The sin of poverty

(ES)

Article 32.The state is obliged to protect the child from performing any work harmful to their health, education or development, to set minimum ages for employment and regulate the conditions.

Article 34.It is child's right to be protected from sexual exploitation and abuse, including prostitution and pornography use practices.

Article 35.The state is obliged to take all necessary measures to prevent the sale, trafficking and child trafficking.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

As extracted from the latest report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) on child labor:

"Today, throughout the world, around 215 million children work, many full-time. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play. Many do not receive proper nutrition or care. They are denied the chance to be children. More than half of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities including drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict.
Guided by the principles enshrined in the ILO's Minimum Age Convention No. 138 and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182, The ILO InFocus Programme on Child Labour (IPEC) works to achieve the effective abolition of child labour in 2016 "

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002. This day is celebrated on June 12.

That day, the media offer us many and varied documentaries that startle us. The images that are shown hurt us up to the deepest.

Article 3 of the Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, said:

For the purposes of this Convention, the term the worst forms of child labour comprises:

(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

Don't you think it hurts even more that the worst forms of child labor which are expressed in that convention ratified by 173 countries in the world is being suffered by 115 million children every day of his life, including the June 12?

The dirty faces by dirt and dust, with the grim expression that prints the responsibility of being breadwinners. Made-up faces of girls in prostitution, with their vacant eyes, as if long ago they are not living in this cruel world that allows it. Small hands supporting the heavy hammer that use as a tool, and beats our mind on every hit.

It is not enough to remember them one day a year, because probably some of what we consume in the rich countries, is the result, no doubt, of work and child exploitation.

Child labor deprives children of basic rights such as education or health. A world without opportunities, for boys and girls alike, as the one we are offering our children, is the closest thing to eternal sentence to extreme poverty. And extreme poverty is a major cause of child labor.

If Hell, Gehenna or Jahannam is the eternal fire which are condemned sinners, can not imagine what sin has been committed by the millions of children working in these conditions, deprived of the right to education, health, play... The sin of poverty, which condemns children for their whole life to a life without rights and freedom. An eternal life of poverty, labor or sexual exploitation for themselves and their descendants.

To break this cycle of poverty and child labor, integrated policies in education, social protection and employment are needed. Policies that depend on our governments that are responsible for applying them to our countries, and to act as catalysts to be introduced in other countries through development cooperation.

And above all, in education, we must not only analyze the ratios of schooling, because the dropout also has an increasing impact on the rising number of child labor as it advances the global economic crisis, taking pupils out of school classrooms to help support the family.

A child attending school that ends at least primary education is a success in society, because its future is in children's hands.

Not rest until we reach 215 million successes.

Let's be critical to our governments that are responsible for establishing integrated policies in education, employment and social protection.

Let's be critical to our corporations, to take appropriate actions against child labor.

Collaborate with NGOs on the ground that help to denounce child labor, prosecute it and break the cycle of poverty.

A laboring child is the sin of the rich countries.

There is much to be done. Acting is not an option but a duty.


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The long path toward social awareness

(ES)

Doctors without Borders's campaign (*)"Pills against the pain of others" is an excellent example of what empathy means.

"In the first world, if you feel pain, there are pills to mitigate almost any pain. But ... What if it hurts you the pain of others, the pain of those who do not have pills to cure their suffering? "

Empathy is defined as the cognitive ability to perceive in a common context what another individual may feel, in other words, the mental and emotional identification of a subject with the mood of another.

The highest level of the Maslow Pyramid or hierarchy of human needs is the level of self-realization, which includes the higher needs, and through his satisfaction, there is a meaning to life through the development of a potential activity. According to Maslow, as the person can control their basic needs appear gradually higher needs, although not all individuals feel self-realization needs, because it is an individual achievement.

We feel a mixture of pain, anger, indignation and helplessness before the accumulation of injustices and atrocities we witness daily in our global world.

These feelings are just as tangible evidence of empathic ability of human beings. If we understand the solidarity and activism as a logical consequence of empathy, ie to the extent I share the pain and suffering of others, I act accordingly to try to mitigate it, the question is:

Need to act on behalf of the disadvantaged would not be in the highest level of Maslow's Pyramid as part of personal self-realization?

