Every day across the globe millions of children are abused and neglected. These innocent children are the victims of forced labor, sex trafficking and exploitation, physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, malnutrition, neglect, and used as child soldiers. The impacts of child abuse do not come to an end when the child is taken from their […]
News reporting on India, more specifically news regarding women in India, has recently been somewhat unsettling. Horrific cases of sexual abuse, some fatal, have made their way from the Indian media to a global stage. In terms of raising awareness, the impact has been powerful. Yet tarring all of India with the same brush would […]
Communities around the globe united over the weekend to spread awareness for World AIDS Day, which was held on Saturday, December 1st. In 1988, the U.N. General Assembly expressed deep concern over the pandemic proportions of the AIDS virus. Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of 1 December 1988 as World AIDS Day, the General Assembly […]
For girls, Somali refugee camps are unsafe Violence against women and girls is rife in Somalia, especially in the refugee camps in and around the capital, Mogadishu, where many fear rape by armed bands. “The other night a bandit came into my house and raped my little girl. I tried to fight but I couldn’t, […]
Much of West Africa has been struggling under severe drought conditions – their third round since 2005. Some experts hope better than expected seasonal rains will bring an end to the regional food security crisis but others fear that rising global food prices, an influx of desert locusts and continuing political unrest will turn out […]
According to the United Nations for the first time the number of annual child deaths have fallen below seven million. “The new child mortality estimates show that concerted efforts to get proven lifesaving care to children work and that, in the 21stcentury, children no longer need to die from preventable causes,” said Carolyn Miles, President and […]
With August coming to a close here’s something short and inspiring to remind us that unconventional approaches make a difference. Skateboards and Afghanistan sound like an unlikely combination but reality is proving otherwise. Skateistan is an international non-profit charity providing skateboarding and educational programming in Afghanistan (as well as Cambodia and Pakistan). It was set […]
A mother breastfeeds one of her twin babies at Jose Fabella Medical hospital in Manila, Philippines © Jason Gutierrez/IRIN Filipino breast milk bank gives babies a chance A state-run breast milk bank in the Philippines is helping to fend off infant mortality in Manila, the capital, and elsewhere as breastfeeding rates differ among the […]
Recent concerns have sparked as child marriages spike among Syrian refugees in Jordan. Difficult conditions in Jordan have many parents pushing to have their daughters married at an earlier age. The issue has created a concern among many international aid organizations that the rise in child marriage has been brought on as a sort of coping […]
Following the questions of one Haitian-born, Canadian-raised woman, Adopted ID raises questions of identity, and the politics of international adoption. To a lively soundtrack, which carries the film when the visuals blur, the documentary follows the emotional journey of Judith Craig Morency on her first trip back to Haiti after 27 years raised in a […]
London Summit offers crucial opportunities for women, health The London Summit on Family Planning opened today and aims to prioritize and fund family planning globally. It aims to give women “the tools to make critical decisions about the size of their families and the spacing of their pregnancies,” writes Nafis Sadik, whose United Nations roles […]
On Monday, the Republic of South Sudan celebrated its first anniversary and independence from now-neighboring Sudan. Following decades of civil war, the nation separated from Sudan one year ago. Leaders of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda attended an official ceremony; meanwhile, thousands of people danced and waved flags during official celebrations of the newly formed nation in the capital city […]
Children of the Earth summit — 1992 and 2012 As young people weigh in with their impressions of the ongoing Rio+20 conference, this documentary series, Zero Ten Twenty, looks back on the lives of children born in 1992–the year of the groundbreaking Earth Summit. Working to include women in development recipe The United Nations is hosting […]
I am pleased to announce that this week in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton officially released the 12th annual Trafficking in Person’s (TIP) report. The report was openly released on June 19th in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the Department of State. The event was open by invite to key government officials, leading anti-trafficking leaders and […]
UNICEF has released their 2011 Annual Report. The report gives a global overview of the previous year’s achievements and highlights a number of various international, regional, and national collaborations. The report highlights UNICEF’s contributions to achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goals by providing increased assistance to children in need around the globe. The report highlights […]