It is time to outlaw child labour

Fiji: Catching Them Young

World Day Against Child Labour 2005 to Focus on Child Labour in Mines and Quarries

Colombia : Armed Groups Send Children to War

From child soldier to rap superstar

A Sudanese former Childs soldier who has become a chart-topping rap star in Kenya is set to launch his first album, calling it a "prayer for peace."

Emmanuel Jal, who fought in the south of Sudan 12 years ago - having been trained to use a gun at the age of eight - hit number one in the Kenyan charts earlier this month. Now he is following up that success with a new album - launched this weekend in the capital Nairobi - entitled Gua.

"It's a sort of prayer for peace in my motherland," Jal told BBC World Service's Outlook programme. "There has been war, so it's talking about if there was peace in my land, it would be so good everyone would come back home, there would be no tribalism, no racism, no girls being forced to marry, no child soldiers."

Healing music
Jal is originally from southern Sudan , where he was trained to fight for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the civil war that raged for many years before the recent peace agreement. He survived frontline action after a dramatic and traumatic escape from the rebels' ranks, finally making it to Nairobi , where he currently lives.

He first started making rap songs shortly after he arrived, in his late teens - having no knowledge of music at all. "I found that music helped with healing my soul, and all the trauma that I've gone through," he said. His music often features lyrics detailing experiences as a child soldier.

Jal was among thousands of young people collected by the SPLA in 1987. Their parents were told they were to be sent to schools in Ethiopia . "When we reached Ethiopia , we actually went to school - but only for a while," Jal said. "Then we were trained how to use guns." Jal was first trained to use gun at age of eight, and sent to the front line three years later.

"I remember clearly how people used to die; how the tanks used to crush people, how the helicopters used to come and chase us," he recalled. But in his fourth year as a child soldier, he escaped.

"I had a desire to study... as a young person you get convinced by whatever idea comes into your mind," he told Outlook. "We decided, with some friends, to do it - and we escaped." The friends thought their journey would take one month - in fact it took three months to complete just half of it, because of minefields and ambushes in enemy territory.

Helping others
The group ate dry maize to survive. Jal said many died on the journey. "There was no water for them to drink," he explained. "Other friends, soldiers told me what other soldiers did was put their guns at the head of their fellow soldiers to force them to urinate in a cup so they would drink."But none of them survived who did that. "When we saw many skeletons and skulls, it was a sign that we were all going to die - there was no water there. "Other soldiers would just shoot themselves and die. So I prayed to God, if he existed, to provide water for us - and it rained during the dry season."

Jal is now planning to put his earnings from his musical career towards raising funds for other child soldiers, to allow them to have an education. He also hopes to help some of the worst-off in Kenya , his adopted home. " Kenya has been nice to me, and there are many others suffering, like the street children," he added. "So I must admit I would also like to supply somewhere for them."

Child labour shame revealed

From correspondents in London
February 22, 2005, From: Reuters

MORE than 211 million children worldwide aged between five and 15 are working full-time, half of them in appalling conditions and some as prostitutes or miners, according to UNICEF.The British branch of the United Nations Children's Fund says huge aid increases are needed to help them.

In a scathing report published yesterday, it says the only way to end child labour is to end poverty and for rich industrialised nations to give far more in development aid to poor countries. "A huge amount still remains to be done to protect children's rights all over the globe and to prevent their exploitation," UNICEF UK executive director David Bull said.

From unregulated chemical plants in Asia to the giant open-cast mines of Latin America and the stone quarries of West Africa , child labour is a scar on the conscience of the world in the 21st century, the report says.

Children are forced to work not only as soldiers in African wars or in the sweatshops of Asia, but also as cheap farm labour in North America and prostitutes in Europe. "Estimates of the number of young people working on farms in the US vary from 300,000 to 800,000," the report says.

"Many are from minority groups, particularly Spanish-speaking immigrant families." The report cites prostitutes as young as 15 working on the streets of English cities.

The report says children are born, sold or trafficked into what amounts to domestic slavery in many countries, some earning barely $US1 ($1.27) a month.

The incidence of child labour is highest in Africa where 41 per cent of those aged five to 14 are known to work, compared with 2 per cent in Asia and 17 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean . But Asia accounts for 60 per cent of the world's working children because of its higher population.

UNICEF stresses that not all working children are at risk, but notes that if school-age children are at work they are missing the education needed to lift them out of poverty and drudgery.

