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6 January 2005: CRINMAIL 641: Special Edition on South Asian Tsunamis: Contents: ******************************************************** * NEWS ------------------------------------------------------------------- - AID CONFERENCE: Kofi Annan Appeals for $1bn Aid to Tsunami Victims [news] - CHILD PROTECTION: Urgent Action Vital to Protect Children [news] - CHILDREN: Playtime Best Cure for Tsunami Children [news] * RESOURCES ------------------------------------------------------------ - UNICEF: Tsunami Press Room [online resource] - CHILDREN AND DISASTERS: Dealing with Questions from Children [publication] * SUPPORT ---------------------------------------------------------------- - MAKING A DONATION: United Kingdom / Global [addresses] - SAVE THE CHILDREN: Staff Urgently Required for the Emergency [jobs postings] ******************************************************** Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Please note that we are unable to respond to emails addressed to [email protected] Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html ******************************************************** - AID CONFERENCE: Kofi Annan Appeals for $1bn Aid to Tsunami Victims [news] [6 January 2005] - Items discussed today during the tsunami aid conference in Indonesia included: debt relief (suspension of payments or forgiveness of debt for affected countries), reconstruction (co-ordinating the aid effort and rebuilding process) and tsunami warning (an early warning system for the Indian Ocean). World leaders have pledged to set up an Indian Ocean early warning system which could save lives in the event of a repeat of December's tsunami. A declaration at the end of the aid conference in Indonesia also urges the UN to mobilise the international community for the relief effort. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged donors at the conference to convert aid pledges into $1bn cash for urgent use. Pledges exceed $3bn, but promises have not always been fulfilled in the past. The leaders said it would take 5-10 years to fully rehabilitate the region. More than 140,000 people are now known to have died in the disaster, and hundreds of thousands more are homeless. Main aid pledges: EU: $30m already being spent on the ground, $132m in short-term aid, $455m for long-term reconstruction Australia: $810m, distributed over five years, half the sum in loans Germany: $674m in aid over the next three to five years Japan: $500m - half in bilateral aid, half through multilateral institutions US: $350m in debt relief, no time scale given UK: $96m in aid of which $13m spent so far, hundreds of millions more promised Leaders called for a special UN representative to be appointed to co-ordinate a global relief programme. The declaration also welcomed an initiative by several Western nations to freeze debt payments by affected countries. The declaration, signed by delegates from nations and groups attending the Jakarta conference, pledged to set up a warning system similar to that in the Pacific Ocean to ensure that coastal residents had time to flee to higher ground in the event of a fresh earthquake. Experts say such a system could have saved many lives after the original 26 December disaster. The declaration asked the UN to convene an international pledging conference and explore a standby arrangement for the immediate relief effort. "This unprecedented devastation needs unprecedented global response in assisting the national governments to cope with such a disaster," the declaration says. Mr Annan said there was "a race against time" to prevent another sharp rise in the death toll. The number of fatalities could double if immediate aid did not reach survivors soon, he told delegates. The $1bn programme proposed by Mr Annan would include $215m towards food, $222m toward shelter and $122m towards healthcare. The UN has praised global generosity in responding to the disaster, but there are concerns that promised aid may not come through. The US said it was disbanding what it called the core group of nations - including India, Australia and Japan - formed to tackle the crisis. The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says officials who had feared that the group would duplicate the UN's efforts will be quietly relieved by this move. [Source: BBC News. To read the article in full, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4151297.stm] -------------------------------- - CHILD PROTECTION: Urgent Action Vital to Protect Children [news] [GENEVA, 6 January 2005] - Child victims of the devastating Asian Tsunami will be at greater risk of disease, sexual and physical abuse and prolonged family separation if child protection measures are not urgently considered in the initial humanitarian response. The warning from international aid agency World Vision comes amid evidence that children are among the hardest hit by the catastrophe. Children have been killed in their tens of thousands and millions more have been left orphaned or homeless. "The pictures of dazed and grieving children wandering around amid the devastation underlines the extraordinary vulnerability they face amid this disaster," World Vision's International Child Protection Director, Heather MacLeod, says. "Their vulnerability means they are among the most at risk of the diseases that now threaten to kill thousands more. And history has shown us that the humanitarian response to a disaster can often increase the vulnerability of children." Ms MacLeod said that unless special child protection measures were put in place at the outset of the emergency response to the Asian Tsunami the suffering of children could be prolonged. They can also be exposed to new dangers such as sexual abuse and exploitation. Already in this disaster there are warnings out of Sri Lanka about the dangers that arise when there are inadequate procedures surrounding the movement of children. Sri Lanka's Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority has issued a warning in response to an increasing number of reports that children were missing from hospitals and emergency shelters. It is feared some children are being trafficked as domestic aids and for sexual exploitation. "Often children are separated from family members and placed in temporary care shelters with thousands of other people. In this environment there is no specific person watching over them, as a result children can often miss out on receiving life saving aid such as vaccines, clean water and food," Ms MacLeod says. "Placing children in temporary shelters can prolong their separation from their families or separating them from the families who spontaneously take in these children can also expose them to dangers of sexual abuse and exploitation especially as the duration of the crisis extends over a long period. In fact we now know that any action that separates a child from their parent or person whom they are attached to in the community greatly increases the risk a child faces." "Further, the use of care shelters or orphanages can also lead to parents dropping off their children in such centres - if they perceive the level of care in the centre is greater than is being received in the community." Ms MacLeod said the international effort to respond to the Tsunami crisis had to involve child protection experts and must included