tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/unicef-4504/articlesUNICEF – The Conversation2024-03-28T15:09:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2266322024-03-28T15:09:02Z2024-03-28T15:09:02ZThe Gambia may allow female genital mutilation again – another sign of a global trend eroding women’s rights<p>The Gambia’s ban on <a href="https://africlaw.com/2016/01/19/banning-female-circumcision-in-the-gambia-through-legislative-change-the-next-steps/">female genital mutilation (FGM)</a> since 2015 is <a href="https://africlaw.com/2024/03/22/threats-to-endfgm-law-in-the-gambia/#more/-3155">under threat</a>. Proposed changes before parliament could permit <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijgo.12792">medicalised</a> female genital cutting and allow it for consenting adults. </p>
<p>This potential reversal has thrust the country into the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/18/move-to-overturn-fgm-ban-in-the-gambia-postponed">global spotlight</a> as the latest example of the backlash against gender equality.</p>
<p>The Gambia’s criminalisation of FGM was not the first in west Africa but it came as a surprise. The president at the time, Yahya Jammeh, declared the <a href="https://gambia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/national_policy_for_the_elimination_of_fgm.pdf">rampant cultural tradition</a> a non-religious practice that caused harm. There was some dissent within the country but human rights groups <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-9fb847c01f8e448c97f5d09b8a844cba">welcomed</a> the ban. </p>
<p>Jammeh, who was president from 1994 to 2016, also oversaw the passage of other progressive gender-related laws. The <a href="https://www.lawhubgambia.com/domestic-violence-act-2013">Domestic Violence Act 2013</a> provided a framework for combating domestic violence in all its forms (physical, sexual, emotional, economic) and protection in particular for women and children. The <a href="https://www.lawhubgambia.com/sexual-offences-act-2013">Sexual Offences Act 2013</a> expanded the definition of rape, broadened the circumstances in which individuals could be charged, and reduced the burden of proof in prosecutions.</p>
<p>Jammeh also <a href="https://security-legislation.gm/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Childrens-Amendment-Act-2016.pdf">outlawed</a> child marriages in 2016. This was significant in country where <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR369/FR369.pdf">one in five young people aged 15-19 (19%)</a> are married. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/development-policy/news/eu-cuts-aid-to-gambia-over-human-rights-concerns/">one of the world’s most aid-dependent countries</a>, these reforms were all central to international donor interests. And they helped to improve the country’s democratic reputation. But at the same time, they made it easy for the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48609039">autocratic</a> leader to get away with other excesses. He also mobilised religion to manipulate beliefs and sentiments, particularly affecting girls and women. For example, Jammeh <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/gambia-female-government-workers-headscarves-islamic-republic">mandated</a> that female government workers wear veils or headscarves when he declared his <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353945890_2020_Religious_Tolerance_in_the_Gambia">Muslim majority</a> country an Islamic state in 2016. </p>
<p>President Adama Barrow, Jammeh’s successor, has emphasised religious tolerance and has refrained from employing religious symbolism. Unlike the state-sponsored homophobia under the Jammeh regime, Barrow has downplayed homosexuality as a <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edocman/edited_collections/queer_lawfare_in_africa/Chapter%2011.pdf">“non-issue”</a>.</p>
<p>I am a legal scholar and human rights practitioner with published research on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Q0j-E18AAAAJ&citation_for_view=Q0j-E18AAAAJ:u5HHmVD_uO8C">female genital mutilation</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Q0j-E18AAAAJ&citation_for_view=Q0j-E18AAAAJ:zYLM7Y9cAGgC">gender equality and women’s rights</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Q0j-E18AAAAJ&citation_for_view=Q0j-E18AAAAJ:_kc_bZDykSQC">governance</a> in The Gambia. It’s my view that Jammeh’s ostensible compliance with gender equality norms was selective and intended for the international gallery rather than a genuine commitment to women’s rights and democracy.</p>
<p>His tactical stance highlighted a broader trend. Autocratic African leaders often accommodate global gender norms to maintain domestic power dynamics. The result, for example, is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00104140221074277">increased women’s political participation through quotas</a> along with a conservative approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights.</p>
<p>The Gambia experience also shows that western donors and multilateral institutions need to go beyond just pushing for reforms. Once they have got the reforms they advocated for, they should have a strategy for sustaining them. Forces that were opposed to the reform often regroup to campaign for its removal. </p>
<p>At its core, female genital mutilation <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edocman/pulp_commentaries/protocol_to_ACHPR/Article_5.pdf">constitutes</a> a <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijgo.12792">violation</a> of the human rights of girls and women. These include the right to non-discrimination, to protection from physical and mental violence, and to health and life. </p>
<p>From a feminist perspective, the prevalence of FGM in numerous African nations revolves around upholding gender-specific norms and exerting control over women’s sexuality.</p>
<h2>Female genital mutilation in The Gambia</h2>
<p>Female genital cutting is a <a href="https://gambia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/national_policy_for_the_elimination_of_fgm.pdf">deeply ingrained practice</a>. It is driven by cultural beliefs and often performed by traditional healers. According to the most recent <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-FR369-DHS-Final-Reports.cfm">national survey</a>, a large majority of Gambian women aged 15-49 years (73%) have undergone female genital cutting. More alarming is an <a href="https://www.unicef.org/gambia/media/776/file/The%20Gambia%20Multiple%20Indicator%20Cluster%20Survey%202018.pdf">8% increase in the prevalence</a> of FGM among girls under the age of 14 – from 42.4% in 2010 to 50.6% in 2018. </p>
<p>Numerous health risks associated with all types of the practice have been documented by the <a href="https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation">World Health Organization</a> and <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/2/4/bmjgh-2017-000467#ref-5">systematic reviews</a>. These include severe pain, bleeding, infections and complications during childbirth and elevated rates of anxiety and other mental health disorders. This has led to <a href="https://eyala.blog/my-musings/repealing-the-endfgm-law-will-be-a-betrayal-of-women-and-girls-in-the-gambia-jama-jack">calls</a> for the practice to be banned in order to protect girls’ health and well-being.</p>
<p>The Gambia’s current struggle with the FGM ban reflects a complex interplay between cultural norms, religious beliefs, and the fight for gender equality. The potential repeal of the ban poses a threat to human rights of women and girls in The Gambia.</p>
<h2>Reversal of hard-won gains</h2>
<p>Though The Gambia is constitutionally secular, religion influences nearly every facet of society. Islamic fundamentalists in the country are known for attacks on religious minorities, including <a href="https://malagen.org/media-monitoring/hate-speech-alert-imam-fatty-attacks-ahmadis/">hate speech</a> against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and the <a href="https://www.voicegambia.com/2023/05/11/rising-religious-tension-in-the-country/">Christian community</a>. </p>
<p>The main fundamentalist religious actors draw inspiration from and still support the exiled former dictator Jammeh. They are at the forefront of the <a href="https://africlaw.com/2024/03/22/threats-to-endfgm-law-in-the-gambia/#more-3155.">recent pushback</a> against the anti-FGM law. They argue that the ban violates their religious and cultural freedoms as guaranteed in the <a href="https://www.lawhubgambia.com/1997-constitution">1997 constitution</a>. </p>
<p>On 4 March 2024 a <a href="https://standard.gm/nam-to-seek-power-of-attorney-from-jammeh-to-sue-govt/">strong supporter of Jammeh</a> proposed a private member’s <a href="https://satangnabaneh.com/contesting-the-prohibition-of-female-genital-mutilation-in-the-gambia/">bill</a> in the National Assembly that seeks to overturn the ban.</p>
<p>The push to reassert traditional gender roles isn’t isolated to The Gambia. There is a global trend of rolling back progress on gender equality. This trend is characterised by attempts to limit <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/emerging-voices-series/choice-and-conscience-lessons-from-south-africa-for-a-global-debate">women’s bodily choices</a>, an <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WG/Gender-equality-and-gender-backlash.pdf">increase in violence</a> against them, as well as <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edited-collections/queer-lawfare-in-africa-legal-strategies-in-contexts-of-lgbtiq-criminalisation-and-politicisation">attacks</a> on LGBTQI+ communities. It reflects a broader political climate of backlash against women’s rights and gender equality as a weapon in the reversal of democratic achievements.</p>
<p>Attempts have been seen to reverse legal protections against women and girls in <a href="https://au.int/en/articles/kenyas-court-ruling-against-fgm-demonstrates-commitment-member-states-shun-practices">Kenya</a>. In Sudan, state-sanctioned violence and societal pressure is aimed at <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2019/07/against-laws-regime-sudan-women-protesters-want/">restricting</a> women’s public participation. Similarly, Tanzania previously enacted a policy barring teenage mothers from <a href="https://www.moe.go.tz/sw/nyaraka/waraka-wa-elimu-na-2-wa-mwaka-2021-kuhusu-kuingia-tena-shule-kwa-wanafunzi-wa-shule-za">attending</a> public schools, though this policy has been reversed. </p>
<p>This global context highlights how anti-rights movements, undemocratic norms and gendered politics are working together to erode women’s rights and exacerbate inequalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Satang Nabaneh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The potential repeal of the ban on female genital mutilation poses a threat to the well-being of girls in The Gambia.Satang Nabaneh, Director of Programs, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2215652024-01-29T18:13:40Z2024-01-29T18:13:40ZChild poverty is on the rise in Canada, putting over 1 million kids at risk of life-long negative effects<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571536/original/file-20240125-19-ibw47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=221%2C0%2C6488%2C4466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Poverty reduction has the potential to initiate a beneficial cascade that would improve the lives of children and youth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/child-poverty-is-on-the-rise-in-canada-putting-over-1-million-kids-at-risk-of-life-long-negative-effects" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>At first glance, Canada ranks among the top third of countries for its work in addressing child poverty. But that isn’t the whole story.</p>
<p>Based on current rates of and overall progress in reducing child poverty, the latest <a href="https://www.unicef.ca/en/unicef-report-card-18">UNICEF report card</a> ranks Canada 11th out of 39 of the world’s wealthiest countries. Initially, it seems Canada is doing well; between 2012 and 2021, child poverty fell by 23 per cent. </p>
<p>In reality, since 2021, the number of children living in <a href="https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/3291/file/UNICEF-Innocenti-Report-Card-18-Child-Poverty-Amidst-Wealth-2023.pdf">monetary poverty</a> has <a href="https://www.unicef.ca/sites/default/files/2023-12/UNICEFReport%20Card18CanadianSummary.pdf">sharply risen from 15.2 per cent in 2020 to 17.8 per cent in 2021</a>, and more than <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canada-still-in-the-middle-of-high-income-countries-on-child-poverty-new-unicef-report-852057195.html">one million Canadian children</a> live in poverty today. </p>
