The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict is visiting Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) to see first-hand the situation of war-impacted children in the two countries. From May 26-31 at the invitation of the Governments of the two nations, Radhika Coomaraswamy will look into child recruitment by State and non-State actors. She also intends to focus on key issues including the cross-border recruitment of children; the safety of humanitarian workers; the security of camps for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); and the increase of rapes and other sexual violence.
Bereaved parents lash out at Chinese authorities after their children were crushed in falling school classrooms during the devastating May 12 earthquake have begun voicing their anger at Chinese officials over shoddy construction that may have led to the collapses.
South Africa is to set up seven refugee camps around the country for foreign migrant workers who have fled a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence. The holding camps will take up to 70,000 people from the increasingly unsanitary conditions at temporary shelters put up around state buildings. The government decision comes despite strong advice from respected international aid agencies. They say South Africa does not have the expertise necessary to run the camps. Meanwhile, Nigeria says it will press for compensation from the South African government for its citizens who were victims of the violence. (BBC) After nearly two weeks of violent attacks on foreign nationals, migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers living in some of South Africa's informal settlements, the UN children's fund (UNICEF) is helping the hardest-hit cities of Johannesburg, Ekhuruleni and Tshwane to provide emergency relief supplies to vulnerable women and children. UNICEF has supplied adult hygiene kits, food, clothing and blankets for victims of the violence, most of whom fled their homes with few or no possessions. The aim is to ensure that babies, young children and mothers are adequately clothed, safely and appropriately fed and that basic hygiene is maintained.
Cuba plans to build 14,000 plastic homes a year to help ease a national housing shortage. Set to begin in September, the program will use polyvinyl chloride from a petrochemical facility to be built with Venezuelan aid at a refinery in Cienfuegos, Prensa Latina said. “Cuba will produce more than 14,000 houses annually with polyvinyl chloride, thanks to a bi-national project with Venezuela,” project director Julian Alonso told the news agency. Cuba is said to need about half a million homes to provide sufficient housing for its people. (Reuters)
Guatemala's attorney general is annulling 15 pending adoptions by US couples after finding evidence of fraud or other irregularities. Attorney General Baudilio Portillo suspended all 2,286 pending adoption cases in early May to investigate them. So far officials have looked into 160 cases. Of those, 145 will move forward. But the 15 babies whose cases have been annulled will be put in foster homes until a judge locates their parents. Guatemala has been plagued by allegations of adoption fraud, including allegations that babies are stolen from their birth parents or even sold by desperate mothers. But a new law is aimed at improving the process. (BBC)
The US shipping industry cautioned Congress that a proposal to buy US food aid from farmers overseas, which the White House contends will help save lives when hunger strikes, will drain aid budgets and could even make things worse for the world's poor. The coalition of shipping firms and industry groups hit back against mounting criticism of Congress’ opposition to the Bush administration proposal, which would free a quarter of emergency food aid funds from purchasing rules requiring US crops and, mostly, US-flagged ships be used in donating aid. (Reuters)
Some 150,000 Urdu-speaking Muslim refugees have the right to be Bangladesh citizens, a court has ruled. The Dhaka high court ruling applies to those who were minors when Bangladesh won independence in 1971 or born after. The Biharis, as they are known locally, moved from India to what was then East Pakistan following partition in 1947. Many of them were stranded in the majority Bengali-speaking Bangladesh without citizenship when the country attained independence from Pakistan. Correspondents say the issue has been controversial in Bangladesh because many of the Biharis sided with Pakistan during the war. (BBC)
In Iran a gay teenager who said he could be executed if he was sent home has been given asylum in Britain. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2005, but later discovered his boyfriend had been charged with sodomy in Iran and hanged. A 38-year-old Iranian soldier who deserted rather than lay anti-personnel landmines also won the right to stay. The soldier, identified only as BE, fled to Britain after refusing to plant mines in roads. In March 2001 the home secretary refused the man's claim for asylum, saying he had not only undertaken military service but had signed up as a regular soldier “without any apparent qualms.” (BBC)
