KARA tracks current news about at risk children bringing transparency and attention to our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. Please note that what you see here is only a sampling of what should be reported – the great majority of child trauma & abuse never gets reported.
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Compilation of information and writing on this page is the hard work of KARA volunteer Eshanee Singh
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Nepal – Hundred of children in Nepal are at risk for trafficking after earthquake.
Turkey suicide bomb victims ‘mostly children’.
BBC News.
In the deadliest recent attacks on civilians, a bombing in Turkey, using a child suicide bomber, skills several people with at least 29 of them being under the age of 18 and of these 19 at least 22 of them under the age of 14. The attack has been blamed on the ‘Islamic State’ however no official claim of responsibility has been put forward.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37154294
Nigeria – Boko Haram attacks with children ‘suicide bombers’: UN.
Al Jazeera.
The number of child suicide bombers have increased in West Africa but the use of child suicide bombers has spread beyond the borders of Nigeria. Increasingly girls are being used in this offensive attack and it has proven to be effective since girls and children are not seen as a threat. Separated from their families and out of school, Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of vulnerable children not only for the use of suicide bombings but also to use them as cooks, sex slaves, and fighters. Once released or escaped from the hold of Boko Haram, the children face stigmas from society making their reintegration a struggle.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/boko-haram-children-suicide-bombers-160412093755915.html
Nigeria – Boko Haram crisis: ‘Huge rise’ in child suicide bombers.
BBC News.
Majority of the attacks carried out by the terrorist group Boko Haram have been done by drugged and kidnapped girls. The girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been exposed to severe abuse including sexual violence and forced marriages to the fighters. Young boys who have been kidnapped have been forced to attack their own families as a display of loyalty. The children have also been kept of out school and attacks carried out by the group have targeted school buildings. The terrorist group forbidding western education and attacking schools have distributed the education of children because the attacks and threats on have left children, their parents and teachers scared of attending school.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36023444
Afghanistan – Why Afghanistan’s children are used as spies and suicide bombers.
PBS – Frontline.
Children have been taught about jihad and the necessity to loyalty to the Islamic State by commanders who get their orders from ISIS. The widespread poverty, lack of education and employment, and a limited reach of government and law leaves children vulnerable to recruitment by insurgent groups. In extreme cases, the recruited children as used as suicide bombers while they can also be used as messengers, lookouts or spies in less serious cases. Trickery and other tactics, such as shooting them with fake bullets, are used to convince the children that they will either become religious martyrs or they will rise from the dead.
Nigeria – Boko Haram abductions: Freed bride’ tells of stigma ordeal.
BBC News.
After being forced to chose from being a slave or a wife, an abducted 17 year old girl faces the backlash of insults and hate of choosing to be the wife of a Boko Haram member. This choice however is not much of a choice, the abducted children did not create this life and did not have much of a voice in choosing between the lesser of two evils. The trauma created by stigmatizing the children after escaping capture generates a dangerous cycle of of something much worse then Boko Haram.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36041860
Syria – Donors fall $1 billion short in their commitment to education for Syrian refugees.
Humanosphere.
Displacing more than 11 million people, the on going Syrian civil war has kept millions of refugee children out of school. Governments and donors have pledged $1.4 billion to ensure the education of every Syrian child, however; only $400 million of the initial pledge had been delivered. Eventually when a refugee child is afforded the opportunity to continue their education, they are pulled out to instead work to financially support their families.
Syria – UN ‘extremely concerned for children in Syria’s Aleppo.
Yahoo News.
Areas riddled with violence and neighbourhoods under government siege threaten the safety and well being of children. Attacks and counter attacks using, for example, poisonous gas has injured and killed thousands if not millions of civilians including children. Even government controlled areas thousands of people have been displaced and are taking shelter from the violence in city mosques, university campuses and public gardens. No area in Aleppo is safe from attacks; government and rebel forces have attacked schools and hospitals.
Mexico – Breaking code of honour, gangs kill families in Mexico.
Yahoo News.
Drug gangs are breaking the old unspoken/unwritten code by being willing and actually killing families and children. It is suspected that the killings of women and children by drug gangs are linked to disputes between rival gangs and/or illegal activities including drug trafficking and control over opium poppy production. The rise of family killings creates fears that the problem of drug cartels and the illegal activities tired to them may continue to rise and grow into something bigger and more serious.
Nigeria – Chibok abduction: the Nigerian ton that lost its girls.
BBC News.
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram attacked a school compound and kidnapped over 200 students. After a series of suicide attacks a city in Nigeria is under lockdown, with schools, shops and marketplaces closed. Younger people, especially, have little to no opportunity to work or go to school so they leave for the main city. Gatherings of any kind are discouraged and broken up due to the fears of another attack. Refugee camps, market places and schools have all been attacked.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35979157
Iraq – UN panel says Yazidi genocide ‘ongoing,’ appeals for help.
