CRINMAIL 764

21 March 2006 CRINMAIL 764

 

___________________________________________________________

- HIV/AIDS: 9 Million Children in Africa have Lost their Mother to AIDS [report]

- DISCRIMINATION: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination [event]

- INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM: Drafting of Inter-American Convention against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance [call for suggestions]

- PROTECTION: Launch of the Keeping Children Safe Toolkit [event]

- PAKISTAN: Toxic Warning to Quake Children [news]

- CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Mobilising Communities for Ratification [event]

___________________________________________________________

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

___________________________________________________________

HIV/AIDS: 9 Million Children in Africa have Lost their Mother to AIDS [report]

"Missing Mothers - Meeting the Needs of Children Affected by AIDS," a report released by Save the Children yesterday, highlights the plight of millions of children across the world who are caring for their sick mothers who, without proper care and treatment, will soon die of AIDS. 9 million children in Africa will be spending Mother’s Day this year without the love and support of their mother - because they have already lost her to AIDS.

Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children’s Chief Executive, said of the report’s findings: "The AIDS pandemic robs millions of children of their childhood as well as their mother. Children are caring for their mothers, missing school, and having to work because their mothers are too sick to look after them. Incredibly, the impact of HIV and AIDS on children is still being ignored".

"Save the Children estimates that of the 19 million women worldwide living with HIV and AIDS, at least 90 per cent are mothers - the vast majority of them are living without adequate care and treatment. The more support that can be provided, the longer HIV-positive mothers can care for their children. It’s time for donors - in particular the G8 nations, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the World Bank and the European Commission - to come forward with the resources to support children whose childhoods are being lost to HIV and AIDS", continued Whitbread.

"To date, any recognition of children’s needs has focused on what happens after their parents have died. However, to really make a difference it is critical that we support children living with sick parents as well as children orphaned by AIDS."

Millions of dollars have been promised to fight HIV and AIDS, but funding bottlenecks and a lack of focus on children means the money is failing to reach the most vulnerable children. That is why Save the Children is calling for:

  • A focus on better care for mothers and children affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as orphaned children
  • At least 6.4 billion dollars - 12 per cent of promised AIDS funding - to be targeted at children and families
  • Donors to remove funding bottlenecks, and work with governments to provide cash directly to poor families
  • The World Bank and other donors to support free basic healthcare, because poor families across Africa cannot afford to pay the fees charged for even the most basic drugs and treatment to keep mothers alive.

For more information, contact:
Save the Children Press Office
1 St. John’s Lane, London EC1M 4AR, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 207 012 6841; Fax: + 44 20 7012 6963
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=7710

More information

Save the Children on Mother’s Day – Teaching Resources
Visit CRIN’s thematic page on HIV/ AIDs

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

DISCRIMINATION: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination [event]

Date: 21 March 2006

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is marked every year on 21 March with activities led by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, New York and at the field-presences. This year’s theme is Fighting Everyday Racism.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on everyone, from parents to schools to governments, to fight everyday discrimination and “unteach” common-place intolerance that underpin humanity’s “most horrific crimes.”

“From name-calling in schools to hiring and firing decisions in the workplace, from selective media or police coverage of crimes to unequal provision of Government services, the mistreatment of racial or ethnic groups not only abounds in our societies, but often passes unchallenged,” he said in a message marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

“That such everyday racism remains prevalent is undeniable. But for it to pass unchallenged is unconscionable,” he added of this year’s theme - Fighting Everyday Discrimination.

The Day commemorates 21 March, 1960, when police in apartheid South Africa fired on a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville protesting racially discriminatory laws. Dozens of protestors died, and many more were wounded.

“We must not tolerate the creeping rot of routine discrimination. Nor can we resign ourselves to it as a regrettable attribute of human nature. None of us is born to hate. Intolerance is taught and can be untaught.

“Legal guarantees are a fundamental part of this fight. But education must be its vanguard. Education can foster awareness and cultivate tolerance. It should begin at home - where, after all, many racist attitudes have their origin - continue in school, and become integral to our public discourse. In this struggle against intolerance, citizens must simultaneously be teachers and students,” he added.

