Five children a day victims of Afghan war: UN

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Five children a day victims of Afghan war: UN:

Afghan children stand outside their homes in a camp for internally displaced (IDP) Afghans in Kabul. – AFP (File Photo)

KABUL: Child casualties in the conflict in Afghanistan rose by more than a quarter last year, the UN said Wednesday, with an average of nearly five youngsters killed or injured every day in 2011.

A UN report on children in armed conflict said a total of 1,756 children were killed or injured in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, an average of 4.8 a day, compared with 1,396 in 2010.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF said more than 300 under-18s were reportedly recruited to fight in Afghanistan, where Taliban militants are waging an increasingly bloody insurgency against the government and its Western backers.

“The death or maiming of a single child is a tragedy. This level of avoidable suffering of children, as is presented in the Secretary General’s report, is simply unacceptable,” said UNICEF Afghanistan Deputy Representative, Vidhya Ganesh.

“It is imperative that all parties to the conflict do everything they can, right away, to protect the lives and the basic rights of the children of Afghanistan.”

In February the Afghan government said police had rescued 41 children, some as young as six, from being smuggled into Pakistan to be trained as suicide bombers.

Earlier that month, the authorities announced the arrest of two 10-year-old would-be suicide bombers allegedly planning to attack Afghan and international forces in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban’s birthplace.

Tens of thousands of children in Afghanistan, driven by poverty, work on the streets of the war-torn country’s cities and often fall prey to Taliban bombings and other violence, as well as abuse.

Children at risk Dawn Editorial.

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Children at risk Dawn Editorial.

The state and society — especially rights organisations — must play a proactive role in ensuring the safety of children so that they are kept from harm. It is also important that a child protection law is passed and implemented at the federal level. - Photo by Reuters.

In the event of a disaster, groups that are already disadvantaged, such as women and children, become even more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. In the post-flood situation, apart from the victims’ immediate needs such as shelter, food and medical attention, the protection of children is also a major concern.

According to Unicef, out of the 20 million or so people affected by the floods, over half are children. A report by the agency on the floods’ effect on children says that “children have been or are at risk of being separated from their families, they are at risk of abuse … and have witnessed death and destruction”. There are also reports that boys from flood-affected families are being lured into prostitution in some parts.

In the aftermath of natural calamities worldwide we have witnessed elements taking advantage of children. After the January earthquake in Haiti some American missionaries were convicted of illegally transporting a busload of Haitian children into the Dominican Republic without any paperwork. In Pakistan, after the 2005 earthquake the adoption of children was banned to prevent the risk of child abductions. Though people may be well-intentioned in wanting to take children away from the scene of tragedy, it doesn’t justify ignoring due process. In the current scenario the trafficking and abuse of children cannot be ignored as the state grapples with the post-flood situation. In present conditions, protecting the welfare and rights of minors is more important than ever as the chances of their exploitation are far greater considering that the whole social structure in many parts of the country has collapsed. Vigilance is key in this regard.

The state and society — especially rights organisations — must play a proactive role in ensuring the safety of children so that they are kept from harm. It is also important that a child protection law is passed and implemented at the federal level. Presently, such a law only exists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is essential that the federal government passes a law that can protect children from all forms of abuse both in times of crises and otherwise.

Lindsay Lohan's Documentary: India Child Sex Trafficking Film (VIDEO)

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  Lindsay Lohan's Documentary: India Child Sex Trafficking Film (VIDEO)

Lindsay Lohan went to India last month to shoot a documentary on sex trafficking, and now a clip is out. Lohan traveled the country to talk with women and children who have been victims of the trade. It looks like she covered her head but wore a tank top.

"Didn't you hear that children were abused, and some girls, maybe if they were attractive, were raped and prostituted?" Lindsay is seen asking one woman.

"Focusing on celebrities and lies is so disconcerting, when we can be changing the world one child at a time.... hope everyone can see that," she tweeted while she was over there.

The film is called 'Lindsay Lohan In India' and will air on BBC Three.

U.S. Immigrant Women and Children at Risk, U.S. Harassment and Rape Case Profiles.

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Latino Adult & Child Sexual Harassment, Abuse and Rape Cases in the U.S.

A crisis of rape with impunity exists in the U.S. Latin American immigrant community.

A young Latina girl child enslaved in a Colombian brothel

Please click on the link above to go to the main web from where you can get the information. 

"Each of them [the foremen] had made it a practice to sleep with the Indian women who were in his work-force, if they pleased him, whether they were married women or maidens. While the foreman remained in the hut or the cabin with the Indian woman, he sent the husband to dig gold out of the mines; and in the evening, when the wretch returned, not only was he beaten or whipped because he had not brought up enough gold, but further, most often, he was bound hand and foot and flung under the bed like a dog, before the foreman lay down, directly over him, with his wife." ~ Comments by Franciscan priest Bartolome de las Casas, reporting to  Spain's King Charles-I in 1519, regarding the Spanish abuse of enslaved Indigenous-peoples of the Carib Nation in the Caribbean Islands under Spainish occupationComments by Franciscan priest Bartolome de las Casas, reporting to Spain's King Charles-I in 1519, regarding the Spanish abuse of enslaved Indigenous-peoples of the Carib Nation in the Caribbean Islands under Spainish occupation.