vaccinations for pneumococcal disease, the major vaccine-preventable cause of death among young children, and rotavirus, a diarrhea that affects almost every child before the age of 3.

Iraqi students exempted from school fees
Jordan has waived annual fees in state-owned schools for Iraqi students to help them cope with rising living costs, a Ministry of Education official said on 26 August.

Northern desert conflict disrupts maternal health care
Since violence broke out again last year, Mahaman Hanissou Ouedraogo, director of the UNFPA Agadez office, says it is hard to reach expecting mothers who live beyond town limits, which is roughly where paved roads end. Access to the mountains, which has been the centre of much of the fighting, is strictly cut off. The most recent information on maternal mortality in Niger was gathered before the latest surge in violence. According to the Niger government, in 2006 about 14,000 women died from pregnancy complications.

WHO: World needs to strengthen life expectancy rates
Social factors have an immense impact on lifespan and health. While life expectancy rates have increased across the globe in the last decade, the world community needs to do more to even the gains, the World Health Organization said in a report released Thursday. WHO officials are looking to identify ways to address causes of disparities, such as education, access and environment, as a step towards erasing them.

Child malnutrition is an old stain on a new India
Although India has staved off the specter of famine successfully in its bid over recent years to become a greater world power, it is still home to 40% of all the world’s severely malnourished young children. Only Bangladesh and Nepal have higher percentages of underweight children than India, where nearly half (60 million) are malnourished. Experts warn that malnutrition — which has never been treated as a serious concern for policy by India — could threaten to undermine the economic boom that India is currently enjoying.

In India, New Opportunities for Women Draw Anger and Abuse From Men
Harassment of women has increased among the upper middle class in India, where a backlash from men has answered the gains made by progressive women. The shift toward new retail and technology sectors and social mobility has eroded the centrality of the traditional, joint-family structure, freeing young women from the power of the husband and husband’s mother.

Measles Returns
An uptick in measles cases in the U.S., owing to misplaced fears among parents about vaccinations, has led to 15 hospitalizations. As in previous years, most incidents of the disease began when the virus was contracted abroad, but this year it spread more easily — resulting in 131 reported cases among home-schooled children and others who were refused vaccinations due to debunked fears that these vaccinations increase the possibility for autism.

Most Afghan women prisoners jailed for being victims of rape
Two-thirds of women imprisoned in Afghanistan were jailed for illegal sexual relations, a category that includes infidelity and premarital sex but also punishes the victims of rape.  A newly formed consultant council, the Women and Children’s Justice Shura, hopes to draw attention to their plight while Western agencies are trying to improve conditions at the facilities where these women are jailed.

Russian Judge Rules to Allow Sexual Harassment
After a Russian woman lost her sexual harasment case after a judge ruled employers were obliged to make passes at female staff to ensure the survival of the human race. The judge stated that ”If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children,” the judge ruled. According to a recent survey, 100% of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 percent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven percent claimed to have been raped.

Rubber out-growers intensify campaign against child labour
The President of the Rubber Out-growers and Agents Association of Ghana (ROAA), Nana Asaa Kofi (III), has called on members of the Association, to adhere to the crusade against child labor in the rubber growing areas of the country.

UK pedophile was “librarian” for global abuse ring
A pedophile who acted as a “librarian” for a global Internet child abuse ring was jailed on Monday after one of the biggest undercover police investigations into online abuse in Britain. Unemployed Philip Thompson, 27, amassed nearly a quarter of a million indecent pictures of children, including thousands in the two most serious categories.

Palestinian refugees to benefit from nutrition programme
Difficult economic conditions triggered by high fuel prices have prompted the Jordanian authorities to extend their US$5 million school nutrition programme to include Palestinian refugees in schools run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA). The academic year, which starts on 17 August, will see about 70,000 students from 13 refugee camps benefit from the initiative, which provides students with a daily mid-morning snack containing essential vitamins that most of the children lack.

Many children still miss out on treatment
Experience has shown that it is possible to run successful paediatric HIV programmes in rural African settings, yet less than 10% of patients on life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are children, field officers of the international medical NGO, Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), have said. “Studies show that without treatment, 50 percent of children with HIV will die within the first two years of their lives,” Fernando Parreno, who has worked for MSF’s ARV programme in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, said at the recent International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. “It is imperative that all children are diagnosed and started on treatment as early as possible after diagnosis, or too many children will continue to die.”

