Archive for category: Children

Information and stories addressing children.

Girl Summit: Britain Takes Action

At the Girl Summit on July 22, 2014, Britain took the lead against combating female genital cutting (FGC) and child marriage on both the domestic and global level. The first-ever summit to address the issues women face around the world is occurring in London and is supported by the government of the United Kingdom and UNICEF.

The meeting includes government representatives, grass-root organization, NGOs and survivors from across the world.

In support of the Girl Summit and to increase women’s rights, the British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged over $2.4 million to help end FGC in the country. A portion of the money is also designated to help support survivors and to better train police on how to handle these cases.

Prevention initiatives are greatly needed throughout the country, as an estimated 20,000 girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure. FGC is a global problem that affects women in both developed and developing nations.

Now, under the enactment of a new law, teachers and health care workers in Britain must inform authorities of cases of FGC. From those reports officials will then prosecute the victim’s family and other parties involved.

FGC involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is normally intended to prevent sexual pleasure. The procedure, a social norm in many African countries, denies a woman the rights over her body. FGC often has severe long-term physical and psychological effects.

In the next 10 years, over 30 million females are at risk of being cut globally. It is estimated that more than 125 million women have already been subjected to the practice.

In the United Kingdom, FGC has been outlawed since 1985. Laws enacted in 2003 also made it illegal for a British citizen to perform the procedure even in countries where it was legal. The government’s new law and monetary support to the Girl Summit initiative marks a continued commitment to end the dangerous practice.

The summit also seeks to address another pressing issue for females: child marriage. It hopes to form an international charter to address early marriage, as over 700 million women across the globe today were married before age 18.

The practice is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and those most at risk are girls from low-income families. In India, the issue is especially pervasive, as one in three of all child brides lives there.

Marrying early decreases a girl’s likelihood of attending school, increases her risk of falling victim to domestic violence and increases complications from pregnancy. To combat this, the British government expressed its support of prevention programs that will help to end child marriage in 12 developing nations.

The combined efforts of the UK government, UNICEF and other supporting organizations offer an impactful step in raising awareness about, and challenging the social norms that allow FGC and child marriage. Though the practice of FGC and child marriage is global and extensive, the Girl Summit is leading the fight to end violations of women’s rights.

– Kathleen Egan

Sources: Aljazeera, Girl Summit, CNN
Photo: CNN

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Ugandan Street Children and Police Force

The Human Rights Watch has exposed the terrors that occur on the streets of Uganda every day. Homeless children are beaten and abused by police forces, local government officials and city authorities.

In a country where poverty rates are already very high, child abuse is a daily occurrence on the streets. Children are harassed, threatened, beaten, arrested, robbed and detained. They are accused of being criminals and scavengers. Some children, boys and girls, have even been raped by older boys and men, but these rarely get reported to the police.

There have been reports of police tying boys’ arms and legs and forcing them to lie under metal car seats, as well as being tied to motorbikes to be taken to police stations. Pepper spray has also been used on several street children.

It is estimated that there are 2.7 million orphans in Uganda. Additionally, a study by the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect estimated that 10,000 children live on the streets of Uganda. This number has increased by 70 percent since 1993.

These large numbers of street children make it difficult for cities to determine the real criminals. Instead of differentiating, authorities simply treat them all like they deserve to be punished.

The HRW report explains that many of the street children “fear the authorities and that police are a source of violence, not protection.”

In an attempt to minimize the problem, a free national child helpline was created about a month ago by Plan International. It receives around 1,500 calls each day from children and adults reporting various abuses seen around the country.

With the help of agencies like the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect, this problem can be fixed. The Ugandan street children need to be cared for, rather than beaten. The HRW report set forth a call for the Ugandan government to focus on improving the lives of street children and to prosecute those who abuse them.

– Hannah Cleveland

Sources: The Guardian, BBC News
Photo: The Guardian

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Commonwealth Games Partners with UNICEF

The 20th annual Commonwealth Games began in Glasgow this week. The sporting competition features athletes from 71 nations and territories in the Commonwealth of Nations. This year, the games began with an opening ceremony unlike any other. The committees planning the ceremony teamed up with UNICEF, the games’ charitable partner, to use the ceremony as a fundraiser for children facing the challenges of poverty.

The Commonwealth Games, formerly known as the British Empire Games in 1930, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 and the British Commonwealth Games in 1970, occur every four years. Competitors come from countries in Africa, Asia, South America and the United Kingdom that are included in the Commonwealth of Nations. The games celebrate a common appreciation for sport world-wide in the same way that events such as the Olympics or the World Cup do.