<p>This means that one in five children live in persistent fear and stress, face barriers to having their basic needs met, such as stable housing and nutritious food, and experience a lack of opportunity, including access to quality early childhood experiences. As a child psychologist and a health economist, we know that the consequences of child poverty are lifelong and are worth prioritizing.</p>
<p>We know that <a href="https://www.nccp.org/publication/childhood-and-intergenerational-poverty/">poverty persists</a>, generation by generation. This is why, although Canada ranks in the top third of countries, we shouldn’t lose sight of our reality. Canada is presently experiencing rising <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-economist-explains-what-you-need-to-know-about-inflation-188959">inflation</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-the-bank-of-canadas-interest-rate-hike-to-5-will-impact-canadian-households-209369">interest rates</a>, both driving the cost of living crisis and the increase in child poverty rates. And while the economy continues to place constraints on all Canadians, it has a magnifying effect on those most vulnerable, including children. </p>
<h2>Building a solid foundation for the future</h2>
<p>Child poverty is a pernicious childhood adversity that has detrimental long-term impacts on children’s health, development and well-being throughout life. Children living in poverty have lower <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1602387">academic outcomes</a>, including school readiness and academic achievement, than financially better-off children. Poverty is also a risk factor for behavioural and emotional difficulties. </p>
<p>These educational and social gaps are associated with chronic stress that persists over time, leading to lower earning potential, poorer health and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604756114">poorer well-being</a>. Poverty, including income loss, housing insecurity and material hardship, is also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2795">strongly associated</a> with abuse and neglect, which are known toxic stressors for children and youth. </p>
<p>Poverty reduction has the potential to initiate a beneficial cascade that would improve the lives of children and youth. Taken together, addressing child poverty has the potential to put children on a more optimal developmental course and reduce their risk for poor outcomes. </p>
<h2>Balancing today’s needs with tomorrow’s</h2>
<p>Between 2012 and 2021, Canada made great strides in addressing child poverty. In 2016, the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/canada-child-benefit-payments-to-increase-this-month-for-many-families-here-s-how-much/article_1b689540-3a7b-5cd0-aa11-8f1855455c54.html">Canada Child Benefit (CCB)</a> was introduced as a monthly tax-free supplement for eligible families to support the cost of raising children. Families in low to middle-income households benefited the most; the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/721379">CCB reduced poverty</a> by 11 per cent in single-parent families and 17 per cent in two-parent families. </p>
<p>The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program provided additional temporary relief for eligible individuals during the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/pandemic-benefits-reduced-child-poverty-government-should-build-on-success-report">COVID-19 pandemic</a>. And, in recent years, the minimum wage has also increased for Canadians. </p>
<p>Although there is evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.02.011">monetary interventions</a>, such as cash transfers, help reduce mental health symptoms among youth experiencing poverty, there remains <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9999605/minimum-wage-hikes-cost-of-living-advocates/">debate</a> on whether these increases have helped families overcome challenges to the cost of living. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the CERB, provided during the pandemic, has now been discontinued, increasing the hardship among Canadian families. Until families are provided with adequate support, the reality is Canada may continue experiencing a rise in rates of child poverty with significant cascading effects.</p>
<h2>Long-term payoffs of addressing child poverty</h2>
<p>Addressing child poverty has long-term payoffs. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.3.3.175">Child benefit programs</a> in Canada have been shown to positively affect children’s educational attainment and improve mothers’ health and mental health. These improvements can subsequently lead to improved health and mental health among children, which reduces long-term public costs. </p>
<p>In addition to being a <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/social/poverty-is-denial-of-childrens-rights.html">human rights issue</a>, addressing child poverty makes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503%2Fcmaj.69470">economic sense</a>. This is why addressing child poverty needs to remain a priority for all Canadians. Governments, employers and communities must partner to reduce the risk of poverty. They can do this by:</p>
<ol>
<li>Adopting a national <a href="https://www.livingwage.ca/">living wage</a> policy, where the hourly minimum wage supports the cost of living in Canadian communities. </li>
<li>Reducing <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/">food insecurity</a> by enhancing access to nutritional food through nationally available school food programs. </li>
<li>Increasing school readiness by providing universal access to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/eca/press-releases/investing-ECD-essential-children">quality early childhood development</a> programs across Canada.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Some are more at risk than others</h2>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.unicef.ca/en/unicef-report-card-18">report card</a>, UNICEF identified single-parent families, families living in Indigenous communities, and families with racialized or disabled children as being at higher risk of poverty. These risks come with cascading health, social and justice <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503%2Fcmaj.171508">consequences</a>. Further multidimensional and targeted approaches are needed to support families that are more severely affected. </p>
<p>The Government of Canada has a legislated target to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030/poverty.html">reduce poverty by at least 50 per cent</a> relative to 2015 levels by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. </p>
<p>As we saw before the pandemic, it is possible to reduce child poverty in Canada. However, unless the impact of the current economic climate on families is considered and suitably responded to, Canada may continue experiencing a rise in rates of child poverty, putting our collective future at risk. Canada can do better, and we should do better for our kids.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Racine receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the University of Ottawa, and holds a Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health at the Children's Hospital of Easter Ontario Research Institute. She sits on the Board of Trustees for Strong Minds Strong Kids, Psychology Foundation of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shainur Premji receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.</span></em></p>Over one million Canadian children live in poverty. Child poverty is a pernicious childhood adversity that has detrimental long-term impacts on health, development and well-being throughout life.Nicole Racine, Assistant professor, School of Psychology, Scientist, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaShainur Premji, Research Fellow, Centre for Health Economics, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069482023-07-10T14:45:16Z2023-07-10T14:45:16ZNearly a third of Nigerians don’t have access to a basic supply of water. This is partly because of loopholes in a law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535764/original/file-20230705-29-crz55s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Access to clean water is a major issue in Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Water, sanitation and hygiene facilities are essential for health and welfare. Providing them is one of the core duties of the state.</p>
<p>In Nigeria, funding for these projects comes from the government’s budget and from development partners. UNICEF, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the European Union, and the US Agency for International Development all provide aid. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media/2986/file/Evaluation%20Report%20on%20WASH%20Programme%202014%20-%202017.pdf#page=12">UNICEF report</a> shows that between 2014 and 2017, international development partners and the government invested a total of US$188.3 million in sanitation projects in Nigeria. </p>
<p>But the report <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media/2986/file/Evaluation%20Report%20on%20WASH%20Programme%202014%20-%202017.pdf#page=12">shows</a> that Nigeria is still one of the top three countries globally in terms of the number of people living without safe water and sanitation. It <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media/2986/file/Evaluation%20Report%20on%20WASH%20Programme%202014%20-%202017.pdf#page=12">adds</a> that only 68% of the Nigerian population have access to a basic water supply, 19% use safely managed sanitation facilities and 24% practise open defecation. </p>
<p>Unsafe water and poor sanitation and hygiene are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4199018/">some of the major causes</a> of Nigeria’s high rates of mortality and morbidity among children under five. They increase vulnerability to water-related diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea.</p>
<p>There have been public procurement reforms that seek to regulate abuse of rules, processes and standards in the awarding and delivery of public-sector contracts. But despite the reforms, eliminating the massive deficits in the water and sanitation sector through competitive, transparent, accountable and cost-effective procurement processes has become increasingly difficult. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03056244.2023.2194164">a recent paper</a> we analysed data from selected local government areas where there were UNICEF-funded sanitation projects. Based on this, we argue that procurement regulation has been subverted to make money in the service delivery sector. </p>
<p>Our findings provide an explanation of the deplorable state of sanitation facilities in Nigeria. The problem is not just a lack of funding or capacity, as has been argued before, but a legal choice. </p>
<h2>Procurement in Nigeria</h2>
<p>Nigeria enacted a procurement law in 2007. <a href="https://www.bpp.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Public-Procurement-Act-2007pdf.pdf">The Public Procurement Act 2007</a> brought a sense of regulation to the procurement process in the country. Before this, there was no law either at the state or federal level guiding public procurement. It was intended to check abuse in the awarding and delivery of public-sector contracts. </p>
<p>Section 24 (3) of the Public Procurement Act sets out that contracts must be awarded to the bidder with the lowest bid that meets the contract’s terms and conditions. </p>
<p>Our study focused on how this practice undermined the delivery of sanitation projects in Nigeria.</p>
<p>We drew on field data from sanitation projects in states across the country: Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Jigawa, Katsina, Rivers and Yobe. The procuring entities were ministries, extra-ministerial offices, government agencies, parastatal organisations and corporations. They awarded UNICEF-funded projects to the lowest responsive bidders (contractors) between 2013 and 2019. The projects were meant to provide water and sanitation facilities. </p>
<p>We observed that four firms were accused of committing a procurement offence. They subcontracted their commitments to other firms at prices lower than the sums in the contract. </p>
<p>We saw that influential individuals under-quoted contract sums, apparently to keep a hold on procurement processes. They then won contracts and diverted contract sums or subcontracted to third parties who either failed to do the work or delivered substandard work. The poor standard could be seen from the reports of the procuring entities.</p>
<p>Contrary to the expectation that the procurement legislation would promote broader participation in contract management, this study found that accepting the lowest bid limited the involvement of credible, trusted and tested firms known for the delivery of quality work, goods and services. Quality work would necessarily cost more than the lowest bid. </p>
<p>The procurement law could have provided, instead, for bidding that emphasised quality, experience and reputation. It appears lawmakers made sure that the law left loopholes.</p>