It says the only way to end child labour is to end poverty, and called on the rich industrialised nations to boost aid by $US50 billion a year and meet a decades-old pledge to raise annual aid budgets to 0.7 per cent of national income.

Aid should be better targeted to help the poor directly and support should be given to help developing nations take charge of their own budgets and development programs.

Mr Bull said that 2005 held "unprecedented opportunities for the UK Government to use the G8 summit and its presidency of the EU to drive forward the fight against poverty, debt and trade injustices".

UN in action call on child labour

Huge aid increases are needed to help more than 210 million children around the world who are working full-time, the UN children's fund Unicef has said.

Its latest report says many children aged five to 15 are working as slaves, miners, prostitutes and soldiers. Unicef argues the only way to end child labour is to end poverty - and called on rich industrialised nations to give far more in development aid. It says child labour is a scar on the world's conscience in the 21st Century.

Children are born, sold and trafficked into what amounts to domestic slavery in many countries, the report says, some earning as little as $1 a month.

Sex workers
Others are exploited in unregulated chemical plants in Asia, giant open cast mines in Latin America and stone quarries in West Africa. Children are also used as cheap farm labour in North America and sex workers in Europe, the report said, citing prostitutes as young as 15 in UK cities.

The highest incidence of child labour is in Africa, where 41% of those aged five to 14 work, compared to 21% in Asia and 17% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Asia accounts for 60% of all child workers, however, because of its higher population, the report says.

The richest nations have already committed themselves to halving poverty and hunger and reducing child mortality by 2015. Unicef says even if these goals are met, it will be too late for the tens of millions of children who are currently being exploited or forced to carry out destructive and demeaning jobs. "A huge amount still remains to be done to protect children's rights all over the globe and to prevent their exploitation," Unicef's UK executive director David Bull said. The report calls on industrialised nations to boost aid by $50m a year, and ensure the help is better targeted to help the poor directly.

The BBC's Jannat Jalil says the world's richest nations are already discussing an ambitious plan put forward by the UK to reduce the debt burdens of poor countries and give them more aid and trade opportunities. But, she says, some observers argue the solution does not just lie in giving more money. They say action must also be taken to tackle the widespread corruption and lack of democracy that exists in many countries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4282715.stm

Central Asia struggles to end child labour

By Sarah Shenker, BBC News

President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov last month announced his intention to ban child labour in Turkmenistan.

The move was broadly welcomed by aid agencies and human rights groups, who have been pressing for action since the country gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. But there are concerns that the practise is so central to the country's economy that a ban will not be enough. "Any official announcement is only as good as the implementation," said Acacia Shields, a researcher with Human Rights Watch. "Mr Niyazov is prone to making arbitrary announcements... We need more time to see if this is going to be carried up on the ground," she said.

As Unicef published a report calling child labour a scar on the world's conscience, aid agencies and analysts said they were increasingly concerned about the extent of the problem in Central Asia. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), child labour is a concern in all five Central Asian states - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. In Turkmenistan alone, US State Department figures estimated that more than one million children were part of the labour force in 2000.

Mobilised
Enter any city bazaar in Central Asia, according to the ILO's Klaus Guenther, and you find the most visible sign of child labour - large numbers of school-age boys working as porters. Young girls from the countryside are also sent to the city to work as domestic helpers. The money they earn is a lifeline for their families.

From September to December, many rural schools are closed by local officials so that tens of thousands of young children in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan can be sent into the cotton fields to bring in the harvest. In October last year, a minister with Uzbekistan's public education department admitted that at least 44,000 senior pupils and students had been mobilised to help pick the country's cotton. Local rights activists say the figure does not take into account the number of young children forced into the fields - they say they have seen children as young as seven working there.

"If you go to the cotton fields, the only people working are women and children," said regional analyst Michael Hall from the International Crisis Group. Children from the ages of 10 upwards help adults to pick cotton by hand for between two and five US cents a kilogramme. A small child might be able to pick 30kg a day.

Often, employers deduct food and housing costs from what they earn, leaving them with very little. A BBC reporter who visited an Uzbek cotton field met a 12-year-old boy who said he was paid in kindling.

'White gold'
The three countries' economies are agrarian and rely heavily on the cotton industry. Uzbekistan's exports last year were thought to be worth at least $1bn - it is the country's most important cash crop, known as "white gold". In some parts of the country, cotton is a virtual monoculture.