Read the speech

To mark this year's observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has organised a series of events leading up to the Day, including an art exhibition and panel discussions. One of the key areas of attention is racism in school.

Further details on these events and on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination can be found on the website of Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

More information

Visit the Council of Europe’s All Different - All Equal website which forms part of the European Youth Campaign for Diversity, Human Rights and Participation

Read about what children and young people are doing to combat racial discrimination on the Cyber School Bus website

Visit the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination page

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM: Drafting of Inter-American Convention against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance [call for suggestions]

The Organization of American States has opened a web page for suggestions and comments on the drafting of a future Inter-American Convention against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance. It is intended to encourage non-governmental organisations, research institutes, universities, and other sectors of civil society to participate in preparing the new Convention.

During the June 2005 regular session of the OAS General Assembly, held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Assembly adopted a Resolution, proposed by the Brazilian Government, that created a working group to prepare the draft convention. The Working Group held its first meeting on September 23, 2005. Since then, work meetings have been held in the months of October and November. The final text of the Inter-American Convention against Racism and
All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance will be adopted by representatives of the 34 OAS member states at a session of the General Assembly.

On 28 and 29 November, at OAS headquarters, the Working Group held a special meeting attended by specialists from the United Nations, the academic world, NGOs, and representatives of various countries. The meeting emphasised the importance of active civil society participation in deliberations on a future Inter-American Convention against racism and intolerance. For that purpose, the Working Group decided to create an informal civil society consultation mechanism.

The new web page will receive opinions, queries, and comments from civil society from January 16 to May 30 2006. The page is available in English, French and Spanish.

For more information, contact:
Summits of the Americas Department
Organization of American States
17th Street & Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, USA
Tel: +1 (202) 458 6824; Fax: +1 (202) 458 6421
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.oas.org

Visit: http://www.oas.org/racismo

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

PROTECTION: Launch of the Keeping Children Safe Toolkit [event]

Date: 30 March 2006
Location: London, United Kingdom

The Keeping Children Safe Coalition still has places at the launch of its comprehensive child protection resource. The event will be held on 30 March 2006 in London.

The toolkit will be launched by Professor Paulo Pinheiro, the Independent Expert for the UN Study on Violence Against Children.

'Over recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the global nature of child abuse, and growing acceptance of the potential risks to children of adults working in positions of trust. Greater attention, therefore, has been paid to how aid and development agencies ensure that children they are in contact with are kept safe from harm. As a result, many agencies are now putting in place policies and procedures designed to protect children and keep them safe from harm.’

However, many agencies are still not sufficiently aware of the importance of building protection measures into their work. Even agencies that have taken steps to address this are discovering the real challenges of making their agencies ‘child safe’. All are looking for practical guidance, tools and support materials to assist them in overcoming a host of obstacles that confront them in tackling child protection issues in their work.

For aid and development agencies that have contact with children, some of the key issues and challenges are that: protection systems in many countries are often weak, and leave agencies and staff facing complex child protection dilemmas; Children in emergencies are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. There is little common understanding across agencies of child protection issues, standards of practice, or the organisational implications of these. There are huge difficulties in operating child protection policies in the many different legal, social and cultural contexts in which agencies work. Children may be at risk of abuse and exploitation, not only from individuals in the communities where they live, but also from agency staff, volunteers or other representatives. For these agencies, and for the sector as a whole, there is a need to develop a common understanding of child protection issues, develop good practice across the diverse and complex areas in which they operate and thereby increase accountability in this crucial aspect of their work.

"Keeping Children Safe: A Toolkit for Child Protection" will help agencies to: recruit staff safely; strengthen policies and procedures that prevent abuse within agencies – help them deter, detect and respond to abuse; increase staff confidence to deal with child abuse concerns when they arise; create child safe environments; keep children safe beyond agency boundaries; ensure increased protection for children around the world integrate child protection into all areas of operation.

