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In this issue:
Latest news and reports
- Toxics and health
- Sexual abuse
- Child labour
- Circumcision and cultural bias
Upcoming events
Employment
LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Toxics and health
Pregnant women who live close to fields where the pesticide chlorpyrifos is sprayed are three times more likely to give birth to an autistic child, according to a new report from the United States. Annually, over 44,000 US farms use chlorpyrifos on everything from corn, soybeans, and peaches to strawberries, cauliflower, onions, walnuts, and cranberries. In California, 500,000 children attend a school within a quarter of a mile of fields where pesticides such as chlorpyrifos are applied. The report follows over a dozen other recent studies, including a US Environmental Protection Agency report, that found even small amounts of fetal chlorpyrifos exposure can cause neurodevelopmental problems in children, including ADHD, intelligence deficits, and learning difficulties. An estimated ten percent of US children are diagnosed with ADHD, and one in 68 is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder - a 17 percent increase over the last decade. Dow Chemical Company, the business that patented chlorpyrifos and makes most of the products containing it, consistently disputes the evidence that it harms children and has brought the process of regulating chlorpyrifos to a virtual standstill for the past decade.
A consumer watchdog in Hong Kong has found that cancer-causing substances, heavy metals, and even hormone-disrupting chemicals are contained in many children’s nail polishes. Three major brands were found to contain Benzene, a carcinogenic liquid used in the rubber industry and prohibited in mainland China and the European Union. The chemical can easily be absorbed into the body's circulation and can lead to the development of tumours. Heavy metals, including trace amounts of lead, arsenic, and cadmium were also found in 11 out of 13 samples of children’s nail polish that were tested. Though these levels were all found to be in accordance with rules in mainland China, one nail polish was found to contain 15 times more dibutyl phthalate, a chemical which can disrupt hormones and reproduction if ingested, than what the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety sets as the highest safe level. The brands were marketed as non-toxic and specifically targeted at children, making parents believe they were safe to use.
The Department of Education in the Philippines has introduced a nationwide ban on the use of lead-laden paints in schools after finding that exposure to toxic fumes can contribute to learning disabilities, anemia and other health hazards. Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that learning materials such as teaching aids, school supplies and toys should be free from identified toxic and regulated chemicals that pose risks to health and the environment. The order also covered paint-coated goods or products such as learning materials, tools and equipment directly procured by the school or donated by individuals, groups, corporations or local government. “The use of lead-safe paints shall reduce children’s exposure to toxic lead via lead-containing paint and dust, thus avoiding health impacts including learning disabilities, anaemia and disorders in coordination, visual, spatial and language skills,” Briones said. She also added that there should be strict compliance with the Philippine Association of Paint Manufacturers’ guidelines for the safe removal or disposal of old paint with lead in case of renovation or restoration of buildings and facilities.
Sexual abuse
Calls for justice have been made in Somalia after a live video feed was used to broadcast the rape of two girls by six teenage boys. Activists working with the victims described how the girls were forced into a car and then stripped and sexually assaulted by the group near the Ethiopian border. The footage has sparked outrage across the region and, while authorities claim to have several suspects in custody, it remains unclear whether or not the perpetrators might escape justice by offering compensation in the form of livestock or camels to the victims’ families. Clan elders reportedly proposed that the perpetrators' families pay each of the girls' families 100 camels in compensation, but this offer was refused and Puntland’s justice ministry has since claimed that the boys will face “severe punishment”. The graphic images also prompted an outpouring of sympathy for the victims and donations from hundreds of people have resulted in more than £9,000 being raised to help the 16-year-old, who has been forced to flee to a different city for fear of being ostracised by her community.
Several high-profile investigations into sexual abuse of children in the United Kingdom have reported results this week. Police confirmed that 248 youth football clubs are now part of an investigation into historical child sexual abuse in the sport, four weeks after a prominent ex-footballer came forward to speak about being a victim of similar abuse. Investigators, working with UK charity the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), have so far identified 184 suspects and 526 potential victims. Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry into children's homes run by churches, charities and state institutions has detailed widespread abuse and mistreatment of young residents in a new report. The inquiry studied allegations of abuse in 22 homes and other residential institutions between 1922 to 1995 and recommended compensation, a memorial and a public apology to abuse survivors. Finally, the UK’s main Jehovah’s Witnesses charity, the Watch Tower Bible Tract Society of Great Britain, has dropped efforts to block an investigation into how it handled allegations of sexual abuse, including of children, after a legal fight lasting more than two years. The organisation resisted initial investigations by the Charity Commission in 2014 but has now begun to cooperate by handing over documents related to alleged abuse.
Six months after being cleared of illegally obtaining confidential church papers, an Italian journalist has slammed the Pope for his inaction on the sexual abuse of children within the Catholic church in his new book. Released last week, Emiliano Fittipaldi’s book examined court documents and interviews with priests and judicial officials, claiming there had been a distinct lack of action during the first three years of Pope Francis’s papacy. Earlier this month Francis told bishops around the world they must adhere to a policy of “ zero tolerance” for clergy who sexually abuse children, but concrete measures such as a proposal to create a tribunal to investigate bishops who cover up for abusers has inexplicably been stalled.