<p>Reputable firms are seemingly incapable of getting contracts because they lack access to powerful state actors. Highly placed individuals use the bidding mechanism to engage in sharp practices.</p>
<p>The result is low quality service delivery. </p>
<h2>How Nigeria got here</h2>
<p>For decades, poor sanitation and hygiene facilities in Nigeria were connected to weak project execution, paucity of funds and limited government capacity. Corruption, overvaluation of projects and favouritism in contract awards added to the problems. Attempts to prevent these challenges provided the basis for public procurement reforms. </p>
<p>The reforms were supposed to improve accountability on the part of government and others in public procurement. Fairness, value for money and cost effectiveness were also expected. </p>
<p>But the lowest evaluated bid system is more susceptible to manipulation than a qualifications-based bidding mechanism.</p>
<p>The reforms have not had the desired impact in the water and sanitation sector. </p>
<h2>Appropriate reform</h2>
<p>An appropriate reform of the service delivery sector should enhance participation in procurement processes by civil society organisations, the media, beneficiary communities and relevant professional bodies. </p>
<p>Contract sums must also be in line with market realities. Tested and trusted contractors must be engaged to manage procurement of works and services.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigerians lack access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities despite investment in these areas. Procurement law contributes to this inadvertently.Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, Professor of Political Science, University of NigeriaChikodiri Nwangwu, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of NigeriaKelechi Elijah Nnamani, Lecturer and Researcher, Department of Political Science, University of NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1863052022-07-11T01:59:42Z2022-07-11T01:59:42ZChanges to the way Oranga Tamariki is monitored risk weakening children’s rights and protections – what should be done?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472918/original/file-20220707-23519-9dmrfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C518%2C7803%2C4656&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new law designed to improve oversight of the agencies charged with protecting children and young people is making its way through parliament. As it stands, there are serious concerns about how effective it will be once enacted.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2021/0094/latest/LMS591647.html">Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People’s Commission Bill 2021</a> is described as providing for independent monitoring and complaints oversight for Oranga Tamariki, and greater advocacy for children’s and young people’s issues generally. </p>
<p>These are laudable goals, but of the 403 submissions to the select committee hearing submissions on the bill, 311 oppose the proposed law changes. Only eight are in favour, with the rest neutral. </p>
<p>The bill’s proposed changes are problematic for a number of reasons. One is that the bill still <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/NZL/INT_CRC_COC_NZL_25459_E.pdf">does not incorporate</a> the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic legislation. This would mean the convention rights would become part of the law of Aotearoa New Zealand. </p>
<p>One of the clear benefits of this would be that children’s rights – especially their rights to health, housing and food – would be more readily enforceable through the national courts. In other words, it would be easier to hold the government to account for its actions or inaction.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1540552612818604032"}"></div></p>
<h2>Changing roles and responsibilities</h2>
<p>The question of accountability becomes all the more important because the bill contains major changes to how the rights, interests and well-being of young New Zealanders are protected. </p>
<p>It proposes the establishment of an Independent Monitor of Oranga Tamariki that will assess how the child welfare agency is supporting children, young people and their whānau. It will replace the Independent Children’s Monitor, which was established as an independent crown entity in 2018. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-state-removal-of-maori-children-from-their-families-is-a-wound-that-wont-heal-but-there-is-a-way-forward-140243">The state removal of Māori children from their families is a wound that won't heal – but there is a way forward</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The new monitor will be a departmental agency within the Ministry of Education. This move has been <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129037589/mps-across-the-house-get-in-line-to-criticise-oranga-tamariki-bill">criticised</a> for undermining the independence of the new monitor. </p>
<p>The bill also proposes that the Office of the Ombudsman will be the sole body responsible for investigating and resolving complaints on matters regarding the application of the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0024/latest/DLM147088.html">Oranga Tamariki Act</a>. </p>
<p>This is particularly contentious because so far the Children’s Commissioner has had that role. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="UNICEF website" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472919/original/file-20220707-25845-hjye2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The reforms still don’t incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-the-homepage-of-the-united-news-photo/1241291595">Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reduced powers and weaker oversight</h2>
<p>The transfer of investigative powers to the Ombudsman is not the only major change to the Children’s Commissioner, whose office will be replaced by a Children and Young People’s Commission. </p>
<p>The new commission will continue to promote and advance the interests and well-being of children and young people, but its role is weaker. </p>
<p>In particular, unlike the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0121/latest/whole.html#DLM230435">current</a> Children’s Commissioner, it will not be able to advise on establishing complaints mechanisms for children or monitor the types of complaints made. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-had-no-say-in-new-zealands-well-being-budget-and-that-matters-118113">Children had no say in New Zealand's well-being budget, and that matters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Stripping the new commission of any powers to deal with complaints has a much wider impact on the application of children’s rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. </p>
<p>If the new commission is not able to advise the multitude of organisations that work with children and young people about how to make a complaint, this will significantly limit the extent to which the government can be held accountable for any failure to protect children’s rights overall.</p>
<h2>Less scrutiny of government actions</h2>
<p>The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has already <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/NZL/INT_CRC_COC_NZL_25459_E.pdf">expressed concern</a> at the system of protecting children’s rights in Aotearoa. </p>
<p>In 2016, it recommended the Children’s Commissioner be given adequate resources to receive, investigate and address complaints from children. The new commission would appear to be a step in the opposite direction. </p>
<p>The UN also recommended that Aotearoa New Zealand commit itself to the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-rights-child-communications">complaints mechanism</a> of the convention, which would allow children to complain to the UN committee about breaches of their rights. </p>
<p>The government is <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/reports/document/SCR_119648/international-treaty-examination-of-the-optional-protocol"> examining</a> whether it will sign up to the complaints mechanism. </p>
<p>But its level of commitment to the complaints process looks questionable if the new Children and Young People’s Commission, as a body charged with promoting the rights, interests and well-being of New Zealand children, cannot investigate complaints.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children with their arms raised" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472920/original/file-20220707-10369-dtgc01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Incorporation of the Children’s Rights Convention into domestic law would provide children with a clear legal mechanism to uphold their rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/photo/child-companionship-diversity-ethnicity-unity-royalty-free-image/668218964?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bad timing</h2>
<p>All these changes come at a time when young New Zealanders face declining physical and mental health, educational achievement and living standards, while the high levels of poverty and violence they experience persist. </p>
<p>For many young people, these outcomes are exacerbated by multiple forms of discrimination. More can and must be done.</p>
<p>Incorporation of the Children’s Rights Convention into domestic law would provide children in Aotearoa New Zealand with a clear legal mechanism to uphold their rights. </p>
<p>Even if the government continues with its (widely opposed) plan to give monitoring and investigative powers regarding Oranga Tamariki to the Independent Monitor and the Ombudsman only, it must restore the powers of the Children and Young People’s Commission to scrutinise the government’s effectiveness in protecting the remaining range of children’s rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new law intended to strengthen oversight of Oranga Tamariki and other agencies tasked to protect children has the potential to do the opposite.Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1814582022-05-18T12:13:03Z2022-05-18T12:13:03ZWhether in war-torn Ukraine, Laos or Spain, kids have felt compelled to pick up crayons and put their experiences to paper<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460858/original/file-20220502-6157-6ru4ob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C2038%2C1263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 1970, a 16-year-old Laotian boy drew a picture of his school being bombed. 'Many people' died, he wrote, 'But I didn't know who because I wasn't courageous enough to look.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Legacies of War</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“They still draw pictures!”</p>
<p>So wrote the editors of an influential collection of children’s art that was <a href="https://www.afsc.org/document/they-still-draw-pictures-1938">compiled in 1938</a> during <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraines-foreign-fighters-have-little-in-common-with-those-who-signed-up-to-fight-in-the-spanish-civil-war-178976">the Spanish Civil War</a>. </p>
<p>Eighty years later, war continues to upend children’s lives in Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere. In January, UNICEF <a href="https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/reports/prospects-children-2022-global-outlook">projected</a> that 177 million children worldwide would require assistance due to war and political instability in 2022. This included <a href="https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/yemen-crisis">12 million children in Yemen</a>, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/syrian-crisis">6.5 million in Syria</a> and <a href="https://www.unicef.org/appeals/myanmar">5 million in Myanmar</a>.</p>
<p>The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 added 7 million more children to this number. To date, more than half of Ukraine’s children <a href="https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children">have been internally or externally displaced</a>. Many more have faced disruptions to education, health care and home life. </p>
<p>And yet they, too, still draw pictures. In March, a charity called <a href="https://www.uakids.today/en">UA Kids Today</a> launched, offering a digital platform for kids to respond with art to Russia’s invasion and raise money for aid to Ukrainian families with children.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7bfZyk8AAAAJ&hl=en">As a scholar who studies</a> the ways wars affect societies’ most vulnerable members, I see much that can be learned from the art created by kids living in war-torn regions across place and time.</p>
<h2>A century of children’s art</h2>
