Foreign Policy Blogs

Updates on Women, Children and Human Rights from Around the Globe

Updates on Women, Children and Human Rights from Around the Globe

A woman waits her turn to receive a drop of polio vaccine for her child at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) supported Jalozai camp on the outskirts of Peshawar September 25, 2012. — Photo by Reuters

 

Half of Yemenis “go to bed hungry,” says U.N. agency
Rising costs for food and fuel have spurred a rise in malnutrition in Yemen, where five million people, or 22% of the population, simply do not have enough food — and another five million “go to bed hungry,” according to Barry Came of the World Food Program. Additionally, 13% of children in Yemen are “acutely malnourished,” third-most globally. 

Struggles are spotlighted in Pakistan polio fight
UNICEF aid workers face difficulty in persuading Pakistani parents to allow staff to vaccinate children against polio. 22 of the 30 confirmed cases of the disease this year have been in the country’s northwest where one father relented only after three months and 30 visits from the United Nations agency.

Survey of Yemeni women shows deteriorating lives
The hopes that fueled the popular uprising that unseated Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh during the Arab Spring have dimmed over the past year — especially among the country’s women — these articles detail. A survey reveals that 80% of women told the charity Oxfam International that their lives had gotten worse, especially concerning access to health, education, security and economic opportunity.

Laying the groundwork for Pakistan polio vaccines
Vaccinating children against polio in urban slums remains a challenge in Pakistan where three cases of infection were reported last week. Jackie Northam writes about traveling with a “social mobilizer” in Lahore as he tried to “lay the groundwork for the vaccinators,” helping to “educate people and try to dispel some rumors that have prevented some parents from immunizing their children.” 

Many Syrian children have no schools to attend
An estimated 200,000 children in Syria were unable to begin school Monday because of damage to buildings or destruction of schools altogether, according to the United Nations. At least 800 schools were being used as emergency shelters for families displaced by fighting.

Young girl’s marriage emblematic of Niger crisis
Hunger is hastening child marriage in Niger where already one-third of all girls marry before they turn 15 years old. The Associated Press chronicles the experiences of a 12-year-old girl, Zali, before and after her marriage to a 23-year-old man in the village of Hawkantaki.

 

Author

Cassandra Clifford

Cassandra Clifford is the Founder and Executive Director of Bridge to Freedom Foundation, which works to enhance and improve the services and opportunities available to survivors of modern slavery. She holds an M.A., International Relations from Dublin City University in Ireland, as well as a B.A., Marketing and A.S., Fashion Merchandise/Marketing from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Cassandra has previously worked in both the corporate and charity sector for various industries and causes, including; Child Trafficking, Learning Disabilities, Publishing, Marketing, Public Relations and Fashion. Currently Cassandra is conducting independent research on the use of rape as a weapon of war, as well as America’s Pimp Culture and its Impact on Modern Slavery. In addition to her many purists Cassandra is also working to develop a series of children’s books.

Cassandra currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area, where she also writes for the Examiner, as the DC Human Rights Examiner, and serves as an active leadership member of DC Stop Modern Slavery.


Areas of Focus:
Children's Rights; Human Rights; Conflict