The toolkit is based around agreed standards that require staff and other agency representatives to receive an appropriate level of training, information and support to fulfil their roles and responsibilities to protect children.

The Keeping Children Safe Coalition is a coalition of the following agencies:
Save the Children UK, World Vision UK, World Vision International, Plan, NSPCC, Tearfund, International Federation of Terre des Hommes, Everychild, the Consortium for Street Children, People in Aid, Oxfam and the NGO Group on the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The Keeping Children Safe Toolkit will be available shortly on the CRIN website.

For more information, contact:
Anna Lewis, Tearfund
100 Church Road, Teddington, TW11 8QE, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8943 7859
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.tearfund.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAKISTAN: Toxic Warning to Quake Children [news]

Children in earthquake affected areas in Pakistan and Kashmir may be at serious risk from high levels of toxins in the rubble, environmentalists warn.

Local health officials say the rubble of collapsed buildings contains heavy metals such as iron, zinc and lead, the last being the most toxic. Large parts of the quake affected areas have still not been cleared of debris.

The 8 October quake killed over 73,000 people, destroying thousands of homes and buildings in Pakistan and Kashmir. "The situation is disastrous," says Babar Hussain Minhas, an environmental officer with the government of Pakistan administered Kashmir.

Mr Minhas said no tests had been carried out on the rubble because he did not have the machinery of the skilled people needed.But we know that homes in this part of the world are painted with lead-based paints," he told the BBC...

Mr Kashif has been entrusted with the task of assisting people to remove rubble from private residential areas. "Safe removal of rubble is a huge task and we cannot do it by ourselves," he says, "We need assistance from the Pakistani authorities."

Environmentalists have meanwhile warned that the rubble was also contaminating the rivers Jhelum and Neelum. The two rivers join at Muzaffarabad and are used to meet most of the city's water needs. Since the quake, most of those clearing the rubble have simply thrown the rubble into these rivers. Many others living up the hills have disposed of the debris in gorges which serve as flood water drains and eventually end up in one of the two rivers. Water from the two rivers is used for drinking and irrigation purposes - exposing soil, crops and humans to the risk of lead contamination...  

"There seems to be very little awareness among the people about the dangers of lead poisoning," says Mr Minhas. Lead is a neuro-toxin and is particularly dangerous to children as their growing bodies absorb more than those of adults. If breathed in, leaded molecules attack the central nervous system leading to hyperactivity, anaemia, vomiting and possible kidney damage. In children, it can also slow down the development of the brain and cause hearing impairment. In severe cases, there may even be brain damage leading to paralysis or death...

[Source: BBC News]

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7728

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Mobilising Communities for Ratification [event]

Date: 18 – 20 May 2006
Location: Washington D.C., US

The Campaign for US Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is holding a conference in May in Washington D.C., United States, for a dynamic and diverse gathering of non-governmental organisations, government officials, the private sector, child rights advocates, scholars, religious organisations, parents, youth, students, and others committed to promoting US Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

In addition to morning and afternoon plenary sessions, the Summit will feature interactive workshops, panels, and artistic presentations organised by and for the national child rights community. These meetings will share best practices for advancing children’s rights, offer opportunities for developing skills and provide organising strategies.

The Conference will focus on the following topics:

  • Organising for Child Rights at the Local, State, and/or National Level
  • Introduction to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • US Ratification of the CRC: Implications for US Children
  • Opposition to the Convention: Exploring Counter Arguments and Seeking Clarification
  • Best Practice Models for Advancing Children’s Rights
  • Workshops Targeting Parents, Religious Leaders, Youth, or Scholars and How They Can Mobilise for US Ratification of The CRC
  • Training on a Particular Skill Related to Advocating for Child Rights
  • Other countries’ perspectives on how the CRC has improved the lives of children since ratification.

For more information, contact:
Marty Scherr
Campaign for US Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
2237 Bancroft Place, NW, Washington, DC 20008 USA
Tel: + 1 202 986 2780; Fax: + 1 202 332 0219
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.childrightscampaign.org

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6922&flag=event

___________________________________________________________

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.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________