Children

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.” - Unknown

Children truly are the teachers of life, they teach us how to laugh, how to play, how to enjoy the simple things in life. When you are around children one finds it impossible not to smile, and why? Because children see the truth and beauty that surrounds them. Even in the face of darkness children easily find the light, as they seem to see so much more clearly and see past the suffering.

Watch a child today and learn how to live and see how to take from life what one should. More often we should not only hear the voices of youth, but look through the eyes of childhood, and then we can work to live in a world that is more at peace.

Do you find yourself saying, I just don’t know how to help, or I just don’t have time. Well activism isn’t as hard as you may think, and it can be a lot of fun for adults and kids. So why not take on some sports activism. Yes, sports activism! No, I don’t mean you have to be a big star and use your image to get others to act, but why not take your consciousness to the next level and incorporate into your sports and activities. Buy fair trade, use fair trade, play fair!

One such group who is taking their cause and mission to the next level is the DC Stop Modern Slavery Group, who last hosted their first annual soccer game. The game was covered along with other vital slavery free issues in the post, “Free to Play”…The Fight Against Slavery Takes it to the Pitch! However the group didn’t stop there, as the event was so successful that they have now made it an annual event.

The 2nd Annual Fair to Play Soccer game will hit the DC Mall tomorrow, Saturday July 25th at 11:00am, so come out and join them on the pitch, cheer on the slave free team or just watch and have fun.

However Stop Modern Slavery’s sports activism doesn’t stop there as they are also planing to host their first annual volleyball match later this year.

Last years Stop Modern Slavery Organizer Becky Bavinger, who is now working as the Country Director in India with The Emancipation Network, stated;

“That we must realize how important it is to know where our products come from, since many do involve slave labor. It is sickening that Americans have the privilege of using soccer balls, for example, that are made by child slaves, who themselves never know the meaning of “play” or “game.” So we applaud everyone who comes out for the 2nd annual Free to Play soccer game!”

Please see Becky’s recent article in Peace Work Magazine; Modern Day Abolition: Acting on a Moral Imperative

Get you slave fee sports balls today, and start playing fair and free!

For more information please see my Fair Trade and Slave Free Links page, which includes many links including;

• RESPECT - Fair Trade Sports
• Global March Against Child Labor
• Equita - Essentials for Ethical Living - Fair Trade
• Fair Trade Resource Network
• Fair World Sports - Canada
• Etiko Sports -Australia and New Zealand
• Sweatshop Watch - Has a shopping guide
• KIDS and FAIR TRADE - A Teacher’s and Parent’s Guide

Please also see my other related resource pages:

• Human Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and Documentaries
• Links for Abused Children and Parents
• Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Links
• Slavery and Trafficking Related Books

News of child suffering in hardly new in any country these days, and the Congo is no stranger to children’s rights violations and suffering. Years of war and economic instability has now lead the country is now find its streets flooded with children, as some estimate there are more than 3,000 street children in the country. The estimates on the actual number of street children in the Congo are most likely given with extreme conservatism, as many fear that they are only seeing more children on the streets.

Why are there so many children? The countries long running civil war, which ended in 2003, engulfed many child soldiers, of which many saw only rise in th past year, as seen in my previous post Child Soldiers in the Congo are Increasing. Many former child soldiers have now been led to the streets, many who lack the demobilization and reintegration support they so desperatly need. The war has also left many children orphans, in increasingly abusive homes and families impoverished, leading many to seek refuge and solace on the streets. Other children have literally been thrown out on the streets by their families and communities for the sins of witchcraft, as you can see more on in my previous post, Children Cast Into the Streets as Witches.

The trafficking of children in the Congo has also lead to an increased presence of children on the streets, as well as an additional burden of child abuses. According to a 2007 UNICEF report (volume one and volume two both in French) an estimated that 200,000 children are victimized by trafficking each year in the central and West African region’s alone. The children are primarily being trafficked from Benin, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Children like 16 year old Lucie find themselves toiling the streets day and night;

“My parents handed me over to an aunt a year ago. During the day I am here in the marketplace. In the evenings I sell cake on the main road,” she told IRIN. “If I complain about being tired or having a headache, I am accused of being lazy or stupid. Sometimes they hit me. I’ve realised I am not like the other children in the house. I am a slave.” (Tackling child trafficking)

While the government has been working to establish programs to curtail the growing problem of street children since 2004, when it introduced reintegration programs, however the continued brake down of the countries family and structure appears to be the leading cause of the growing number of children on the streets. Therefore it would appear that programs must be put into place to address those vulnerable families, who are struggling both economically and socially. If the needs of the family are not addressed the Congo will only see more children turned out on to the streets from abuse and allegations of witchcraft.