Most governments in the region have signed at least one of the ILO's two conventions banning the use of child labour. Uzbekistan has not, but has legislation banning children under 15 from working. All three governments deny accusations that children are forced into work, saying it is the parents from rural communities who send their children into the fields to earn much-needed cash. A spokesman for the Uzbek embassy in Britain said: "There is no child labour in Uzbekistan."

But less guarded officials will say they empty out local schools because they lack machinery and have no viable alternative to bring in the harvest. "We are concerned," said Andro Shilakadze, Unicef's programme co-ordinator in Uzbekistan. "We need to do more advocacy work, we need to do more with families and communities to make them understand the negative consequences," he says.

Momentum for change
Mr Hall said there was no single cause of the problem, and no easy solution. The pace of economic reform in some parts of Central Asia has been painfully slow, and living standards are among the lowest in the former Soviet Union. Some families rely on seasonal work, taking their children with them wherever there is a living to be had. "Very often, the children come from poor rural areas where there are no opportunities to earn cash, so the children are taken out of schools to work for money," he said. Young teenagers working as manual labour in cities may be their family's only means of support, he added.

He also believes the pressure to meet production quotas is partly to blame and that land reforms are overdue. "Each region has state quotas on cotton that come from above. As long as these are in place, and as long as local, appointed administrators feel their survival depends on meeting them, this will continue," Mr. Hall says.

The ICG is trying to get support from the international community put pressure on governments to abide by the ILO conventions and implement the law. It also wants to raise awareness among consumers that the cotton picked by forced child labour is winding up on clothing racks in the west.

Besides the severe implications for children's education, Mr. Hall said the use of forced labour has long-term consequences for political and economic stability in the region. "This is part of a bigger picture, where rural communities are being pushed to the brink," he says, through lack of opportunities for work for a fair wage.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4267559.stm

Child labour rampant in Pakistan: HRCP report

By Shahid Husain

KARACHI: The constitution categorically says that “no child below the age of 14 years shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment,” but as many as 3.5 million children are employed in Pakistan according to official figures and 10 million according to unofficial sources, says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its “State of Human Rights in 2004,” released recently.

“There was little evidence during the year of improvement in the plight of the millions of children in the country, with 42 percent of the population of 149 million people aged below 14 years. Nearly 51 percent of the population was under 18 years of age.

“Economic and social deprivations, coupled with rising physical and sexual abuse, constituted the most serious threats to children. The absence of policies to alleviate these problems meant a majority of children remained unable to access basic rights, including the right to sufficient food, shelter, education, safe water or medical care,” the report said.

According to a study by UNICEF and local NGOs, the results of which were made public in August, nearly eight million, or 40 percent of children, under five years of age suffered malnutrition. The growth of at least 60 percent of children between six months and three years was stunted and 42 percent were anaemic or underweight. Poor nutrition left children susceptible to disease, the report said.

According to official statistics, at least 23 million children in Pakistan had never been to school, and the youth literacy rate, according to the UNDP, remained among the lowest in the world, the report said.

The Edhi Foundation stated that by the end of 2003, the rate of runaway children had increased by 30 percent over the past two years. Poor economic conditions most often led to children leaving homes. More than 10,000 children below the age of 15 were living on the streets of Karachi alone, the report said.

The report said the state of health of children in the country, their access to education and other basic facilities were poor. Mortality rates for children were among the worst in the world. According to a survey by the health services directorate in Peshawar, in February, of every 1,000 live births in the NWFP, 79 children died before the age of five due to lack of health care.

The lack of access to safe drinking water contributed to many major health problems, including the high rates of diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and other complaints. Children in more than 70 percent of the schools under the control of the City District Government

Lahore were forced to drink contaminated water supplied through dirty tanks at schools. Other reports indicated safe drinking water was an increasingly rare commodity across the country, the report said.

According to health experts, 44 percent boys and girls between six and 12 years in Sindh were found to be moderately deficient in iodine. The rate was thought to be even higher in Punjab and the NWFP, where the consumption of sea fish, the major natural source of iodine, was extremely poor, the report said.

“Partially as a result of worsening air pollution, 17 percent of children suffered from asthma and other respiratory complaints, whereas hereditary diseases such as thalassaemia continued to increase. Pakistan’s failure to eradicate polio meant children faced continued threat from potentially fatal disease. Millions of children across the country remained outside classrooms, whereas persisting gender inequalities caused denial of education to girls,” the report said.

