Hunger and Africa

Niger is struck really badly with a severe food crisis. A mother says, 'I seldom have one meal a day: my breakfast. I have a daughter who attends school; she can't eat every day. My husband has gone to Nigeria to fetch food.' For a full story. For those who know more about the African continent, this story sounds very familiar (very sadly). But this is something that has to be taken care of by the international organizations because the local governments are poorly equipped and lack resources to take appropriate measures. This is where international humanitarian relief is at most demand! It is very interesting to learn more about the availability of funding to these organizations. As the world is in financial crisis, the funding of these organizations is de minimus. The most direct victims are these children, who don't have food to eat...
(photo credit, see link above).

Children with disabilities

UNICEF has welcomed the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Disabilities Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 December 2006, and was opened for signature and ratification on 30 March 2007. So far, 128 countries have signed and 25 countries have ratified the Convention. See here for more.
Article 7 specifically focuses on the rights of children with disabilities.

“The inclusion of children with disabilities is not a charitable act but a matter of rights. Empowering and enabling children makes them less vulnerable to violence, abuse and exploitation,” said UNICEF Director or Programmes, Nicholas Alipui.

Given the deplorable situation of children in many hot spots of Africa and many other places around the world, this Convention is an additional measure more narrowly focused on children with disabilities... Some of these disabilities are inborn, others developed in life, through hunger and disease... Can't we treat the cause of these disabilities?!

(photo credit here)

Children victims of poverty

Survival of children under 5 is still a severe problem despite some recent progress in the developing countries. Every day more than 26,000 children die from malnutrition and various diseases that are treatable. Instead of focusing on children and women's health the leaders of these countries pay a lip-service to the UNICEF demands and continue fighting amongst themselves for already diminishing resources. In many of these countries, in Africa, Middle East, and Asia there are corrupt governments, civil wars, violence in the streets, wars among chieftains and military. But of course, these have many other global causes that individual leaders of these countries simply are not in control of. How can these problems be solved?! I have no clear answer. Would anyone?

See the full report by UNICEF

ICC and Africa

ICC is busy trying war criminals in hot spots of Africa, including the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). It has just reported that a suspected war criminal Germain Katanga has been detained and held at the Hague. The Office of the Prosecutor has charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes. It has been reported that he ordered a 'wipe out' of a village in the DRC, as well as forceful turnover of women into sexual slavery and children into soldiers. As a senior commander of a militia group called Force de Resistance Patriotique en Ituri, Katanga has been involved in mass killings of civilians. For a full story.
The violence that is perpetuated by the militia groups in many spots of Africa has been a major concern of the ICC, that since its inception has been a centerpiece for view of troubles in Africa... Many people call it the 'African Court.' Well, it is doing a major service to the international community. But will it have an effect on reducing the violence when the causes of it are really not addressed? The OAU (African Union) pledges 'efficient and effective' unity and promise for change. But a big part of Africa is still cloaked with hopeless poverty and violence...

Grassroots, grassroots...

UNICEF has proven that if you build schools for children soldiers, you can induce them to trade guns for textbooks. In Southern Sudan in Deng Nhial that is what happened to Mayom Mabuong (here). Once there was a permanent structured school safe from rain, Mayom was able to go to school and permanently demobilize. Now he is the one who is assisting UNICEF to demobilize other students by telling about his story. He is a teacher and a community leader. For children whose souls are mutilated from war and violence, the school is the only savior. It truly can make memories of war distant mirages of the past...

Children soldiers...

How is it possible that we have not been able to stop children being used as soldiers, especially in Africa... As the Amnesty International alerts, these are children who have no childhood and who are constantly brutalized, terrorized, tortured, raped and turned into violent machines upon survival... (here) As the Special Court in Sierra Leone ruled on May 31, 2004, it is a war crime to use children under 15 as soldiers... But has it been enforced when most children in these forsaken regions are running amok in the streets, not propely fed or clothed, with no prospects, except for turning into the military for survival. Here they get some food and clothing, and they get toys to play with-- guns. They also learn to unleash their innermost fantasies in killing others... This is absolutely similar to the inferno of Dante... How could we let children go down that path? How do you think we can stop adults being violent, when we are not able to stop even children? It is even ridiculous... While we can control children, we could hardly try to control adults... Psychologists have been shouting for more than a century that criminal behavior begins from early childhood and can only be treated at this early stage... Instead of treating, we force them to turn into criminals by not allowing them to be children...

Darfur

UNICEF Darfur Nutrition Summary (May-June 2007) has reported (here):

Six localised nutrition surveys were conducted during the reporting period, two in North Darfur, three in South Darfur and one in West Darfur. Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates exceeded the emergency threshold of 15 per cent in all six. Rates of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) ranged from 1.4 per cent to 2.8 per cent. In three of the surveys (North and West), GAM rates are higher than those found during the same period in 2006. In the three surveys in South Darfur there was no comparable information from the same period in 2006. While an increase in GAM rates is in line with seasonal trends, the underlying causes are being investigated at state level in order to identify responses. Mortality rates in two surveys (Otash Camp and Kass in South Darfur) were above alert levels for both under-5 and crude mortality. The primary identified causes of death were reported as diarrhoea (watery
and bloody), and ARI. This indicates that concerted action is required to strengthen efforts in prevention and control of diarrhoea. The rate of GAM for children 6-29 versus 30-59 months continues to be elevated, indicating that
sustained efforts are required to address sub optimal infant and young chid care practices.

UNICEF also reported that as of June 2006 it had a total of just over $2.81 million in donor resources against the Darfur target of $89 million. That picture has not changed in 2007. Thus, its projects are funded only by 3 percent...

"When in doubt, shout it out!"

John J Cleary, a criminal defense attorney, who is now teaching at the MSU (Moscow State University), one of my mentors, likes to say, "When in doubt, shout it out!" There is no fairness, many say. I think, there is fairness if you choose to fight for it and if you only choose to search for it. Yes, it entails sacrifice and yes, it is often a risk you take. But when Mother Teresa (1910-1997) ventured forth on her voyage of a missionary, she did sacrifice much... And when Gandhi was fasting against violence and ethnic strife, he was risking his very life... And when Martin Luther King Jr. was shouting out his Dream, he was taking the same very risk... While most of us could not ever be like those people, each of us could take our own share of the risk and could offer our own little sacrifice for justice and fairness. Just look at the sea of endless human suffering engulfing the world... The children-- little creatures-- tortured by hunger and disease in Africa... The wars of the Middle East that have displaced thousands and thousands of people, seeking refuge in the desert of nowhere... The population growth of China and India, Tsunamis that do not end, earthquakes that destroy what has just been built and of course, the states that resort to military means to communicate with one another, the big business that cheaply eats up human labor with impunity... Action begins only after recognition of a fact... Mother Teresa wrote, "[I] felt it very deeply that while I should be snug in my bed... down the road there were those who have no cover." People who do not and cannot recognize these facts, will never find the courage to act... And action is needed now!