UNICEF FILE: UGANDA

[Pamela]

This will be a permanent thread in which we will post and discuss updates of official UNICEF business concerning assistance to children in Uganda until and after we learn of Clay's travels there for UNICEF.  There will also be articles regarding the general state of child welfare in the area.

Post and/or discuss!

[Pamela]

Some background information.

UGANDA: Children suffering gross abuses in northern conflict
22 Mar 2005 09:46:06 GMT

Source: IRIN
 
NAIROBI, 22 March (IRIN) - Thirteen-year-old Adong B fought for the rebel movement, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), for two years after being kidnapped in 2002 from her village in Koch Goma, in northern Uganda's Gulu district.

In February, she was rescued by the Ugandan army and placed in a rehabilitation camp in Gulu town, 380 km north of the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Speaking to IRIN on Monday in Gulu about her ordeal as a child soldier, she said: "Those who couldn't carry on walking because of swollen feet were battered to death. I was forced to kill one girl who failed to walk."

Beatrice A, 14, was abducted in February 2004 and made to work as a porter for the rebels. "We walked for long hours, and when you failed to walk you were beaten," she told IRIN on Monday in Gulu. "Those who failed completely to walk were killed. Because of thirst, we sometimes had to drink our own urine to survive."

The use of child soldiers in northern Uganda's 19-year-old conflict has ripped apart countless families and destroyed innumerable childhoods. Relief agencies have testified to children being recruited both by the government and the LRA, as well as being civilian victims of violence.

However, the Ugandan government has vehemently denied the existence of child soldiers in its ranks, and insists that the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) has never knowingly recruited any children into its ranks.

"The UPDF does not have a policy of recruiting underage soldiers," Maj Shaban Bantariza, a UPDF spokesman, told IRIN. "We have never knowingly hired a child to serve in our ranks.

"We have had occasions when telling somebody's age is difficult, and we have taken up recruits who are slightly underage," he admitted.

To read the rest go to REUTERS ALERT NET

[Pamela]

SDC deplores humanitarian crisis in East Africa
March 24, 2005 8:27 PM  
     
Northern Uganda and eastern Congo are in the grip of a "dramatic" humanitarian situation, says the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
 
Hansjürg Ambühl, head of the SDC’s Africa humanitarian aid division, has just returned from a trip to the region to assess its needs and decide how Switzerland can help.
 
Ambühl spent a week in the provinces of Kitgum and Gulu in northern Uganda, before travelling on to Bunia in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He said that in northern Uganda the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army was terrorising the local population by carrying out attacks against women and children.

The group is embroiled in a 19-year-conflict with government forces, which has led to almost two million people fleeing their homes.

"The United Nations humanitarian coordinator, Jan Egeland, has said that the situation [in northern Uganda] is the biggest and worst humanitarian forgotten crisis in the world," Ambühl told swissinfo.

He added that the rebels often kidnapped children, forcing them into sex slavery or to join their forces.

As a result, "night commuters" - around 30,000 children who come from the villages to sleep in towns to avoid LRA attacks - have become commonplace.

The SDC representative, who is "very concerned" about the situation, said that the Swiss government was contributing to aid efforts by UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

He added that Switzerland would continue its support in the region. The agency has also decided to cooperate with the UN children’s organisation, Unicef, to improve child protection.

To read the rest go to SWISS INFO

[Pamela]

IPU alerted to plight of child warriors
 By Patricia Esteves, Reporter  

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon on Wednesday urged delegates to the Inter­parliamentarian Union to take stern measures to stop the recruitment of children as soldiers.

Biazon raised the issue of child soldiers at the IPU’s panel discussion on violence against women and children in conflict situations.

He reaffirmed his commitment to strengthen and draw up laws that would prevent the recruitment of child soldiers.

He cited his encounter with child soldiers when he was still in the military fighting Muslim extremists in the South.

“The most painful experience for a Filipino soldier was to me confronting children who are armed. As a battalion comman­der in Mindanao, I experienced having to deal with a child soldier, or a child revolutionist aged as young as 12 and holding weapons that are longer or taller than they are,” Biazon said.