Yahoo News.
Religious minorities in Iraq face persecution. Thousands of of the Yazidi minority in Iraq are being killed or taken into captivity by the Islamic State militant group. Airstrikes led by international communities in attempt to destroy the militant group have also displaced Yazidi and Muslim communities.
Ghana – Child malnutrition costs Ghana more than &2 billion annually: experts.
Reuters.
The costs of malnutrition bears a heavy burden on the health care system driving up its costs. Child malnutrition has also strained the education system and hindered the productivity and the size of Ghana’s workforce. Stunted growth due to poor pre and postnatal health care has fuelled high levels of malnutrition.
UN chief indicates Yemen coalition to stay off UN blacklist.
Yahoo News.
Despite grave concerns over the protection and use of children by rebels in war torn countries, the US backed Saudi Arabia led coalition won’t be returned to a U.N. blacklist for violating child rights pending a forward looking review. In a high level meeting, the secretary general has received information about measures to prevent and end grave violations against children.
Chad – Boko Haram militants ‘took my children’ in Chad.
BBC News.
Boko Haram has had a strong hold in Nigeria but is has been advancing across the border to Chad. Soldiers raid a village killings several people and the survivors to leave their village and set up make shift camps, near the border between Nigeria and Chad, in fears of a jihadi attack. The economic, social, and environmental conditions at home makes it easy for the young boys to willingly want to join Boko Haram. Boko Haram recruits the young boys from these villages through the promise of money and gold.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35882396
Australia prison could violate torture conventions – U.N.
Yahoo News.
CCTV footage show Australian aboriginal children in youth detention centres facing conditions resembling torture, being stripped naked, strapped to a chair with a hood, thrown by the neck into a cel and held for long periods in solitary confinement. The Royal Commission inquiry order by the Prime Minister, though the most powerful inquiry in the country, is limited in its scope. Additionally, findings of faults with the guards’ behaviour have been disputed and dismissed.
Rights group: Some kids detained in conflict tortured, die.
Yahoo News.
Children in conflict affected areas, Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Nigeria and Syria, are detained for months or years as national security threats for their alleged associations with opposition or rebel groups. New counter terrorism or anti-terrorism legislation has given governments the power to do so. While in custody several children have died, been tortured or coerced into interrogations. Prosecution and detention often follows the arresting, torture and interrogation of children.
India – Beauty companies and the struggle to source child labour-free mica.
The Guardian.
Some of the biggest cosmetics and beauty companies, including L’Oreal and Estee Lauder, source mica, the mineral that adds shimmer to beauty products, from mines the use child labourers as young as 10 years old. Child labour in the production of mica can even be found i in the supply chains of ‘natural’ and ethically ‘friendly’ cosmetics and beauty companies such as Lush. The poverty levels in Jharkand India, where mica is produced, leave children vulnerable to child labour to help provide for their families. The economic situations of the child labours leads the director of the NGO Anti-Slavery International to argue that boycotting companies is not the best approach to solving child labour problems.
Indonesia begins re-vaccinating victims of fake drug ring.
Yahoo News.
Hundreds of children received fake versions of imported vaccinations from a drug counterfeiting rind. When this information, of children receiving fake vaccinations, came to light exposing a major flaw in the health sector of Indonesia, uproar intensified over claims that officials knew about the the drug ring producing fake vaccines for several years but did little to stop it. How the fake drugs were distributed it yet to be determined.
Greece – Rights group tells Greece: Stop jailing migrant kids.
Yahoo News.
Unaccompanied migrant and refugee children, as young as 14, are held in overcrowded detention camps or police station cells where they are arbitrarily detained and cannot receive adequate care. Thousands of those detained face deportation.
Syria war: Dozens killed in ‘US-led airstrikes’ on Manbij.
Al Jazeera.
Airstrikes carried out in a Syrian city may have been a mistake says director of observatory Rami Abdel-Rahman. The US led airstrikes so far have been in support of Kurdish led forces attempting to retake the city from ISIS and to also block armed group’s access to the nearby Turkish border. The civilians living in the Syrian city are being used as human shields by the armed groups against the US led airstrikes. Hundreds of people were killed in the airstrikes, many of them women and children. While the total of civilians killed during the Syrian civil war continues to rise, thousands and millions of remaining civilians have been forced from their homes.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/led-air-strikes-kill-21-civilians-syria-160719045329897.html
South Sudan – Thousands flee to Uganda to escape renewed violence in South Sudan – UN refugee agency.
UN.