Many of the countries sending athletes to the games are considered developing countries that combat poverty back home. UNICEF is working to provide assistance to people in those countries.

No effort has been more successful or public as the fundraiser created as a component of this year’s opening ceremonies.

The ceremony provided attendees and television audiences with the ability to donate to UNICEF’s Put Children First Appeal. With 40,000 people in the live audience and over one billion people watching on television, the initiative created a widespread call for supporting children experiencing poverty.

The donations received will go toward saving children’s lives in Scotland and the rest of the countries in the Commonwealth.  A $50 donation provides 30 children with life-saving medication, while $75 will give UNICEF the money to donate five safe water kits to families in Africa. Finally, a donation of $150 is enough to fund school supplies for 100 children

Filmmaker Lord Puttnam, one of the event’s organizers, believes that the charitable component of the Glasgow 2014 ceremonies will become a precedent for other major sporting events in the future. Puttnam told reports, “I cannot imagine the next World Cup not finding a means of allowing people to participate in giving to something that FIFA are promoting.”

Puttnam’s comment is extremely topical given the controversy over the most recent World Cup’s effect on global poverty. After expecting more to be done to support Brazil’s economy or the developing world in general through the World Cup, sport enthusiasts and philanthropists alike may be pleased to hear about the Commonwealth Games’ efforts.

The Put Children First Appeal is still accepting donations online, and the 20th Commonwealth Games will continue to support UNICEF throughout this year’s competition. As Puttnam says, hopefully future sporting events will use their power of global unification to combat global poverty.

– Emily Walthouse

Sources: Daily Record, Glasgow 2014 1, Glasgow 2014 2, UNICEF
Photo: Daily Record

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The Effects of Poverty on the Adult Brain

effects of poverty on the adult brain

A recent study examined the effects of poverty on the adult brain and how it is influenced by childhood development. Results of the study showed that children from poor families performed more poorly on academic tests later in life. Furthermore, the study found that children who dealt with stress inducing factors, such as poor housing, in addition to poverty performed the worst of all tested subjects.

What does this mean for the future of children that are presently living in extreme poverty? With more than 1 billion children worldwide who lack one or more essential needs critical to survival and development, this can present even more problems in the future.

Most children living in extreme poverty face stress-inducing factors in addition to poverty. According to UNICEF, 101 million children currently do not attend primary school, and 148 million children under the age of 5 are underweight. A total of 270 million children worldwide do not have access to health care, and one out of five do not have access to clean drinking water, according to CARE, a nonprofit aiding in the fight against extreme poverty.

With more than 300 million children worldwide chronically hungry and 90 percent suffering from long-term malnourishment, these stressors can have lasting effects on their intellectual performance, and subsequently their financial stability, as adults.

For every additional year of primary school in developing countries, a girl’s wages are raised by 10 to 20 percent. This shows a direct correlation between education and income.

Children from poorer households are three times more likely to not attend school than those from wealthy homes. The largest population of non-attending school aged children is in sub-Saharan Africa, where 45.5 million children do not attend primary school. Much of this is caused by poverty, as many parents and families cannot afford required school fees and supplies to send their children to school.

Extreme poverty certainly involves several stress inducing factors besides lack of money, and these issues compound the problem of intellectual performance further. According to Professor K. Luan Phan, the author of the study, “the stress-burden of growing up poor may be an underlying mechanism that accounts for the relationship between poverty as a child and how well your brain works as an adult.”

By this same logic, helping these children out of extreme poverty today will lead to more intellectual men and women of tomorrow – men and women who will have the education needed to help other children escape poverty.

– Christopher Kolezynski

Sources: PsyBlog, The Borgen Project, CARE, Compassion
Photo: Flickr

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UK Summit: End Female Genital Cutting

The preacher has performed many cuttings like this before. He holds up some broken glass to the light – he will use this to cut out the clitoris of the young girl. No anesthetic will be used. The pain she endures is thought to be a sign of her strength.

The young girl screams out against this horrific abuse to her body.

Over 130 million girls and women have experienced some form of Female Genital Cutting in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where it is most common, according to research from UNICEF.

The charity also estimates that 250 million women and girls alive today have been married since their 15th birthday.

In an attempt to highlight the issues of Female Genital Cutting and child, early and forced marriage, the UK government hosted the first international Girl Summit in London on July 22, co-hosted by UNICEF. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai attended as well as women from across the world who have been affected by FGC.

