31 January 2006 CRINMAIL 750
_____________________________________________________
!! LAUNCH OF NEW CRIN WEBSITE TOMORROW - CHECK http://www.crin.org !!
- WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: UN Unveils Plan to Release Untapped Wealth for Most Pressing Crises [news]
- UGANDA: 40 Children are Born with HIV Each Day, One in Two is Malnourished [news]
- REFUGEE CHILDREN: Charities Condemn UK Policy as Inhumane and Ineffective [news]
- CHILDCARE: The Impact of Globalisation and Privatisation [publication]
- PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT: SpankOut Day 2006 [event]
- HABITAT: International Family and Community Studies [course]
- EMPLOYMENT: Global Fund for Children - Save the Children [job postings]
_____________________________________________________
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
_____________________________________________________
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: UN Unveils Plan to Release Untapped Wealth for Most Pressing Crises [news]
[DAVOS, 30 January 2006] - The most potent threats to life on earth - global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict - could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion - $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) - of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claimed.
The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned.
In a groundbreaking move, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has drawn up a visionary proposal that has been endorsed by a range of figures including Gordon Brown, the [UK] Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Laureate.
It says an unprecedented outbreak of co-operation between countries, applied through six specific financial tools, would slice through the Gordian knot of problems that have bedevilled the world for most of the last century.
If its recommendations are accepted - and the authors acknowledge this could take years or even decades - it could finally force countries to face up to the fact that their public finance and growth figures conceal the vast damage their economies do to the environment.
At the heart of the proposal, unveiled at a gathering of world business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, is a push to get countries to account for the cost of failed policies, and use the money saved "up front" to avert crises before they hit. Top of the list is a challenge to the United States to join an international pollution permit trading system which, the UN claims, could deliver $3.64trn of global wealth.
Inge Kaul, a special adviser at the UNDP, said: "The way we run our economies today is vastly expensive and inefficient because we don't manage risk well and we don't prevent crises." She downplayed concerns over up-front costs and interest payments for the new-fangled financial devices. "The gains in terms of development would outweigh those costs. Money is wasted because we dribble aid, and the costs of not solving the problems are much, much higher than what we would have to pay for getting the financial markets to lend the money."
The UNDP is determined to ensure globalisation, which has generated vast wealth for multinational companies, benefits the poorest in society. It urges politicians to embrace some groundbreaking schemes put in place in the past 12 months to tackle global warming, poverty and disease, based on working with the global markets to share out the risk. These include a pilot international finance facility (IFF) to "front load" $4bn of cash for vaccines by borrowing money against pledges of future government aid.
The scheme, which is backed by the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was born out of a proposal by Gordon Brown for a larger scheme to double the total aid budget to $100bn a year. In an endorsement of the report, Mr Brown said: "This shows how we can equip people and countries for a new global economy that combined greater prosperity and fairness both within and across nations."
[Source: The Independent, UK]
Full article
Information on the World Economic Forum
Angelina Jolie, UN goodwill ambassador, expressed concerns in Davos about the fact that the US had still not ratified the Convention on the Rights for the Child. Read more.
--------------------------------
UGANDA: 40 Children are Born with HIV Each Day, One in Two is Malnourished [news]
[LONDON, 31 January 2006] - With Ugandan elections on February 23 just weeks away, Save the Children is calling on the candidates to pledge support for its children's Manifesto and address the bleak situation faced by the nation's children.
Save the Children in Uganda (SCiU) is deeply concerned that in Uganda:
- two million children under the age of six live below the poverty line;
- almost two million children die each year before reaching their first birthday;
- the conflict with the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has led to the displacement of two million people, most of whom live in appalling conditions in IDP camps;
- up to 40,000 children leave their camps every evening to 'commute' to the relative safety of town centres;
- two and a half million children are engaged in some of the worst forms of labour;
- forty children are born each day with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS;
- half of the children are malnourished;
- less than half of children aged 6-14 complete primary school.
David Wright, Director, Save the Children in Uganda, said: "Forty four years on from independence, while the nation's income has grown, the situation of the nation's children remains bleak. With the children's Manifesto we are spelling out what the political parties must do to show they are really committed to supporting and protecting children, not least providing adequate funds for children's services. Political parties must meet the responsibilities toward tomorrow's citizens as well as those who vote today. That's why we are calling on the election candidates to get behind our manifesto and put children first in the future."