FGM tends to leave on thinking that it is a problem which plagues ‘other’ nations, however the eradication of FGM is not limited to African or Muslim nations, it is human rights violation that follows women and girls across the globe. Recent news has begun to shed a little light on a global fight, which in many ways is only in its infancy, against FGM.

Last month the New York Times ran an editorial, A Victory for Women, on three women from Guinea who won their appeal to a denied asylum claim in a Manhattan court. Under the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the panel of three judges ruled unanimously, that the Board of Immigration Appeals, the highest immigration tribunal in the country, committed “significant errors” and even ignored their own regulations. The granting of appeal was more than just a victory for the three women, but also a window of light for many women who have been victims of FGM. However glorious the win may seem it has showed a huge societal failure in viewing that FGM is a one time persecution that ends once the cutting is over. For women and girls who are victims of FGM the pain and torture of the procedure are far from a one time affair.

The issue of FGM has risen in other western countries in recent months such as in France where many West Africans are fighting female genital mutilation and their fight is not as small as one might think as, according to the French Institute of Demographic Studies, some 50,000 immigrant women in the country were registered as victims of FGM in 2004 alone. The study highlights the far reaching impact of FGM, and the need to educate and advocate against FGM amongst immigrant populations in the west.

“Immigrants have a tendency to cling to their traditions and customs – sometimes even more so than those who stay at home - for fear of losing them or of being socially rejected,” said Khady Koita, a Senegalese immigrant and president of a European network for the prevention of traditional practices harmful to the health of women and children, which operates in France.

Under French law FGM falls under Article 222 of the criminal code on violence, which can carry a prison sentences of up to 20 years for both those who preform the procedure and for parents.

Many countries where FGM has been common have passed laws to ban the practice, however laws have proven to be ineffective on their own, as often the practice is deeply rooted in the culture or history. Additionally laws prove futile without education and awareness, as many countries have discovered, only when its been at the high cost of death. Such as can be seen in the following posts; Egypt Makes Huge Strides in Putting an End to Female Circumcision and Girls Death in Burkina Faso Has Many Wondering If Laws are Enough!. However many FGM related deaths never make it into the media, nor are they often reported.

In Yemen many FGM; which was banned in 2001 in private and public health facilities, by the Ministry of Health, and is most often preformed on newborns; has left many FGM related deaths unreported. Thus the failure of laws alone to end the practice has led the government to seek additional strategies. Earlier this month in Yemen the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood (SCMC), a government body moved to stem female genital mutilation (FGM). A national action has been composed to combat the long standing practice of FGM in the country, currently the plan is awaiting Cabinet approval. The plan is a huge step in the eradication of FGM in the country, and could lead as an example for other countries fighting to truly end FGM in all forms.

While rates of FGM have fallen in many countries, the fight to end the practice is far from over and efforts must not only continue in countries where the practice has a long standing history, but also in the West as the fight for gender equality and an end to sexual violence is global and will not be won without a united effort. FGM must be clearly seen as a human rights violation, and not a one time instance of abuse. Therefore education and awareness on the long term effects must be put into place, as should laws be established that address the severity of the crime, and in doing so on a global scale we can begin to see the end of this extreme form of gender-based violence.

Please see my previous posts on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)/Female Circumcision for more information and background on the issue. Please also see the World Health Organization (WHO) FGM Fact Sheet for more on the long term consequences of FGM.

Ban disappointed over Darfur, child soldiers
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep disappointment at the use of child soldiers and the lack of progress toward a political settlement to the conflict in Darfur in a report released Tuesday. Children were among the rebel soldiers captured after a recent attack on the Sudanese capital.

High fertility rates in Afghanistan lead to high mortality, future troubles
The UN Population Fund warns that Afghanistan’s extraordinarily high fertility rate — the average woman has between six and seven children — has implications for women, the environment, and the future of the nation. On its current track, Afghanistan’s population will more than double by 2050. The nation has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world.