Thousands of people, primarily women and children, walk for days and suffer from malnutrition along with other illness to escape the violence of South Sudan. The capacity of camps and settlements have dwindled and security and violence has become common in them. The refugees’ place in camps and settlements are not secured and fear that they would have to return to the volatile situation.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54497#.V7291GNllmB
Afghanistan – Rights group: Afghan government fails to protect children.
Yahoo News.
Many Afghan children are forced to leave school and work in hazardous industries, including carpet weaving, brick making, mining, metal work and farming. Despite these vulnerable children work in dangerous conditions, the Afghan government fails to protect them. Afghanistan has labour laws banning children under 14 from working and hazardous occupations that children are banned from working in but, the Afghan government has failed to enforce these laws.
Fighting violence against children as a global problem.
IPS News.
Millions of children have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence that has negatively impacted their cognitive development and has held them back in school thus limiting their development in other areas as well. The problem of violence against children is a global one that needs a more coordinated international approach. The sheer scale of the problem often overshadows the individual faces of the children suffering from physical abuse, sexual assault, or mental abuse.
Ivory Coast – UN condemns ‘persistent impunity’ for I. Coast child rapes.
Yahoo News.
Although official numbers do not exist, cases of rape are ever prevalent and are not taken seriously given that perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. Rape and assault in the Ivory coast is often trivialized and the gravity of rape is minimized because the offence of rape is judged as a lesser offence and for which the sentencing is less severe.
Latin American development depends on investing in teenage girls.
IPS News.
The social, economic and political barriers that young girls face in Latin America and the Caribbean hinder the development of their full potential. The calculated benefits from investing in the economic and social empowerment of young girls shows a sustainable long term impact on the overall development of a region. Educating girls on their rights and providing tools that enables them to drive change is a step towards greater GDP, growth in salaries for girls, gender equality and positive change.
Philippines only country in Asia where teen pregnancy rising.
Yahoo News.
High fertility rates costs the country’s GDP and chances at reaping economic benefits continue to close. With the teen pregnancy rates rising many girls either choose to or are forced not to continue their education. Among the poorest of the population there are higher fertility rates. Policies and investments need to made to drive economic and social development; education and methods of contraception, sexual education and maternal care needs to be made universally accessible.
India to vaccinate 300, 000 children after polio strain found in sewage.
Scientific American.
India had previously been declared polio free in 2014 after a multi-million dollar investment in public health. A strain of polio detected in a sewage sample in Hyderabad prompts health officials to take precautionary measures. A special immunization drive and vaccination campaigns have been set up to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated with a booster to provide additional protection against polio.
The Huffington Post.
After two major earthquakes human traffickers are looking to target families, who have lost everything, to exploit their children. Some parents are willingly giving up their children for what they are made to believe will be a better life; the lure of an education and improved quality of life makes parents want to relinquishing their children into the hand of traffickers. Children of these families are either being trafficked or illegally placed in children’s care homes and orphanages so that they can be used to attract adoptive families and fee paying volunteers and donors.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/nepal-children-trafficking_n_7637776.html
Nepal – Women and girls, a commodity: human trafficking in Nepal.
The Diplomat.
Thousands of girls each year are trafficked from Nepal across the border to brothels in India and are forced to become prostitutes. Some of the trafficked girls are kidnapped by human traffickers using the lure of marriage or the promise of education and/or employment, while others are sold by their families out of economic desperation. Lack border regulations and security makes it easier for traffickers to smuggle girls into India. Torture and beatings are common if there is any protest or attempt to escape on the part of the trafficked girls.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/women-and-girls-a-commodity-human-trafficking-in-nepal/
South Asia – Horrors of human trafficking in South Asia.
The New York Times.
In several South Asian countries ethnic minorities are fused citizenship and other rights, such as the right of women to have children; the Myanmar government signed a law restricting the right of Rohingya women to have children. Systemic ethnic persecution forces families to flee their homes in South Asia leaving them vulnerable as easy prey to human traffickers who sell them into slavery or extorts their families for ransoms. Thousands of migrants have been abandoned by traffickers who promised them a better future.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/horrors-of-human-trafficking-in-south-asia.html?_r=0
Afghanistan: Hazardous work for children widespread.
Human Rights Watch.
In Afghanistan’s carpet industry, child workers face hazardous conditions in the workplace, which is a direct violation of Afghanistan’s labour laws. Hazardous working conditions and poor enforcement of safety and health standards exposes child workers to illness, injury or even death. To help their families sometimes children are compelled to leave school prematurely to instead work in industries dangerous for children.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/14/afghanistan-hazardous-work-children-widespread
Children on the front lines, with U.S. dollars.
Human Rights Watch.
