Children

© UNICEF/HQ00-0631/LeMoyne "On World Water Day, as the 4th World Water Forum here draws to a close, the voices of debate and discussion have fallen silent to hear and consider a clarion call to action from children. Ten young water activists took the stage yesterday, side by side with over 30 ministers of water and environment at the global meeting, to discuss children's role in the world water crisis. They represented the 112 participants in the Children's World Water Forum, a parallel event ending in Mexico City today. And they spoke out for the hundreds of millions of children worldwide struggling to survive without safe drinking water." [Read more]

"A Congolese militia leader accused of conscripting children for war will be the first suspect to face trial at the International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of the ICC said on Saturday.... The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said Lubanga's arrest showed the international community would not tolerate the use of children in armed conflict."

"The average age of sexual debut is just 12, according to government research. In a few traditional communities, girls are forced to have sex with older men as part of rites initiating them into adulthood. But most have their first experience with a friend or relative. Girls who have lost one or both parents to HIV/Aids are especially vulnerable to exploitation. In cities like Blantyre, it is not unusual for them to have several "boyfriends" who support them, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Malawi. This in turn exposes them to the risk of infection with HIV, the virus that causes Aids. Some older men will marry young girls after their wives die of HIV/Aids because they believe sex with a virgin will "cleanse" them, says Banda. It is also traditional in some cultures for a man to marry his wife's younger sister if she dies." [Full story]

© UNICEF/Pirozzi "Global efforts to tackle AIDS are neglecting the 15 million children who have lost at least one parent to the disease, experts told an international conference on HIV on Thursday. In sub-Saharan Africa alone an estimated 18 million children will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010 - an increase of six million in just four years, according to U.N. forecasts. "Despite progress in some areas, children are still the missing face of AIDS in the global response to the pandemic," said Ann Veneman, executive director of the U.N. children's fund UNICEF. "The world must act now, urgently and decisively, to ensure that the next generation is AIDS-free." [Read more] See also: World Not Doing Nearly Enough to Protect Children Affected by AIDS Global Partners Forum Seeks to Build Support for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS UNICEF: Unite for Children Against AIDS

© UNICEF Somalia/2006/Bannon At a supplementary feeding centre in Isdoorto, Somalia, a child waits in line with her mother for Unimix, a highly fortified food. "UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman is calling for immediate action in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa to keep children from dying. More than 8 million people across Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti are affected by the drought. The severe crisis is threatening the lives of 1.5 million children under the age of five. "This is an area of Africa that often suffers from drought and, when drought occurs, it impacts the nutrition of children so we are concerned that children will suffer from malnutrition," said Ms. Veneman. "They are more susceptible to disease and in these situations previously, we've seen mortality rates for children increase so we want to get into the area early so we can address the needs particularly of the children." [Read more]

"Patched-together dolls, drawings, poems and other personal effects give a glimpse of childhood turned unthinkable during the horrors of the Holocaust in an exhibition which opened today at the United Nations as part of a week of remembrance there. No Child's Play, a travelling exhibit produced by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, is part of a series of activities leading up to 27 January, which has been designated by the General Assembly as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of genocide.

Children in Danna village now have warm clothing to help them fend off the biting winds of winter and bitter cold. © UNHCR/B.Baloch "As winter tightens its grip on the earthquake-affected mountainous areas near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, staff of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are distributing warm clothing to vulnerable young survivors. Teams from the agency recently made the difficult journey to Danna village, traveling some 30 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad city over curved roads beset by landslides. UNHCR tents in the village provide temporary shelter to families that lost their homes and many loved ones in the 8 October earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people." [Read more]

"Hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world, UNICEF said Wednesday in a major report that explores the causes of exclusion and the abuses children experience. Launching the report in London, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said millions of children disappear from view when trafficked or forced to work in domestic servitude. Other children, such as street children, live in plain sight but are excluded from fundamental services and protections. Not only do these children endure abuse, most are shut out from school, healthcare and other vital services they need to grow and thrive. 'The State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible' (www.unicef.org/sowc06) is a sweeping assessment of the world's most vulnerable children, whose rights to a safe and healthy childhood are exceptionally difficult to protect. These children are growing up beyond the reach of development campaigns and are often invisible in everything from public debate and legislation, to statistics and news stories" [Read more]

A thoughtful post from Carol Gee at South by Southwest: "How does it feel to be hungry, really hungry? It is not the kind of hunger that comes with having missed a meal. It is also not the kind of hunger one feels when doing a very purposeful "cleansing fast," or fasting on Fridays, in the old days of an observed liturgical holy week. This hunger is that which comes from not getting anything to eat, or very little to eat, on a regular basis for days, weeks, months or years at a time.... There are entire nations starving or desperately endangered today; right now. And there far too many people in these United States that are also hungry. This week, this coming Thanksgiving Day, the weekend following, millions are hungry. For many of the rest of us, we will be trying to figure out what to do with all our leftovers. A recent Reuters story focused on the just published United Nations report on hunger in the world which states that 6 million children a year die from hunger related causes." Read the rest, it's a great post. We'll see you on Monday...