Foreign Policy Blogs

Children

D.C.: September Human Trafficking Awareness Month

D.C.: September Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Did you know that there is an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals trafficked into the United States each year?  Shockingly the number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry.  The average age of entry for children victimized […]

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Taking Verbal Abuse Seriously

Taking Verbal Abuse Seriously

Abuse is abuse and one must take verbal assaults and abuse just as serious as physical abuse.  The harsh reality is that verbal abuse is often just a precursor for physical abuse, additionally verbal abuse can also be sexual assault. Yes, sexual assault can be verbal or visible with an abuser talking sexually (describing what […]

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Share Your Story on How 9-11 Impacted Your Life

Share Your Story on How 9-11 Impacted Your Life

As we sit on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the unforgettable tragedy that unfolded in the United States on September 11, 2001, across the globe people are taking time to remember the horrid events and reflect on how the world has changed since the fateful day. A day that took the lives of […]

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Seeking an end to forced labor in Vietnam

Seeking an end to forced labor in Vietnam

Scattered across Vietnam modern day slave labor work centers are in full swing with the governments OK as corporations pad their profits off the backs of some 40,000 men, women, and children. Held captive in forced labor centers which are thinly disguised as drug treatment centers, the majority of victims are brought in on the […]

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News…

News…

UNHCR: Somalia famine needs not effectively met Somalia’s food woes are far from over and food shortages will last well into 2012, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warns. Guterres said the international aid response has been insufficient to address drought and famine across the Horn of Africa and efforts need to increase.  […]

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Keeping the Spirit of Labor Day Alive

Keeping the Spirit of Labor Day Alive

As many of you, like myself, are just returning to work this week after a long weekend in honor of Labor Day, you find the time of rest quickly passing you by once again as you work to get your children back to school. Yet while you run in search of last minute school supplies […]

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Modern Slavery: The Loss of Innocence

Modern Slavery: The Loss of Innocence

The life of a child is often equated to that of mere dollars… overall people are comparatively cheaper than they were in the 1600-1800s, when slaves were purchased for life. Prices for these modern day slaves are at an all time low, while profits remain high, leading some to believe the problem is worse now […]

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When Will We Stop Blaming Victims?

When Will We Stop Blaming Victims?

In May this year I published the piece, Ending the Blame and Shame of Child Victims of Sexual Assault and Abuse, for which I discussed the issue of placing the blame of abuse, assault, and/or human trafficking on that of the victim.  The article was written largely in response to a horrendous case of blame […]

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See the Signs, Report It, and Save a Child’s Life

See the Signs, Report It, and Save a Child’s Life

Each year, more than 3 million child abuse reports (reports often contain the abuse of more than one child) are made in the United States alone. Furthermore, it is estimated that in 2009, 3.3 million child abuse reports and allegations were made, involving an estimated 6 million children (Child Help). Nonetheless, the reports of such […]

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News…

News…

New GAVI head eyes elimination of polio, measles Seth Berkley, the new head of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, talks about his life, career and the promotion of immunizations- “cost-effective and powerful tools for public health” worldwide. “The excitement about GAVI is the vision to ensure that all effective vaccines are available to […]

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Safer Birth Practices a Must for Timor-Leste

Safer Birth Practices a Must for Timor-Leste

In Timor-Leste women have an average of 7 children, yet in a country with birthrates so high, care for maternal and newborn health and safety is lacking. In a country were babies are far from the rarity, health problems for mother and babies are also far from rare.  Due to the lack of adequate prenatal […]

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What’s Made Europe’s Youth So Angry?

What’s Made Europe’s Youth So Angry?

International media have been rampantly covering the riots that began brewing in England four weeks ago have many now fearing that it is only the beginning of what may soon scourge across Europe.  Youth in London were the first to hit the city streets in anger and now the riots continue to burn as young […]

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New budget impacting millions of children finds it’s way to the Congressional floor

New budget impacting millions of children finds it’s way to the Congressional floor

On Wednesday, 10 August 2011, Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, announced the introduction of a budget outline which is aimed to create obs for some two million people. The “Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act,” as the plan has been titled,  if passed will cost $227 […]

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The use of rape warfare fades from headlines, but not the battlefields

The use of rape warfare fades from headlines, but not the battlefields

First it was the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, then Rwanda…Sudan and the Congo, which seemed to bring this unfathomable crime against humanity to light and then most recently it was Libya that brought the use of rape as weapon of war into the headlines. However while the headlines bringing such atrocities to light seem […]

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UN Allows for Sanctions in Somalia Against Violators of Children

UN Allows for Sanctions in Somalia Against Violators of Children

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, 2 August 2011,  United Nations Special Representative for the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, stated that she welcomed the decision by the UN Security Council made earlier that week, which allowed for sanctions against Somalia earlier that week. “Starting today, in Somalia, if you kill, […]

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