CRINMAIL 720

11 October 2005 - CRINMAIL 720

 

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- PAKISTAN: Earthquake Relief Efforts Remain Chaotic [news]

- CHILDREN IN EMERGENCY: Child and Youth Participation Fair [event]

- MEXICO: Half of All Mexican Children Live in Poverty [news]

- STREET CHILDREN: New Resource from UNESCO Bangkok [website]

- EMPLOYMENT: World Vision International - Children in Scotland - Child Helpline International - RETRAK [job postings]

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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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- PAKISTAN: Earthquake Relief Efforts Remain Chaotic [news]

[MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - 11 October 2005] - Three days after the deadly Kashmir earthquake, relief efforts remained chaotic on Tuesday and UN officials said scores more helicopters were needed to get food, medicine and shelter to millions of survivors.

Pledges of aid for the victims of Saturday's earthquake have poured in from around the world but little assistance has yet reached desperate survivors on the ground due to blocked roads and a shortage of aircraft, particularly helicopters. Heavy rain and hailstorms in northern Pakistan further hampered efforts on Tuesday, grounding rescue flights and a planned aerial tour of stricken areas by the Prime Minister.

Officials in the worst hit areas of Pakistani Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province said the earthquake may have claimed up to 40,000 lives. Another 2,000 people are feared to have been killed across the border in Indian Kashmir.

But the official death toll from the quake - at 7.6 magnitude the biggest to hit the region in a century - remained at 21,000 in Pakistan and slightly over 1,200 in India. UN officials estimated the quake had left up to a million people homeless and threatened by disease in northern Pakistan, while perhaps three million more were in need of assistance, many of them children.

"At moment, I'm afraid it's so chaotic, I can't give you a clear picture," said a senior UN official involved in co-ordinating the relief effort. Trucks carrying emergency supplies had finally started moving towards the badly hit and remote mountain towns of Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir and Balakot in Northwest Frontier Province, he said. But the roads beyond remained blocked by landslides.

Reuters reporters flying over stricken areas have seen villages and towns flattened. Nearly every building in Muzaffarabad, a once-pretty river town that is the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, was destroyed or damaged.

Rescuers, many of them desperate relatives scrabbling with their bare hands, worked through the rubble in the desperate but fading hope that they might be able to save trapped people.

[Source Reuters]

For more details and background information, visit: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL249003.htm

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- CHILDREN IN EMERGENCY: Child and Youth Participation Fair [event]

Date: 14-16 November 2005

Location: Phuket, Thailand

A three-day event will be held in Thailand to share experiences of child and youth participation in the response to the tsunami and other recent disasters. The importance and benefits of involving children in emergency preparedness and reconstruction efforts will be highlighted through a series of workshops and discussions of current and past initiatives in the region. Suggestions of examples of such initiatives are still welcomed.

This event provides an opportunity to bring together key partners and agencies to develop understanding and action to mainstream youth participation in response to emergency situations. The themes explored in the workshops will have a broad relevance for all those working on child and youth participation initiatives, but especially for those in areas experiencing frequent natural disasters.

For more information, contact:

Guy Thompstone, Regional Co-ordinator

Child and Youth Participation in Tsunami Response

UNICEF - East Asia Pacific Regional Office

19 Phra Atit Road, Banglumpoo, Bangkok 10200, Thailand

Tel: + 66 2 356 9499 ext 9520; Fax: + 66 2 2803563

Email: [email protected]

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6300

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- MEXICO: Half of All Mexican Children Live in Poverty [news]

Alarming levels of poverty and inequality continue to affect a large proportion of children in Mexico, according to an alternative report compiled by the Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en México, a Mexican child rights coalition of 58 organisations and networks. The report, which is based on information collected between 1999-2004, will be presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in May 2006.

Almost half of all Mexican children live in houses without water, more than ten million without drainage, and more than two million without electricity. The report reveals that poverty pervades all aspects of children's lives in Mexico both between states and within states. Six of Mexico's Southern states are responsible for 40.3 per cent of national poverty.

Tackling poverty and inequality is fundamental to combating the respiratory and gastro-intestinal diseases which are among the five main causes of death in Mexico, as these are much more common in the poorest parts of the country, particularly those with a large indigenous population. This is exacerbated by the fact that there are three times as many doctors per one thousand inhabitants in Mexico's Federal District (3.03) as there are in the States of Mexico (0.72) and Tamaulipas (2.17).

The report emphasises nutrition and education in particular as characterised by inequality. The State of Mexico has the least pre-school provisions; the State of Guerrero is thirteen percentage points below the national average for the provision of secondary education. The report highlights the risks of passing laws concerning child rights at a state level which do not have corresponding enforcement mechanisms.

In each section, the Alternative Report makes recommendations to improve the fulfilment of children's rights. It also includes personal statements from children, and cases which show specific child rights violations. It argues for a strengthening of the Law for the Protection of the Rights of Children and Young People, which would include the creation of a National System of Protection of Children's Rights establishing mechanisms to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also highlights the need for more public investment in this area.

