7 March 2006 CRINMAIL 760
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- INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: Role of Women in Decision-Making [event]
- IRAQ: Increased Protection for Children Following Attacks [news]
- MALNUTRITION: Need to Target Pregnant Women and Children [report]
- CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE: Information on the UN Study [call for action]
- INDIA: Convention on Children's Right to Food [event]
- UNITED KINGDOM: Education for Global Citizenship [teacher pack]
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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
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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: Role of Women in Decision-Making [event]
Date: 8 March 2006
In 1975, during International Women's Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a Resolution proclaiming a UN Day for Women's Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. In adopting its Resolution, the General Assembly recognised the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women’s full and equal participation.
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is "the role of women in decision-making", as referred to by the Beijing Declaration: “women's empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace.”
In his yearly message, Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted: "the world is starting to grasp that there is no policy more effective in promoting development, health and education than the empowerment of women and girls. And I would venture that no policy is more important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has ended."
He goes on to highlight recent positive changes in women’s representation around the world: "in January of this year, the proportion of women in national parliaments reached a new global high. There are now 11 women Heads of State or Government, in countries on every continent. And three countries - Chile, Spain and Sweden - now have gender parity in Government."
"But we have far, far more to do. The rate of progress overall is slow. Let us remember that in individual countries, the increase in the number of women in decision-making has not happened by itself. Rather, it is often the result of institutional and electoral initiatives, such as the adoption of goals and quotas, political party commitment and sustained mobilisation. It is also the result of targeted and concerted measures to improve the balance between life and work. Those are lessons every nation - and the United Nations - need to take very seriously. "
UN resources
International Women's Day website
Factsheet on women and decision-making
Women in Parliaments in the world
Handbook on Women and Elections
Website of the Commission on the Status of Women
Recent reports
WorldVision: Creating an Enabling Environment for the Advancement of Women and Girls
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education on Education for Girls, submitted to the Commission on Human Rights (Spanish)
Websites
Commission on the Status of Women (currently in its 50th session)
United Nations' Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
Previous International Women's Days
2005: Gender Equality Beyond 2005: Building a More Secure Future
2004: Women and HIV/AIDS
2003: Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
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IRAQ: Increased Protection for Children Following Attacks [news]
[BAGHDAD, 5 March 2006] - The Ministry of Interior has announced it will increase security measures to protect children from ongoing violence after a recent report cited shocking figures for children killed and injured in the past four months.
"We'll intensify security in schools and universities with checkpoints, and alert parents not to let their children walk alone, at least until the situation is under control," said Abdel Amir Mahmoud, a senior ministry official.
The report, issued on 1 March by the Ministry of Education, also appealed for better security for children. "The report showed that children in our country are being innocently killed," said Kamal Muhammad, a senior education ministry official. "We urge the Ministry of Interior to take measures to protect them."
According to Muhammad, the report states that 64 children were killed and 57 injured in a total of 417 attacks on educational institutions since November 2005.
Additionally, more than 47 youngsters were kidnapped on their way to or from school for the same period. The report also noted that 311 teachers and government employees had been killed and another 158 wounded in attacks.
"These numbers are scandalous, and urgent procedures should be taken to protect our children and guarantee their safety," Muhammad said. The latest incident was reported on 15 February, when three children were killed by a bomb while on their way to school.
According to experts, such a violent atmosphere can deeply affect the psychology of children and their families. "Children are traumatised from the violence because all this terror is happening in front of their eyes," David Singh, communications officer for UNICEF-Iraq, said from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
The Primary Students Association (PSA) in Baghdad also noted that such violence can produce feelings of aggression in children. "When you speak with students about the violence, the main feeling is of revenge, because their loved ones or friends have been killed," said PSA spokeswoman Mariam Omar. "They say their dream is to be able to shoot whoever was responsible. Urgent psychological help should be offered these children."
Observers, meanwhile, are at a loss to explain the motivations behind attacks on schools and schoolchildren. "There's no confirmed evidence of why schools are being targeted," said Singh. "But whatever the reason, it doesn't justify the reality that children are losing their lives. The government should take urgent measures to restore their safety."
[Source: AlertNet]
Read the article
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MALNUTRITION: Need to Target Pregnant Women and Children [report]
A new World Bank report calls for more funding to combat malnutrition, but warns efforts should be targeted to pregnant women and children under two. It warns that trying to improve nutrition in children later in life is too late, too expensive and ineffective.
The report, Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development, says malnutrition remains the world’s most serious health problem. Poor nutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide - a proportion unmatched by any infectious disease since the Black Death.
“Malnutrition is among the most serious health problems in the world today that has not been tackled, “says Meera Shekar, the report’s lead author. “Roughly 30 per cent of children in the world are undernourished and in fact 60 per cent of children for example who die of common diseases like malaria and diarrhoea would not have died had not they not been malnourished in the first place”.
While criticising the lack of large scale action internationally and within countries to tackle malnutrition, the report says improving nutrition could add two to three per cent to the growth rates of poor countries. And contrary to popular belief, it reveals the rates of malnutrition in South Asia are almost double those in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The report dispels the notion that malnutrition is simply a problem for the world’s poor countries. “Poor nutrition also exists elsewhere, thus suggesting it’s not simply a question of access to food,” Shekar says. “India and Ethiopia have about the same levels of malnutrition. And 26 per cent of children in the highest income bracket in India are underweight and 65 per cent are anaemic.
