22 August 2005 - CRINMAIL 706
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- ASIA: Half of the Region's Children Live in Poverty [publication]
- NIGER: Neighbouring Countries also Threatened by Food Crisis [news]
- BRAZIL: National Consultation on Violence against Children Opens [event]
- CHILD RIGHTS: Promoting the Creation of Ombudsman for Children [publication]
- EMPLOYMENT: Deputy Programme Director [job posting]___________________________________________________________
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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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- ASIA: Half of the Region's Children Live in Poverty [publication]
[LONDON, 22 August 2005] - Despite Asia's booming economy 600 million children - almost half the region's 1.25 billion under-18s - are severely deprived of basic needs such as food, healthcare and shelter (compared with 265 million in sub-Saharan Africa). And over 350 million Asian children live in absolute poverty, according to a new report by the international children's agency Plan.
The 55-page report, "Growing up in Asia", says that half of Asia's families are failing to benefit from economic growth and globalisation. This is largely due to a combination of the pressure of population growth on scarce resources; lack of access to education, healthcare, clean water and sanitation; caste discrimination and dominance by social elites; as well as weak governance and corruption.
Tom Miller, Chief Executive of Plan says: "Despite the focus on poverty in Africa at last month's G8 summit, Asia has more than twice as many severely deprived children as sub-Saharan Africa. If it is not addressed now, this scale of child poverty will have a serious impact on Asia's future prospects."
Plan says that investing in children and their families is the most effective and cost-efficient way of breaking the cycle of poverty. The organisation pledges to invest US$1 billion on poverty reduction across twelve Asian countries over the next decade, but says the real challenge will be getting governments to face up to the levels of poverty.
The report says that to truly combat poverty the international community would have to reduce the subsidies given to US, European and Japanese farmers and forgive billions of dollars in debt. It also says that richer countries could make a difference by paying more for the goods they buy from developing countries. And they should not allow concerns about international security and terrorism to override insistence on good governance in developing countries.
However, it asserts that foreign development assistance, while playing an important role, remains very small compared to national income. And there is justified concern that debt forgiveness without improvements in governance will not lead to increased public spending on health, education and income security for the poor.
The report says Asian governments could do more to combat poverty by decentralising more of their public spending to the local level. (In South Asia local government gets less than ten per cent of total revenue despite playing a dominant role in public service provision.) It adds that democracy and grass roots political movements have a crucial role to play in ensuring that governments do not neglect the poor.
For more information, contact:
Christina Georgiou, Media Officer
Plan, International Headquarters
Chobham House, Christchurch Way
Woking, Surrey, GU21 6JG, UK
Tel: + 44 1483 755 155; Fax: + 44 1483 756 505
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.plan-international.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6070
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- NIGER: Neighbouring Countries also Threatened by Food Crisis [news]
[NEW YORK, 19 August 2005] - As the disturbing images of starving children in Niger fade from the international media, a similar crisis could be just around the corner for other countries in the Sahel - the vast parched region of West Africa bordering the Sahara desert.
People and governments around the world have responded generously to Niger's food crisis. UNICEF's emergency appeal was fully funded in just a few days. But the entire Sahel region is prone to recurring food shortages.
UNICEF's Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah has just returned from an assessment visit to Niger and Burkina Faso. "The crisis that is hitting West Africa, in particular Sahelian countries, is not only hitting Niger, but all the countries surrounding Niger, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria," she said. Four areas in Burkina Faso have already been identified as being at immediate risk of food shortage. Mauritania is also potentially vulnerable.
UNICEF's Chief of Nutrition, Rainer Gross, says the organisation is keeping a close watch on the situation in the region. "It's surely not only an issue of Niger. It popped up first but there is concern there is a similar situation in parts of neighbouring countries. I'm sure the donor community is aware and would help immediately where help is needed." The United Nations World Food Programme is also warning of a potential food crisis that could affect over 4 million people in the region.
But as international organisations take steps to avert a crisis similar to the one in Niger from happening elsewhere, UNICEF is also calling attention to broader issues. Rima Salah points out that mothers who cannot read or write have trouble learning and using proper child care practices - directly impacting the survival of children, including in crisis situations. Studies show that children born to mothers who are educated have lower mortality rates.
Poverty is another major long-term contributing factor to the vulnerability of the region to crises. Without action on the broader issues, "we will always have food shortages in the Sahelian countries," says Ms. Salah.
[Source: UNICEF]
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- BRAZIL: National Consultation on Violence against Children Opens [event]
Date: 23-25 August 2005
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
[SAO PAULO, 23 August 2005] - The National Consultation on Violence against Children opened in Sao Paulo today. The event will be attended by specialists on violence against children who will meet for two days to look at the main forms of violence affecting children in the country and work to find lasting solutions to eradicate them.
The meeting will be divided into round tables, conferences and working groups. Other projects around the Consultation will also be presented including photographic exhibitions, a documentary film and regional initiatives to eradicate violence against children. "Our aim is to motivate people to talk about this issue, its causes and its consequences, and to find ways to combat it, to guarantee the right to protection and full development for each and every young person", explained Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF's representative in Brazil.