The issue of FGC has been a growing concern in Britain where estimates from the Commons Home Affairs Committee reveal that 170,000 women and girls were living with FGC in the UK.

At the summit UK Prime Minister David Cameron revealed a £1.4 million prevention program aimed at ending the practice of FGC. New laws are set to come into effect, making it a crime for parents not to protect their children from female genital mutilation. Although illegal in the UK since 1985, no one has ever been convicted for FGC crimes.

The summit also revealed an “international charter” calling for the eradication of FGC and forced marriage within a generation.

Female Genital Cutting has no health benefits, is extremely painful and often leads to infections and in some cases death.

In its most severe form, the sensitive clitoris is completely or partly removed with crude and accessible implements in order to dull the sexual appetite of the girl. The genitals are then cut and stitched closed making sex impossible. Sometimes corrosive substances are poured in to scar and shrink the genitals.

Only a tiny piece of wood creates an opening so that urine and monthly blood can flow.

When the young girls are able to bear children they are un-stitched – and once the child has been born, stitched back up again.

The Girl Summit aims to raise the profile of this horrific practice which the Prime Minister has called a “preventable evil.”

He hopes that FGC can be ended in a generation. While so many of these types of summit fall short of meeting their goals, the issue of female genital mutilation and child marriage is finally being taken seriously by the international community. The new laws being introduced to the UK and the international charter raise the profile of this crime and may begin the process of eradicating this practice.

Female Genital Cutting Key Facts

· FGC Includes “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”
· The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
· Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of new-born deaths.
· More than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGC is concentrated.
· FGC is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
· FGC is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
· In December 2012, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution calling for all member states to ban the practice.

– Charles Bell

Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3, UK Government, WHO
Photo: FBNewswire

GOP Seeks to Change Unaccompanied Minors Bill

Members of the GOP have insisted that President Obama’s $3.7 billion immediate spending demand to curtail the flow of children across the U.S. border is too costly.

Republicans want to pass legislation that would accelerate the deportation of unaccompanied minors. Since the end of 2013, more than 40,000 children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have turned themselves over to officials at the border.

Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, insists that the best way to stop the flow of children is for them to be returned to their families in their homeland. He stated that it would discourage families and traffickers from sending children to the U.S. border.

While McCain agreed that many of the children are escaping danger and violence at home, he also claimed, “We cannot have an unending stream of children, whether it’d be from Central America or any place else, to come into our country with all of the strains and pressures that it puts on our capabilities.”

The legislation that Republicans want to introduce would allow Central American minors to be deported more quickly. Unaccompanied minors from any country would be able to have a hearing within seven days of their processing by the Human Services and the Department of Health and Human Services. An immigration judge would rule within three days whether the child could stay or would have to be deported.

The Obama administration has agreed to give support for laws that will speed up deportation proceedings, even though prominent congressional Democrats are against it.

Representative Mike McCaul, R-Texas, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, stated that Republicans are contemplating a limited emergency funding bill that would supply aid through the end of the fiscal year.

Representative Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky and House Appropriations Chairman, told reporters that the current bill was excessive, but did not comment on what funding level the committee seeks.

A new poll reported that there is broad public disapproval of both President Obama and Republican congressmen’s handling of the flow of unaccompanied minors at the southern border. In fact 58 percent of Americans, including 54 percent of Latinos, disapprove of Obama’s management of the situation.

66 percent disapprove of the GOP’s handle on the crisis of unaccompanied minors.

The administration’s attitude towards this crisis is also facing opposition from Democrats and immigrant rights organizations who are afraid that deporting the children will put them at risk of returning to dangerous conditions in their home countries.

– Colleen Moore

Sources: USA Today, The Washington Post
Photo: ABC News

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Childhood Poverty and Emotional Problems

Childhood Poverty
Over the years, numerous studies have demonstrated the damaging effects of childhood poverty on development. Recent testing helps to unravel how growing up poor causes psychological problems.

The human brain grows the most during the first few years of life. It has been discovered that children from poorer homes are more likely to have psychological disorders in their adult lives. To explain the correlation between poverty and psychological problems, one theory suggests that exposure to high amounts of stress during this early critical time permanently hinders an individual’s ability to cope with stress.

Testing done by Professor K. Luan Phan supports this notion. During her study, scientists examined the brain function of 24-year-old individuals, whose family situations had already been recorded 15 years prior. The participants were asked to try and control negative emotions while looking at a series of pictures.