Government planning to curb population growth
Yemen’s National Population Council (NPC), a government body, has said it has approved a plan to implement a national population strategy to reduce the fertility rate - one of the highest in the world. The plan aim is to reduce the current fertility rate from 6.1% to 4.0%by 2015, as at current Yemen’s population is increasing by 700,000 every year.

Slavery a problem for Mali
Thousands of Malians are living as slaves, despite the common perception that slavery does not exist in the country. Economic uncertainty, lack of legal prohibition, and cultural tradition are helping to perpetuate the practice, say rights groups.

Food crisis threatening nutrition of young children
Rising prices of basic food commodities have forced the Philippine government to scale down efforts to address malnutrition among children, putting the under sixes at nutritional risk.

Militants hampering anti-polio drive as new case confirmed
Pakistani health officials in the area say campaigns against vaccination teams by militants, and clashes between them and troops, have prevented some 50,000 of the Swat Valley’s 365,000 children under five from being vaccinated.

Pregnant women still struggle to prevent HIV
Larger numbers of pregnant women living with HIV in Swaziland can now access services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus, but activists and health officials say more emphasis should have been placed on quality rather than quantity.

Moving towards universal birth registration
Bangladesh, the world’s seventh most populated country, is moving to provide its over 150 million people with official birth certificates. Recent reports indicate that 40 percent of the population had received a birth certificate by the end of March 2008, while more than 30 percent had been registered and would receive their certificates soon.

New survey indicates family planning weaknesses
World Population Day on 11 July with its theme “Family planning, is a right, make it real” was a bleak reminder for Pakistani health practitioners of the precarious state of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH).

“Pretty much all the honest truth telling there is in the world is done by children.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Writer (1809-1894)

‘Out of the mouth of babes’, they so often say when a child just blurts out the truth, and it appears that truth telling is something all too often left behind in childhood. As we grow older the colors of the world begin to fade, as children we see the world in a rainbow of colors, then suddenly as adults it all begins to appear in shades of gray. Yet, while children are the ones who remain so unclouded by politics, greed, and the trivialness of every day life; their truthfulness is mistaken for innocence and naivety.

When we seek guidance and incite into so many of our worlds dilemmas, one must really ought hear the voices of children.  How different our world could be if only we would listen to the children for whose future we work to protect!

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.

In wake of the elections in Kenya reports have noted an increase of children in the sex trade. Agnetta Mirikau, a child protection specialist with UNICEF Kenya, stated that they had received numerous reports that children in sex trade had rapidly increased since the election. This post-violence sex work boom is fueled as the displaced have found little resources for survival. Reports over the years have shown a regular increase in the rate of child sexual exportation, however that the situation continues to deepen in post-conflict, as desperate to survive displaced girls are turning, or being forced into sex work, to earn the cash they need to get through their daily lives. The cost of their innocence and youth is most often less than $5.

In a country with a high prevalence for gender-based violence, it is no surprise that the exploitation of children has increased in the wake of Kenya’s months of violence. High instances of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), spousal rape, child molestation, rape in refugee and IDP camps, have been know throughout the country. The case of child prostitution in Kenya is far from a new story, as the coastal areas and areas with military bases have long since been a hotspot for sex tourism and prostitution, especially with children.

A UNICEF report, Extent and Effect of Sex Tourism and Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Kenyan Coast, released in 2006 showed that some10-15,000 girls living in coastal areas, an estimated 30% of all 12-18 year olds residing in those areas were involved in prostitution. While an additional 2-3,000 girls and boys were involved in full time prostitution and 1 in 10 of children in commercial sex work are initiated before the age of 12 years old. UNICEF estimates that in total Kenya has up to some 30,000 children (under the age of 19) in the commercial sex industry.

In March 2002 the Children s Act was enacted to prohibit the economic exploitation of children and any work or labor which is deemed hazardous to a child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. However despite the act and the inclusion of a Human Trafficking Unit within the police force in 2003, little impact appears to be reaching the streets and those in need.