The United Nations Child­ren’s Fund has cited a report on minors involved in armed hostilities.

The Unicef cited the Philippines, Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Colombia, India, Iraq, Israel, Indonesia, Liberia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda as countries that have child soldiers.

Read the rest at MANILA TIMES

[Pamela]

WFP launches relief operation in northeastern Uganda

Nairobi, Kenya, 04/07 - Drought has forced the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to launch a six-month food relief operation to assist nearly 600,000 people affected by drought in north-eastern Uganda`s Karamoja region.

"Karamoja already suffers from the highest levels of malnutrition in Uganda and given the poor 2004 harvest, we are greatly concerned about the fate of the hundreds of thousands of people there who risk running out of food before the next harvest in September," said WFP country director Ken Noah Davies in a news release obtained here Wednesday.

Since 1980, drought recurs every five years in Karamoja, comprising Moroto, Kotido and Nakapiripirit districts.

According to a joint nutrition survey conducted in August 2004 by WFP, Ugandan health ministry and UNICEF, Karamoja`s average malnutrition rate of 18.7% and mortality rate of 3.9/10,000 per day are well above the rates found elsewhere in the country, including camps for internally displaced persons.

Another assessment the same month indicated that Karamoja recorded below normal rainfall, low crop production and consequently a slow onset of drought between June and August last year.

To avert hunger and malnutrition, especially among children under five, schoolchildren, the elderly and pregnant and lactating women, WFP has started food distribution in Kalapata and Nyakwae sub-counties in Kotido district, As well as in Rupa and Nadunget, Moroto district.

WFP has so far provided a two-month ration of maize and beans to over 123,000 people. More food will be distributed over the next six months reaching nearly 600,000 people before the September harvest.

Meanwhile, the WFP school-feeding programme in Karamoja will ensure that primary schoolchildren receive a nutritious meal in their respective school. Girls who manage to attend school for 80% of the school days are rewarded with a take-home ration.

Ugandan government statistics from 2000 showed that Karamoja has chronically low school enrolment figures, high drop-out rates, low retention and high poverty levels. Only 6.8% of people over the age of 15 have completed primary education compared to the national average of 25 percent.

Only 18% of men in Karamoja and 6% of women are literate, compared to national averages of 63% and 45%, respectively.

Read the rest at ANGOLA PRESS

[Pamela]

UNICEF Says 115 Million Children, Mostly Girls, Miss School
By  Lisa Schlein
Geneva
18 April 2005
 
A new report by the U.N. children's fund says more children than ever are going to school. But UNICEF says about 115 million children, mostly girls, are still denied a basic education.

UNICEF says there has been significant progress in getting children in school and in narrowing the gender gap between boys and girls. But it says progress is still too slow. At the rate it is going, it says the target of universal primary education by 2015 set by the U.N. Millennium Development Goal will be missed.

The UNICEF report says most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and many in South Asia are furthest away from meeting this goal. It notes that 82 percent of all children who do not attend school live in rural areas. It says the biggest barriers to education are poverty, conflict and HIV-AIDS.

In another telling statistic, the report says about 75 percent of children who do not attend primary school in developing countries have mothers who did not go to school.

UNICEF's executive director, Carol Bellamy, says girls who go to school benefit in many ways from the experience. "They are more likely to grow up healthy. They are more likely to have stable household incomes. Their own children are more likely to survive and stay healthy and their children are more likely to go to school. The evidence is overwhelming that the exclusion of women and girls, that discrimination against women and girls in all its forms, is the biggest anchor holding back national development around the world," he said.

The report gives a country-by-country snapshot of progress toward gender parity in schooling and universal primary education. It finds Peru, Sao Tome, Vietnam and Ghana are closest to reaching gender parity by 2015. The countries furthest away from reaching this goal are Yemen, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Ms. Bellamy says there are several concrete steps communities can take to get more girls to attend school. "It can range from how close the school is to where the village is because parents are worried about girls walking [a] long distance, to having separate sanitary facilities in schools, separate latrines in schools for both boys and girls. Quite a simple thing. Not a hugely expensive matter, but it makes a difference to [getting] girls in school. Having access to clean water in school because girls are usually the ones that have to fetch the water, to the issue of school fees. School fees [are] the single largest stumbling block to children generally going to school, but particularly girls going to school," he said.