The report said even after the provincial education department in the NWFP imposed a complete ban on corporal punishment in schools late the previous year, teachers continued to beat children. Some of the most appalling incidents of physical abuse were reported from madrassahs, the report said.

Citing a report from an NGO Sahil, the HRCP report said 823 cases of crime against children were reported over the first six months of 2004. Of these, 376 cases were of sexual abuse and 447 of physical abuse. 432 victims were boys and 391 girls. Complaints were registered in only 361 cases. 321 children were murdered, 152 sexually assaulted and then killed, 47 minor girls gang-raped, 107 girls raped, 76 boys sodomised, 53 children injured and 67 subjected to bodily mutilation.

A report by the Islamabad-based Society for Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), released in September, stated that children in the country were recruited to fight in Afghanistan or Kashmir, political factions, religious sects and national movements were cited as the groups mainly responsible for such recruitment, the report said.

The report said despite the promulgation of the “Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance” in 2002, the trafficking of children continued, with children most often taken to the UAE for use as camel-jockeys.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-2-2005_pg7_34

Turkmenistan Puts Clamp on Child Labour

Ashgabat, 2 February 2005 (nCa) --- One of the first laws passed by the newly elected parliament of Turkmenistan puts a clamp on child labour in the country.

As the Turkmen parliament went into session Tuesday morning, the draft law “About Guarantees of the Rights of Youth to Work” came up for vote. The parliament passed the law unanimously.

Here is the full text of the law:

The Law of Turkmenistan
About Guarantees of the Right of Youth to Work

The present Law embodies the fatherly concern of President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, about the education [upbringing] of the future generations, which should have high spirituality and strong health, and is directed at strict and exact implementation of the Convention on Rights of the Child, law of Turkmenistan “About Guarantees of the Rights of Child”, Code of Turkmenistan “About Labour” and other laws of Turkmenistan regulating children’s right to work, conventions of the United Nations regulating protection of child against economic exploitation through violence, and also to prevent the situations that could represent danger to their health or serve as an obstacle to their education, or cause damage to their health, physical, intellectual and spiritual development, or interfere with realization of the principle of freedom of conscience.

1. Conclusion of labour contracts with children under 16 years of age is not permissible, and children up to 15 years of age can be accepted for work only with the written permission of one of the parents or guardians, and labour activity should not interfere with their school education.

2. Employer, irrespective of the pattern of ownership, is forbidden to use the workers of lower than the age of majority for heavy work, harmful or dangerous work, and also work under the ground.

3. Parents or guardians are forbidden to employ children on work connected with permanent labour employment, especially on work that would disrupt [discontinue] the education of the child, that attracts infringements of the rights and interests of the child, as prescribed in the normative legal documents of Turkmenistan, and also as [understood] under the conventional norms of international rights.

4. The legislative norms connected with prevention of child labour should be observed not only by legal persons (enterprises, establishments, organizations) but also by the private individual businessmen, and also by other persons.

5. The labour activity of the children, irrespective of the form, whether permanent or temporary, should not create any obstacles against school education.

6. The infringement of the work rights of the child attracts responsibility as established under the legislation of Turkmenistan. The President of Turkmenistan

Saparmurat NiyazovAshgabat,
1 February 2005
http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1167

International Law Enforcement Effort Targets Child Exploitation

Law enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States are creating a new Web site as a tool to help in the campaign against the online exploitation of children.??

Announcement of the initiative was made in London, according to a January 26 press release from the U.S. partner in the effort, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The site, http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/ instructs visitors in reporting suspected child exploitation and provides other safety and resource information about organizations involved in the international effort to protect youngsters from sexual predators.

ICE participation in this task force is in line with its ongoing campaign Operation Predator, which works to protect children from sex offenders, child sex tourists, Internet child pornographers and human traffickers. The 18-month-old operation has resulted in more than 4,800 arrests.

The text of the ICE press release follows:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
News Release

UK, US, AUSTRALIAN & CANADIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT BAND TOGETHER TO TARGET ONLINE CHILD EXPLOITATION

International law enforcement partnership launches new website for reporting, resources

LONDON ·Law enforcement and technology industry officials in the UK unveiled today a new international website created by the Virtual Global Task Force, a partnership lead by the UK National Crime Squad (NCS) that includes NCS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Australian High Tech Crime Centre, and Interpol.

