Showing posts tagged children

“O Children” // Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

This came to mind when I heard about the shooting earlier today. I’ve got nothing else to add because I’m too sad and angry right now.

brooklynmutt: A moment of silence at a candlelight vigil outside the White House  (via Photo by patcaldwell • Instagram) View high resolution

brooklynmutt:

A moment of silence at a candlelight vigil outside the White House 

(via Photo by patcaldwell • Instagram)

(Reblogged from brooklynmutt)

Darkest before dawn.: Mandatory Reporting and why I'm against it

charliemielczarek:

“The “Protection of Vulnberable Persons” law, SB 1816, states that anyone who suspects a child is being abused must report it. Currently, Florida law mandates the reporting of child abuse when the suspect is a parent or caretaker. In addition, failure to report suspected child abuse is now a…

(Reblogged from charliemielczarek)
united-nations: The Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict answers questions about UN work to address LRA operations. We hope this conversation will encourage people to learn all of the facts about the hundreds of thousands of children affected by conflict around the world. How does the LRA recruit children and what is their role? Where is the LRA operating? What are the aspirations of the LRA? What are other violations are committed against children by the LRA? What has the United Nations done to address the violations committed against children by the LRA? Why is a military action against the LRA risky? What can I do for the children affected by the LRA? Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Lord’s Resistance Army-affected areas (November 2011, S/2011/693) UNICEF has been working for decades to protect children from violence/abuse. But there’s still much to be done. UNICEF: Video on The Paris Principles: agreement to end the use of children in war UNICEF: More on child soliders International Criminal Court on the Situation in Uganda Find out if your country has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict. Statement from Special Representative Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy: I am pleased to see such a lively discussion on an issue that is often under-reported. If people want to help, they can support programs for children—-who have escaped the LRA—-to rebuild their lives and their communities throughout Central Africa. Any military action against LRA should pay heed to the fact that Kony’s army is largely comprised of children.

united-nations:

The Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict answers questions about UN work to address LRA operations. We hope this conversation will encourage people to learn all of the facts about the hundreds of thousands of children affected by conflict around the world.

How does the LRA recruit children and what is their role?

Where is the LRA operating?

What are the aspirations of the LRA?

What are other violations are committed against children by the LRA?

What has the United Nations done to address the violations committed against children by the LRA?

Why is a military action against the LRA risky?

What can I do for the children affected by the LRA?

Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Lord’s Resistance Army-affected areas (November 2011, S/2011/693)

UNICEF has been working for decades to protect children from violence/abuse. But there’s still much to be done.

UNICEF: Video on The Paris Principles: agreement to end the use of children in war

UNICEF: More on child soliders

International Criminal Court on the Situation in Uganda

Find out if your country has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict.

Statement from Special Representative Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy:

I am pleased to see such a lively discussion on an issue that is often under-reported. If people want to help, they can support programs for children—-who have escaped the LRA—-to rebuild their lives and their communities throughout Central Africa. Any military action against LRA should pay heed to the fact that Kony’s army is largely comprised of children.

(Reblogged from united-nations)
mohandasgandhi: Mali: Children work in deadly gold mines At least 20,000 children work in Malian artisanal gold mines under extremely harsh and dangerous conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Malian government and international donors should take action to end child labor in artisanal mines, Human Rights Watch said. Artisanal miners rely on low-tech methods and often organize informally. The 108-page report, “A Poisonous Mix: Child Labor, Mercury, and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali,” reveals that children as young as six dig mining shafts, work underground, pull up heavy weights of ore, and carry, crush, and pan ore. Many children also work with mercury, a toxic substance, to separate the gold from the ore. Mercury attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children. “These children literally risk life and limb”, said Juliane Kippenberg, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They carry loads heavier than their own weight, climb into unstable shafts, and touch and inhale mercury, one of the most toxic substances on earth.” Of 33 child laborers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 21 said that they suffered from regular pain in the back, head, neck, arms, or joints. Children also suffer from coughing and respiratory disease. One boy about six years old described the pain he felt when digging shafts with a pickaxe for hours on end. Another boy said that “everything hurts” when he comes home after a day’s work underground. Most children work alongside their parents to supplement the little income adult miners get from selling gold to local traders. Other children migrate to the mines by themselves, and end up being exploited and abused by relatives or strangers who take their pay. Some girls are sexually abused or engage in sex work to survive. Children come to the mines from other parts of Mali, as well as from Guinea, Burkina Faso, and other neighboring countries. […] Figures obtained by Human Rights Watch from the Malian Ministry of Mines put the amount of artisanally mined gold exported per year at around four metric tons, worth around US$218 million at November 2011 prices. Most of this gold is exported to Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, Dubai in particular. (Continue reading…) View high resolution

mohandasgandhi:

Mali: Children work in deadly gold mines

At least 20,000 children work in Malian artisanal gold mines under extremely harsh and dangerous conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Malian government and international donors should take action to end child labor in artisanal mines, Human Rights Watch said. Artisanal miners rely on low-tech methods and often organize informally.