MOZAMBIQUE: HIV-positive children still not getting treated ‘
According to provincial data, more than 15,000 children are living with HIV, but only 2,000 of them - 13 percent - are being treated, an extremely low percentage compared to HIV-positive adults: more than half the women who need treatment, and 42 percent of the men, are receiving it.’ Why, are so few children treated? The reasons are as varried as they are complex; often parents are fearful of the stigma, children’s antroviral medicines are more expensive and more complex to administer, and there is a sortage of medical staff and support.

BURKINA FASO: Fistula in Sahel region highlighted
‘According to the government’s statistics, there were just 54 cases of fistula in Burkina Faso in 2007. But Aboubakar Coulibaly, a doctor in the national health system, said “Cases are being under-reported.”’, especially in the Sahel region, mainly due to the social stigma of the condition. Fistula, a tearing between the rectum and vagina or the bladder and vagina, is primarily caused by violent rape, pregnancy and labour in young children, and prolonged obstructed labour.

ZAMBIA: Mary Muyunda, “The school should be a safe place for all the pupils”
In a landmark ruling last month Zambia’s High Court, ordered the government to pay some $13,000 compensation to a 15-year-old school girl raped by her teacher, after she brought a civil action against the teacher, the school and the minister of education. ‘The judge also ordered that the Director of Public Prosecutions commence criminal proceedings against the teacher, as the evidence of rape was “overwhelming”. The teacher was arrested, but subsequently released on bail.’

LAOS: Restaurant provides street children with training and hope
‘In one of the first projects of its kind, Friends International started up Mak Phet restaurant to provide vocational training for former street children, with the support of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, in Vientiane, Lao PDR. It is unknown how many children live or work on the streets of Laos. This is partly because the problem was not recognised officially by the government until recently. Often the children were rounded up, returned home or put into detention centres.’

ISRAEL-OPT: Married but without rights
A 2002 temporary order preventing those Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from marrying Israeli citizens and residents, and thus moving to Israel, has now become law. The decission has left ’some 15,000 Palestinians who married Israeli citizens in the past decade are illegal or temporary residents’, leaving families physically divided and often unable to support thier children, and leaving an inevitable cloud of uncertanty hanging over the entire family.

LEBANON: Displaced families struggle on both sides of sectarian divide
‘Officials say up to 6,000 families have been displaced, but as of 30 July only those 700 Sunni families from Bab al-Tabbaneh who have found shelter in schools have been formally registered. “Nobody is looking after them. There are many children and they lack the basic everyday needs; food, clothing, medicine,” said Marwan Husseiki, an officer with the UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF).’

BURUNDI: Human rights record “shows no improvement”
‘At least 400 people were killed in the first quarter of 2008, which indicates that Burundi’s human rights record has failed to improve this year, according to Iteka, a rights group. The group registered some 455 women and girl victims of rape, the majority younger than 12.’ Instances of rape and sexual violence are only rising in the country as a result of both social sitgmatization and impunity.

In April in the post, Girls In Yemen Forced to Marry Too Young, an introduction to the abuses committed against girls who are forced into marriage too early, including highlighting the hindrance that child marriage is placing on the country’s development. According to a recent study by Sana University, researchers found the average age of marriage in rural Yemen to be 12 to 13. According to a report issued in 2007 by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), 48.4% of Yemeni women under the age of 18 were married. Why are girls married off so young? Poverty and economic hardship are the root cause of the problem, which ironically has only led it to develop into a cycle of poverty. Girls are pulled from school for marriage leaving most illiterate.  Child marriages also lead to higher instances of domestic violence and early pregnancies, which leave girls at high risk for death in childbirth, complications, and low birth weights.