The site, at www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com, includes information on how to report suspected child exploitation in the UK, US, Canada and Australia; as well as related safety and resource information from partner organizations such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the United States.

Jim Gamble, Deputy Director General of the UK National Crime Squad, and Chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, said, the Virtual Global Taskforce is a unique partnership in the history of law enforcement. Internet-users access a worldwide service so we must tackle abuse from a worldwide perspective. Strategic partnerships such as this are vital to our success.

ICE participation in the Virtual Global Task Force is part of Operation Predator, a Department of Homeland Security initiative to protect children from criminal alien sex offenders, child sex tourists, Internet child pornographers, and human traffickers. Since Operation Predator began in July 2003, more than 4,800 individuals have been arrested nationwide. Foreign law enforcement, acting on ICE leads, have arrested more than 860 individuals.

Additional information about Operation Predator is available on the Web at http://www.ice.gov/.

ICE encourages the reporting of suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20050131-14.html

Artistes in Action Against Child Labour

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
January 25, 2005

Posted to the web January 25, 2005

Meluse Kapatamoyo

WHETHER through a painting, a play or a song, art remains the most effective way of communication. In countries like the US, we saw artistes like Eminem and P. Diddy take to the campaign trail to urge people to vote in that country's presidential elections held in November last year.

Taking into account the the impact that art has on our everyday living, the International Labour Organisation in collaboration with the Child Labour unit of Zambia's Ministry of Labour and Social Security crowned musicians, Sister D and St Micheal as Child labour ambassadors for Zambia.

The appointment came as a recognition of the efforts exibited by the duo in promoting the rights of children through their music and social work.

As child labour ambassadors, the two embarked on a project of mass sensitisation on issues of child labour through the use of music and other forms of art.

The massive project, which is still continuing, involves the conducting of open-air concerts and school visits among other activities.

It was during these activities that the child ambassadors realised the need for Zambian artistes to get involved in the fight against child labour.

With this in mind, the duo formed an Association of Artistes Promoting Children's Rights in Zambia (APCR). The aim of the association was to involve arts other than music in fighting for the rights of children.

The association, formed in April 2004, held its first child labour training workshop for artistes at Suwilanji Gardens with a funding of K45 million from ILO.

Among the many issues tabled at the workshop were the use of art in the fight against child labour and child sexual abuse.

According to St Micheal, the reason for the workshop was to share ideas with other artistes on how best to disseminate information on issues affecting children especially that of child labour.

He said the reason for the formation of APCR was to involve other artists other than those from the music fratenity, whose work carried the same influence as music.

St Micheal said during the concerts held by the duo, it was realised that Zambia had done very little in educating the general public on matters relating to child labour.

" There is a lot of work to be done, hence the invitation for other arts involvement, as it will take more than just music to fight in order to win the battle for the rights of our children," said St Micheal.

He urged artists to take a stand in ensuring that law makers where forced to deal with problems affecting not only children but adults as well.

And speaking at the same workshop, Ms Martha Zulu from the Girls Brigade called for artists intervention not only in child labour but other issues affecting children.

Ms Zulu said children needed protection from all forms of abuse and that if there was a voice loud enough to be heard it was that of the arts which had great influence on communities.

"Through plays, paintings and songs you have been able to change people's behaviour and attitude towards many issues. And you need to take another step and channel your energy towards issues affecting children," she said.

Ms Zulu said while there were a number of organisations fighting for children's rights,the message was yet to sink into the minds of those that were infringing their rights.

She said cultural and traditional values coupled with poverty were still the major contributors to child labour in the Zambia.

Ms Zulu said while some parents saw nothing wrong with putting their children in work meant for adults, some parents had no choice but to send their children to earn money to help sustain their families.

"No matter the reasons, children are children and they must be given an apportunity to grow. There are a number of psychological issues that affect these children permanently," she said.

She advised artists to use their various skills and status in society to help maintain a safe environment for all children through countrywide sensitisation programmes.

APCR board member Chilufya Siwale said community ignorance and trivialising issues affecting children was still a hindrance in attaining positive goals in fighting child abuse.

She said lack of concern by community members in reporting child offenders was hampering the fighting against child labour and other forms of abuse.

Ms Siwale said low wages forced people to employ children as maids as they were ignorant of their rights and could be underpaid and abused.

"The inability of families to support their children forces them to look for jobs where they are taken advantage of and paid very little for the kind of work they do," she said.