The 108-page report, “A Poisonous Mix: Child Labor, Mercury, and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali,” reveals that children as young as six dig mining shafts, work underground, pull up heavy weights of ore, and carry, crush, and pan ore. Many children also work with mercury, a toxic substance, to separate the gold from the ore. Mercury attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.

“These children literally risk life and limb”, said Juliane Kippenberg, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They carry loads heavier than their own weight, climb into unstable shafts, and touch and inhale mercury, one of the most toxic substances on earth.”

Of 33 child laborers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 21 said that they suffered from regular pain in the back, head, neck, arms, or joints. Children also suffer from coughing and respiratory disease. One boy about six years old described the pain he felt when digging shafts with a pickaxe for hours on end. Another boy said that “everything hurts” when he comes home after a day’s work underground.

Most children work alongside their parents to supplement the little income adult miners get from selling gold to local traders. Other children migrate to the mines by themselves, and end up being exploited and abused by relatives or strangers who take their pay. Some girls are sexually abused or engage in sex work to survive. Children come to the mines from other parts of Mali, as well as from Guinea, Burkina Faso, and other neighboring countries.

[…]

Figures obtained by Human Rights Watch from the Malian Ministry of Mines put the amount of artisanally mined gold exported per year at around four metric tons, worth around US$218 million at November 2011 prices. Most of this gold is exported to Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, Dubai in particular.

(Continue reading…)

(Reblogged from mohandasgandhi)

Morocco Board | Murder of an underage servant

charquaouia:

For an hour, in the sanctum of an apartment in El Jadida, the maid was beaten with the hose of a gas cylinder. Her screams and supplications brought her aggressor, the daughter of her employer who “borrowed” her to help around the house, to a frothing rage; she repeatedly struck her over the head and face with the heel of a shoe until she collapsed on the floor she had so thoroughly scrubbed lifeless. The maid’s name is Khadija. She was eleven years old. She hailed from Tagadirt, a small village southwest of Marrakesh. According to the police report, the killer, a thirty-one year old educated Moroccan woman, was upset Khadija ruined her dress shirt while washing it.

Khadija’s path into child labor is not unique. It is the same path taken by Zainab Shtit, Najwa Bent Bouazza, and many others. Being illiterate, their parents didn’t see the added value in sending them to school; famine and disease are daily realities and survival is a primary focus. They, like many other mostly rural parents who are economically depleted, circumvent the Malthusian constraint by putting their children to work as soon as they are physically capable. For boys, the work is often seasonal menial labor in fields and construction sites or as ambulant cigarette hawkers and shoe shiners; girls are sent off to the city to work as maids and professional panhandlers. When Khadija turned nine years old, she was sent to Marrakech to work as a maid. Her father would show up once a month to collect her measly salary – less than fifty dollars. She was eventually fired from that job. Thanks to a “samsara,” a headhunter who provides maids to customers, she was soon relocated to Casablanca where she was recruited by the mother of her murderer.

Read more at Morocco Board

Additional related content

(Reblogged from )
esthet: Benghazi: Life During Wartime - Photo Essays - TIME

esthet:

Benghazi: Life During Wartime - Photo Essays - TIME

(Reblogged from esthet)
crookedindifference: Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape An estimated 20,000 children were born of rapes that occurred during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Fifteen years later, the mothers of these children still face enormous challenges, not least of which is the stigma of bearing and raising a child fathered by a Hutu militiaman. Over the past three years, photographer Jonathan Torgovnik has made repeated visits to Rwanda to document the stories of these women. The portraits and testimonies featured in Intended Consequences offer intensely personal and honest accounts of these survivors’ experiences of the genocide, as well as their conflicted feelings about raising a child who is a palpable reminder of horrors endured.

crookedindifference:

Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape

An estimated 20,000 children were born of rapes that occurred during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Fifteen years later, the mothers of these children still face enormous challenges, not least of which is the stigma of bearing and raising a child fathered by a Hutu militiaman. Over the past three years, photographer Jonathan Torgovnik has made repeated visits to Rwanda to document the stories of these women. The portraits and testimonies featured in Intended Consequences offer intensely personal and honest accounts of these survivors’ experiences of the genocide, as well as their conflicted feelings about raising a child who is a palpable reminder of horrors endured.

(Source: rowchygogo)

(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
thenoobyorker: Palestinian children’s artwork that was banned by MOCHA. The artwork depicted the Israeli assault during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict through the eyes of Palestinian youth. View a few more pieces of art here. View high resolution

thenoobyorker:

Palestinian children’s artwork that was banned by MOCHA. The artwork depicted the Israeli assault during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict through the eyes of Palestinian youth.

View a few more pieces of art here.

(Reblogged from thenoobyorker)

Darkest before dawn.: Help others from the comfort of your own couch.

charliemielczarek:

Every week I sit down for two to three hours at a time and I volunteer on the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) online hotline. It’s not an easy three hours, but it’s also some of the most rewarding hours I spend every month. The training for this volunteering was extensive, roughly…

If you have the time and think you can volunteer, please consider it.

(Reblogged from charliemielczarek)