Why do people with their basic needs, security, affection and esteem covered do not have enough motivation to satisfy needs higher level?

Obviously you can not blame on the lack, or the excess of information about what is happening in the world. While excess, can cause boredom and insensitiveness on the viewer who prefers to avoid contact with a reality that hurts.

The motivation to self-realization requires a process of individual conquest longer than that required to meet other basic needs. And from that individual discovery, to reach a collective social awareness is a long way to go.

The sooner we follow the path that leads to social awareness, the sooner we can be proud of being the architects of a big change. The change that means understanding the ones that are not like me, sharing the pain of the suffering ones and give them comfort, fighting for Rights and Freedoms of those who lack of them, ultimately, build a more egalitarian world in distribution of opportunities and wealth.

(*) Only available in Spanish

Looking without seeing

(ES)

The astronomers scan the sky for answers. You can see stars and planets millions of miles and know the past of the Universe with each pulse of light they receive. Understand our past, looking at the stars.

Thanks to Antoine de Saint-Exupery I discovered that there are millions of planets very close to the planet Earth, so close that we live next to them. We share our lives every day with its inhabitants. Worlds so close that are not known or understood.
Observating these planets let us understand our present and face our future.

In my little world, just by being born into it, I have fundamental rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The equality before the law but may not be discriminated against on grounds of birth, race, sex, religion, political or any other condition or personal or social circumstance. I have the right to life and physical and moral integrity, without, in any case, may be subjected to torture or to cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment. It guarantees religious and ideological freedom, personal freedom, freedom of residence and movement, and freedom of expression. I have the right to privacy, freedom of assembly, association and participation, right to education, right to strike, right to property and right to work.
In contrast, only a few duties: defend my little world, contribute to the maintenance of public expenditure according to my financial capacity, and the duty to work.

Observating other nearby planets, I have discovered that many of them, almost everyone, agrees with the rights and duties of mine, but what surprises me is that in all, including mine, are violated some of these rights and freedoms.

Visit the world you visit, you find women are discriminated against, violated their rights and freedoms restricted.

As children, there are planets where the work in inhuman conditions is their duty, imposed by extreme poverty. And education, something to which they aspire. There is also a world where they are forced to carry arms and defend thieir planet do not know very well what threat.

As has happened many scientists throughout history have discovered what they had before their eyes, but did not see it.

Scientists tend to put their name to the discoveries they make. In my case, I prefer to call it "Saint-Exupéry Law of the Parallel Planets or how to look without seeing", in honor of the author who inspired it.

"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye".
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The innocence of childhood should teach adults to look and see the world. Do not let them steal their innocence.

Fuencisla González, with the help of Spanish soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, split between women and children copies of The Little Prince, translated into Dari.

The Little Prince against the Taliban - News of El País 11/19/2010

The adjectives of the crisis

© Franco Pagetti/VII

(ES)

The media abound with adjectives when talking about a crisis. Financial crisis, alimentary crisis, foreign policy crisis ...

All seasoned with macro-figures that overwhelm us with just reading them: 44 million people in the world in situation of extreme poverty due to rising food prices since June 2010, which is qualified as global food crisis.

These aseptic chronics supported by brainy reports by World Bank, FAO and various organizations, about which they are derived other dense articles written by respected economists who analyze with accuracy different factors that influence the development of the crisis and predict their potential consequences.

So far, opinion and debate.

If we focus on the definition of the word crisis, the first entry that appears in the dictionary is:
"The turning point for better or worse in an acute disease or fever ."

Our patient is the global world we inhabit, in which different crisis is spreading to all countries, and some of them are more exposed about its pernicious effects. Like a virus that attacks viciously and kills the weakest.

The global crisis we are experiencing in recent years are not situations in which nobody, in this case sick ones, is responsible for, although they are spreading like an infectious disease across the planet.

The only element that we are not able to control in a food crisis, although it's possible to contribute to the improving and stabilization of it by humans at a long-term, is the climate factor, which has a direct impact on crops.