She advised artists to be proactive and report things that happened in their neighbourhoods if issues relating to raise the profile of the fight for children's rights in the public eye.

And University Teaching Hospital (UTH) paediatrics Doctor Thomas Kapakala said the psychological and mental problems associated with child abuse were alarming.

He said while emphasis was put on healing the physical wounds inflicted on an abused child, many children had shown emotional effects in their adult life.

"Long after the wounds have healed , whether inflicted by torture or sexual abuse the child is left tormented. In some cases they have passed on the same abuse to their children," said Dr Kapakala.
Dr Kapakala said it was unfortunate that doctors were only able to tackle half of the problem which dealt with the physical repair of the child. But were not around to deal with the emotional effects of abuse which took longer to show.

" Our first concern is that the physical, the emotional torture that goes on in the mind of an abused child may take years to show as some might try to suppress their feelings by not talking about the abuse which usually leads to dreadful results," he said.

After the workshop, Zambian diva Jane Osborne said the workshop was an eye opener as she had not realised the extent of the problems facing children.

She said the workshop had encouraged her to take a stand on child issues especially orphans who were left to grow in orphanage centres.

Osborne said artistes were bearer's of change, and it was up to them to make certain that the change they brought about was positive to help people develop into better human beings.

Other artistes who attended the workshop included Musicians James Chamanyazi, Red Linso, Runnel, Saboi Imboela, Brian Chengala, Nez Nyirenda, Lutanda Mwaba.

The workshop was worthwhile since many artists have a large following and their popularity can be extended in championing causes like child labour.

Photo Compilation on Child Soldiers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/africa_child_soldier/html/1.stm

Murders Of Children And Youths Increased During 2004

Central American governments are not protecting their children

Guatemala, the most violent country in the region

According to information provided by legal aid programs in the region, Guatemala had the highest number of murders of children and youths during 2004, with 847 killed. Next came Honduras, with 395 murders, then Nicaragua, with 163. Costa Rica had the fewest murders, with only 29, according to information provided by the organization “Covenant for Your Rights.” The Guatemalan statistics include only Guatemala City and villages nearby, compared to those for Honduras and Nicaragua, which include the whole country. This information is especially dramatic when one takes into consideration the high level of violence inside prisons in Honduras.

After one year of a new government in Guatemala, the number of murders among children and youths has increased from 747 to 847, which means that there were 100 more murders than in 2003, despite several recently implemented programs.

Statistics show that the 847 children and youths murdered in 2004 ranged in age from 0 to 22 years. They mainly died from gunshots and knife wounds. Of the 847 children killed, 745 were boys and 103 were girls.

This information is alarming: The average is over two murders per day. These facts demand an urgent response to address the insecurity and violence of Guatemalan society to achieve the goals of Article 9 of the “Integral Protection of Children and Teenagers Law,” which states that “all children and teenagers have the right to life.” In addition, Guatemala’s Constitution requires that “the State will watch over the life and the security of all Guatemalans.”

Day after day, the level of violence continues to shock society, and the demand for greater safety and security has been a major issue in the mass media during recent months. Yet if we want to make Guatemala safer, it is vital that we protect the most vulnerable population of all: children.

During the last two months, we have witnessed several mass murders of young people that seemed to occur with impunity. Two took place in December. The first occurred in a residential area in Guatemala City, where five people were brutally killed. The only survivor was a two-year-old girl who was left alone for two days after the killings. The police found her when neighbors reported hearing a desperate cry. In the other dramatic murder, four children were brutally killed along with their mother in a village near Guatemala City. Recently, in January 2005, six young people were found murdered in a cave, and the investigation showed that one of the female victims was pregnant.

Casa Alianza is supporting the grandmother of the two-year-old girl who survived the first event in her effort to gain custody of her granddaughter so she can continue to live with her family.

The mission of Casa Alianza is to protect suffering children while treating them with absolute respect and unconditional love. This commitment compels us to denounce situations in which children are the victims of violence. We demand that the Government of Guatemala take action to protect the lives of its children. Doing that will help make our society safer and more secure.

Casa Alianza is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation and defense of street children in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua. Casa Alianza is the Latin American branch of the New York based Covenant House.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Tel. 2433 9600 5401 6204
comunicacion2@casaalianza.org.gt
guatemala@casa-alianza.org
honduras@casa-alianza.org
nicaragua@casa-alianza.org
méxico@casa-alianza.org