Independent Catholic News
American bishops have joined a call from 76 nongovernmental organizations to President Obama, urging the United States to relinquish antipersonnel landmines and join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty without further delay.
The United States is one of only 37 countries in the world that have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty and the only country in the Western Hemisphere aside from Cuba that has not joined. Continue reading
The Society helps more than 2,000 children each year
Research by False Economy, a campaigning group against cuts in public expenditure has found that more than 2,000 charities are closing services or reducing their staff because local authorities are withdrawing or reducing their funding to charities by £110 million.
Commenting on the findings and the impact of cuts upon charities supporting children and young people, Dr Rosemary Keenan, Chief Executive of the Catholic Children’s Society said: “Children are amongst the most vulnerable within our society, it is particularly worrying that charities working to support them are facing cuts of mre than £17.04 million with an average cut of 64% to the charities affected.” Continue reading
Photo: Zahra Moloo/IRIN The State Establishment for Care and Education has no running water, limited infrastructure and a dilapidated dormitory
KINSHASA, 29 June 2011 (IRIN) – Two years after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) promulgated the Law on Child Protection, an estimated 3,000 children remain in prisons across the country.
The law, which came into effect in January 2009, replaced a 1950 colonial law on juvenile delinquency that set the age of criminal responsibility at 16, leading to a number of severe penalties against children, including life imprisonment and the death sentence. Continue reading
Mau.Photo: Rachel Kibui/IRIN
After the eviction of families from the Rift Valley’s Mau forest region, hundreds of children are not in school due to overcrowded classrooms, lack of teachers, and school fees. With few jobs available, parents have no means of providing food for their children and often these young children must join their parents in looking for casual work. Continue reading
By Megan Iacobini de Fazio
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 10, 2010 (IPS) – Omar Khadr was only 15 when he was captured by U.S. forces in 2002 in Afghanistan. Now, eight years later, the 23-year-old is on trial in Guantanamo Bay, in the first military commission trial since the beginning of the Barack Obama administration. Continue reading
Philip Morris International buys about 600,000 tons of tobacco leaf from suppliers and farmers in more than 30 countries annually Photo: AFP/Getty Images
A report that cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. bought tobacco from farms in Kazakhstan that used forced and child labour has prompted the tobacco company to change its policies. Continue reading
There are more than 4,200 unaccompanied child asylum seekers in Britain, with most being supported in local authority social services homes. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA
The UK Border Agency is to set up a £4m “reintegration centre” in Afghanistan so that it can start deporting unaccompanied child asylum seekers to Kabul from Britain, the Guardian can disclose.
The terms of the official tender for the centre show that immigration officials initially hope to forcibly return 12 boys a month aged under 18 to Afghanistan and provide “reintegration assistance” for 120 adults a month. Continue reading
This in-depth analysis of the summary of a report, ’A Lake of Oil: Congo’s controversial contracts compromise rights, environment & safety’, was published by a UK based oil watchdog, PLATFORM. It details the terms of the contract signed by two UK-based oil companies Tullow/Heritage and a South African Consortium, Divine Heritage. A striking revelation is that the companies contracts secure excessive profits at expense of the Congolese poor. Continue reading
Despite international efforts to stop the use of child soldiers, they remained heavily involved in conflicts affecting many Central African countries. A new strategy to stop the recruitment and use of children in national armies and armed groups is being discussed in a conference grouping Central African States in Chad. A positive outcome will be good for the future of children in the region.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is helping to find ways to ensure that children do not serve as soldiers in Central Africa, a region plagued by conflicts in which minors have been fighting on behalf of both m ilitias and national armies. A regional conference organized by Chad, with UNICEF’s help, opened today in the capital, N’Djamena, to end the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups. “There are thousands of child soldiers involved in the conflicts affecting Chad, Central African Republic [CAR] and Sudan,” said Marzio Babille, UNICEF Representative in Chad. “Children have no place in conflict and their recruitment is a tragedy that must be stopped.” He stressed that groups recruiting children can be held accountable before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Continue reading
African Charter Article# 17: Every individual shall have the right to education, cultural life, and the promotion and protection of values.
Summary & Comment: As South Africa prepared to welcome the world to the World Cup for football, school children marched peacefully through the centre of Cape Town asking for books. Fewer than 7% of South African schools have a functioning library. The authors of the article, Graeme Bloch and Njabulo S Ndebele ask why pupils must beg the government for what is rightly theirs. JDN Continue reading