“Anaemic children perform less well in school, are more likely to drop-out and have lower intellectual and physical productivity as adults. Everyone talks about how well India is doing in the IT industry – imagine how much better it could do, if 65 per cent of the richest and 88 per cent of the poorest children were not anaemic.”
As Shekar says, the developed world also faces the other side of malnutrition – obesity. “In the developed world, there’s the other aspect of malnutrition that is coming up and that is the overweight agenda. And that links very closely to non communicable disease like cardio-vascular heart disease, diabetes and cancers.”
The report makes the point that malnutrition is costing poor countries up to three per cent of their yearly GDP. And with the economies of many developing countries growing at a rate of two to three per cent annually, the report says improving nutrition could potentially double those rates.
The report calls on the donor community to co-finance a grant fund to jumpstart action in commitment-building and action research, complementing a recent Bank US $3.6 million grant to help mainstream nutrition into maternal and child health programs. Concurrently substantive funding is needed for developing countries through existing funding channels, to scale-up actions to prevent malnutrition.
For more information, contact:
Human Development Network
Health, Nutrition, and Population Advisory Service
The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
Tel: +1 (202) 473 2256; Fax: +1 (202) 614 0657
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.worldbank.org
More information
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CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE: Information on the UN Study [call for action]
The UN Study on Violence against Children aims to promote action to prevent and eliminate violence against children at international, regional, national and local levels. The Study is a UN-led collaboration, mandated by the General Assembly, to draw together existing research and relevant information about the forms, causes and impact of violence which affects children and young people (up to the age of 18 years). The final report is expected to be published in 2006 and recommendations presented to the UN General Assembly.
Government questionnaires
The UN circulated questionnaires to all governments in 2004 requesting information regarding key legislation, policy, programmes, data and other information about violence against children in their country. They were asked to submit the completed questionnaire by 31 July 2004. So far, 126 countries have replied. However, the following 65 countries have still not submitted their contributions:
Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Kiribati, Korea Democratic People's Republic, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tomé and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Timor Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe
The number of countries that have submitted their responses is very positive. However, as the final report of the Secretary General will be presented at the General Assembly in October 2006, civil society, NGOs and individuals should encourage their government to submit their questionnaire to the Secretariat as soon as possible.
Technical note submitted to the Commission on Human Rights
The General Assembly, in its resolution 60/231, requested submission of the final report of the Study at its sixty-first session. This note, The Secretary-General’s study on the question of violence against children, submitted to the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights provides information on progress of the study.
More information
CRIN website
UN website
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INDIA: Convention on Children's Right to Food [event]
Date: 7-9 April 2006
Location: Hyderabad, India
The Right to Food Campaign is organising a Convention on Children's Right to Food, to be held in Hyderabad in April 2006. This is a follow-up to the second National Convention on the Right to Food and Work, held in Kolkata on 18-20 November 2005.
The main focus of this convention will be on Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), mid-day meals and other means of protecting children's right to food, including maternity entitlements. Special attention will be given to "universalisation with quality" as the core demand of a united campaign on ICDS. This will be an action-oriented convention, built around plenary sessions, parallel workshops, cultural activities, and more.
Preparatory meetings for this convention have already been held at the Kolkata convention last November and in Delhi on 6 January 2006 and 23 February 2006. Further preparatory activities are being planned, including field studies and regional workshops. Organisations are invited to plan some preparatory activities in their own area, to facilitate the success of the convention. Useful campaign material and research tools are available on the website of the Right to Food Campaign.
For more information, contact:
Secretariat, Right to Food Campaign
257, D.D.A. flats (RPS), Mansarovar Park
Shahdara, Delhi – 110032, India
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +91 9350530150
Website: http://www.righttofoodindia.org
For more information on the right to food, visit the website of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to food
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UNITED KINGDOM: Education for Global Citizenship [teacher pack]
Education for Global Citizenship: A Guide for Schools is a free booklet for teachers that introduces the key elements of Oxfam's curriculum for Global Citizenship (knowledge, skills, and values), as well as providing case studies outlining best practice in the classroom, examples of appropriate teaching approaches, and resources for further reading.
Developed in partnership with teachers and other educationalists, this curriculum builds on existing good practice and recommends the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to which young people are entitled to enable them to develop as Global Citizens.
It outlines the importance of Education for Global Citizenship (E4GC) for pupils growing up in the 21st century, and clearly sets out how teachers can incorporate E4GC in their teaching and across their school. The booklet provides teachers with:
- activities to explore what E4GC means with colleagues
- case studies of schools that have integrated E4GC across their curriculum and ethos, and the benefits this has brought to their pupils
- a number of E4GC activities that can be adapted for use in many curriculum areas, with a wide range of age groups and ability levels
- a resources list, including where to find more information about E4GC.
For more information, contact:
Oxfam
Suite 20, 266 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DL, UK
Tel: +44 0870 333 2700
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.oxfaminternational.org
More information
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