UNICEF says it will take a radical shift in thinking and policies to make universal primary education and gender parity in schools a reality. The report says one example of this kind of thinking is Kenya's decision to abolish school fees for primary schools, as Tanzania and Uganda have also done.

VOICE OF AMERICA

[Pamela]

Gain in girls' education but too many still missing out
 
More children than ever are going to school, in part because more girls are going to school: That's the good news from Unicef's latest Progress for Children report, focusing on gender parity in primary school attendance.

However, millions of girls are still denied a basic education. While the gender gap in primary school attendance is shrinking globally, in many parts of the world it still yawns wide. The barriers keeping girls out of school in the developing world not only rob them of future opportunity, but impact their very health and survival, Unicef said in a press release issued earlier this week.

"Education is about more than just learning. In many countries it's a life-saver, especially where girls are concerned," said Unicef Executive Director Carol Bellamy, at the launch of the report. "A girl out of school is more likely to fall prey to HIV/AIDS and less able to raise a healthy family."

The world has made impressive gains towards getting equal numbers of girls into primary schools as boys. Some 125 out of 180 countries for which data were available are on course to reach gender parity by 2005 - a target set by the UN as part of the Millennium Development Goals.

Yet the global average masks huge pockets of inequity. Three regions - Middle East/North Africa, South Asia and West/Central Africa - will not meet the gender parity goal.

(snip)

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS, civil conflict, child labour, child trafficking and natural disasters all have a clear impact on access to schools and all tend to affect countries with already weak educational infrastructures.

Making universal primary education and gender parity in schools a reality will require some radical shifts in thinking and policies. All countries must begin to view education as a fundamental human right, not as an optional add-on where budgets allow. Kenya's decision to abolish school fees for primary schools, following in the footsteps of Tanzania and Uganda, is just such a dramatic shift in thinking.

To be sure, opening the school gate to all who wish to enter has put a massive strain on already over-burdened resources. That's why international aid for education must be drastically increased. The UN estimates that an extra USD 5.6 billion per year will be required to achieve universal primary education - no small sum. Some richer nations have already recognised the importance of this challenge. The UK government has pledged $2.68 billion over the next three years to help get more girls in school. Norway contributed $51 million to Unicef supported education initiatives in 2003-2004.

"The goal of universal primary education with equal opportunity for girls and boys is realistic," added Bellamy. "It is affordable, it is achievable and what's more, it's our children's birthright."

Unicef, as one of the lead agencies in the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI), is committed to narrowing the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005 and to ensuring that by 2015, all children complete primary schooling. UNGEI is a partnership that embraces the UN system, governments, donor countries, non-governmental organisations, civil society, the private sector, and communities and families.

Read the whole article HERE

[Pamela]

Congressional testimony in support of increased UNICEF funding
Clay Aiken, U.S. Fund for UNICEF National Ambassador

The following testimony — urging Congress to increase the U.S. Government's voluntary contribution to UNICEF for the next fiscal year — has been submitted to the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations, United States House of Representatives.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate this opportunity to submit testimony regarding the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). I am Clay Aiken, U.S. Fund for UNICEF Ambassador. On behalf of supporters of UNICEF across the United States, I respectfully ask the Subcommittee to provide $130 million as the U.S. Government's voluntary contribution to UNICEF for Fiscal Year 2006.

First, I want to thank this Subcommittee for providing $125 million as the U.S. Government's contribution to UNICEF for Fiscal Year 2005. The bipartisan leadership of this Subcommittee on funding for UNICEF and for international children's issues deserves to be commended.

Supporters of UNICEF's global work for children are encouraged by the Administration's request for an overall increase in international affairs funding for Fiscal Year 2006. We urge you to include an increase for UNICEF's core activities for children as part of this increase.