Through the Manifesto, produced by the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children (UPFC) with the support of Save the Children in Uganda, Ugandan children are calling on the future government to:
- fight HIV/AIDS and support orphaned children
- combat child abuse and neglect in all forms, including sexual abuse
- fight Child Poverty
- increase expenditure on education to five per cent of GDP
- make universal primary education (UPE) completely free and compulsory
- end the war in Northern Uganda and implement a well-resourced recovery programme
- represent the views and interests of children in policy decisions
- outlaw child labour and child exploitation in all its forms
- eradicate the phenomenon of child soldiers
Read the press release
Read the children's Manifesto
--------------------------------
REFUGEE CHILDREN: Charities Condemn UK Policy as Inhumane and Ineffective [news]
[LONDON, 31 January 2006] - The [UK] government's controversial Section 9 [of the Asylum and Immigration Act] policy, which can split asylum seeker children from their families, should be ditched immediately before it does further damage, claim the UK's two leading refugee charities [the Refugee Council and Refugee Action].
With the Home Office deciding whether to implement Section 9 nationally and the first legal challenge to it being heard at the High Court today (Tuesday 31st January), the Refugee Council and Refugee Action have released a comprehensive report into the 12 month pilot which highlights the misery caused by Section 9 and its complete failure to achieve its aims.
"When it launched Section 9 the government said the aim was to encourage families to return home, and not to make them destitute. This report shows that it has achieved the complete opposite result. Families have been made homeless, had their support removed and are living in fear of having their children taken into care, and yet almost none have taken steps to leave the UK. Section 9 is inhumane and ineffective and should be dropped immediately," says Maeve Sherlock, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.
The report, Inhumane and Ineffective - Section 9 In Practice, is based on the work of the two charities in the three pilot areas of the programme (Leeds, London, Manchester), and shows that:
- only one family has left the UK as a result of Section 9 (out of 116 included in the pilot)
- at the most, three families have signed up for voluntary return
- at least 32 families, more than a quarter, have gone underground
- 80 per cent of parents on the pilot had mental health problems which have been made worse by Section 9
"This is a harsh and ill thought out policy based on the flawed logic that making families destitute and threatening to take their children into care will coerce them into going home. The government needs to look at the alternative schemes, highlighted in the report, where case workers work closely with families and help them through the process." said Maeve Sherlock.
Sandy Buchan, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, said: "This cruel and unworkable policy is causing enormous suffering to vulnerable families and has completely failed to deliver on its objectives. To threaten parents with the loss of their children if they don't sign a form that says they want to go home is unjust and inhumane. The proper place for all children, regardless of their immigration status, is with their parents."
For more information, contact:
Refugee Council Head Office
240-250 Ferndale Road, London SW9 8BB, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7346 6700; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7346 6701
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk
Read the report.
--------------------------------
CHILDCARE: The Impact of Globalisation and Privatisation [publication]
The Bernard van Leer Foundation has recently released a working paper on Globalisation and privatisation: the impact on childcare policy and practice. The paper concentrates on the impact of globalisation on childcare since the late 1970s, particularly in the last two decades.
The paper looks at how views about children, parents and public services have changed as a result. In particular, the paper examines the case in Belgium, where the consequences of globalisation are also analysed in terms of quality and accessibility of services and the shifting power relations between the state, childcare providers, parents and experts in the field of early childhood education.
In order to understand present-day views on the services provided to young children and their families, it is necessary to have some historical context. The paper therefore also investigates how childcare institutions have emerged over the history of Western Europe, with special emphasis on Belgium, before examining their evolution in a more international context, looking at recent research from different countries. The paper concludes by distilling the situation into three apparently contradictory situations, and asking if they can be resolved.
For more information, contact:
Bernard van Leer Foundation
PO Box 82334, 2508 EH The Hague, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)70 331 22 00; Fax: + 31 (0)70 350 23 73
Website: http://www.bernardvanleer.org
Read the paper
--------------------------------
PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT: SpankOut Day 2006 [event]
Date: 30 April 2006
SpankOut Day was initiated in 1998 by End Physical Punishment of Children USA (EPOCH-USA) to bring widespread attention to the need to end physical punishment of children and to provide educational information to parents and caregivers about non-violent alternatives.