<p>During <a href="https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/boer-war">the Boer War</a> – a conflict waged from 1899 to 1902 between British troops and South African guerrilla forces – relief workers sought to teach orphaned girls the art of <a href="https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2017/08/24/the-archive-of-emily-hobhouse-now-available/">lace-making</a>. During World War I, displaced children in Greece and Turkey learned to weave textiles and decorate pottery <a href="https://neareastmuseum.com/2015/08/13/every-stitch-a-story-near-east-industries/">as a means of making a living</a>. </p>
<p>Over time, expression has replaced subsistence as the driver of children’s wartime artwork. No longer pressed to sell their productions, children are instead urged to put their emotions and experiences on display for the world to see. </p>
<p>Novelist <a href="https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/novemberdecember/feature/the-talented-mr-huxley">Aldous Huxley</a> hinted at this goal in his introduction to the 1938 collection of Spanish Civil War art. </p>
<p>Whether showing “explosions, the panic rush to shelter, [or] the bodies of victims,” <a href="https://library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/tsdp/frame.html">Huxley wrote</a>, these drawings revealed “a power of expression that evokes our admiration for the childish artists and our horror at the elaborate bestiality of modern war.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/herbert-read">Herbert Read</a>, a World War I veteran and educational theorist, organized another show of children’s art during World War II. Unlike Huxley, Read found that scenes of war did not dominate the drawings he collected from British schoolchildren, even those exposed to the London Blitz. In a pamphlet for the exhibition, he highlighted “the sense of beauty and the enjoyment of life which they have expressed.”</p>
<p>While the shows discussed by Read and Huxley differed in many ways, both men emphasized the form and composition of children’s artwork as much as their pictorial contents. Both also expressed the view that the creators of these drawings would play a critical role in the rebuilding of their war-torn communities. </p>
<h2>A political tool</h2>
<p>As with the children’s war art made during Huxley and Read’s time, the images coming out of Ukraine express a mix of horror, fear, hope and beauty.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb8MhFJNp6O","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>While planes, rockets and explosions appear in many of the pictures uploaded by <a href="https://www.uakids.today/en">UA Kids Today</a>, so do flowers, angels, Easter bunnies and peace signs.</p>
<p>The managers of this platform – who are refugees themselves – have not been able to mount a physical exhibition of these works. But artists and curators elsewhere are beginning to do so. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CbLfo0uAiSw","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In Sarasota, Florida, artist Wojtek Sawa <a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/new-sarasota-exhibit-features-artwork-of-ukrainian-children-coping-with-war">has opened a show</a> of Ukrainian children’s art that will be used to collect donations and messages from visitors. These will later be distributed to displaced children in Poland.</p>
<p><a href="https://warchildhood.org/">The War Childhood Museum</a>, based in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, had recently concluded traveling exhibitions in Kyiv and Kherson when the Russian invasion started. The museum’s managing director, who has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-crimes-schools-d1e52368aced8b3359f4436ca7180811">spoken</a> out strongly about the need for cultural heritage protection in war, was able to retrieve several dozen artifacts from these shows a few days before the fighting commenced. Those toys and drawings, which tell the story of children’s experience during Russia’s previous effort to gain control of the Donbas region in 2014, <a href="https://warchildhood.org/2022/02/24/updates-from-ukraine/">will be featured</a> in shows opening elsewhere in Europe in 2022.</p>
<p>By capturing the attention of journalists and the public, these exhibitions have been used to raise awareness, solicit funds and inspire commentary.</p>
<p>However, children’s art from Ukraine has not yet played a role in political deliberations, as it did when peace activist Fred Branfman shared his collection of drawings by Laotian children and adults <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/us/fred-branfman-laos-activist-dies-at-72.html">during his 1971 testimony</a> before Congress on the “<a href="https://legaciesofwar.org/about-laos/secret-war-laos/">Secret War</a>” the U.S. had been conducting in Laos since 1964. </p>
<p>Nor is it yet clear whether this art will play a part in future war crimes trials, as the art of Auschwitz-Birkenau internee Yahuda Bacon <a href="https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/01/25/for-child-survivors-drawing-is-therapy-and-a-tool-of-justice">did during</a> the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Museum exhibit display enlarged painting of a concentration camp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463358/original/file-20220516-26-f2podd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As a teenager, Holocaust survivor Yahuda Bacon drew a series of pieces depicting his experiences in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Yad_Vashem_inside_9355.JPG">Kenyh Cevarom</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Windows into different worlds</h2>
<p>Art historians <a href="https://www.massey.ac.nz/%7Ealock/hbook/bremner.htm">once thought</a> children’s drawings, no matter where they lived, revealed the world in a way that was unshaped by cultural conventions. </p>
<p>But I don’t believe that children in all countries and conflicts represent their experiences in the same way. The drawings of children imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II are not formally or symbolically interchangeable with drawings made by children exposed to America’s bombing campaign in Laos. Nor can these be interpreted in the same way as images produced by Ukrainian, Yemeni, Syrian or Sudanese children today.</p>
<p>To me, one of the most valuable features of children’s art is its power to highlight unique aspects of everyday life in distant places, while conveying a sense of what can be upended, lost or destroyed. </p>
<p>A Laotian child’s <a href="https://legaciesofwar.org/programs/national-traveling-exhibition/illustrations-narratives/">drawing</a> of a horse that “ran back to the village” from the rice field after its owner was killed by a bomb offers a small window into the lives of subsistence rice farmers. The desert landscapes and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-30/yemen-s-historic-tower-houses-are-under-threat">urban architecture</a> of Yemen are equally distinctive, and Yemeni children’s drawings highlight those differences even as they express aspirations that viewers around the world may share.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of bullet-riddled horse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463349/original/file-20220516-17-4n069m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘I am a child of my village,’ the 14-year-old Laotian artist wrote. ‘I once saw a horse of great size and goodness. A man had ridden to the rice field and was hit by the airplanes. Only the horse ran back to the village.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Legacies of War.</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The challenges of preservation</h2>
<p>As an academic who has also worked in museums, I am always thinking about how artifacts from today’s conflicts will be preserved for exhibition in the future.</p>
<p>There are significant challenges to preserving the drawings and paintings young people produce. </p>
<p>First, children’s art is materially unstable. It is often made on paper, with crayons, markers and other ephemeral media. This makes it dangerous to display originals and demands care in the production of facsimiles. </p>
<p>Second, children’s art is often hard to contextualize. The first-person commentaries that accompanied some of the Spanish Civil War drawings and most of the Laotian images <a href="https://library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/tsdp/frame.html">often provide</a> details about children’s localized experience but rarely about the timing of events, geographic locations or other crucial facts. </p>
<p>Finally, much children’s war art suffers from uncertain authorship. With few full names recorded, it is hard to trace the fates of most child artists, nor is it generally possible to gather their adult reflections on their childhood creations. </p>
<p>By noting these complications, I don’t want to detract from the remarkable fact that children still draw pictures during war. Their expressions are invaluable for documenting war and its impact, and it’s important to study them.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, in researching children’s art, it is necessary to reflect that scholars and curators are – like the child artists themselves – often working at the limits of their knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Morrow serves on the board of the Dayton International Peace Museum. He is also a partner in a working group with Legacies of War, the organization that preserves the drawings from the 'Secret War' in Laos.</span></em></p>Their drawings and paintings often express a mix of horror, fear, hope and beauty.Paul Morrow, Human Rights Fellow, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1612572021-05-31T16:41:53Z2021-05-31T16:41:53ZThe United Nations needs to start regulating the ‘Wild West’ of artificial intelligence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402388/original/file-20210524-21-1y5xpmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6270%2C3750&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Global governance of artificial intelligence is necessary to regulate AI industries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The European Commission recently published a <a href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/proposal-regulation-laying-down-harmonised-rules-artificial-intelligence">proposal for a regulation on artificial intelligence (AI)</a>. This is the first document of its kind to attempt to tame the multi-tentacled beast that is artificial intelligence. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://fortune.com/2021/04/27/the-sun-is-setting-on-a-i-s-wild-west/">The sun is starting to set on the Wild West days of artificial intelligence</a>,” writes Jeremy Kahn. He may have a point.</p>
<p>When this regulation comes into effect, it will change the way that we conduct AI research and development. In the last few years of AI, there were few rules or regulations: if you could think it, you could build it. That is no longer the case, at least in the European Union. </p>
<p>There is, however, a notable exception in the regulation, which is that is does not apply to international organizations like the United Nations.</p>
<p>Naturally, the European Union does not have jurisdiction over the United Nations, which is <a href="https://www.un.org/en/our-work/uphold-international-law">governed by international law</a>. The exclusion therefore does not come as a surprise, but does point to a gap in AI regulation. The United Nations therefore needs its own regulation for artificial intelligence, and urgently so.</p>
<h2>AI in the United Nations</h2>
<p>Artificial intelligence technologies have been used increasingly by the United Nations. Several research and development labs, including the <a href="https://www.unglobalpulse.org/">Global Pulse Lab</a>, <a href="https://jetson.unhcr.org/">the Jetson initiative by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees </a>, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/innovation/topics/innovation-labs">UNICEF’s Innovation Labs</a> and <a href="https://centre.humdata.org/">the Centre for Humanitarian Data</a> have focused their work on developing artificial intelligence solutions that would support the UN’s mission, notably in terms of anticipating and responding to humanitarian crises.</p>
<p>United Nations agencies have also used biometric identification to manage humanitarian logistics and refugee claims. The UNHCR developed a biometrics database which <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/blogs/data-millions-refugees-securely-hosted-primes/">contained the information of 7.1 million refugees</a>. The World Food Program has also used biometric identification in aid distribution to refugees, <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2019/07/17/head-head-biometrics-and-aid">coming under some criticism in 2019 for its use of this technology in Yemen</a>.</p>