As conflict as escalated in countries the recruitment of child soldiers has increased by both government forces and armed rebel groups. It is argued that the the United States has a powerful tool to pressure foreign countries to crack down on these abuse and exploitation of child in war but, the government has failed to use it effectively. Despite getting billions of dollars in U.S. military aid each year and explicitly using child soldiers for military operations that are largely paid for in part by U.S. military funding, Afghanistan, for example, is exempt from military sanctions and is absent from the list of offenders.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/30/children-front-lines-us-dollars
Child marriage in Africa.
About Education – African History.
While the raw numbers of child marriages are far lower in Africa than in Asia, in terms of percentage of young women in any given country who were married before the age of 18, 9 out of the top ten countries in the world are in Africa. Strong evidence suggests economic necessity plays a greater role than social custom given than that poor girls are much more likely to be married at a young ages then their wealthier counterparts. Their age at marriage puts them at far more risk for maternity related complications or death and illness related to sexual and physical abuse.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/African-History-and-Politics/fl/Child-Marriage-in-Africa.htm
Child marriages: facts, causes and consequences.
Middle East About News.
Inherent in child marriages is the degradation and mistreatment of girls, yet child marriages are prevalent in several cultures and countries, including parts of the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the Asian Subcontinent and even in some states in America. Girls who marry at a young age, between the ages of 10 and 14, are five times as likely to die during pregnancy or child birth. The causes of child marriages are not single and a few but can be caused by a mixture of cultural, social, economic and religious reasons. For example, reasons to force a girl into child marriage include poverty, protecting the girl’s sexuality, gender discrimination, inadequate laws and trafficking. When in a marriage, girls are denied rights, such as the right to an education, the right to health, the right to protection from physical and mental violence and more.
http://middleeast.about.com/od/humanrightsdemocracy/a/child-brides.htm
Nepal: ‘Since earthquake, 15% spike in human trafficking’.
The Indian Express.
Increasingly after earthquakes and natural disasters women and children are trafficked into India, which serves as a transit location. From India, the trafficked women and children are further trafficked to Sri Lanka, Thailand or Bangladesh, from where they are taken to Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Congo: Peacekeepers gone wild: how much more abuse will the UN ignore in Congo?
The Globe and Mail.
Foreign soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo are sexually and violently violating young girls with impunity. A review concluded that prostitution and sexual abuse follows most UN interventions. Despite zero tolerance, peacekeepers continue the dishonourable act of committing violence and abusive acts against Congolese girls, and doing so with complete impunity.
Congo – The price of precious.
National Geographic.
With corruption at its core the government and military of Congo provides little to no enforcement and protection of labour standards. In a rebel controlled area, children are used to smuggle minerals from mines that are then used by leading electronic companies in America.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/conflict-minerals/gettleman-text
India – How India’s ‘ghost’ mines have resulted in the deaths of many child workers.
The News Minute.
In India’s illegal mines the death of several children has prompted an inquest. The investigation has found that child labour is popular because the size of children’s hands are ideal to pick and sort minerals. It had also be founded that rather than reporting the death, families are choosing to accept payment from the operator(s) of the illegal mine. Often times children have to work alongside their parents and adult relatives out of economic necessity. Working in the illegal mines is their only choice because it is the only available work.
Syria – Caught in the civil war, Syrian children receive make-do education.
The Wire.
The ongoing civil war has displaced several children and their families. A husband and wife has opened their home to teach some of the children who have been displaced by the war. Although the conditions are not optimal, Syrian children receive education in subjects like Arabic, English, maths and religion. With schools being targets of air strikes and with the growth of insurgent groups children have been displaced and recruited by armed personnels, limiting their access of education. One problem they face is inadequate learning material, i.e. books, and the presence of war planes flying above the makeshift schools scaring the children.
http://thewire.in/46581/caught-in-the-civil-war-syrian-children-receive-make-do-education/
Syria – UN says children caught in Syria’s civil war suffer ‘unspeakable’ abuse.
PBS News Hour.
A United Nations report finds that the Syrian government is responsible for thousands of child deaths and the imprisonment of several children where they suffer physical and mental abuse. While thousands of children have been killed or imprisoned, thousands more have been displaced forcing some to flee to other countries or have been recruited by armed groups and the government to fight in the war.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/un-children-syrias-civil-war-suffer-unspeakable-abuse/
Indonesia – Unicef report finds female genital cutting to be common in Indonesia.
The New York Times.
The United Nations Children’s Fund finds that millions of girls in Indonesia has fallen victim to female genital cutting, a cultural ritual practice. The official Indonesian government definition of female genital cutting defines the practice as a less harsh and less intensive practice than what is often seen in parts of Africa and Middle East. Although numbers has declined in some countries, the rate of decline is not fast enough to keep up with population growth. If rates of female genital cutting is to continue the number of women and girls subjected to female genital cutting will rise significantly over the next 15 years. While female genital cutting is regarded as a cultural practice in Indonesia, conflict persists between religious and secular attitudes towards the practice.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/health/indonesia-female-genital-cutting-circumcision-unicef.html
Colombia – Stolen youth: combating commercial sexual exploitation of children in Cartagena, Colombia.