Besides that, we all face to governments with dire economic policies as an election issue, and that benefit the lobbyists who finance their campaigns. Governments that increase the tax burden to rescue indebted countries that threaten other Central Banks. Governments that accumulate food stocks on a purely speculative basis. Corrupt governments capable of maintaining the famine in their countries to maintain the profits of producers they control at the local markets. Regulators who for years have applied a policy of "laissez-faire" to investment banks with the consequences we all know. Banks bailed out with public funds that distribute generous dividends to its shareholders, and obscene bonuses to its senior management. Free trade agreements that only suffocate the poorest countries.

It is a perverted system that only increases the gap in the redistribution of wealth.

I am encouraged that the definition of crisis provides an abrupt change for better in the course of a disease.

I understand any crisis as an opportunity for improvement, but this change will not come from the hand of the powerful who control the system, as their interests are above the rest of humanity, but by all of us who have resources enough to encourage a change, those who suffer knowing that 44 million people are in extreme poverty.

I do not need to count 44 million people to act, is a number too large for me. It is enough just knowing that a child dies at this moment because their nutrition is insufficient.

Click this link and sign the petition to change the history of child malnutrition.

Article 24.2.c) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child ¹:

States Parties shall take appropriate measures:

c) To combat disease and malnutrition within the framework of primary health care through, inter alia, the application of available technology and the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks environmental pollution;

¹ This Convention has been ratified by all UN members except Somalia and the USA.

No money, no health

(ES)

Children are entitled to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and access to medical services and rehabilitation, with special emphasis on those related to primary health care, preventive care and reducing infant mortality. The state is obliged to take the necessary measures aimed at abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to children's health.
Convention on the Rights of the Child

I have repeatedly heard the words of Zainab Salbi (President and founder of Women for Women International - WFWI) in her address to the forum TED Global 2010.
She tells her personal story as a child living during Iraq bombing. And remember one night when a missile exploded near her home. She thanked God because that night, she and her family saved their lifes.
The next day, a desperate mother entered her brother's classroom asking, please, for any remembrance of her son who died in an explosion, because she had nothing left to remember him, nor a photograph.
That child who died was a friend of Zainab's brother, and he died in last night's explosion.

Zainab has regretted every day of her life for thanking God that night.

When I read the statistics of infant mortality due to what Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called "neglected diseases"  I can not have a feeling more similar to that of Zainab.

Can I thank God for living in a developed country with a health system that guarantees me primary care, specialty care and preventive care while I think that my taxes are supporting a pharmaceutical industry that concentrates 90% of global spending on medical research on health problems that affect less than 10% of world population, the richest 10%?

The same pharmaceutical industry acting as a lobby with the governments of rich countries to promote the signing of Free Trade Agreements that prevent the production of affordable medicines, and the export to certain countries which are desperately in need of them, in which are sold at a higher price.

I can not give thanks for how lucky I am when I think that, right now, a mother that can not  afford  an expensive treatment, or unable to access the NGOs working in the field of health, the only chance she has is to ask God to save his son.

The only thing that saves me from this, and allows me to be grateful, is the fact to take action against this so unfortunate reality.

Take action:
 

Europe hands off our medicine! - Send a message to the European Commission

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DO NOT forget Haiti, Pakistan neither Sri Lanka

(ES)

Mr. / Ms.,

Entering the text: "Floods in Pakistan news" into a search engine in late November 2010, results obtained let analyse the situation in a way not exhaustive but revealing. So, I discover that attention of the network media was extended in time from early August to late September. Here's a sample.

AGENCIES. 06.08.2010 - 8:45 p.m.
Pakistani officials have estimated at 12 million affected by floods driven by monsoon rains, a figure that nearly triples the latest UN estimate.

EFE. 14.08.2010 - 10.09 h The humanitarian community announced Saturday it has launched an emergency mechanism to prevent the spread of cholera among those affected by floods in Pakistan, after confirming its first outbreak of this disease.

EFE. 24.08.2010 - 23.37 h
The situation is worsening in southern Pakistan and aid, which has received 59% of the $ 460 million originally claimed, is insufficient for more than 17 million directly affected by the floods, said today UN.

EFE. 20.09.2010 - 08.21 h
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, Sunday called on the international community an "urgent response" for Pakistan, while noted that aid to that country after the floods, is "a global test of solidarity. "

In short, we speak of millions of victims and two months of media attention for Pakistan.