Over 500 informational events and programmes have been held in the US and in other countries where it is sometimes called "no hitting day", "no smacking day" or "day of non-violence for children". All interested organisations and individuals are invited to participate.
For more information, contact:
Nadine Block, Co-chair of EPOCH-USA
Centre for Effective Discipline (CED)
155 W. Main Street #1603, Columbus, OH 43215, USA
Tel: + 1 614 221 8829; Fax: + 1 614 221 2110
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.stophitting.org
More information here
--------------------------------
HABITAT: International Family and Community Studies [course]
The Institute on Family and Neighbourhood Life at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA, has launched a new PhD programme in International Family and Community Studies. This doctoral programme is designed to educate professionals to generate, diffuse, and apply knowledge needed to strengthen communities' capacity for family support, meaningful participation, and strong relationships, including mutual assistance.
Starting from a foundation in international human rights law, especially rights pertaining to the protection of important relationships of children, the new programme will provide an interdisciplinary education on cross-cultural human development, community development, humanitarian assistance, social science methods, language and culture (international area studies), and pertinent normative (legal, philosophical, and theological analyses) analyses.
The programme includes a year-long internship abroad under supervision of an international affiliated faculty or partner university in Africa, Asia, Europe, or Latin America. Both post-baccalaureate and post-master's candidates are invited to apply, as are both US and international students.
Application deadline: 1 March 2006
For more information, contact:
Gary B. Melton, PhD, Professor and Director
Institute on Family and Neighbourhood Life
Clemson University, 158 Poole Agricultural Centre
Clemson, SC 29634-0132 , USA
Tel: + 1 864 656 6271; Fax: + 1 864 656 6281
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.clemson.edu/ifnl
More information here
--------------------------------
EMPLOYMENT: Global Fund for Children - Save the Children [job postings]
GLOBAL FUND FOR CHILDREN: Assistant Programme Officer - Africa
The Global Fund for Children (GFC) envisions a world where children grow up to be productive, caring citizens of our global society. GFC advances the education and dignity of young people around the world through its grant-making programme, which funds community-based organisations that serve the health, rights and development of children and youth in four major issue areas: Schools and Scholarships, Hazardous Child Labour, Child Trafficking and the Special Needs of Vulnerable Boys.
The role of the Assistant Programme Officer - Africa (APOA) is to build and strengthen the grant-making programme of the Global Fund for Children in that region. Reporting to the Director - Grant-making Programme, the Assistant Programme Officer's primary responsibility is the management of grantee partners, field contacts, evaluators, and other key partner organisations in Africa and the Middle East. This is a newly created position that is vital to the growth of GFC's grant-making programme.
Application deadline: 10 February 2006
For more information, contact:
The Global Fund for Children
Fax: + 703 765 1125
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.globalfundforchildren.org
SAVE THE CHILDREN: Policy and Advocacy Officer
Starting date: mid-May 2006
Location: Brussels, Belgium
The International Save the Children Alliance is a membership organisation of 27 Save the Children organisations working in over 100 countries around the world, making a reality of children's rights. 11 of these members (Save the Children Europe group) co-finance the Brussels office.
Save the Children Europe Group's aim is to make a reality of children's rights in Europe and elsewhere through programme activities and advocacy. Its Brussels office is responsible for advocacy towards the European Union to ensure that children's rights are taken into account in EU policy, programmes and funding. It assists in policy development and keeps the Europe group members informed about relevant development at the EU level. Furthermore it helps building Save the Children's profile in Europe.
Save the Children Brussels office is seeking a full-time Policy and Advocacy Officer to develop and implement Save the Children's policy and advocacy work towards the external relations Directorates of the Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and the Member States.
Application deadline: 16 February 2006
For more information, contact:
Olivia Lind Haldorsson, European officer
Save the Children Europe Group
Rue Montoyer 39, B 1000, Brussels, Belgium
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/organisations/viewOrg.asp?ID=584
____________________________________________________________________________
The CRINMAIL is an electronic mailing list of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). CRIN does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to the CRINMAIL. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator.
To subscribe, unsubscribe or view list archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.
_____________________________________________________