Global Affairs Canada.
A city in Colombia is a destination for sex tourism and sexual exploitation of children. Although illegal, commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth is entrenched in the city because of the well established crime syndicates. Groups have taken action together to clean up the city and promote the idea that the city can not develop on the basis of sexual tourism. Legal action has been taken in some cases but it yields few results.
Colombia – Colombia ad Farc rebels agree child soldier deal.
BBC News.
Child soldiers recruited by the Colombian group Farc will be pardoned under Colombian law and treated as victims of war. Efforts will be made to return children to their families. Official numbers do not exist of how many child soldiers are used by Farc.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36299528
Colombia – Colombian children pay high price amid peace talks, U.N. says.
The New York Times.
In the years of peace negotiations in Colombia, children and their families have been displaced leaving them vulnerable to the recruitment by armed groups. If not displaced or recruited children have been injured or killed in attacks and explosions.
Brazil – Here’s what we know now about Zika and birth defects.
National Geographic.
New research has illustrated the strong connection between the Zika virus and potential birth defects. The size of the Zika outbreak is unusual which leads prompts investigations attempting to pin down the what exactly is causing potential birth defects and how the virus affects infant’s brains, one of the most commonly affected areas.. Further research needs to be done on whether countries have the finical recourses to prevent and treat affected pregnancies.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160307-zika-virus-microcephaly-brazil-science/
India shamed by high child mortality rate.
Hindustan Times.
Even in ‘well-off’ states, there is a high infant morality rate of children under the age of 5, with more than half of the deaths being of girls. The Indian government has made efforts in reducing under five child mortality but, with the high rates of deaths across states the efficacy and inclusiveness of the government’s efforts is questioned. If the child mortality rate continues at this pace, India would be on track to miss its millennium development goal target.
Italy – Italy has Europe’s highest percentage of children in poverty, says UNICEF.
The Daily Beast.
The economic divide between Italy’s northern and southern regions results in hundreds of thousands of children are living in poverty in Italy. Many of these children do not go to school and if if they do, they are forced to drop out of school to help support their families working in unsafe and unhealthy jobs, such as on farms and in the sex trade. The problem has little to no hope of resolving because the problem of poverty in the south of Italy is not on the agenda of the government; only 1.1% of the total GDP goes to investments in public social programs or towards alleviating crime.
France and the fight against human trafficking.
The Diplomatie.
Trafficking of women and children and forcing them into labour, domestic slavery, and forced begging has become the most widespread form of trafficking and organized crime. France has provided support and technical assistance in stoping and preventing the violation of human rights involved in human trafficking of women and children.
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/human-rights/fight-against-human-trafficking/
6.14 lakh Virudhunagar children to get deworming tablets.
The Hindu.
Living in conditions of poverty make children more susceptible to the condition of worms. Teachers and government workers will administer deworming tablets to children in and out of school. The tablets are hoped to improve the health of children and to avoid malnutrition.
India – The Indian girls who survived being raped.
BBC News.
The gang rape and murder of a school age girl in India sparks protest and the creation of new laws against rape and assault. Despite efforts to combat sexual assaults against women and children thousands of rape cases are continued to be reported. The following cases involved girls ranging from 13 to 17 years old.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35379221
Vietnam has 2.2 mn malnourished children.
Tuoitre News.
Nutrition among children in Vietnam is an issue that needs direct attention from the government given that malnutrition and obesity rates have increased. While millions of children suffer from health issues related to malnutrition, thousands of others suffer from health issues related to obesity such as diabetes, blood pressure and cardiovascular problems.
Sri Lanka – Impact of armed conflict on children i Sri Lanka.
Tamil Canadian.
The civil war and armed conflict in Sri Lanka had created thousands of orphans all of whom the Sri Lankan government was not prepared to support and care for. On top of not being able to attend school, due to security forces occupying school buildings, and not receiving nutritious food and health care, these children had to also contemplate the idea of never being able to see their parents again. These fear and uncertainty is also shared by children of missing and fighting soldiers and also by children of minority groups facing persecution. No matter what ethnicity or religion children were apart of during the war and following armed conflict, all children experienced some form of physical and/or psychological trauma no child should have to endure.
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=354&id=1745&page=0
India – Lok Sabha passes Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016.
Jagran Josh.
The Indian Parliament passed an amendment bill trying to further decrease child labour in some states. Particular provisions in the bill, for example children working in family businesses, faces concern from the United Nations over it not protecting the most vulnerable children.