UNICEF will launch a new study during the consultation entitled "Violence in Childhood and Adolescence" in partnership with the Observatório de Favelas do Rio de Janeiro (Favela Watch, Rio de Janeiro). The study identifies the different situations of abuse for each phase of life and proposes changes in strategies to combat them. The study provides disaggregated data by types of violence experienced by children: domestic, institutional, violence in the community, sexual, ethnic and racial violence, violence in schools, infant mortality, young people in conflict with the law, child labour and road deaths.
The study reveals that since 2000, there have been 437 reported cases where children have died as a result of violence in the home. Research by the Assoçiaçao Mult-profissional de Proteçâo a Infância e Adolescência, Abrapia (Multi-Professional Brazilian Association for the Protection of Children and Adolescents), also analysed in the UNICEF study, indicated that the family is responsible for 34.4% of these cases.
The findings about sexual abuse are the most alarming. Research by Abrapia shows that 49 per cent of children who experience this type of violence in the home are between 2 and 5 years old. The federal government helpline, Disque-Denúncia, recorded 1,506 reports of sexual violence between May 2003 and February 2005.
An average of 16 children are murdered every day. Adolescents between 15 and 18 years old represent 86.35 per cent of the victims (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, 2003).
Research by IBGE also shows that the infant mortality rate for children of women who have under 3 years of schooling is 2.4% greater than that for children of mothers with 8 years of schooling or more. Children born to white mothers have a greater probability of surviving their first year of life, whilst the mortality rate for children of black mothers is 33.7 deaths per thousand live births, and the rate for children with white mothers is 22.9 per thousand live births.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6071&flag=event
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- CHILD RIGHTS: Promoting the Creation of Ombudsman for Children [publication]
Save the Children has throughout its entire history promoted children's rights and aimed at contributing to full compliance to children's rights in its work. In the work of Save the Children Norway this includes promoting the establishment of ombudsman for children institutions, and - where relevant - supporting such offices. Collaboration and partnership with ombudsmen for children is a commitment in nearly half of the countries where Save the Children Norway is working.
Through a new report, "Children's Ombudsman Save the Children Norway's experiences with supporting and co-operating with independent institutions protecting children's rights", Save the Children Norway wants to present an overview of these activities in the relevant programme countries. The report draws general conclusions on experiences and lessons learned and proposes action points for further work.
The world's first ombudsman for children was appointed in Norway in 1981. Inspired by the work of the ombudsman and co-operation with the ombudsman's office in Norway, Save the Children Norway has made a commitment to promoting the establishment of, and giving support to similar institutions in programme countries.
According to the latest counts, there are now more than 60 ombudsman for children offices around the world. Most of them are at national level, others at state or province level. At least 38 countries have such offices. Nine of them are in countries where Save the Children Norway (SCN) is present. In other programme countries, SCN is promoting the idea and is making efforts to convince national counterparts within government and civil society of the need for an independent agent to monitor the implementation of children's rights. They are considered an important part of the combined efforts at national level to secure optimal implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). They are often referred to as "ombudsman for children" or "commissioner for children", although their official names vary greatly. In a generic way they could be referred to as "independent institutions protecting children's rights".
This study represents an effort to compile information from countries where SCN has been active - one way or another - in the establishment of independent institutions protecting children's rights. Information has also been collected from countries where SCN was not involved in the establishment, but currently collaborates with the ombudsman for children. Experience has been analysed and the lessons learned have been formulated. The purpose of this exercise is the combination of the following four elements:
1. Documenting SCN work related to ombudsman for children offices
2. Increasing the quality of SCN work with such offices
3. Helping secure the integrity and quality of ombudsman for children's offices
4. Providing a resource document for SCN, other members of the International Save the Children Alliance, other NGOs and others concerned with monitoring children's rights.
The principal target group for this report is staff at SCN Head Office and programme country offices as well as their partners. It is to be hoped that it will assist them in further work to promote and support independent institutions for the protection of children's rights in programme countries. Secondly, this report is aimed at other child rights organisations that are interested in or involved in efforts to advocate for the establishment of independent institutions for children's rights. Thirdly, this report might be useful for SCN donors and supporters who would like to learn more about SCN work related to this issue.
For more information, contact:
Anne Margrete Grøsland, Special Adviser Children's Rights
Save the Children Norway, Programme Department
Postboks 6902 St. Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo, Norway
Tel: + 47 22 99 09 00; Fax: + 47 22 20 17 66
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.reddbarna.no
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6058
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- EMPLOYMENT: Deputy Programme Director [job posting]
Contract: 25 months to start as soon as possible
Location: Harare, Zimbabwe
Save the Children is looking for an innovative person to play a key role in its Zimbabwe programme. The Deputy Programme Director will be responsible for supporting the management and development of the programme, while ensuring that the organisation effectively meets the long and short-term needs of children within agreed frameworks and organisational strategies.
Application deadline: 30 September 2005
For more information, visit: http://jobsearch.savethechildren.org.uk/viewvacancies.cfm?ID=122143
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