The report has already been submitted to the members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to which the Mexican government is obligated to present a periodic report about the state of child rights in the country. The government's third periodic report, which was supposed to be presented in October 2002, was not presented until November 2004. The Committee has a mandate to consider any information sent by respective governments as well as NGOs. In the light of this information, the Committee makes observations and recommendations that the government must consider and answer in a future report.

Mexico will present its fourth periodic report to the Commission on the Rights of the Child in May 2006, at the Committee's 42nd session.

For more information, contact:

Email: [email protected]

For more information on the 42nd session, visit:

http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/crcs42.htm

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- STREET CHILDREN: New Resource from UNESCO Bangkok [website]

UNESCO Bangkok has just launched a new website on street children. The main objective of this resource website is to facilitate knowledge sharing between professionals and others working with children in difficult circumstances, especially street-children. The website contains:

- Resource materials (http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=3358) including reports, publications and topical information.

- Country information (http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=3347) with country specific information, links and publications for 18 countries.

- Discussion forum (http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=3480) where visitors can post messages to find information or participate in discussions with other people working with street children.

Resources are still being added to the website and any feedback and additional resources are welcome.

Out-of-school children often live in dreadful conditions and are victims of abuse. Many of them suffer from various diseases due to these deplorable conditions. Many have hardly been to school or no longer go to school. If these children survive hunger, thirst, dangerous and badly paid jobs, prostitution, sexual abuse, diseases, exclusion, police harassment, problems with the law, imprisonment, drugs, and household "jobs" that are really little more than slavery, they will grow up illiterate adults, and alienated from a society that failed to protect them.

The numbers of out-of school children is increasing and their situation has become increasingly complex. In 2003, approximately 145 million of the world's children aged 6-11 were out of school (85 million girls, 60 million boys).

The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than half the world's children. All the countries in this region have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that all children have the right to free and compulsory education. Moreover, they committed themselves at the World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000) to achieve Education For All by 2015, and over the next decade create A World Fit for Children (UN Special Session on Children, New York 2002).

For more information, contact:

UNESCO Bangkok

Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education

P.O. Box 967, Prakhanong Post Office

Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Phone: +66-2-3910577, Fax: +66-2-3910866

Email: [email protected]

Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=6295

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- EMPLOYMENT: World Vision International - Children in Scotland - Child Helpline International - RETRAK [job postings]

 

* WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL: Regional Child protection Officer

World Vision International, a Christian relief and development organisation working to promote the well being of children has an opening in the Asia Pacific Region for a Child Protection Officer. To strengthen children's well-being and rights within World Vision's holistic, transformational framework in the region, the Regional Child protection Officer will provide leadership to integrate child protection in programmes and support World Vision as a child safe organisation.

Application deadline: 31 October 2005

For more information, visit: http://www.wvi.org

 

* CHILDREN IN SCOTLAND: Senior Development Officer

Children in Scotland is at the heart of Scotland's largest network dedicated to improving the lives of children and their families. Enquire, Scotland's national advice service for additional support for learning based at Children in Scotland in Edinburgh, is seeking to recruit a part-time Senior Development Officer (3 days per week), to contribute to the development and promotion of the service by taking the lead in marketing and publicity, quality assurance and publications, and by overseeing staff training.

Application deadline: 4 November 2005

For more information, contact:

Children in Scotland

Princes House, 5 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh EH2 4RG, UK

Tel: + 44 131 222 2402; Fax: + 44 131 228 8585

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk

 

* CHILD HELPLINE INTERNATIONAL: Director of Programmes

Child Helpline International (CHI) is a global network in 70 countries of telephone and outreach services for children and young people. It is founded in order to develop helplines for children and young people in need of care and protection. At present 70 countries have a total of 80 child helplines; 14 countries are in the preparatory phase of starting a child helpline. CHI is evolving fast and is looking for a dynamic Head/Director of Programmes to take the Programme department forward. His/her main tasks will involve: developing, managing and co-ordinating the work and budget of the programme team; supervising the development of individual projects and budgets; managing the programme team; reporting on projects; developing and sustaining relationships with partner organisations, international bodies and other relevant organisations; advocacy on all levels, etc.

Application deadline: 12 November 2005

For more information, contact:

Paula Conaghan, Child Helpline International

Prinsengracht 468, 1017 KG Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Tel: + 31 20 528 9627; Fax: + 31 20 638 7655

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.childhelplineinternational.org

 

* RETRAK: UK Fundraiser and Support Co-ordinator

RETRAK, a team of organisations working amongst street children in some of the poorest communities in Africa, seeks a UK Fundraiser and Support Co-ordinator whose main tasks will be: fundraising and donor care; developing and implementing a comprehensive funding strategy (from non-institutional donors); developing and co-ordinating a network of regional and area representatives; maintaining a database to monitor donations; co-ordinating and assisting activities of link churches, personal donors, schools, rotary clubs and other supporter groups including volunteers; overseeing the production, distribution and effective use of relevant publicity materials, etc

Application deadline: 25 November 2005

For more information, contact:

Danny John, RETRAK

6 Water Avens Close, St. Mellons, Cardiff, CF3 ORG

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.retrak.org

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