measures such as the creation of "child friendly spaces" and a regime to identify separated children. "Children will be experiencing an incredible sense of loss and grief - loss of home, family members, friends, safety, health, education and most importantly hope," she says. "They need to know that whatever they feel is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. They are not going crazy. They need to be with people they know and need to feel as safe as possible." "They also need to establish a daily routine as soon as possible as this reduces their fears and creates an atmosphere that helps them think into the future." For more information, contact: Visit: http://www.wvi.org/wvi/news/latest_news.htm#Asia --------------------------------- - CHILDREN: Playtime Best Cure for Tsunami Children [news] [MULLAITTIVU, 3 January 2005] - Thousands of children whose lives have been upturned by Sri Lanka's worst natural disaster need two things above all, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund said on Monday - clean water and playtime. The children of this tiny northeastern fishing village in Tamil Tiger rebel territory were either swept to their deaths by a savage tsunami a week ago, or were scooped out of the water and taken to the safety of refugee camps or relatives' homes inland. The trauma of losing parents, brothers and sisters will be with them for years. But playing with friends will help them recover, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told Reuters on a visit to the rebel-run north. "The biggest challenge is to make sure the children stay alive - to avoid the outbreak of disease. One of the biggest problems now is that the still water may be as dangerous as the rushing water that killed in the first place," Bellamy said. Hundreds of freshwater wells along the coast were flooded with seawater, and brackish, stagnant water needs to be pumped out of them. Sri Lanka was grappling with mosquito-borne dengue even before the tsunami, but there are as yet no signs of major epidemics of illnesses like malaria. "What children mostly need in a traumatic situation such as this is some normalcy, because this was so abnormal," Bellamy added. "Normalcy means being back with family members and being able to play, that's what children like to do. Going to school. That's the best thing." Rescue officials say a disproportionate number of children and women were among around 30,000 people killed when giant waves crashed into the Indian Ocean island's southern, eastern and northern shores on 26 December. They were weaker swimmers and slower runners than adults who survived. The government says so many children have been orphaned that it has appealed for doctors, psychologists and paediatricians to pitch in and give counselling. "Counselling will help. But it isn't a matter of counselling as such," Bellamy said. [Source: Reuters. To read the article in full, go to: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP171714.htm] --------------------------------- - UNICEF: Tsunami Press Room [online resource] To learn about UNICEF assessment and relief efforts throughout the tsunami-affected region and read daily news updates on the situation in South Asia, visit UNICEF's Tsunami Press Room at http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24628.html. The web page features: country specific information, statistics on children, facts and figures, fact sheets and publications on water and sanitation, audio and video reports, contact information for interviews and other details from the ground, frequently asked questions on how to help, links to other news rooms etc. Visit: http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24628.html --------------------------------- - CHILDREN AND DISASTERS: Dealing with Questions from Children [publication] Due to the tsunami disaster in South Asia, thousands of children have lost their close relatives or died themselves. The tsunamis have now affected the lives of millions of children, not only in South Asia, but also in the rest of the world. Many children have been affected by the disaster either directly or indirectly, and Save the Children Sweden has prepared a leaflet for those who seek advice on how adults, as parents, teachers, crèche and day-care personnel can deal with children's reactions and questions on the subject. For more information, contact: Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=5017 -------------------------------- - MAKING A DONATION: United Kingdom / Global [addresses] LOCAL CHILD RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS: Many members of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) are based in countries affected by the tsunamis. Those who want to make donations to local organisations can browse CRIN's online directory of child rights organisations at the following link: http://www.crin.org/organisations. Alternatively, go directly to search results for: South-central Asia: http://www.crin.org/organisations/viewCrinOrgs.asp?regID=11&code=0302 South-eastern Asia: http://www.crin.org/organisations/viewCrinOrgs.asp?regID=12&code=0304 DISASTERS EMERGENCY COMMITTEE (DEC): http://www.dec.org.uk UNICEF: http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=iuI1LdP0G&b=276341 MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF): http://www.msf.org/donations/index.cfm INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC): http://www.icrc.org/Web/Forms/webforms.nsf/F_DON?OpenForm&ParentUNID=BA9B14845AF1638FC1256E2B00394093&action=Operations%20most%20in%20need NETAID: https://secure.ga3.org/02/indian_ocean_crisis CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND: http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/donate/appeal.aspx -------------------------------- - SAVE THE CHILDREN: Staff Urgently Required for the Emergency [jobs postings] Save the Children are currently looking for experienced international humanitarian workers to support their staff in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. Specialists are required in the following areas: Health, Child Protection, Logistics, Water and Sanitation, Emergency Programme management, Finance, Education and Nutrition. People who may be interested in working for Save the Children UK and who have direct experience of emergencies (preferably but not necessarily gained within an Asian environment) please visit: www.savethechildren.org.uk/jobs where they will be able to register their details via an online application process. People are encouraged to apply on line but if this is not possible those interested can email a CV and covering letter (stating availability) to: [email protected] ******************************************************** 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 to this list send an email to [email protected]. If you do not wish to continue receiving this email service, then send an email to [email protected]. Archives of all these services can be viewed on CRIN's website at http://www.crin.org/email/index.asp ********************************************************
World Vision International
6 Chemin de la Tourelle, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.wvi.org
Save the Children Sweden
Torsgatan 4, SE-107 88 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: + 46 8 698 90 00; Fax: + 46 8 698 90 10
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.rb.se