The ability to suppress and manage feelings is key to helping individuals deal with the stress of life.

From the tests, researchers were able to conclude that the individuals who were the most impoverished at 9 years old scored the lowest on the exams as 24-year-olds. Even if the subject’s living conditions improved over the years, childhood poverty proved the dominating factor for test performance.

The findings connect childhood poverty to a lower ability to control one’s emotions. This connection supports the notion that the high-stress situation of living in poverty as a child directly affects an individual’s ability to handle strains in their adult life.

Other research done by the Washington University School of Medicine helps to explain the phenomena in a more anatomical sense. Their study showed that the psychological effects of childhood poverty are likely connected to smaller brain volumes in areas associated with emotion processing and memory. The researchers examined brain scans of children between the ages of 6 to 12, whose family history had been previously recorded.

From the scans, scientists found that the stress of poverty physically changes a child’s brain; those living in impoverished homes had smaller volumes of white and cortical gray matter. These white and gray areas are associated with the part of the brain that is associated with communication, as well as sensory and emotions. A small amount of matter in this area of the brain suggests that those functions are hampered.

So, childhood poverty has a visible effect on the brain, which reflects an impairment of emotion processing.

Though both studies are still in the testing phase, the connection drawn between childhood poverty and its lasting effects on mental development is alarming. According to UNICEF, over 22,000 children die everyday because of poverty.

Seeing the permanent damage poverty causes to childhood development highlights its severity and the critical need to address it.

– Kathleen Egan

Sources: Spring, US News, Global Issues
Photo: Portside

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Search for Teachers in the Philippines

Since 1985, the Metrobank Foundation has carried out an annual search for the best teachers in the Philippines. Every year, the foundation accepts applications from teachers around the country for its Search for Outstanding Teachers (SOT) program. After multiple rounds in an extensive search process, the Metrobank Foundation selects 10 teachers to honor for their contributions to education in the Philippines.

The Metrobank Foundation states that the program is designed to promote a culture of excellence in the field of education in the Philippines. The award is meant to motivate educators to be the best possible teachers.  As a result, students receive a higher quality education and many teachers receive credible reviews.

Teachers of all grade levels from public and private schools can apply for the SOT program. The application comes out in January each year. After all applications are received, the Metrobank Foundation narrows the competition down to about 50 teachers. These 50 teachers undergo a thorough interview process so that by July, a selection committee can pick just 10 teachers to celebrate that year.

The award is quite prestigious, and comes with an enticing prize. Aside from winning a medal, a trophy and a plaque for the teachers to display at their schools, winners also receive 500,000 Philippine Pesos, which translates to just over $11,500. This is extremely enticing for teachers in the Philippines, where the average monthly salary for those in the teaching profession is 33,374 Philippine Pesos, or $767.60. Finalists that do not make it to the final 10 receive a smaller, but noteworthy, cash prize as well.

The 2014 search began in January, as it does every year. This year, however, was particularly special for the Metrobank Foundation because it marked the 30th anniversary of the SOT program. To celebrate 30 years of recognizing outstanding teachers, the theme of this year’s search was “Launching Dreams toward Nation Building.”

Any teacher selected for the prestigious honor of a 30th anniversary SOT winner will be not only an outstanding teacher, but also an educator dedicated to empowering Philippine youth for the betterment of the country’s future.

The Metrobank Foundation has created an honor society comprised of all previous SOT winners.  The society is called the Network of Outstanding Teachers and Educators Inc., but is often shortened to “NOTED.” NOTED ensures that SOT winners continue proving their commitment to excellence in education after they have received their awards. NOTED fosters collaboration among the top educators in the Philippines to increase creativity and professionalism in their classrooms. Additionally, NOTED provides a group for these knowledgeable educators to discuss national concerns in the field of education.

The Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education in the Philippines aid the Metrobank Foundation every year in the search for 10 well-deserving teachers. In the past, winners have included Mitchel Rodriguez, who single-handedly organized a reading program in her school to improve students’ reading habits; Rodel Sampang, a teacher that makes lessons relatable by comparing them to real-world situations; Emilyn Espiritu, an environmental scientist and educator that helped her students make environmentally conscious decisions based on her own discoveries.

The point of the SOT program is to generate a desire for all teachers to do something meaningful just like the previous winners of the competition. If every teacher in the Philippines strives to achieve the same level of excellence required to be recognized by the Metrobank Foundation, Philippine students can receive quality education.