According to UNICEF, more than a million people have been affected by floods in Sri Lanka due to persistent and intense rainfall in some parts of the island from the December 26, 2010.

In many places the schools remain closed, since schools have become shelters. Children are among the most vulnerable to this type of flooding. Many non-swimmers and some are too fragile to fend for themselves.

If we look at Haiti, although with seasonal news blackouts, remains in the media since January 2010. But of course, to "keep the audience" were needed an earthquake, a hurricane, an electoral fraud, a cholera epidemic and a visit from a former dictator who could be charged with crimes against humanity.

The news come and go, misery and suffering remain, the aid does not arrive.

Apropos of this, I wanted to ask the wording of your network media, whether TV, radio or print, your commitment to report during 365 days on the cover of its online edition about the situation on the ground in these countries . It is clear that only in those times when humanitarian disasters have the media attention is when governments and citizens are more aware of the problem. But these disasters are not solved only with the emergency aid, as time passed, what remains is the reconstruction of affected areas, returning IDPs to their places of origin so that, at least, they can regain their lives before of the disaster. This can only be achieved when there is pressure from the media, commitment of donor governments and NGOs working on the ground, and coordination by international agencies. Assuming that the commitment and coordination exist in greater or lesser extent, let us do everything possible to increase the pressure which allows not to prolong the misery of these poor people.

I count on the solidarity and commitment of a media as yours, distinguished by its progressive spirit and sensitiveness to these issues, and I hope my proposal is accepted willingly.

Sincerely yours,

Through chadari

(ES)

The chadari is the traditional dress of women Pashtuns in Afghanistan.

The meshing of chadari has two sides and a single fabric.

On one face, to the outside, from the West a woman is oppressed under the weight of a dress, subdued, devoid of freedom and gender-based discriminated.

The other side, interior, see a woman using the chadari to protect itself. Women who have dignity and pride, in obedience to Almighty God and ensuring that they and their families will be protected against the rapist and all forms of evil that are present in Western societies.

The debate about its use is controversial and still open in the West. EU countries legislate for a ban in public places. Case in Syrian and Egyptian universities, where its use is also prohibited.

Without entering this controversy, I think more interesting to talk about chadari fabric. What threads are the fabric that is woven chadari?

Extrapolating this question to Afghan social fabric we can get some revealing data.

According WFWI (Women for Women International), with presence in Afghanistan since 2002, these are some country facts:

• In a 2008 survey of 4,700 Afghan women, 87.2% had experienced at least one form of physical, sexual or psychological or forced marriage in his life.

• 85.1% of women without formal education.

• 74% of girls drop out of school by 5th grade.

• Only 1% of girls in rural communities go to school.

• Nearly 79% of women are illiterate.

• On average, Afghan women give birth to seven children.

• One of every 62 women dies during childbirth, and in some regions the number is as high as 1 in 8.

In the Afghan parliamentary elections in September 2010, increased from 328 women candidates in 2005, to 406 will be distributed 68 seats reserved for women in the House of Peoples, with a total of 249 seats. While in the House of Elders, the Afghan Constitution guarantees women 17 seats in the 102's in total.

This picture of Democracy is clouded by: first, the allegations of electoral fraud in the presidential elections, and second, the harassment suffered by the female candidates during elections.

Denounce the candidates during the campaign there have been such terrible events:

• Threatening anonymous telephone calls from both, the radical extremists, as members of the Conservative Party.

• Demolition of posters and billboards.

• Posters stained with red ink.

In the case of the candidate Najil Angira, women entrepreneurs aged 30, has received death threats from the Taliban for his speech against his former regime.

According to the petition Malalai Joya, MP in 2005:

"The attacks against women continue to increase, and these attacks are carried out by groups of influential people in his province and untouchable. Impunity remains the major problem. Sarah's case illustrates very well the status of women in Afghanistan: this girl was raped by three men in the province of Samangan. They were charged but released aftr that by Karzai on behalf of Islamic forgiveness. My people never committed such acts in the name of Islam. Fundamentalists in power who use religion to assert their power and justify their cruelty "

"Education of women is the key to their emancipation,"

The candidate for parliament in 2010 Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, on her website chadari | The Window of Power, states:

"Let's turn our weakness into our strength! I believe that we can do it and if you also believe in it , then don't hesitate to join this fight! Because It is just for the Women's Rights!"