The well-being of the world's children clearly must be a priority of U.S. foreign policy. Nearly 11 million children die each year before their fifth birthday — about 30,000 children a day — mostly from preventable causes. Four million of them die in their first month of life.

More than 30 percent of children in developing countries — about 600 million — live on less than $1 a day. About 150 million children under five — one in four — are malnourished. At least 30 million children in the developing world are not immunized against preventable killer childhood diseases such as measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tuberculosis and tetanus.

These are among the challenges that have been targeted by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for 2015 and by the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session on Children of 2002. In response, UNICEF has adopted a Medium-Term Strategic Plan that commits its resources to securing results for children in the following five priority areas:

To ensure that every child is fully immunized and receives essential nutrients that protect health;
To promote integrated early childhood development, ensuring every child the best possible start in life;
To ensure that every girl and every boy completes a quality primary education;
To work to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and to ensure that children and young people already affected by the disease are cared for; and
To work to ensure that all children grow up in an environment that protects them from violence, exploitation, abuse, and discrimination.
Building upon more than 58 years of experience, UNICEF has organized its programs, partnerships, alliances, advocacy work and internal operations around these five organizational priorities. While much work remains to be done, some impressive gains have been realized:

Immunization efforts supported by UNICEF help to save the lives of nearly 3 million children a year. Today, three out of four children are immunized before their first birthday, which is a dramatic increase from the early 1970s when fewer than 10 percent were vaccinated.
UNICEF is the largest supplier of vaccines to developing countries, providing 40 percent of the world's doses of vaccines for children and spending $348 million on vaccines in 2003.
UNICEF-led efforts have helped protect over 41.5 million women from maternal tetanus, and maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) has been eliminated in 108 of 158 countries.
In 2002, UNICEF helped protect 10 million Afghan children against measles, and administered doses of vitamin A which is essential to the functioning of the immune system and helps prevent blindness.
Spearheaded by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, and other partners, the campaign to eradicate polio vaccinated more than 500 million children in 2002.
Thanks to global efforts by UNICEF, Kiwanis International and other partners, 70 percent of the world's households now use iodized salt, which protects 91 million newborns from iodine deficiency disorders.
In Afghanistan in 2002, UNICEF conducted the largest education campaign in its history, making it possible for 4 million children to return to school, including more than one million girls.
In 2002, UNICEF supported programs in 58 countries — up from 30 countries in 2000 — to help parents avoid passing HIV/AIDS to their children.
UNICEF, the largest purchaser of mosquito nets in the world, spent $18 million in 2003 on nets and insecticides to combat malaria.
The appropriations provided by this Subcommittee to UNICEF's core resources have helped to make this kind of progress possible. The contributions to UNICEF's regular resources enable UNICEF to be well-positioned in the field to meet the health, education and protection needs of vulnerable children. This makes UNICEF an effective partner for initiatives with the U.S. Government, with other international partners, with non-governmental organizations and with the private sector.

The U.S. Government's voluntary contribution to UNICEF's regular or core resources supports the essential foundation of UNICEF's work and makes it possible for UNICEF to make a measurable impact on saving children's lives and improving the quality of those lives. The funding provided by this Subcommittee is joined by contributions from other donor nations that form the structure that sustains UNICEF's country programs around the world. It positions UNICEF to help the United States in international emergencies and humanitarian crises (such as the tsunami crisis), conflicts (such as in Iraq and Afghanistan), and emerging threats to the well-being of children.

The tsunami crisis in Asia reminded the American people of the value of UNICEF's work for children. And the American people have been generous in responding to UNICEF's appeal for help. To date, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF has received over $112 million in contributions for the tsunami relief.