<p>In parallel, the United Nations has partnered with private companies that provide analytical services. A notable example is the World Food Programme, which in 2019 signed a <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2019/02/palantir-un-world-food-programme-data-humanitarians.html">contract worth US$45 million with Palantir</a>, an American firm specializing in data collection and artificial intelligence modelling. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FDOptbuz_fg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A UNESCO video on its applications of AI.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No oversight, regulation</h2>
<p>In 2014, the United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded a US$20 billion-dollar contract to Palantir to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/03/02/palantir-provides-the-engine-for-donald-trumps-deportation-machine/">track undocumented immigrants in the U.S.</a>, especially family members of children who had crossed the border alone. Several human rights watchdogs, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/3124/2020/en/">including Amnesty International</a>, have raised concerns about Palantir for human rights violations.</p>
<p>Like most AI initiatives developed in recent years, this work has happened largely without regulatory oversight. There have been many attempts to set up ethical modes of operation, such as the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ <a href="https://data.humdata.org/dataset/2048a947-5714-4220-905b-e662cbcd14c8/resource/76e488d9-b69d-41bd-927c-116d633bac7b/download/peer-review-framework-2020.pdf">Peer Review Framework</a>, which sets out a method for overseeing the technical development and implementation of AI models. </p>
<p>In the absence of regulation, however, tools such as these, without legal backing, are merely best practices with no means of enforcement.</p>
<p>In the European Commission’s AI regulation proposal, developers of high-risk systems must go through an authorization process before going to market, just like a new drug or car. They are required to put together a detailed package before the AI is available for use, involving a description of the models and data used, along with an explanation of how accuracy, privacy and discriminatory impacts will be addressed.</p>
<p>The AI applications in question include biometric identification, categorization and evaluation of the eligibility of people for public assistance benefits and services. They may also be used to dispatch of emergency first response services — all of these are current uses of AI by the United Nations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Yemeni men carrying sacks of food for distribution." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403244/original/file-20210527-23-1t1mzqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The UN World Food Program distributed food in Yemen, as shown in this photo from Sept. 2018. The United Nations later faced criticism for its use of biometrics in aid distribution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hammadi Issa)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building trust</h2>
<p>Conversely, the lack of regulation at the United Nations can be considered a challenge for agencies seeking to adopt more effective and novel technologies. As such, many systems seem to have been developed and later abandoned without being integrated into actual decision-making systems.</p>
<p>An example of this is the Jetson tool, which was developed by UNHCR to predict the arrival of internally displaced persons to refugee camps in Somalia. The tool <a href="https://jetson.unhcr.org/">does not appear to have been updated</a> since 2019, and seems unlikely to transition into the humanitarian organization’s operations. Unless, that is, it can be properly certified by a new regulatory system. </p>
<p>Trust in AI is difficult to obtain, particularly in United Nations work, which is highly political and affects very vulnerable populations. The onus has largely been on data scientists to develop the credibility of their tools. </p>
<p>A regulatory framework like the one proposed by the European Commission would take the pressure off data scientists in the humanitarian sector to individually justify their activities. Instead, agencies or research labs who wanted to develop an AI solution would work within a regulated system with built-in accountability. This would produce more effective, safer and more just applications and uses of AI technology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleonore Fournier-Tombs has recently consulted for the United Nations and the World Bank. </span></em></p>The new EU regulation is about to change the way we do artificial intelligence. The United Nations needs to follow suit.Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, Senior Researcher, Data and Technology, Institute in Macau (UNU-Macau), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1468152020-10-19T16:30:19Z2020-10-19T16:30:19ZCanada’s woeful track record on children set to get worse with COVID-19 pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362531/original/file-20201008-16-nvfwff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4200%2C2967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada's failure to fulfil its commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals will leave our children worse off. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent <a href="https://oneyouth.unicef.ca/sites/default/files/2020-09/UNICEF%20RC16%20Canadian%20Companion%20EN_Web.pdf">UNICEF report card</a> exposes Canada for failing its young children. The report, appropriately called “<a href="https://oneyouth.unicef.ca/sites/default/files/2020-09/Worlds%20of%20Influence_EN_FINAL.pdf">World’s Apart,</a>” examines the status of children from the world’s most developed countries and looks at child happiness, well-being and skill. Among 38 developed economies, Canada falls 30th overall. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the report highlights a recurring issue in Canada. It is <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/">one of many reports</a> over the past <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/school/startingstrongiiearlychildhoodeducationandcare.htm">two decades</a> that <a href="https://www.unicef.ca/sites/default/files/2018-10/UNICEFReportCard%2015CanadianCompanionENGLISH.pdf">demonstrate the inequities</a> faced by many Canadian children. </p>
<p>How can Canada with its relatively positive environmental, social and economic conditions, fall so drastically behind the United Nations’ most recent <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld">targets for a sustainable world?</a></p>
<p>Risks to physical and mental well-being like poverty, systemic racism, pollution, climate change and uneven access to early education, all endanger opportunities for growth and development. According to the report, these dangers are far too widespread. </p>
<p>Canada’s inequity gaps are wide, child poverty is rampant and national averages gloss over worse conditions for those from racialized communities and Indigenous children. The report reveals that although the average child poverty rate in Canada is one in five, children from Black communities have rates as high as one in three. Within some Indigenous communities it’s a staggering one in two. </p>
<p>Something that should put all Canadians on alert is that this report provides a picture of the status of Canadian children prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic brings with it new pressures and threats to child health and well-being. </p>
<p>The inequity gaps will likely grow. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-school-closures-could-widen-inequities-for-our-youngest-students-136669">Coronavirus school closures could widen inequities for our youngest students</a>
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<h2>Anti-racist uprisings add urgency</h2>
<p>The UNICEF report arrives at a time of immense global protest spurred in part by the disproportionate impacts COVID-19 has had on racialized communities. </p>
<p>Entrenched racism and ongoing police brutality are issues that compound the conditions that children live within. We feel a growing <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/06/18/no-more-reports-no-more-commissions-indigenous-people-want-immediate-action.html">impatience with reports</a> that repeatedly illustrate the enormous challenges that children face but offer few concrete solutions.</p>
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<img alt="Two children cross the street; behind them a cross guard in a yellow vest holds up a stop sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364301/original/file-20201019-17-wwi365.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Children cross the street while arriving at Portage Trail Community School which is part of the Toronto District School Board during the COVID-19 pandemic on Sept. 15, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
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<p>In its report, UNICEF recommends policy-makers and communities “be accountable,” “be bold” and “listen to children and youth.” However, the report fails to take into account all the ways in which Black and Indigenous communities in Canada have been historically and systematically prevented from taking up such encouragements. </p>
<p>There is little acknowledgement of how racialized communities have been marginalized through the denial of resources and involvement in policy development. This is often the case with such reports.</p>
<h2>COVID-19</h2>
<p>Black and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/09/systemic-inequities-increase-covid-19-risk-indigenous-people-canada">Indigenous children</a> have been disproportionately harmed by the pandemic, so it should be clear that equity-focused approaches are required.</p>
<p>Yet most reports fail to emphasize culturally appropriate responses as an essential criteria for improving the well-being of children. We see no evidence of concerted efforts among Canadian policy-makers to use disaggregated race-based data to propose programs and funding mechanisms to help the most vulnerable.</p>
<p>How policy-makers and government bodies respond will determine the outcome for Canadian children, especially those within marginalized communities. Specific and customized responses to barriers in education, health and well-being are critically important as we move through and beyond COVID-19. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ottawa-vows-support-for-big-companies-hit-by-covid-19-fallout-but-says/">local and federal governments have been prioritizing resuscitation of the economy</a> over addressing the social impacts of the pandemic. As a result, Black and Indigenous children are poised to slide further down health indices unless concrete and urgent steps are taken to address their unique circumstances. To begin to rectify Canada’s long-standing inaction towards the well-being of Black and <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/indigenous-woman-who-died-at-joliette-hospital-had-recorded-staffs-racist-comments">Indigenous Peoples</a>, policy-makers must act now.</p>
<h2>Barriers to ‘bold action’</h2>
<p>Funding discrepancies between non-Indigenous and Indigenous children must end. Governments must ensure that all children, regardless of their economic status, indigeneity, parent employment, race and ethnicity, have equal opportunities. This requires equitable policies.</p>
<p>We recommend a move toward action-based, participatory approaches to research and policy that offer concrete proposals for policy development that target the deeply entrenched inequities that form Canada’s social and economic foundation. </p>
<p>Policies need to be integrated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/addressing-anti-black-racism-in-post-secondary-institutions-can-transform-canada-after-the-covid-19-pandemic-141366">systems of education</a> and health that have unique and important roles <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">towards reconciliation</a>. </p>
<p>Strong, focused and equitable policies to support children are needed now more than ever. Now that we have seen decades of consistent evidence of inequity and poverty, Canadian policy makers should not need to see another report. They need to take action. Canada’s children deserve better. They need federal efforts to rectify the obvious opportunity gaps. Canada’s track record leaves out too many: it needs to do better. Not tomorrow, today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic risks making Canada’s already woeful record on child welfare worse. To safeguard a future for our children, governments must prioritize their care.Neil Price, PhD student, Adult Education and Community Development, University of TorontoEmis Akbari, Adjunct Professor, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (OISE), University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1456852020-09-08T20:07:27Z2020-09-08T20:07:27ZNew Zealand is violating the rights of its children. Is it time to change the legal definition of age discrimination?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356847/original/file-20200908-16-vo2p06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4770%2C3185&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The comforting claim that New Zealand is a great place to bring up kids took another hit with last week’s damning <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/child-well-being-report-card-16">UNICEF report</a> on child well-being. </p>