Sri Lanka – Child labour: nip it in the bud.
Daily News.
Although children working below the age of 14 is illegal, thousands of children on the island engage in economically valuable child labour. These activities range from selling as street vendors, street services and domestic labour to hazardous mining, construction, manufacturing and transportation. Rather than completely ridding child labour from the island, systems of awareness are being set up in order to detect child labour. With awareness, rehabilitate and protection of children who have fallen victim can be done through interventions. However, the issue of child labour cannot be fully addressed until the root cause is understood and treated through social protection, i.e. district specific child development plans addressing all aspects of child labour.
http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=2016/07/12/features/87144
Sri Lanka – Officials lack resources to tackle child labour – ILO.
Nation.
Several gaps in government provisions in preventing and treating child labour and sexual abuse leads to the conclusion that the Sri Lankan government should be taking more proactive preventative measures rather than reacting to complaints that are phoned in. A step towards proactive prevention is the placement of officers in villages whose duties include investigating various aspects of vulnerable children but, there is little to no supervision and action towards change at these levels.
http://nation.lk/online/2016/06/18/officials-lack-resources-tackle-child-labour-ilo.html
Global profits, and peril, from child labour.
Hazardous child labour is in the global supply chain of several industries including agricultural, mining, leather and apparel. Although millions of children are caught up in hazardous child labour, consumers have no way to know if the food they eat, the clothes they wear or the products they use were produced by the exploitation of children. The exploitation of child labour at any stage of the supply chain is not solely characteristic of certain parts of the world, it takes place close to home in the tobacco farms in the United States.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/06/global-profits-and-peril-child-labor
Burkina Faso counts cost of child labour.
Bangkok Post.
The children of Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, makes up a large proportion of the workforce in diverse fields such as cotton picking, mining and street selling. Thousands live below the poverty lines and travel long distances to work for at least eight hours a day six to seven days a week. Doctors warn that in addition to visible injuries children are susceptible to respiratory illnesses while being exploited in the global supply chain. Child labour therefore has dangerous long term effects on the health of children.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1030917/burkina-faso-counts-cost-of-child-labour
Sri Lanka – Combating child labour through education.
Nation.
Several factors that lead to and enable child labour are often traced back to poverty. Both poverty and child labour hinder a child’s ability to continue with their education or to even to enrol in school. The attitudes of parents towards the benefits of education often perceives the opportunity cost of education as too high. When this is the case, parents are more likely to push their children into family businesses or other industries that are hazardous to the health and development of children.
http://nation.lk/online/2015/06/20/combating-child-labor-through-education.html
Turkey suicide bomb victims ‘mostly children’.
BBC News.
In the deadliest recent attacks on civilians, a bombing in Turkey, using a child suicide bomber, skills several people with at least 29 of them being under the age of 18 and of these 19 at least 22 of them under the age of 14. The attack has been blamed on the ‘Islamic State’ however no official claim of responsibility has been put forward.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37154294
Nigeria – Boko Haram attacks with children ‘suicide bombers’: UN.
Al Jazeera.
The number of child suicide bombers have increased in West Africa but the use of child suicide bombers has spread beyond the borders of Nigeria. Increasingly girls are being used in this offensive attack and it has proven to be effective since girls and children are not seen as a threat. Separated from their families and out of school, Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of vulnerable children not only for the use of suicide bombings but also to use them as cooks, sex slaves, and fighters. Once released or escaped from the hold of Boko Haram, the children face stigmas from society making their reintegration a struggle.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/boko-haram-children-suicide-bombers-160412093755915.html
Nigeria – Boko Haram crisis: ‘Huge rise’ in child suicide bombers.
BBC News.
Majority of the attacks carried out by the terrorist group Boko Haram have been done by drugged and kidnapped girls. The girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been exposed to severe abuse including sexual violence and forced marriages to the fighters. Young boys who have been kidnapped have been forced to attack their own families as a display of loyalty. The children have also been kept of out school and attacks carried out by the group have targeted school buildings. The terrorist group forbidding western education and attacking schools have distributed the education of children because the attacks and threats on have left children, their parents and teachers scared of attending school.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36023444
Afghanistan – Why Afghanistan’s children are used as spies and suicide bombers.
PBS – Frontline.
Children have been taught about jihad and the necessity to loyalty to the Islamic State by commanders who get their orders from ISIS. The widespread poverty, lack of education and employment, and a limited reach of government and law leaves children vulnerable to recruitment by insurgent groups. In extreme cases, the recruited children as used as suicide bombers while they can also be used as messengers, lookouts or spies in less serious cases. Trickery and other tactics, such as shooting them with fake bullets, are used to convince the children that they will either become religious martyrs or they will rise from the dead.