Brave women of Afghanistan, the chadari does not prevent that you see beyond what others can see.

All our support.

Agreements and sentences

(ES)

Political language is rich in nuances, especially when it comes to international relations.

I wonder which relationship is now between the EU and RD of Congo, and to describe it, any better to use the same terms of the resolutions of European Parliament regarding to the DR Congo within a period not exceeding six months.

* Grant approval
* Strongly condemns
* Calls for an immediate end
* Expresses its deep concern
* Convinced
* Expresses concern
* Calls
* Calls for an end
* Calls upon all parties
* Calls for zero tolerance
* Calls
* Encourages
* Stresses
* Particularly concerned

And both resolutions end up with:

* Instructs its President to forward


Obviously the first point refers to a voluntary partnership agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Congo on forest law enforcement, governance and trade of wood and derived products imported into the European Union dated 19 January 2011 in Strasbourg.

The remaining points refer to a European Parliament resolution on human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo dated September 15, 2010.

The implementation of the trade agreement is funded with 2 million euros by the EU, ridiculous amount compared to the budget of the two main European missions in the DR Congo, EUPOL and EUSEC. As shown to indicate that the EUSEC budget for 2010-2011 is 12.6 million euros.
Both missions include among its objectives the fight against gender violence, the violation of human rights, sexual violence and impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes.

Analyzing the dates of the resolutions I see that as a result of mass rape in August 2010 in the province of Kivu, the EU has proposed a resolution condemning the violation of human rights which includes inter alia the following:

9. Calls for an end to the EUPOL and EUSEC missions to the DRC, which have admittedly made a negative contribution to escalating violence and the situation in the country by training security forces that have been perpetrating crimes against their own civilian population;

More than 12 million per year since the start of the mission in 2005 have contributed to the escalation of violence that aims to fight!

And consequently, EU request to end both missions and review the mandate of UN mission in Congo, the MONUSCO.

Such nonsense does not stop, a few months after, the signature of a trade agreement with the country to which EU asks:

15. Encourages the Government of the DRC to implement, without delay and with the assistance of MONUSCO, its new strategy against gender-based violence;

18. Calls for the DRC Parliament to create the National Human Rights Commission as outlined in the constitution, as a previous step to passing a law on the protection of victims and witnesses of human rights abuses, human rights activist and aid workers and journalist;

Taxative words to the signing of a trade agreement against declaration of intent on the violation of human rights.

Trade agreements are necessary, but not enough if not combined with strong steps in Human Rights issues.

MSF, Doctors without Borders, claims that since the beginning of 2011 has treated about 100 victims of sexual violence in the province of Kivu¹.

To the suffering of thousands of men, women and children in the DR of Congo are not worth the nuances of language.

Take action.

http://www.stoprapenow.org/take-action/

¹only available in spanish

Education, gender and equal opportunities

(ES)

Every child has the right to education and is the duty of government to ensure at least primary education free and compulsory. The application of school discipline should respect the child's dignity as a human person.
Convention on the Rights of the Child.

According to UNICEF, the school is not only an essential tool for the physical and intellectual development of children, but protect them from child labor and other forms of exploitation, and are kept in a secure environment.

In 2010, according to UNESCO data, the number of children out of school worldwide is around 72 million, and in developing countries 54% of children out of school is female.

The economic crisis and the slowdown of investment in education are undermining the chances of receiving appropriate education to millions of children worldwide. And even worse, increases the gap in women discrimination in access to education.

A remedy to the poverty that now extends to all countries, and especially is stronger in less developed countries, is universal access to education without discrimination based on gender.

In times of crisis when we talk about doing more with less, I do not doubt that the best investment is made in education.

Richer countries should not condemn the child population to a future without opportunity. Whatever the reason, a humanitarian crisis by natural disasters, displacement into refugee camps, corrupt governments that do not respect the rights and fundamental freedoms, education of children should be an obligation and a priority for the community.

The privileged who have received at least primary education compulsory and free as a recognized right, should only be satisfied when education is not a privilege but a right for all countries. While this is not so, there is no time to waste in this struggle for equality of opportunity, not complacency.

http://www.unicef.es/index.htm



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