<p>The latest in two decades of monitoring and comparing best practice for children in the world’s richest countries, the report gives New Zealand a dismal ranking of 35 out of the total 41. It highlights several crucial areas of failure:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>youth suicide rates are the second highest in the developed world, more than twice the average of the other rich countries surveyed </p></li>
<li><p>childhood rates of obesity are also the second highest </p></li>
<li><p>educational outcomes were already <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/995-an-unfair-start-education-inequality-children.html">poor</a> and this latest report suggests they are getting worse</p></li>
<li><p>income inequality is a key problem</p></li>
<li><p>New Zealand children do not feel they are listened to.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>On the eve of an election focused on economic recovery, these findings raise important legal questions about the extent to which New Zealand is protecting young New Zealanders’ rights to health, education and an adequate standard of living. </p>
<h2>The gap in our law</h2>
<p>Those rights are protected in a range of international human rights <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/peace-rights-and-security/human-rights/#international">instruments</a> that New Zealand has already accepted over the years, starting with the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">Universal Declaration</a> of Human Rights 1948. </p>
<p>Everyone has these rights, including children, as New Zealand recognised in 1993 when it signed the United Nations <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. Yet despite these international commitments, our domestic legal framework makes no overarching or explicit provision for children’s rights. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-inquiries-find-unfair-treatment-and-healthcare-for-maori-this-is-how-we-fix-it-144939">Two inquiries find unfair treatment and healthcare for Māori. This is how we fix it</a>
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<p>Yes, there is a right to education. But, given the links between educational outcomes, health and economic inequality, this right by itself only takes us so far. </p>
<p>Our key piece of legislation, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, does not include the right to health (physical or mental) or to an adequate standard of living – both strongly related to the right to education. </p>
<p>One of the roles of the Children’s Commissioner is to give <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0121/latest/DLM230435.html">better effect</a> to the Children’s Rights Convention. However, the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0057/18.0/whole.html">Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018</a> makes no mention of children’s rights. That is despite <a href="http://www.nzchildren.co.nz/">recent findings</a> by the commissioner that New Zealand’s child poverty rates have hardly changed since 2012. </p>
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<h2>Children should seen <em>and</em> heard</h2>
<p>To ensure an integrated approach to child well-being and to plan for the future, the UNICEF report recommends the government listen carefully to the perspectives of children and young people. The prime minister has accepted that recommendation.</p>
<p>The fact is, however, New Zealand is already obliged to do this. The Children’s Convention requires that the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">best interests</a> of the child be a primary consideration in all actions affecting children. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-responsible-data-for-children-134052">Why we need responsible data for children</a>
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<p>The convention also stipulates that the child has the right to express their <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">views</a> and be freely heard in all matters affecting them. These principles have been <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/585150624.pdf">interpreted</a> broadly to apply to all matters affecting children, including decisions affecting their health, education and well-being.</p>
<p>To be fair, New Zealand is making some good progress here. The Children’s Commissioner has published a <a href="https://www.occ.org.nz/listening2kids/child-centred/how-child-centred/">child-centred</a> strategy to help decision-makers consider the implications of their actions for children. Similarly, the Ministry of Social Development has published a <a href="https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/resources/child-impact-assessment.html">Child Impact Assessment Tool</a>. </p>
<p>But these are policy statements only, and the UNICEF report would suggest they are not enough. </p>
<p>So, perhaps a better question might be asked: are young New Zealanders experiencing such poor outcomes because of their age?</p>
<h2>Expand the definition of age discrimination</h2>
<p>Imagine if the data contained in the UNICEF report referred to women, Māori or other minorities. We would of course have to ask whether such poor outcomes were the result of discrimination based on a shared characteristic such as gender, race or ethnicity.</p>
<p>Alas, it is not that easy with young people, even though they are defined by their age. International human rights law has only recently recognised <a href="http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=4slQ6QSmlBEDzFEovLCuW1a0Szab0oXTdImnsJZZVQdqeXgncKnylFC%2blzJjLZGhsosnD23NsgR1Q1NNNgs2QltnHpLzG%2fBmxPjJUVNxAedgozixcbEW9WMvnSFEiU%2fV">age-based</a> discrimination. The concept that <a href="http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2fPPRiCAqhKb7yhsqIkirKQZLK2M58RF%2f5F0vH%2bg0BeHNYSXl2ulaeIW9Y1nEBWXdUgC9p%2fn2WzRfn3fwsXNNC%2b2E7%2bbuK3ful8wJQP6BtAlEzFZVO26Bnyk9OH">young people</a> might be the victims of age-based discrimination is a work in progress. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-crisis-shows-why-new-zealand-urgently-needs-a-commissioner-for-older-people-139383">The coronavirus crisis shows why New Zealand urgently needs a commissioner for older people</a>
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<p>New Zealand law has actually been ahead of international law since our Human Rights Act <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304475.html">prohibited</a> age-based discrimination back in 1993. The problem is the act itself sets an age limit and doesn’t apply to people under 16. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s now time to extend the prohibition on age-based discrimination to all young New Zealanders. </p>
<p>Changing the law on age-based discrimination may be no silver bullet. And there is no doubt that responding to the issues raised in the UNICEF report is a hugely complex task. </p>
<p>However, if the laws and policies affecting young people were subject to the same kind of legal scrutiny as other forms of discrimination, New Zealand might take one step towards demonstrating a more serious commitment to doing better by its young people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With UNICEF ranking New Zealand 35th out of 41 rich countries for children’s well-being, the gap between rhetoric and reality is wider than ever.Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1340522020-03-23T17:55:35Z2020-03-23T17:55:35ZWhy we need responsible data for children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321273/original/file-20200318-37392-h30e4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C395%2C5223%2C3081&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/group-young-girls-boy-playing-phone-578419900">StaceStock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the world, humanitarian and development organizations working with children are increasingly reliant on a wide range of technologies used to improve the efficacy of service delivery and how to respond to, for instance, pandemics and other dynamic threats. </p>
<p>Child rights organizations are using or exploring the use of a variety of <a href="https://data.unicef.org/resources/data-children-strategic-framework/">data-driven technologies</a> to bolster services provided to children, including <a href="https://data.unicef.org/resources/biometrics/">biometrics</a>, <a href="https://www.gavi.org/call-for-new-id-technology-to-help-immunise-every-child">digital identity systems</a>, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/innovation/school-mapping">remote-sensing technologies</a>, <a href="https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/can-ai-help-save-our-children-from-online-sexual-abuse/">mobile and social media messaging apps</a>, and administrative data systems. The data generated by these tools and systems includes potentially sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information (PII) and demographically identifiable information (DII) – data points that enable the identification, classification, and tracking of individuals, groups, or multiple groups of individuals by demographically defining factors.</p>
<p>Given this increasingly datafied environment, and the emerging challenges involved in upholding the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> in our data age, there is a clear need to develop and disseminate responsible approaches for handling data for and about children. Last year, The GovLab and UNICEF initiated the <a href="http://rd4c.org/">Responsible Data for Children initiative</a> (RD4C) to support actors around the world in avoiding unintended negative consequences on data subjects and beneficiaries and, in turn, ensuring the effective use and positive impact of data.</p>
<h2>Growing opportunities, and risks</h2>
<p>Collecting, storing, preparing, sharing, analyzing, and using data about children create unique opportunities and risks. These opportunities and risks are distinct from those involved in the datafication of the general public or other vulnerable groups. To achieve responsible data for children, the public sector, data-holding businesses, and civil society organizations delivering services for children need to better understand the distinct risks and opportunities of an increasingly connected and quantified environment for children.</p>
<p>Without question, the increased use of data poses unique risks for and responsibilities to children. While practitioners may have well-intended purposes to leverage data for and about children, the data systems used are often designed with (consenting) adults in mind without a focus on the unique needs and vulnerabilities of children. This can lead to the collection of inaccurate and unreliable data as well as the inappropriate and potentially harmful use of data for and about children. </p>
<h2>Trends and realities</h2>
<p><a href="http://rd4c.org/readings.html">Research undertaken</a> in the context of the RD4C initiative uncovered the following trends and realities. These issues make clear why we need a dedicated data responsibility approach for children.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Today’s children are the first generation growing up at a time of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444816686328">rapid datafication</a> where almost all aspects of their lives, both on and off-line, are turned into data points. An entire generation of young people is being datafied – often starting <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6954971e-5d3a-11e9-939a-341f5ada9d40">even before birth</a>. Every year the average child will have <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/">more data collected</a> about them in their lifetime than would a similar child born any year prior. The potential uses of such large volumes of data and the impact on children’s lives are unpredictable, and could potentially be used against them.</p></li>
<li><p>Children typically <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2736277.2741124">do not have full agency</a> to make decisions about their participation in programs or services which may generate and record personal data. Children may also lack the understanding to assess a decision’s purported risks and benefits. Privacy terms and conditions are often <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/03/terms-of-service-online-contracts-fine-print">barely understood</a> by educated adults, let alone children. As a result, there is a higher duty of care for children’s data.</p></li>
