"A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an "expression of global solidarity" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis.
He plans to have millions of machines in production within a year. The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning." [Read article]
"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reduced child mortality significantly over the past decade and has expanded its mandate to cover protecting youngsters from exploitation, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the consequences of extreme poverty, outgoing Executive Director Carol Bellamy said today.
In a farewell news Conference at UN Headquarters in New York, she summed up UNICEF's work in recent years, saying global child mortality had dropped by 16 per cent in the last 15 years - and by 34 per cent if AIDS-devastated sub-Saharan Africa's data were excluded." Read more...
"Millions of girls in developing nations are being denied a primary education even as the number of boys in school grows, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef.
The widest disparity between education received by boys and girls is in the Middle East and North Africa, West and Central Africa and South Asia, Unicef said today on its Web site in the Progress for Children report. In those regions, women often have less social prestige than men and are required to work from an early age, according to the report." LINK
"The jungle territory that hides lurking rebel forces makes it look like a shoot-em-up adventure, but in this video game -- from the U.N.'s food aid agency -- the aim is to feed the masses rather than blow them away.
The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) hopes the game "Food Force," in which players direct aid workers trying to help the poor, will teach children about the problems of feeding the hungry, especially those trapped in war zones." Read the rest...
"Unicef warned Monday that millions of children around the globe are being trafficked annually in an illegal industry worth $10-billion (U.S.) a year, rivalling the trade in illicit drugs and arms.
UN Children's Fund executive director Carol Bellamy urged legislators worldwide to ensure the protection of children by instituting laws that stop their exploitation and abuse." Full Story