Guatemalan soldiers sold children in war
Guatemalan soldiers forcibly abducted and sold hundreds of children for foreign adoption during the country’s prolonged civil war, a Guatemalan government report charges. When Guatemala’s war ended in 1996, the country was second only to China in the number of international adoptions.
Obama Unshackles Global AIDS Work
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has eased restrictions for the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar, to include cooperation on family planning and the general strengthening of health systems in the developing world. The United States is the world’s largest donor to HIV/AIDS relief.
Economic crisis may boost human trafficking
UN Human Rights Council human trafficking investigator Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the global economic crisis has increased all the major factors that lead to global human trafficking, including poverty, unemployment among young people and the need for cheap labor. Nations that experience high rates of human trafficking routinely do not do enough to assist the young men, women and children who are exploited for sex and cheap labor, according to Ezeilo’s report.
Vaccines could halve sickle-cell deaths in Africa
Vaccination against bacterial infections using vaccines readily available in developed countries could save the lives of thousands of children with sickle-cell anaemia in Africa, researchers said on Thursday. Tom Williams, an expert in tropical diseases from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), said 90 percent of children born with sickle-cell anaemia in Africa die before they are diagnosed and can get treatment, and half of those lives could be saved if sufferers were protected from bacterial infections.
Somalia fighting continues to take toll on children
The violence that has destabilized Somalia has taken its most severe toll on the nation’s children, who are largely malnourished and uneducated. Boys often are conscripted as soldiers at a young age, whereas girls have babies at puberty. Burns, shrapnel, gunshot wounds and other conflict-related injuries have replaced malaria, tuberculosis, fistula and other diseases as rising threats against the safety and well-being of Somali children.
UNICEF-Child deaths fall, but “grossly insufficient”
The global mortality rate for children younger than 5 years old has dropped to the lowest level on record thanks to better technology and distribution associated with malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, UNICEF says. Even with the decreasing numbers, UNICEF warns the Millennium Development Goal of cutting the rate by two-thirds remains a major challenge, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Vietnam birth trend may fuel sex work, trafficking-UN
The ratio of boys born in Vietnam compared with girls has grown at an unusually rapid pace in recent years and could lead to a rise in sex work and trafficking, the United Nations said. The sex ratio at birth was 112.1 male births per 100 female births in 2008, up from an estimated 106.2 in 2000, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a report.
A Move to Register Sex Offenders Globally
Efforts to pass a law that would alert foreign officials when registered U.S. sex offenders travel are gaining support in the wake of recent arrests of three Americans, themselves convicted sex offenders, in Cambodia on child molestation charges.
U.N. rights chief sees possible war crimes in Congo
Two United Nations reports point to widespread human-rights violations by government and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo during hostilities there last year. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says incidences of arbitrary killings and sexual violence “could well amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity and are part of a self-perpetuating pattern of brutality in eastern DRC which continues to go largely unpunished.”
Africa: 700 Million Bednets to Help Continent Sleep Better
The World Health Organization is spearheading a campaign to build bed net factories and distribute 700 million bed nets across sub-Saharan Africa to curb malaria-related deaths in the region by 2015. The campaign also will enlist football stars and religious leaders to help raise public awareness.
Pakistan resumes polio vaccinations in Swat
Polio vaccinations in Pakistan’s Swat Valley have resumed after a four-month campaign against Taliban insurgents who had controlled the area.
Sudan Court Fines Woman for Wearing Trousers
A Khartoum court sentenced Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein about $200 for breaching the country’s decency laws by wearing pants in public. The charges carried a possible penalty of up to 40 lashes. Hussein, who has publicly challenged the case, says she will not pay the fine.