<li><p>Disaggregating data according to <a href="https://data2x.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/MeasuringWomensFinInclusion-ValueofSexDisaggData.pdf">socio-demographic characteristics</a> can <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/64181/file/HLPF_2020_2PAGER_FINAL_data_monitoring.pdf">improve service delivery</a> and assist with policy development. However, it also creates risks for <a href="https://www.stiftung-nv.de/sites/default/files/group-privacy-2017-authors-draft-manuscript.pdf">group privacy</a>. Children can be identified, exposing them to possible harms. Disaggregated data for groups such as child-headed households and children experiencing gender-based violence can put vulnerable communities and children at risk. Data about children’s location itself <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/21/opinion/pasadena-smartphone-spying.html">can be risky</a>, especially if they have some additional vulnerability that could expose them to harm.</p></li>
<li><p>Mishandling data can cause children to lose <a href="https://www.unocha.org/story/data-responsibility-humanitarian-action-building-trust-through-dialogue">trust in institutions</a> that deliver essential services including vaccines, medicine, and nutrition supplies. For organizations dealing with child well-being, these retreats can have severe consequences. <a href="https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2019/10/24/trust-humanitarian/">Distrust</a> can cause families and children to refuse health, education, child protection and other public services. Such privacy protective behavior can impact children throughout the course of their lifetime, and potentially exacerbate existing inequities and vulnerabilities.</p></li>
<li><p>As volumes of collected and stored data increase, <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-data-protection-themes/children/">obligations</a> and protections traditionally put in place for children may be difficult or impossible to uphold. The <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/IWP_2017_05.pdf">interests of children</a> are not always prioritized when organizations define their legitimate interest to access or share personal information of children. The immediate benefit of a service provided does not always justify the risk or harm that might be caused by it in the future. Data analysis may be undertaken by people who do not have expertise in the area of child rights, as opposed to traditional research where practitioners are specifically educated in <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/IWP_2016_18.pdf">child subject research</a>. Similarly, service providers collecting children’s data are not always specially trained to handle it, as international standards recommend.</p></li>
<li><p>Recent events around the world reveal the promise and pitfalls of algorithmic decision-making. While it can expedite certain processes, algorithms and their inferences can possess biases that can have adverse effects on people, <a href="https://www.isi.it/wp_blobs/publication/document/">for example</a> those seeking medical care and attempting to secure jobs. The danger posed by algorithmic bias is especially pronounced for children and other vulnerable populations. These groups <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614306/kids-are-surrounded-by-ai-they-should-know-how-it-works/">often lack the awareness or resources</a> necessary to respond to instances of bias or to rectify any misconceptions or inaccuracies in their data.</p></li>
<li><p>Many of the children served by child welfare organizations have suffered trauma. Whether physical, social, emotional in nature, repeatedly making children register for services or <a href="https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/about-us/Trauma-InformedInterviewingManual-508.pdf">provide confidential personal information</a> can amount to revictimization – re-exposing them to traumas or instigating unwarranted feelings of shame and guilt.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These trends and realities make clear the need for new approaches for maximizing the value of data to improve children’s lives, while mitigating the risks posed by our increasingly datafied society.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The full-length Responsible Data for Children Synthesis Report and other resources are available on Responsible Data for Children website, <a href="http://rd4c.org/">RD4C.org</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The authors would like to thank Stuart Campo, Senior Fellow at The GovLab, for his important contributions to the RD4C initiative.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Young's work on responsible data receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Luminate, Hewlett Foundation, and UNICEF.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefaan G. Verhulst's work on responsible data receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Luminate, Hewlett Foundation, and UNICEF.</span></em></p>In our increasingly datafied world, there is a clear need to develop and disseminate responsible approaches for handling data for and about children.Andrew Young, Knowledge director, the Governance Lab, New York UniversityStefaan G. Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1330052020-03-08T07:46:52Z2020-03-08T07:46:52ZSeven factors that turned the DRC’s Ebola outbreak around<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318699/original/file-20200304-66078-ki9914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.afro.who.int/news/democratic-republic-congos-last-ebola-patient-discharged">last patient</a> receiving treatment for Ebola was recently discharged from an Ebola Treatment Centre in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). </p>
<p>The current outbreak of Ebola emerged in the northeastern part of the country in August 2018. It spread across three provinces, infecting over 3,300 people with a case fatality rate of <a href="https://www.who.int/csr/don/27-february-2020-ebola-drc/en/">65%</a>. A few cases were also reported in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-hard-to-stop-ebola-spreading-between-people-and-across-borders-118851">Uganda</a> last year. This is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ebola-returns-to-the-drc-for-the-10th-time-heres-what-we-know-101048">10th Ebola outbreak</a> in the DRC. It has been the most severe since the first recognised outbreak in the DRC in <a href="https://www.who.int/ebola/historical-outbreaks-drc/en/">1976</a>. </p>
<p>But those managing the outbreak in the DRC aren’t completely letting their guard down – just yet. Forty-six individuals who had come into contact with the last patient are still being monitored. In addition, all Ebola control and response measures are still in place to ensure that any new cases are detected quickly and treated. </p>
<p>The incubation period for Ebola is 21 days. This is the period from exposure to the development of clinical symptoms. The outbreak can only be considered over when no new cases are diagnosed 42 days (double the incubation period) after the last reported case has tested negative. The last case of Ebola in the DRC was recorded on the <a href="https://www.who.int/csr/don/27-february-2020-ebola-drc/en/">17th of February</a>. </p>
<p>A great number of very useful lessons have come out of the trauma of the past 19 months. In my view there were seven key interventions and developments. These included the development of safe and efficient Ebola vaccines. So too was improving diagnostics that can be used easily in less resourced and remote areas. And, importantly, learning that control of a disease outbreak like Ebola is impossible without community trust and engagement.</p>
<h2>Bringing the outbreak under control</h2>
<p>There were a number of factors which eventually led to controlling the outbreak. These included: </p>
<p><strong>Diagnostic technology:</strong> The implementation of new and relatively easy-to-use diagnostic technology such as the commercial <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006135">GeneXpert Ebola assay</a> was a game changer. This technology allowed for faster results and the tests could be done by locally trained staff. </p>
<p>A rapid diagnosis helps to prevent the spread of the disease among family members, communities and at hospitals. The faster a case can be identified, the faster it can be taken care of in terms of isolation and treatment. This also allows for contacts to be vaccinated in time.</p>
<p><strong>Experimental vaccines:</strong> The development of a number of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ebola-vaccine-is-key-in-ongoing-efforts-to-contain-the-drc-outbreak-110924">experimental vaccines</a> were key. They saved the lives of many people, prevented wider spread and assisted in rebuilding trust in public health measures.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pasha-37-why-the-new-ebola-vaccine-may-be-a-game-changer-124185">Pasha 37: Why the new Ebola vaccine may be a game changer</a>
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<p><strong>Research at the scene:</strong> Locating <a href="https://theconversation.com/ebola-in-the-drc-the-race-is-on-between-research-and-the-virus-112537">research on the scene</a> of the outbreak prioritised the experimental testing of various treatments and vaccines to aid science-based responses. </p>
<p><strong>Follow-up care for survivors</strong>: Offering survivors a comprehensive programme of follow-up medical care to counter serious post-infection conditions, for example <a href="https://theconversation.com/ebola-survivors-can-lose-their-eyesight-what-were-doing-to-prevent-it-117200">blindness</a>, and providing psychological support.</p>
<p><strong>Engaging people:</strong> Innovative medical technologies (vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics) are not enough to prevent and contain epidemics. What’s needed is the inclusion of social science as an important component of outbreak management. What I mean by this is that communities need to be engaged and empowered as primary partners in preparing and responding to an outbreak. But gaining their trust involves understanding their perception of control measures. For example, why don’t local people trust national governments and the health system? Why don’t they accept health interventions, including vaccination? Why don’t they adopt preventive behaviours, including safe burials? Why do they perceive foreign medical interventions as bio-terrorist experiments at their expense? Social scientists are best able to understand these dynamics, which is why they should be involved.</p>
<p><strong>Stability:</strong> Stabilisation of political unrest in recent months made access to medical care easier and allowed all the well-known strategies for controlling Ebola to be implemented. This included contact tracing, safe burial practices, isolation treatment, surveillance, lab testing, community engagement, as well as public health education.</p>
<p><strong>Massive international support.</strong> As with other major Ebola outbreaks in Africa, this one could not have been brought to ground zero and controlled without massive international support. On the people front, this included medical staff, epidemiologists, infection prevention control and risk communication and community engagement specialists, logisticians, diagnosticians and salaries for local staff. It also included medical and diagnostic supplies and equipment, field-operated hospitals, medicines and vaccines.</p>
<p>Those who contributed to these long lists included the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergency Programme and its Global Outbreak and Response Network, Doctors Without Borders, US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, Red Cross, World Bank, individual countries and government as well as public health agencies, institutions and universities. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/challenges-of-administering-an-ebola-vaccine-in-remote-areas-of-the-drc-98181">Challenges of administering an Ebola vaccine in remote areas of the DRC</a>
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<h2>What next</h2>
<p>On the longer term horizon, strengthening Africa’s health systems and building citizen trust will be pivotal to responding to increasing numbers of emerging infectious diseases. African health systems can’t depend on donor generosity alone. They also require economic and political commitment from national leaders and the communities they govern.</p>