The funding UNICEF has received allowed UNICEF's humanitarian relief work to begin immediately and to be sustained. UNICEF's response in the areas impacted by the tsunami has included:

Emergency immunization to prevent deadly childhood diseases;
Supply of clean, safe water and provision of basic sanitation;
Special feeding for malnourished children and pregnant women;
Care and counseling for traumatized children; and
Provision of education kits and rehabilitation of schools to ensure the return of children to school as soon as possible.
More than 600 UNICEF staff have been on the ground in affected countries, assisting the humanitarian relief effort and working with local authorities and community-based organizations. Survivors have received over 2,000 tons of UNICEF supplies. As a result of efforts supported by UNICEF:

Very few children in the affected areas have died from preventable disease — probably the most important indicator of an effective immediate response;
Up to 90 percent of children have returned to school, most within the first month;
Most vulnerable communities now have reliable systems for accessing clean water; and
Almost all separated or vulnerable children are receiving protection, such as shelter, food and clothing, family tracing, and psychosocial counseling.
But the work is not over. UNICEF is dedicated to the long-term recovery of the nations affected. It expects to spend a minimum of $300 million on this effort over the next three years. This longer-term work will include the restoration of schools, health centers, safe water systems and other essential services that keep children alive and well.

I recently returned from tsunami-ravaged Aceh Province, where I saw utter devastation. Miles of nothing where there once were homes, schools and communities. But that isn't all I saw. I also saw hope and resilience. I saw children learning in schools, whether those schools were tents, or camps or blankets by the beach. I saw computers that had been used to trace missing children being packed away, because most kids have been reunited with relatives or are being cared for in safe environments. And I saw surviving boys and girls returning for the first time to the water's edge, where they sang and danced and started finding their smiles again.

But maybe most important of all is what I didn't see — hundreds of thousands of children dying from water-borne disease due to the contamination of all water sources. I didn't see that because UNICEF and its partners responded to this emergency with speed and efficiency, providing clean, safe water to help prevent outbreaks of disease that could easily have doubled the number of deaths.

It should be emphasized that over one-third of UNICEF's global resources are generated in the private sector. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF works in the United States to help encourage private sector contributions. Our efforts are enhanced through partnerships with a variety of individuals, corporations, foundations and service organizations. UNICEF's innovative partnerships with organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Kiwanis International and Rotary International are examples that are known to this Subcommittee. In this regard, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports the funding requests submitted to the Subcommittee by the Vaccine Fund, Kiwanis International and Rotary International. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF also supports the requests for child survival and maternal health advocated by the U.S. Coalition for Child Survival and the Student Campaign for Child Survival.

American advocates of UNICEF's work for the world's children salute the bipartisan support this Subcommittee consistently has provided for child survival and for UNICEF. In view of the budgetary challenges faced by the Subcommittee, we encourage you to continue your historical leadership to ensure that children are a priority of U.S. international assistance programs. We believe that UNICEF is an indispensable partner of the United States on initiatives to save and to improve the lives of vulnerable children around the world.

The United States has secured the appointment of former Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to be the Executive Director of UNICEF. We look forward to her leadership. She deserves to undertake this responsibility with solid, undiminished support from the United States Government for the work of UNICEF.

We believe that now is the time for additional funding from the United States to strengthen UNICEF's capacity to meet the ongoing needs of children. Helping UNICEF truly extends the reach of the American people in assisting children everywhere. We respectfully ask the Subcommittee to provide $130 million for UNICEF's regular resources for Fiscal Year 2006.

UNICEF

[claydevotee]

Pretty impressive stuff for a "runner-up", eh????

[GWENN]

CURIOUS--DID CLAY SPEAK IN FRONT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE OR WAS IT SENT AS A FORMAL LETTER?

GWENN

[claydevotee]

CURIOUS--DID CLAY SPEAK IN FRONT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE OR WAS IT SENT AS A FORMAL LETTER?

GWENN

Good question, Gwenn.  I was wondering the same thing myself.....

[cjrmax]

I read elsewhere that it was almost certainly submitted in writing, that  that is apparently the way it is done in matters such as this.

Besides, I bet if he had appeared in person, we would have heard about it.  I am sure there would have been a press release or it would have been picked up by some media outlet.

