Tanzania orphan program may set example for continent
Supporters believe an innovative program in Tanzania to care for infants of mothers who die in childbirth might hold the key to cutting infant mortality rates and caring for Africa’s 50 million orphans. Infants are cared for during the first two to three years of life at the Berega Orphanage, where female members of their extended families also reside, before returning home to their villages.
Officials to review “blood diamond” designation
The human-rights group Global Witness says the Kimberley Process used to certify the sale of diamonds does not fund civil war or human-rights abuses is failing because the scheme is not being adequately enforced. Officials decided to take action after the alleged military-led massacre of some 150 diamond miners in Zimbabwe failed to disqualify that state under the Kimberley Process.
Rights of the Child on Obama’s agenda
The Barack Obama administration is actively pursuing “when and how it might be possible” to endorse the UN Rights of the Child treaty previously ratified by every member nation except the U.S. and Somalia. The pact, which has been used to bolster child protection laws in several nations during the past two decades, states children have the right to health care, education and protection from abuse.
Women’s group charges coerced sterilizations
An international women’s group intends to sue the Namibian government for coercing HIV-positive women into sterilization as a “treatment” for AIDS. The International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS has documented similar cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and South Africa. “None of them knew what sterilization was, including those from urban areas, because it was never explained to them,” an ICW coordinator said.
Negroponte applauds U.S. for joining UN Human Rights Council
Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte applauds the U.S. decision to join the UN Human Rights Council, an organization the U.S. refused to join under the George W. Bush administration. Critics maintain the Human Rights Council holds nations such as Israel to a harder line on human rights than habitual offenders such as Sudan.
Indian government efforts on child labor falling short
India is failing to sufficiently enforce a 2006 law preventing the use of child labor in the hospitality industry or as domestic help, child-rights advocates charge. While more than 1,600 cases have been launched against employers, there has yet to be a single conviction, and an estimated 12 million Indian children remain in the workforce.
