Skip to main content

The plight of children around the world

A six-year-old Nicaraguan girl, a survivor of rape, jumps rope at the Centro de Mujeres Nidia White (Nidia White Women’s Centre), which provides shelter for children and women who have experienced sexual exploitation or other forms of abuse.

Can one be anything but appalled?   A Report issued by UNICEF provides stark details of the plight of children around the world - a scourge which must be eradicated.

"Children worldwide endure 'staggering' physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in their communities, homes, and schools, often at the hands of parents or intimate partners, according to a report released Thursday by UNICEF."

****

"The report, titled "Hidden in Plain Sight," draws on "an unprecedented volume of data" from 190 countries, documenting "the lasting, often inter-generational effects of violence, finding that exposed children are more likely to become unemployed, live in poverty and be violent towards others." Because the data is self-reported, the authors note that actual numbers are likely even higher than the report indicates.

Among the most disturbing findings is the revelation that approximately 120 million girls under the age of 20 worldwide, about one in 10, have experienced forced intercourse or other forced sexual acts, and one in three adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 (84 million) who have ever been married have been victims of emotional, physical or sexual violence committed by their husbands or partners. What's more, close to half of all adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 (around 126 million) believe a husband is justified in hitting his wife under certain circumstances."

****

"The report also shows that one-fifth of homicide victims globally are children and adolescents under the age of 20; that one in three students worldwide report being bullied in school; and about 17 percent of children in 58 countries are subject to severe forms of physical discipline such as being hit on the head or face."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t
Post a Comment
Read more

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

Isn't there something radically wrong here?    Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT has, evidently, been the cause for those countries that are Treaty members, notably Canada, the US and the UK, after 4 weeks of negotiation, effectively blocking off any meaningful progress in ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.    IPS reports ..... "After nearly four weeks of negotiations, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in a predictable outcome: a text overwhelmingly reflecting the views and interests of the nuclear-armed states and some of their nuclear-dependent allies. “The process to develop the draft Review Conference outcome document was anti-democratic and nontransparent,” Ray Acheson, director, Reaching Critical Will, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), told IPS. “This Review Conference has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continuing to rely on the nuclear-armed states or their nuclear-dependent allies for l
Post a Comment
Read more

#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas  stopped  him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed  behind his back  into their patrol car, where they say he  shot himself  in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story,  says in an interview  that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?
Post a Comment
Read more