[houstonclayfan]

CURIOUS--DID CLAY SPEAK IN FRONT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE OR WAS IT SENT AS A FORMAL LETTER?

It appears as though he did it in person.

Pic of Clay testifying to Congress!



As you are all aware Clay has submitted a Congressional Testimony to urge Congress to increase funding to UNICEF to 130 million dollars. Considering all that we know UNICEF does to help children worldwide, all of us should take 60 seconds to notify our local representatives of our support. The Unicef site took all the guess work out of this procedure for us. If you know your ZIP CODE you can do it in approximately one minute. I'm sure Clay and the children of the world would appreciate it.

http://www.unicefusa.org/site/apps/s/content.asp?c=duLRI8O0H&b=27736&ct=734361

Click on the link below the article to help support Clay's testimony.


Thanks to Dudley for bringing this from the Clayboard!

[cjrmax]

Everyone should go to the link at the bottom of the speech to send emails off to their senators and congress people.  Its very easy.  Its all a form letter and fill-in-the-blanks.  Of course, my senators ask that you select one of several stock subjects.  None seemed to fit, so I chose "Education".  I suppose if that's wrong it will eventually get to where it should.

Of course, knowing my senators, that may not happen!  

[stellium]

Where is the exact time he is leaving?   Please.   I can't find it.

[Pamela]

Where is the exact time he is leaving?   Please.   I can't find it.

Someone at Bolt posted that Clay left Saturday to visit Uganda, and will return on Sunday, but I have no idea if that is true.

There are several issues involving children right now in the region; the articles posted in this thread highlight them.  Education, AIDS and armed children fighting in the military among them.

I'm anxious for him, and also to learn what the focus of his trip will be.

Any information or follow up articles will be posted in this thread.

ETA clarification that Bolt post is a rumor.

[Pamela]

Posted by berkeleylovesourclay over at the CH. Many thanks for the info!

A bit of information for those interested in Clay's UNICEF field mission to Uganda... (What am I talking about --- who isn't interested in Clay's whereabouts?)

If the rumors are true, Clay would have arrived in Uganda either late last night or early today (Pacific time), most likely setting down in *Entebbe before going on to the capital city of Kampala.  Kampala is very Westernized and metropolitan.

According to The World Clock for Kampala, Uganda, it is nearly midnight on Monday, May 9.

The weather is in the mid 70s, light showers expected for the week.

To track Uganda news, I recommend The Uganda page for All Africa.com.  This links to the major newspapers of the region.

It is a country with some serious problems.  According to UNICEF, there is poverty in Uganda, massive numbers of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), a twenty year civil war in the north and all of the problems attendant to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

But Uganda is also one of the most beautiful places in the world, and the vast majority of people there are warm and friendly towards Westerners.

So --- prayers, good wishes and other positive expressions would be a nice way to "accompany" Clay on his latest humanitarian journey.  Once again, I expect that he will gain as much as he will give.

I'll be back later with some thoughts and reflections on Clay in Uganda.

Hey --- at least I gave you fair warning!  *g*

[aikenseeker]

Thank you for the updates Pamela!!!

[cjrmax]

I posted this over at Critical Mass but thought I would bring it over here too.

According to Uganda's tourist board, they are Africa's friendliest country!

Here you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about Uganda (that they want you to know..........   )

UGANDA

According to this, he needed a yellow fever vaccine and will have to take the malaria drugs.  Depending where in Uganda he is going it can be warm to hot during the days, but at night, especially in the mountains, it can get quite cool. Way up in the mountains it can actually be alpine weather.  I guess during the day he will wear his usual 2 to 3 layers and at night his usual 4-6 layers!

Since he was in Raleigh, I would suspect he is flying from JFK to Entebbe.  The routing seems to be JFK to Brussels and then Brussels to Entebbe.  Total travel time is about 18 hours and 25 minutes.  The time difference from the east coast is 7 hours.

Have fun Clay!

[stellium]

Thank you for these updates.   Clay is truly going into the dark and the deprived areas of the world, and so I guess it is fitting that it is done in the quiet and in almost secrecy.

Safer,  too.