*names have been changed The sun is beating down hard on the baked soil. Rows of limp corn bow their heads as if in reverence to the ominous melting peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. The old taboos are cast and fear is in the watery eyes of 15-year old Vallery.* She stands along […]
On this Memorial Day as we remember all those who fell in the fight for freedom, forget also not the children for which so many have died for. Those children for whom freedom has been fought for around the world, those who have been left orphaned by the violence of hate and war. Remember the […]
Last year, The Gambia's "president", Yahya Jammeh, revealed his cure for HIV and Aids. State media broadcasted a report on the president's healing powers on January 18th, and within days, hundreds began lining up at the presidential palace, awaiting his miracle remedy. Fridays and Saturdays were reserved for asthma, while those with Aids came on […]
Dear Esteemed Readers, Appologies and thanks for your patience, while I have been busy on other projects traveling, thus not giving the Children's blog my full attention. However I wanted to report back to you that my trip to Budapest, Hungary was a success, I attended the 7th Annual Conference on Violence and the Contexts […]
From April 2004 and October 2007 child soldiers participated in armed conflict in Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, the DRC, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda. The report also highlights the often forgotten use of girls as child […]
“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” -Mahatma Gandhi Children are the root of peace, should we not invest in them and their future then peace will only be an enigma. Children […]
Serbian media reports that the Serbian government is investigating accusations by former ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte that Serbian Kosovars were kidnapped and murdered and had their organs harvested by Kosovar Albanian paramilitaries during the 1998-99 war. The tribunal itself has refused to reinvestigate the allegations, averring that a 2004 investigation had not turned […]
A dilapidated concrete house in Tel Aviv is the current homestead of 340 African refugees. Most have come from the war-torn regions of Darfur. Others from Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast, crowding the poorly ventilated corridors and rooms. Some paid smugglers to get them first through Egypt and then into Israel, a country that […]
Ok, this is a human rights blog and not a political blog BUT I could not avoid commenting on this statement by Senator Clinton re: the Florida Democratic primary. As noted by Fernando Suarez (CBS news) Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and […]
Turkey: Turkish-German Professionals: Young, Qualified and Unwanted Highly qualified professionals of Turkish descent are leaving Germany because they feel denied opportunities there. In contrast other countries, particularly Turkey, are vying for their talents. Experts warn of the disastrous consequences of this “fatal” brain drain( Spiegel). Myanmar: Relief workers who are still prohibited from entering Myanmar […]
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has located an alleged war criminal from World War 2, in Australia. 87-year-old Karoly Zentai is accused of murdering a Jewish teenager in Budapest during the Holocaust while he served in the pro-Nazi Hungarian army. Hungary has been seeking his extradition since 2005, and Zentai has avoided extradition before. Now, the […]
The BBC reports of a worrying escalation overnight as the violence spreads to Durban: “Police say a group armed with stones and bottles had threatened Nigerians and damaged their property overnight. It prompted about 700 African migrants to seek refuge in a nearby church while in Cape Town a safety forum has been set up […]
News of the global food crisis is increasingly inescapable and as the price of food continues to skyrocket around the world, those most effected are women and children. Those children who are already most vulnerable are now placed in even more danger as the food crisis continues without any visible signs of curtailing. What is […]
"If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job," an American official told the Washington Post. This was in relation to an article on CIA torture of al-Qaida and Taliban suspects at the Bagram Air Force in 2002. Two unarmed civilians were captured and tortured to death […]
Last night, on the way home from dinner with friends, I bumped into another friend and colleague I had not seen in some time. This individual, who first came to the U.S. as a political refugee from Kenya, began to tell me about the violence in his homeland and the risks to peace. On an […]