– Emily Walthouse

Sources: Inquirer, Metrobank Foundation, Phil Star, Salary Explorer, Sunday Punch
Photo: Inquirer

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Truth Behind the Malnourished in India

162 million people represents almost half the recorded number of the United States population. This number also represents the number of children under the age of 5 who are diagnosed as malnourished in India.

Nearly 50 percent of stunted children in India being forced to defecate outdoors. This leads to children being “exposed to a bacterial brew that often sickens them, leaving them unable to attain a healthy body weight no matter how much food they eat.” This inability to reach a healthy standard of living leaves children stunted, permanently damaging their mental and physical healthy. These examples of stunted growth turn into disabilities that will impact millions for the rest of their lives.

According to data received in surveys from the District Level Health Survey (DLHS), “the proportion of underweight children was more or less the same in 2012-13 as it was in 2005-06 across the eight states.” The fact that there has been little to no change in the standards of living in over six years shows the dire situation that India is facing. As much as the country tries to implement aid tactics, the population is growing so quickly and in such remote areas that the aid can rarely reach those affected in time.

While the National Family Health Survey offers more comprehensive information than the DLHS by including nine pertinent states where malnutrition is at its worst, the information available gives a clear picture of the standard of health in India.

In defense of the claims of severely malnourished children, Nivedita Patil, a neonatologist in the Kolhapur state of India has insight into the mind of those she treats. Patil claims, “I have observed that parents give medicines to their children using older prescriptions. Every disease has separate medical treatment and instead of using old prescriptions, parents should visit the doctor whenever the child is ill. This can prevent malnutrition to some extent,” she said, pointing the finger at the parents of children that refuse medical care. While this may or may not have truth to it, it’s clear that there is lack of communication between doctors and patients, likely due to the separation of rural and urban lives.

Another astonishing insight is that Indian children have a higher chance of being malnourished that those of their sub-Saharan counterparts such as Somalia or Zimbabwe. India’s health of children ranks below some of the poorest countries on Earth — 65 million children under the age of 5 are impacted by growth stunting, a third of which are from wealthy families in India.

This difference between the two regions is due almost strictly to the issue that rural and poor Indians defecate outside, exposing themselves to a myriad of harmful and permanently damaging bacteria that affect their health.

The health issue of malnourishment in children affects nearly 20 times more people than the issue of HIV/AIDS in India, showing its all consuming wrath on those who suffer. Still, even with this information the government has little to show for the attempts at righting the many wrongs.

According to the New York Times, “India now spends about $26 billion annually on food and jobs programs, and less than $400 million on improving sanitation — a ratio of more than 60 to 1.” With so little attention focused on this health issue, it’s no wonder that millions of children continue to be wildly affected by the damages of rural life in India. Children are supposedly the future of every nation but with little will to change, it looks like India’s bleak future holds little for the younger, struggling generation to come.

– Elena Lopez

Sources: The New York Times, Livemint, Times of India
Photo: Newshopper

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Girls Not Brides

girls not brides
There are girls as young as 13-years-old married off throughout the world. In developing countries, one out of every seven girls is married before her 15th birthday.

Girls married younger than the age of 18 often report that have been beaten by their husbands and forced to have sex. These girls often think it is acceptable for their husbands to beat them and make them feel powerless.

The main reasons for girls being married off include culture and parents’ desire to counteract a fear of their daughter getting molested. Tradition and culture are a big reason for young girls being married off; families are scared to stray from tradition in fear of being excluded from their communities. Poverty is another cause of child marriage. Poor families often marry off their daughters so that they have less expenses. They have one less body to feed, educate and clothe.

Although parents in certain situations marry their daughters off at young ages trying protect them, the young girls are still losing their human rights. They completely lose their childhoods.

Girls Not Brides is an organization working to protect girls from being married at a young age. They give a voice to the voiceless. Members of this organization are based in Africa, America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East; they are united in helping girls reach their full potential and not being married off at a young age.

Girls Not Brides works with 350 other civil organizations from over 60 countries. They believe that partnering up will bring attention to the issue and show that there are others who want to stop young marriages too.

Girls Not Brides reaches out to young girls and helps them feel empowered. They supply young girls with skills that will be useful in the future and have different workshops to show girls how to use their newly learned skills. This program also sets up support groups for young girls and boys to share their experiences so that they can become advocates against child marriage themselves.

Girls Not Brides has put together a technical brief on ending child marriages. Please take a look and see what you can do to help.

–Priscilla Rodarte

Sources: Girls Not Brides, Girls Not Brides, Girls Not Brides, Slate
Photo: WUNRN