Full coverage: Children

28.02.2004 L'eliminazione del lavoro infantile non è solo una questione sociale, ma anche economica: un nuovo studio pubblicato a Ginevra dall' Ufficio internazionale del lavoro (Ilo) indica infatti che a lungo termine tale eliminazione è in grado di generare benefici sette volte superiori ai costi dell'operazione. Mani Tese ha presentato intanto alla Commissione Parlamentare Diritti Umani una mozione per chiedere al nostro Governo di adottare il programma di azione nazionale in applicazione della Convenzione Ilo 182 per l'eliminazione delle forme peggiori di sfruttamento del lavoro minorile.

27.02.2004 This week, Nepal's Maoist rebels announced plans to raise a militia of 50,000 children by April, amid reports of mass abduction, even sexual abuse of kids, who they allegedly use as cannon fodder.

27.02.2004 Millions of children across Southern Africa are at risk because of a lack of international funds and support, eight United Nations agencies warned as they launched a mid-term review of their financial appeal for the region. The agencies said the UN has so far received just over half of the $642 million it requested from international donors for this year's relief efforts in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

26.02.2004 The Secretary of State for Education said that the Ministry of Education and Sports will take all the necessary measures to prevent the repetition of incidents like the screening of shocking and disgusting films on abortion at Catechesis classes in Croatian secondary schools.

25.02.2004 Efforts to immunize all children against polio by 2005 are being stalled in Nigeria, where authorities of four Musliim states in the North are convinced that the vaccine contains hormones that cause sterilization, and is part of a Western plot to decrease fertility among Muslims.

25.02.2004 Children living in indigenous communities face far greater threats to their survival than other children, according to a new study by the research arm of the UN Children's Fund. Indigenous communities are under economic and cultural stress, and children are less likely to be vaccinated or attend school. The report suggests a series of "strategic investments" that could help turn this situation around.

25.02.2004 Two more states in northern Nigeria have refused to participate in a global vaccination campaign to eradicate polio which kicked off this week.

25.02.2004 Alkuperäiskansojen lapset selviytyvät hengissä muita huonommin eivätkä pääse kouluun, selviää Unicefin tuoreesta raportista. He saavat muita heikomman rokotussuojan ja heidän kuolleisuuslukunsa on korkeampi. Alkuperäiskansat elävät usein raskaan kulttuurisen ja sosiaalisen paineen alaisina, ja jos aikuisten ongelmat ovat valtavat, lasten elämä leimautuu ennen kuin se on alkanutkaan, raportissa todetaan.

25.02.2004 With malnutrition and disease the major causes of children's deaths in armed conflicts, the violence in Haiti is denying many children basic public services and threatening their lives, says the United Nations Children's Fund.

24.02.2004 Minister of Science, Education and Sports, Dragan Primorac, announced that eight new projects proposed by NGOs that work in the field of education were approved for financing.

Over the last six months, a total of 74 projects were approved, for which 3.9 million Kuna were earmarked from the games of chance winnings tax.

24.02.2004 Taksvärkki ry:n lapsityövoiman hyväksikäyttöä käsittelevä Bengalia-roolipeli julkaistiin marraskuussa. Nyt pelin voi ladata pdf-tiedostona myös Taksvärkin internet-sivuilta. Pelin tavoitteena on auttaa pelaajia ymmärtämään lapsityövoiman hyväksikäytön syitä ja seurauksia sekä etsiä ehdotuksia ongelman ratkaisemiseksi. Samalla harjaantuu myös kyky hahmottaa omaa toimintaansa osana laajempia yhteiskunnallisia yhteyksiä.

24.02.2004 A beloved charter school in Harlem faces closure because of poor test scores. But parents, with few options, are fighting to keep its doors open.

23.02.2004 Afganistanissa on sodan vuosien jäljiltä arviolta 8 000 lapsisotilasta, joista useat ovat viime vuoden kuluessa oma-aloitteisesti jättäneet sotajoukot. Unicef aloitti helmikuussa apuohjelman, jossa sopeutumista normaalielämään pyritään tukemaan mm. koulutuksen keinoin. Tähän mennessä jo 150 lapsisotilasta on saatu mukaan.

23.02.2004 Building community support for children is one of the most powerful anti-poverty tools. To encourage parental and community involvement in their children's education, one international development organization has developed the successful Strong Beginnings community school model. This model, which features innovative learning and teaching methods, has been recognized around the world for its relevance, easy replicability, parental and community involvement in children's education, cost-effectiveness, and dramatic improvements in girls' lives.

23.02.2004 Basic education is a prerequisite to economic development, individual health, poverty reduction and democracy, according to a new report by the Basic Education Coalition, an umbrella group of 19 private and non-governmental development and relief organisations.

23.02.2004 UNICEF has announced that it has made progress in demobilising child soldiers in Afghanistan, an initiative targeting an estimated 8,000 such children in the country.

23.02.2004 South African Internet service providers will become part of the ongoing fight against child pornography. One of the immediate benefits will be the launch a public hotline through which the public can report violations.

20.02.2004 In a major blow to Pakistan's efforts to promote literacy in backward areas, eight girls' schools in the conservative Northern Areas bordering Afghanistan were destroyed by serial bombings over the past few days, with authorities blaming them on extremists opposed to liberal education.

20.02.2004 “Mother-tongue languages should be favoured in education systems from the earliest age,” says UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his message for International Mother Tongue Language Day 2004.

20.02.2004 India, US and the ILO have launched a massive child labour eradication programme - Indus Project – to will target 80,000 children in ten hazardous industries.