Hello Blog Readers!
Welcome to the Children's Blog, my name is Cassandra Clifford. I'm very excited to be one of the eight blogger/writers for the Foreign Policy Association's "Great Decisions" 2007 series. I hold an MA in International Relations and have spent much of my career dealing with various topics in Central and Eastern Europe, mostly human rights and the current political situations. I have focused heavily on the former Soviet Union and various issues of Human Rights, particularly issues of ethnic cleansing. I currently work as a Director for a charity working to combat child trafficking.
First of all I want to thank all of you for coming to the site and joining the "Great Decisions" of 2007. You've taken the first step in the decision making process and I only hope that by reading my blog and that of my esteemed fellow bloggers that we will be able to not only inform you about our eight key issues for the year, but also help you to get your own thought process going so that you can come to your own conclusions and decisions on these vital topics.
I will look to cover the full gamut of issues and topics related to children and I will do my best not to be overly focused on certain issues, like child trafficking, or too regionally biased. However, those topics closest to our hearts will get the most discussion at times. Issues that I will be covering include: general issues of children's rights, international conventions and the US, child migrant labor, AIDs, poverty, victims of war, landmines, child soldiers, street children, and of course child trafficking. However, this is unfortunately only a small sample of issues concerning the current situation and the future of our world's children, and I will do my best to give justice and a voice to children everywhere.
Thanks for reading, Cassandra