Last month The New York Times article, Tiny Voices Defy Child Marriage in Yemen, brought to light the harsh reality of child marriage in Yemen, after two young brides, only 8 and 10 have come forward to escape from their abusive husbands.  In April 8 year old (10 according to some later articles) Nujood Ali was granted a divorce from her husband after walking herself into court and relentlessly stating her case.  Arwa Abdu Muhammad, who was 9 when she ran a way seeking help at a local hospital after her husband raped and abused her.  Nujood and Arwa, have used their voices to spark a new movement in the country against child marriages. The National Women’s Committee (NWC), a government body, has recently called for an end to child marriage, proposing that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18 (IRIN). Additionally the NWC proposed punishments be given to all who participate in the establishment of a child marriage, with a one-year jail sentence or a $ 500 fine.

In 1979 the minimum legal age of marriage 16 for women and 18 for men according to Yemeni law, then in 1992 the minimum legal age was dropped to 15, however in in 1998 Parliament revised the law to allow girls to be married earlier if they did not live with their husbands before they reached sexual maturity. The loose revision of the law leaves reckless room for the abuse of countless girls, and only highlights the backwards steps the country has been making in regards to gender equality and the rights of the child.

However as the Times article points out, that while support is growing to ban child marriage the fight is far from easy as; “Hard-line Islamic conservatives, whose influence has grown enormously in the past two decades, defend it, pointing to the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a 9-year-old. Child marriage is deeply rooted in local custom here, and even enshrined in an old tribal expression: “Give me a girl of 8, and I can give you a guarantee” for a good marriage.”

Sadly the plight of young girls in Yemen is not an isolated case as child marriages continue in many countries around the globe, and poverty and economic hardships are causing in increase in the practice in many other countries, such as Afghanistan. Please see other posts on Child Marriage for more information.

A child in prison surely sounds like a superfluous statement, for unquestionably children do not belong in prison. The word prison is often synonymous with adult, yet sadly around the globe there are some 1 million children languishing in prisons, and most of these are not some special child prison or version of juvenile detention, but adult prisons.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child the imprisonment of a child to be used “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time” and that the child “shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age”.

Poverty and war often lead children to the streets and they therefore often find themselves embattled in a life of petty crime, sex trafficking, begging, etc. Life on the streets for many children quickly leads them to be placed behind bars, such as in the Philippines.

In many countries, women who are placed in prisons who have children for which they cannot find relatives to care for, are often forced to take their children with them. Children are then imprisoned along with their mothers, where they often lack access to any form of education. The lack of education on a child can be devastating and in turn create a cycle of poverty. Such a case reached the media in May when in Zambia, Kabwe Social Workers Rescue Five Children From Prison. The five children, who’s ages ranged from 5 months to 4 years old, where placed in the care of local social services after they where discovered in the dire conditions of the maximum security prison. However the case in Zambia mirrors that of many other countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan and many other countries.

The issue of children in prison, or detention centers, does not even escape western nations such as the US. As discussed in the post Child Detainees, An International Crime?, children detained at the Hutto, Texas, center. Hutto was again brought to light again only today in The New Yorker article, The Lost Children: What do tougher detention policies mean for illegal immigrant families?,

Children who are either placed in prison for their own perceived crimes and those who are placed in prison along side their mothers, are not the only children affected by what many see as systems failing families, including in the US as was brought to light this month in the article, Women, children suffer from harsh prison policies, on women in detention. Many states in the US are now looking at alternative solutions including prison nurseries, halfway houses, and other programs which help mothers and children foster healthier and more substantial relationships, in order to brake the cycle of prison life in the family.

The issue of children in prisons and detention centers is complex and varied, but one thing is clear, all of these children are being denied a fundamental right to childhood! The denial of freedom has led these children to be denied the rights to education, the right to play and thus the right to a healthy and happy existence.
See former posts on children in prison and search for other countries and recent articles, including;

• Brazil’s Penal System Shows It’s Lawlessness as A Young Girl is Raped For Weeks
• Child Detainees, An International Crime?
• Haiti’s Children’s Prison - 2005
• INSIDE THE CHILDREN’S PRISON IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA - 2002
• SUDAN: Women and children in prison
• Children in Conflict With the Law: What is Done, But Rarely Told - 2006
• DRC: Children “languishing in Ituri prisons”
• CAMEROON: Two months after riots, children remain in prison
• IRAQ: Child prisoners abused and tortured, say activists

Anyone can look sympathetically upon a photo of someone crying inside their burnt out house, and feel the pain and grief that one would have, but imagine when it is compounded by a whole village. Now add death and rape into the mix, and the images are even more haunting, the images are the reality of Sudan’s genocide in Darfur, and of an international failure to end the continued suffering that has left millions dying in the wake of the conflict.