The increase of sexual exploitation lead to an increase in HIV/AIDS, due to high instances of condomless sex and as a result of the deadly myth that sex with a virgin will cure the virus. This myth has also helped to fuel the growing number of sexually exploited children.The issue of sexual exploitation of children in Kenya looks to continue as the country’s economic and political stability continues to teeter in the balance. The consequences of Kenya’s generation of lost children has yet to be felt, however due to the lingering psychological trauma the effects will leave a lasting mark on Kenya’s future socially, politically and economically.

The issue of trafficking and sexual exploitation in Kenya is not isolated isolated to Kenyans, as Kenya is a country of origin, destination country, and transit route for trafficking in persons. Many trafficking victims come from the neighboring countries of Uganda, Somalia and Sudan. Children in Kenya continue to be exploited for work as domestic servants and agricultural workers across the country. Victims trafficked out of, or through the country are often sent to European, Australia, North America, or the Middle East.


Sadly the increase of sexual exploitation of women and children Kenya is not an isolated case, as high instances of sexual exploitation, trafficking and rape are seen in many post conflict countries. One such case can be seen in my recent post on Sierra Leone, Despite Peace Sexual Violence Rages On in Sierra Leone.


Please see some of my earlier posts, such as: Children of the Kibera Slums, Can Kenya’s Children be Healed? and What Future Awaits the Children of Kenya?

For more on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery in Kenya please see the following links:
Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery - Kenya
US State Department - Trafficking in Persons Report 2008
ECPAT: Child Sex Tourism in Kenya
IRIN: In-Depth: Youth in crisis: Coming of age in the 21st century

The UN called for greater worldwide access to contraception in its observation of World Population Day, on July 11th. The world’s population is expected to grow to 9.2 billion by 2050. According to UN data, supplying voluntary contraception to those who want it would cost about $1.2 billion per year. (BBC)

Albanian officials are actively seeking to counter the country’s centuries-old tribal tradition of the blood feud as part of the country’s efforts to modernize and join the NATO and European Union multilateral alliances. Earlier this year, authorities amended the penal code to criminalize the feuds while helping to fund official mediators and efforts to educate Albanian school children on other forms of conflict resolution. (Der Spiegel)

China’s one-child policy leaves 100 million without siblings. The official Xinhua News Agency, citing a report at a weekend forum in Shanghai, says the figure represents 8 per cent of China’s total population. Critics say the policy also led to forced abortions and sterilizations as local authorities pursued birth quotas set by Beijing, plus a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio, as families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.(The Toronto Star/Associated Press)

A YouTube video depicting doctors desperately trying to rescue premature infants — four of whom died — during a hospital power outage has sparked a fierce debate about the quality of health care and other services in Egypt. Economic growth has benefited Egypt’s elite but inflation has put greater stress on the nation’s poor. (AlertNet.org)

UNICEF and the European Union July 1 launched a joint, four-year initiative to improve water and sanitation facilities in 21 districts across rural Uganda. The new project, launched in Kabarole district in western Uganda, aims to increase access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities and to improve hygiene behavior, focusing mainly on rural schools, health centers and communities. Although access to safe water has improved in Uganda, many regions still have a poor record and diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of infant mortality after malaria. (UN News Service)

The humanitarian situation inside Afghanistan is getting worse, with civilian casualties rising and food prices soaring, the United Nations relief chief said June 29, calling for the international community to revise its assistance plans to the strife-torn country. John Holmes, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said “a very understandable focus” in recent years on making progress on the political, security, development and reconstruction fronts has led to some humanitarian needs being neglected. (UN News Service)

When the leaders of the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, opened their meeting in Japan on 7 July, World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged them to “seize this opportunity” in the face of a crisis that threatened to push 100 million or more additional people into hunger beyond the 850 million already suffering. (IRIN)

Red and white banners along Nile bridges and Cairo streets this month were Egypt’s latest effort to curb an increasingly pressing problem: a population growing faster than the economy can support. Since President Hosni Mubarak took office in 1981, the population has nearly doubled. But most of the country’s 76 million people are squashed in urban areas near the Nile, in an area roughly the size of Switzerland, which is home to just 7.5 million. “Before you add another baby, make sure his needs are secured,” ran the slogan, adding to a string of campaigns over 30 years to encourage family planning. Mubarak told a government-sponsored population conference that cutting population growth was urgent. (Reuters)