Religious institutions came under fire in Canada as well, when First Nations leaders referred to an Anglican priest as a “monster”, with the church admitting a legacy of abuse which was “ massive in its scope and horrendous in its impact”. Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Alvin Fiddler, said Ralph Rowe, who flew a plane with the Anglican church’s logo when visiting the remote community, abused more than 500 children during his time working in northern Ontario, contributing to an intergenerational suicide crisis in Wapekeka. Fiddler spoke about the abuse during a news conference on Thursday after two 12-year-old girls died by suicide within days of each other earlier this month.
Child labour
A crackdown on child labour in southern India has seen the rescue of nearly 200 child workers aged between eight and 14 from bangle factories in Hyderabad over the last two weeks. Another 200 children were freed from a brick kiln near Hyderabad earlier this month as part of a month-long initiative to tackle child labour and missing children. The southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have become hubs for child labour and trafficking, with most children coming from poorer states in the northeast of the country. According to the Hyderabad district’s child protection officer, more than 2,000 children have been rescued since 2015 in Hyderabad alone, with each operation seeming to result in a gradual decline in numbers of children being exploited. The rescued children are currently staying in shelters and will be sent back to their families in their home states.
Human rights groups have condemned rising violence against child domestic workers in Pakistan, after a 10-year-old girl who worked as a maid for a judge was found to show signs of having been tortured. The case caused a furore when reports of the alleged abuse first surfaced on social media last year and the child was said to have gone missing. Police took the child into protective custody earlier this month and the case will resume this week before the Supreme Court. There are an estimated 12 million child workers in Pakistan, and around 47 cases of violence against child domestic workers were reported in the media between 2010 and 2015. Weak labour laws, class differences, the solitary nature of the work and the influential backgrounds of employers mean that countless cases go unreported. A comprehensive child protection bill for the Islamabad Capital Territory was approved by the cabinet legislative committee last week in response to the recent case.
Groups in the Philippines have called for the formalisation of the gold mining sector to tackle child labour. Of the 350,000 workers engaged in small-scale gold mining, 18,000 are estimated to be women and children. Mining is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour because of the harsh working conditions and exposure to harmful chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, and the lack of government regulation of artisanal and small-scale gold mining has led to rampant child labour. The Caring Gold project, launched by the Department of Labour and Employment alongside the International Labour Organization and the environmental group Ban Toxics, aims to support the sector to establish legalised and organised mining and to address the root causes of child labour by providing mining families with access to social protection and livelihood programmes.
Circumcision and cultural bias
Malaysia’s Health Minister has urged parents of child victims of botched circumcision to take cases to court to get compensation. The move comes after a number of boys suffered irreversible injuries to their penis during circumcision in the past few months. Cases include one boy who lost his penis entirely during a mass circumcision ceremony and must now use a catheter and a urine bag. Health Minister Dr Subramaniam said hundreds of thousands of circumcisions are carried out every year in Malaysia and warned that medical licences could be suspended if evidence of negligence is found. However, the previous cases of two boys who had the head of their penises severed - both during circumcision in medical clinics - show that the practice itself exposes children to risks regardless of where it is performed.
Also on the issue of accountability in cases of circumcision, Russia’s Commissioner for children’s rights Anna Kuznetsova is demanding that the parents of a three-year-old boy who died earlier this month following a botched circumcision performed at home should be held criminally responsible. The procedure was carried out by a surgeon summoned by the boy’s mother. But the boy became seriously ill and he died at home without being taken to the hospital. A police investigation is under way, but in a seeming disregard for justice and accountability, Yulia Zimova, a member of a presidential council on family matters, said criminal charges could be inappropriate as the parents “have already been punished by fate”.
Meanwhile a Quartz article this month examined why circumcision of young boys in the United States has become a national practice, to the point that it is now the most common surgery in the country. Notably, the tradition is defended by many in the American medical establishment, which claims that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks. The author points out that this is a cultural bias, as medical associations abroad do not recognise routine circumcision as necessary, and that, because it permanently alters the body, it should be “an informed, personal choice” that young men make for themselves.
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Employment
Consortium for Street Children: Communications and Marketing Manager
Application deadline: 1 February 2017
Location: London, United Kingdom
Consortium for Street Children: Advocacy Officer
Application deadline: 5 February 2017
Location: London, United Kingdom
Terre des Hommes: Campaign Coordinator
Application deadline: 13 February 2017
Location: Brussels, Belgium
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THE LAST WORD
World-renowned model Hanne Gaby Odiele revealed this week that she is intersex - a disclosure meant to raise awareness about the medically unnecessary surgeries intersex children undergo without their consent.
Odiele used an interview with USA Today to tell reporters that she was born with undescended testes and that she had surgery to remove them at ten. She explained that she could barely process the experience at the time, but later described it as a “trauma”. Sue Stred, a professor of paediatrics at SUNY Upstate Medical University added that the fear of non-binary bodies, rather than a pressing medical need, is often what drives parents to seek surgical interventions on intersex children.
Odiele’s message to intersex children everywhere is simple: “You can be whoever you want. It doesn’t matter.”
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