Tonight in DC a book signing and awareness event was held for, Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan, with editor Leora Kahn, who was joined by Scott Edwards Sudan Country Specialist for Amnesty International USA. The book features the work of eight prominent photographers covering three periods in the Sudan crisis, including images from:

• 1988: During this year, an estimated 250,000Sudanese died of starvation;

• 1992 and 1995: These photos capture the atrocities of a civil war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes to other destinations in Sudan or left the country altogether

• 2005 to present: These images bring to light the severity of the humanitarian crisis underway, with the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias committing systematic violence on the people of Darfur.

The book leaves one haunted by the images of hate, violence, suffering and death; while also leaving one moved by images of courage and hope.

The book is more than a collection of shocking and amazing images, the pages of this work of activism is more than just imagery, as the photos are complemented by the work of leading writers and activists. Contributing writers include Jonathan Alter, Newsweek and NBC News journalist; Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; Mia Farrow, an award-winning actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2001; and John Prendergast, writer and Senior Adviser at the International Crisis Group.

However while books and events like this clearly have an impact, they are sadly not striking deep enough, as the continuous suffering and killing in Darfur rages on. As one who attends many events on Darfur can see many of faces and core group of activists, and while they are making an impact and needed. Just as the people of Darfur can no longer carry the burden of genocide, the activist fighting tirelessly to end the suffering in Sudan can no longer carry this burden alone. As an international community we are failing the people of Darfur, and it appears that we have yet to learn how to deal with genocide, as Sudan mirrors many past failings.

How can you learn more and get involved? Learn more about the U.S.’s Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, and how at the Sudan Divestment Task Force. Join groups and campaigns such as; Save Darfur , Help Darfur Now, 24 Hours for Darfur, Darfur Peace and Development organization, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Amnesty International, Genocide Intervention Network, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and many others.

*All proceeds from the book will benefit the Genocide Intervention Network and Amnesty International USA.

Other eye opening images of the reality of Sudan can be found in The Devil Came on Horseback and Sand and Sorrow.
Please see previous posts such as; Sexual Assault and Rape Continue in Sudan, Despite Increased Aid Efforts We Are Still Failing the Children of Darfur, Attacks in Sudan Targeting Children, and The Children of Sudan.

Recent News on the Crisis in Darfur:

A report by the Darfur Consortium concludes that the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission is near to failing and has done no more since January to bring peace and stability to Darfur than its predecessor mission did (The Guardian (London)).

Sudanese diplomats have advanced on more than a dozen countries, both allies and enemies, in an aggressive charm offensive. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir himself visited Darfur for the first time in a year, promising aid, commiserating over losses endured by the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission, and demonizing the International Criminal Court and prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The public relations effort may be geared at convincing UN Security Council nations such as China and Russia, which have indicated they are sympathetic to the notion that an arrest would threaten the peacekeeping mission (Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The New York Times).

Sudan’s leader indicted for war crimes, good or bad?

Burma (Myanmar) ratified a proposed international charter that includes controversial human rights provisions, a day after regional powers slammed the nation’s ruling junta for extending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention. But question marks remain about whether Myanmar’s junta is willing to adhere to the principles of human rights and respect for rule of law enshrined in the charter. It was also unclear whether the proposed ASEAN human rights body, the details of which have yet to be hammered out, will have any substantive enforcement or monitoring power. (AP)

Sexual harassment of women in Egypt is on the increase and observing Islamic dress code is no deterrent, according to a survey published this week. The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) describes the problem as a social cancer and calls on the government to introduce legislation to curb it. The findings contradict the widely held belief in Egypt that unveiled women are more likely to suffer harassment than veiled ones. (BBC)