Nigeria – Boko Haram abductions: Freed bride’ tells of stigma ordeal.
BBC News.
After being forced to chose from being a slave or a wife, an abducted 17 year old girl faces the backlash of insults and hate of choosing to be the wife of a Boko Haram member. This choice however is not much of a choice, the abducted children did not create this life and did not have much of a voice in choosing between the lesser of two evils. The trauma created by stigmatizing the children after escaping capture generates a dangerous cycle of of something much worse then Boko Haram.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36041860
Syria – Donors fall $1 billion short in their commitment to education for Syrian refugees.
Humanosphere.
Displacing more than 11 million people, the on going Syrian civil war has kept millions of refugee children out of school. Governments and donors have pledged $1.4 billion to ensure the education of every Syrian child, however; only $400 million of the initial pledge had been delivered. Eventually when a refugee child is afforded the opportunity to continue their education, they are pulled out to instead work to financially support their families.
Syria – UN ‘extremely concerned for children in Syria’s Aleppo.
Yahoo News.
Areas riddled with violence and neighbourhoods under government siege threaten the safety and well being of children. Attacks and counter attacks using, for example, poisonous gas has injured and killed thousands if not millions of civilians including children. Even government controlled areas thousands of people have been displaced and are taking shelter from the violence in city mosques, university campuses and public gardens. No area in Aleppo is safe from attacks; government and rebel forces have attacked schools and hospitals.
Mexico – Breaking code of honour, gangs kill families in Mexico.
Yahoo News.
Drug gangs are breaking the old unspoken/unwritten code by being willing and actually killing families and children. It is suspected that the killings of women and children by drug gangs are linked to disputes between rival gangs and/or illegal activities including drug trafficking and control over opium poppy production. The rise of family killings creates fears that the problem of drug cartels and the illegal activities tired to them may continue to rise and grow into something bigger and more serious.
Nigeria – Chibok abduction: the Nigerian ton that lost its girls.
BBC News.
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram attacked a school compound and kidnapped over 200 students. After a series of suicide attacks a city in Nigeria is under lockdown, with schools, shops and marketplaces closed. Younger people, especially, have little to no opportunity to work or go to school so they leave for the main city. Gatherings of any kind are discouraged and broken up due to the fears of another attack. Refugee camps, market places and schools have all been attacked.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35979157
Iraq – UN panel says Yazidi genocide ‘ongoing,’ appeals for help.
Yahoo News.
Religious minorities in Iraq face persecution. Thousands of of the Yazidi minority in Iraq are being killed or taken into captivity by the Islamic State militant group. Airstrikes led by international communities in attempt to destroy the militant group have also displaced Yazidi and Muslim communities.
Ghana – Child malnutrition costs Ghana more than &2 billion annually: experts.
Reuters.
The costs of malnutrition bears a heavy burden on the health care system driving up its costs. Child malnutrition has also strained the education system and hindered the productivity and the size of Ghana’s workforce. Stunted growth due to poor pre and postnatal health care has fuelled high levels of malnutrition.
UN chief indicates Yemen coalition to stay off UN blacklist.
Yahoo News.
Despite grave concerns over the protection and use of children by rebels in war torn countries, the US backed Saudi Arabia led coalition won’t be returned to a U.N. blacklist for violating child rights pending a forward looking review. In a high level meeting, the secretary general has received information about measures to prevent and end grave violations against children.
Chad – Boko Haram militants ‘took my children’ in Chad.
BBC News.
Boko Haram has had a strong hold in Nigeria but is has been advancing across the border to Chad. Soldiers raid a village killings several people and the survivors to leave their village and set up make shift camps, near the border between Nigeria and Chad, in fears of a jihadi attack. The economic, social, and environmental conditions at home makes it easy for the young boys to willingly want to join Boko Haram. Boko Haram recruits the young boys from these villages through the promise of money and gold.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35882396
Australia prison could violate torture conventions – U.N.
Yahoo News.
CCTV footage show Australian aboriginal children in youth detention centres facing conditions resembling torture, being stripped naked, strapped to a chair with a hood, thrown by the neck into a cel and held for long periods in solitary confinement. The Royal Commission inquiry order by the Prime Minister, though the most powerful inquiry in the country, is limited in its scope. Additionally, findings of faults with the guards’ behaviour have been disputed and dismissed.
Rights group: Some kids detained in conflict tortured, die.
Yahoo News.
Children in conflict affected areas, Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Nigeria and Syria, are detained for months or years as national security threats for their alleged associations with opposition or rebel groups. New counter terrorism or anti-terrorism legislation has given governments the power to do so. While in custody several children have died, been tortured or coerced into interrogations. Prosecution and detention often follows the arresting, torture and interrogation of children.