Some 150,000 children in Niger are set to benefit from a USD 1.2 million donation to the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) for school equipment from the charity Dubai Cares. Basic school kits will be supplied to children as part of the initiative, which will help increase the number of children enrolled in 600 schools around the country. In addition, the program will provide classroom furniture for 200 schools and building materials to construct 50 emergency learning centers. (UN News Service)

In Haiti children remain the target of kidnappings, killings, sexual violence and child trafficking, and they have also been active participants in recent public protests, the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the impoverished Caribbean country reports. The latest report from MINUSTAH, covering the period from January to July this year and released this week, found that children continue to be affected by armed violence, despite the general improvement in the security situation in Haiti. (UN News Service)

Anti-malaria medication will be available free to children and pregnant women in the Republic of Congo. Malaria kills some 21,000 children under five each year, the UN says. But Health Minister Emilienne Raoul warned that the medicines were for the sick, and must not end up for re-sale on the streets or in other countries. Correspondents say theft and re-sale of medicines is a major problem in Congo. Treatment for tuberculosis, one of the infections linked to HIV, is already free of charge in the country. TB, malaria and HIV/Aids are the three top killers in Congo. (BBC)

In Brazil police arrested a 14-year- old boy who allegedly confessed to killing 11 people while working for a gang of drug traffickers in southeastern Brazil, A Gazeta newspaper reported, citing police officials. Two other teenagers, both 17, were also arrested for belonging to the criminal gang, Danilo Bahiense, the police chief in Vitoria overseeing the investigation, told the city’s newspaper. An adult with a long criminal record and wanted for escaping from jail was also arrested, Gazeta reported. Bahiense told Gazeta that the teenagers were part of a drug gang that carried out homicides, kidnappings and robbery in the metropolitan area of Vitoria. (Bloomberg)

A trio of independent UN human rights experts have voiced concern about recent actions and proposed measures targeting the Roma community and migrants in Italy which they deem as discriminatory. The Special Rapporteur on racism, Doudou Diene, the Independent Expert on minority issues, Gay J. McDougall, and the Special Rapporteur on the Human rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante, said they were extremely concerned about the proposal made by the Ministry of Interior to fingerprint all Roma individuals, including children, in order to identify those undocumented persons living in Italy. (UN News Service)

The Jonas Brothers’ Change For The Children Foundation Chooses Nothing But Nets as a Partner in “YOU DECIDE — YOU DONATE” The United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, a grassroots initiative to prevent malaria in Africa, announced today it is teaming up with the Jonas Brothers’ Change for the Children Foundation to engage young Americans in the fight against malaria, a leading killer in Africa. Nothing But Nets was chosen as one of five charities participating in “You Decide-You Donate,” an initiative of the Change for the Children Foundation. The Jonas Brothers, through their Foundation, will match the first $10,000 donated by their fans to each of the five participating charities, including Nothing But Nets, as part of their commitment to making a difference in the lives of children worldwide. Click here for more information from the United Nations Foundation.

The film Very Young Girls takes you into the reality of sexual exploitation and trafficking of American girls, a true eye opener that is a must see for anyone who wants to see that Americas youth are given their chance at the American dream. Our eyes must be opened to the exploitation of our own youth if we are to be the world leaders in the abolishment of all forms of exploitation and trafficking/modern day slavery. To reinstate this need last week a screening of VeryYoung Girls was supported by the US State Department, and Ambassador Mark Lagon was on hand with Rachel Loyd the founder and Director of New York City based GEMS, to stress the need and reality of this problem.

Rachel Loyd and the GEMS staff don’t beat around the bush, they know the realities of the streets, and they know each day is a battle so they waist no time. The documentary is straight shooting and raw, just like the realities of a childhood as a victim on the streets, the film footage does not give you a rosy view of the life of the girls trying to brake the chains of exploitation. There is no easy fix, no quick way out of years of mental, physical and sexual abuse on the streets. As Rachel says in the film;

“There is no detox, no methadone. You hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”

Rachel Loyd is a true modern day hero, fighting for the young girls all too many have forgotten, she has given her heart, soul and life to these girls. She knows these girls, she has been these girls! A true survivor Loyd used her strength and experiences to establish GEMS (Girls Education & Mentoring Services), the halfway house in New York City she founded after she herself escaped from prostitution.

Loyd stands strong in the face of endless adversity and takes each girls daily struggle onto her own shoulders, giving each girl the true love and attention that they so desperately need and rightfully deserve. I had the opportunity to speak with Rachel after the film and while she is nothing more than personable it is not her heart that captivates you, it is her infectious strength. Rachel is an everyday woman with fighting spirit and endless heart that has inspired so many into action, but more importantly she is the rock for very young girls not only in NYC, but across the globe. There is hope and there is a normal life waiting for so many young girls and this film hopes to inspire those young and old.

Following the screening Mark Lagon asked Rachel Loyd;

“What do you think we should be doing nationally?”

Rachel stressed the need to see the problem for what it really is and punish those who are responsible while helping to heal the victims;

“Recognizing it as something that is done to them…Recognize it as child sexual abuse…Change the dialog and quit putting responsibility on young people and put it on the adults and those who facilitate these crimes.”

Very Young Girls is not a film, it is the reality of some 100,000 and 3 million minors involved in prostitution every year in the United States (Department of Justice estimates). No longer can we look at these girls as criminals, but we must see them for what they are victims and treat them as such, so that they may become survivors. Please see GEMS to learn more about the program, and how you can support Rachel and all the very young girls who have been victimized by sex trafficking in the United States.

When one in the US thinks of sex trafficking and exploitation, they tend to think of girls from lands with mostly unpronounceable names. Images of Russian “Natasha’s”, young Thai girls, girls on the streets of India, etc., however those images are not the only picture one must see in order to see the harsh reality of sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking.

While it is true that sex trafficking exists in every corner of the globe, young American girls are not immune form this demand driven plague of the flesh. Young vulnerable girls who are quite literally hunted, like animals in forest the girls are scoped out lured in by the weakness and naivety of innocence, the hunter the pimps who know how to infiltrate their minds with promises of love, affection and the attention they miss and crave.

The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12 years old, 90% of those in the commercial sex industry have histories of abuse, thus making them easy prey in the jungle of demand and exploitation.

The film Very Young Girls, which follows the girls of NYC’s GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, takes you into this harsh reality of the life of so many young All American girls. The film opens with a gritty intro into the mind of two pimps, Anthony and Chris Griffin shoot their own footage in an attempt to see their names in lights, or on MTV at the very least. Hoping for fame and fortune they used the camera to show the raw life of the very girls they exploit and essentially enslave, thankfully the same footage later put both behind bars.

“Ho Daddy”, as he likes to be affectionately called, has been pimping for 6 years and when asked how many girls he had, he responded with; “I’ve pimped over 100 Ho’s”. Then his brother asked what they were going to do, he responded with; “Gona find me a Bitch, find you a Bitch, we could split a Bitch in half.”

The graphic nature of the pimp languages is nothing compared to the actual life these young girls find themselves in on the streets. Insults are only the beginning of the mental breakdown and torture that these girls will face daily on the cold hard streets under the watchful eyes of their pimps.

How does it all begin, how do these girls get lured onto the streets? Youth makes one easy prey , and girls are targeted for their naivety and vulnerability. Like hunters the pimps look for the perfect target…they stake the girls out and woo them, learn their weaknesses and then when they have fully infiltrated they fire. Girls are lured in under the guise of girlfriends, pimps often act like the absent Father figure, caring for, protecting and buying the girls things until manipulation is second nature.

“I thought it was cool to be 12 and an old dude to be into me.”

When it is all you know temptation is the chain that holds these girls innocence. Girls are often lured back by their pimps with promises of love and affection, other times its pure threats, regardless it never leads to anything better than before. Girls are overwhelmed with confusion; an emotional cocktail of fear, shame, devotion, uncertainty…lead many back to life on the streets.

The word love can become a mental shackle on a girl…you often hear the girls mention the word “dating” when speaking of pimps. When you see the everyday face of these girls you are not just struck by their stories of life on the streets, but you watch them slip into stories and banter like school girls going over the daily gossip. The girls in the film are real, their stories are shocking, but they are sadly not uncommon and they are all innocent victims who need protection, guidance and hope, thankfully they have found it in GEMS.