India – Beauty companies and the struggle to source child labour-free mica.
The Guardian.
Some of the biggest cosmetics and beauty companies, including L’Oreal and Estee Lauder, source mica, the mineral that adds shimmer to beauty products, from mines the use child labourers as young as 10 years old. Child labour in the production of mica can even be found i in the supply chains of ‘natural’ and ethically ‘friendly’ cosmetics and beauty companies such as Lush. The poverty levels in Jharkand India, where mica is produced, leave children vulnerable to child labour to help provide for their families. The economic situations of the child labours leads the director of the NGO Anti-Slavery International to argue that boycotting companies is not the best approach to solving child labour problems.
Indonesia begins re-vaccinating victims of fake drug ring.
Yahoo News.
Hundreds of children received fake versions of imported vaccinations from a drug counterfeiting rind. When this information, of children receiving fake vaccinations, came to light exposing a major flaw in the health sector of Indonesia, uproar intensified over claims that officials knew about the the drug ring producing fake vaccines for several years but did little to stop it. How the fake drugs were distributed it yet to be determined.
Greece – Rights group tells Greece: Stop jailing migrant kids.
Yahoo News.
Unaccompanied migrant and refugee children, as young as 14, are held in overcrowded detention camps or police station cells where they are arbitrarily detained and cannot receive adequate care. Thousands of those detained face deportation.
Syria war: Dozens killed in ‘US-led airstrikes’ on Manbij.
Al Jazeera.
Airstrikes carried out in a Syrian city may have been a mistake says director of observatory Rami Abdel-Rahman. The US led airstrikes so far have been in support of Kurdish led forces attempting to retake the city from ISIS and to also block armed group’s access to the nearby Turkish border. The civilians living in the Syrian city are being used as human shields by the armed groups against the US led airstrikes. Hundreds of people were killed in the airstrikes, many of them women and children. While the total of civilians killed during the Syrian civil war continues to rise, thousands and millions of remaining civilians have been forced from their homes.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/led-air-strikes-kill-21-civilians-syria-160719045329897.html
South Sudan – Thousands flee to Uganda to escape renewed violence in South Sudan – UN refugee agency.
UN.
Thousands of people, primarily women and children, walk for days and suffer from malnutrition along with other illness to escape the violence of South Sudan. The capacity of camps and settlements have dwindled and security and violence has become common in them. The refugees’ place in camps and settlements are not secured and fear that they would have to return to the volatile situation.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54497#.V7291GNllmB
Afghanistan – Rights group: Afghan government fails to protect children.
Yahoo News.
Many Afghan children are forced to leave school and work in hazardous industries, including carpet weaving, brick making, mining, metal work and farming. Despite these vulnerable children work in dangerous conditions, the Afghan government fails to protect them. Afghanistan has labour laws banning children under 14 from working and hazardous occupations that children are banned from working in but, the Afghan government has failed to enforce these laws.
Fighting violence against children as a global problem.
IPS News.
Millions of children have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence that has negatively impacted their cognitive development and has held them back in school thus limiting their development in other areas as well. The problem of violence against children is a global one that needs a more coordinated international approach. The sheer scale of the problem often overshadows the individual faces of the children suffering from physical abuse, sexual assault, or mental abuse.
Ivory Coast – UN condemns ‘persistent impunity’ for I. Coast child rapes.
Yahoo News.
Although official numbers do not exist, cases of rape are ever prevalent and are not taken seriously given that perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. Rape and assault in the Ivory coast is often trivialized and the gravity of rape is minimized because the offence of rape is judged as a lesser offence and for which the sentencing is less severe.
Latin American development depends on investing in teenage girls.
IPS News.
The social, economic and political barriers that young girls face in Latin America and the Caribbean hinder the development of their full potential. The calculated benefits from investing in the economic and social empowerment of young girls shows a sustainable long term impact on the overall development of a region. Educating girls on their rights and providing tools that enables them to drive change is a step towards greater GDP, growth in salaries for girls, gender equality and positive change.
Philippines only country in Asia where teen pregnancy rising.
Yahoo News.
High fertility rates costs the country’s GDP and chances at reaping economic benefits continue to close. With the teen pregnancy rates rising many girls either choose to or are forced not to continue their education. Among the poorest of the population there are higher fertility rates. Policies and investments need to made to drive economic and social development; education and methods of contraception, sexual education and maternal care needs to be made universally accessible.
India to vaccinate 300, 000 children after polio strain found in sewage.
Scientific American.
India had previously been declared polio free in 2014 after a multi-million dollar investment in public health. A strain of polio detected in a sewage sample in Hyderabad prompts health officials to take precautionary measures. A special immunization drive and vaccination campaigns have been set up to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated with a booster to provide additional protection against polio.