<p>African scientists also need more support if the continent is going to secure and develop long-term and effective preparedness and response strategies to cope with epidemic prone infectious diseases. They need should have better training opportunities as well as great involvement in scientific programmes. They also need to be provided with access to adequate bio-containment facilities – secure facilities to prevent the accidental release of pathogens during research – to improve regional counter measures against emerging and re-emerging dangerous pathogens.</p>
<p>On these points, there is a lot to be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133005/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prof Janusz T. Paweska received funding from the South African Medical Research Council for investigating the molecular epidemiology of Ebola virus disease in West Africa and the development of diagnostic capacity. . </span></em></p>The biggest lesson has been that controlling a disease outbreak like Ebola is impossible without community trust and engagement.Janusz Paweska, Head of the Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable DiseasesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1261502019-11-06T13:22:56Z2019-11-06T13:22:56ZHow Masisi outsmarted Khama to take the reins in Botswana<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300085/original/file-20191104-88428-77r7lj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mokgweetsi Masisi being sworn in as the elected President of Botswana by Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane. With him is his wife Neo. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mmegi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mokgweetsi Masisi’s <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/botswanas-masisi-wins-hotly-contested-election-20191025">decisive victory</a> in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/world/africa/botswana-election-mokgweetsi-masisi.html">recent Botswana elections</a> over a coalition backed by his former boss, Ian Khama, is the culmination of an astonishing 10 year political career. </p>
<p>Morphing from an obscure first-time MP in 2009 to a <a href="http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/wp-column-details.php?col_id=22">surprise </a> vice presidential appointment in 2014, and then <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/botswana-mokgweetsi-masisi-takes-over-presidency-amid-opposition-resurgence/a-43206610">president in 2018</a>, the man affectionately known as “Sisiboy” (a play on his surname) has wrested control of Botswana from the powerful Khama family. This he has achieved using tireless campaigning and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGazettebw/posts/10156960929272620">“the rebirth of the Botswana Democratic Party”</a> (BDP).</p>
<p>The Khama lineage has dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, right through the modern presidencies of Sir Seretse Khama (1966-1980) and Ian Khama (2008-2018). But they are now a discredited, spent force with <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2019/08/05/newly-formed-bpf-party-endorsed-by-khama-confident-of-electoral-victory">Ian Khama’s new party</a> having won only 5% of the vote.</p>
<p>The prosecution of Khama’s security chief, <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-18-botswana-arrests-ex-spy-boss">Isaac Kgosi</a>, and presidential secretary, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82492&dir=2019/september/03">Carter Morupisi</a>, following his assumption of power in 2018, showed that Masisi was no longer willing to tolerate <a href="https://www.zambianobserver.com/former-president-ian-khama-linked-to-billions-of-dollars-found-in-offshore-accounts-belonging-to-dis-agent-maswabi/">the widespread corruption</a> that flourished under his predecessor. Investigators continue to uncover allegations of <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">shocking malfeasance</a>.</p>
<p>Masisi, 58, is on a mission to restore Botswana’s reputation as a beacon of clean governance on the continent, and is pouring resources and energy into that effort.</p>
<p>His ascent and success have surprised everybody. Even Khama <a href="https://inkjournalism.org/1904/turmoil-in-africas-model-democracy/">admitted</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have come to realise that I have maybe misjudged him. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The early days</h2>
<p>My own acquaintance with Masisi goes back to childhood, when we attended the same schools and played tennis at the same club. The last time I saw him was at a now defunct laundromat in northern Gaborone, in 1994. He was his usual friendly, well-mannered self, inquisitive and loquacious. Recently returned from completing his master’s degree in education at Florida State University, he was one of the co-owners of this faltering business. </p>
<p>Prior to going to Florida State, Masisi had worked on revamping Botswana’s social studies curriculum for its secondary schools, which he continued to do in the 1990s under the sponsorship of UNICEF. Knowing that the curriculum was a disaster (having no Botswana history at all and being full of outdated colonial and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/bantu-education-and-racist-compartmentalizing-education">Bantu Education</a> myths), I doubted he could make meaningful changes. Whether he ever did or not, his early career in pedagogy undoubtedly led him to confront government dysfunction head on.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/botswanas-governing-party-wins-tight-election-but-biggest-tests-are-yet-to-come-125666">Botswana’s governing party wins tight election. But biggest tests are yet to come</a>
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<p>Gaborone in the 1970s and 80s was a small, intimate place, and Masisi grew up there surrounded by the families of the Botswana bureaucratic and business elite. Despite this somewhat privileged milieu and education, nothing about him then suggested that he would go on to become such an influential national politician. </p>
<p>Although his father, <a href="http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/news-details.php?nid=25372">Edison</a>, was a senior cabinet member, Masisi did not display the charisma of a <a href="https://maps.prodafrica.com/places/botswana/south-east-district/gaborone/monument-1/sir-seretse-khama-statue-gaborone-botswana/">Sir Seretse Khama</a>, the first president of independent Botswana. Neither did he show the technocratic brilliance of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/18/ketumile-masire-obituary">Quett Masire</a>, who succeeded Seretse Khama as president in 1980; nor the emotional oratory of a <a href="http://www.sundaystandard.info/tribute-dk-kwelagobe-he-leaves-position-bdp-secretary-general-after-27-years">Daniel Kwelagobe</a>, the BDP chairman. Although Masisi today compares favourably to any of these political legends, none of this seemed evident in his youth.</p>
<p>He has always been easy to underestimate. Although a prefect at Gaborone’s <a href="https://www.thornhillprimary.ac.bw/">Thornhill</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/maruapula/posts/">Maru A Pula</a> private schools, he was not a standout personality. Strong in humanities rather than the sciences, he was a middling student. Similar things could be said about his teenage sports career, during which he never showed the same tenacity and killer instinct on the tennis court that he has shown in politics. </p>
<h2>The ‘priest’</h2>
<p>Masisi’s greatest moment in his young life was when, at 20, he was cast as the <em>umfundisi</em> (priest) in a 1983 Gaborone theatrical adaptation of Alan Paton’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cry-the-Beloved-Country-novel-by-Paton">“Cry the Beloved Country”</a>. Playing a much older man with grey hair, a shuffling gait, and a quavering voice, Masisi turned in a powerful performance that brought him a standing ovation from <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/alan-stewart-paton">Paton</a> himself and President Masire.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The young Mokgweetsi Masisi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMasisi/photos/a.859647030770828/2432458980156284/?type=3&theater">Mokgweetsi Masisi FB page</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While his acting career ended after a role in a highly forgettable <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b88ceeb37">straight-to-video feature</a>, his portrayal of the priest nevertheless presaged key themes of his future political life.</p>
<p>After leaving UNICEF in 2003 Masisi entered politics, but failed to win his father’s old seat in Moshupa, the family home 41km northwest of Gaborone. He then endured a period of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMasisi/">“failure, illness, unemployment, being seen as unfit for certain things, scorn and ridicule”</a>. He relied on his <a href="https://yourbotswana.com/2018/11/04/president-masisi-clarifies-first-ladys-role/">newly-wed wife Neo’s</a> salary for a time. He nevertheless persevered and built up a following, while also welcoming the birth of his daughter, Atsile.</p>
<p>Masisi managed to win the governing BDP’s primary and general election, <a href="http://www.sundaystandard.info/family-affairs-within-botswana-parliament">landing in parliament in 2009</a>. Within two years he was in the cabinet. In 2014, President Ian Khama, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">looking for an inexperienced and pliable deputy</a>, appointed him vice-president.</p>
<p>Like the priest in Paton’s story who went to Johannesburg seeking his sister and son only to find a degraded and desperate situation, so Masisi found the central government and cabinet unrecognisable from the institutions that his late father had served so well in the past. With the BDP having been taken over by a coalition of Khama lackeys and “tenderpreneurs” – business people who enrich themselves, often dubiously, through government tenders – even the party’s founder, former President Masire, disowned it for <a href="https://www.academia.edu/33661982/President_Masires_Final_Message_to_Botswana">lacking the values and discipline of the original</a>. </p>
<p>Masisi’s role as vice-president was to serve as a short-term stopgap for Ian Khama’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/13/how-fredo-tragic-godfather-character-became-an-insult-wielded-by-trump/">Fredo-like</a> brother, Tshekedi. His looming appointment as Khama’s successor was highly unpopular inside and outside the party.</p>
<p>Ever since 1998, the BDP has transferred power from the president to the vice-president a year before the next general election. Masire did this for Mogae in 1998, who then did the same thing for Ian Khama in 2008.</p>
<h2>Outmanoeuvring the Khamas</h2>
<p>It is clear that former President Khama (66), like many others, underestimated his young vice-president. Masisi took advice in secret late-night sessions with former presidents Masire and Mogae as well as other veterans who despised “the New BDP” that Khama led.</p>
<p>Using their counsel, he attended party meetings across the entire country to build up his own constituency. Masisi <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">described</a> his years as vice-president] as “brutal hell”, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">adding that</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was the most abused vice-president.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Once Khama handed power to Masisi in April 2018, “Sisiboy” moved quickly onto the attack, arresting the despised Isaac Kgosi and installing his own supporters in key positions. Once the Khama brothers <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/06/01/botswana-ex-president-slams-successor-after-quitting-ruling-party//">defected to the opposition</a> ahead of the 2019 election, they and their supporters were thoroughly outworked by Masisi’s relentless campaign organisation. </p>
<p>The full story of how the underling Masisi prosecuted his silent war with Khama is one we must wait for. Ultimately, it is his energetic campaigning and <a href="http://www.sundaystandard.info/masiresque-masisi">his desire to bring back </a>the forgotten ethos and policies of the early BDP – of Seretse Khama and Masire – that won over the voters despite the defection of the Khamas.</p>
<p>Masisi now vows to reinvigorate Botswana’s stalled economy. In this regard his supporters expect him to show no less stamina than he did in the election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Morton receives funding from Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation </span></em></p>The Khamas have dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, but they are now a discredited, spent force.Barry Morton, Research Fellow, African Studies, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239402019-11-04T14:33:28Z2019-11-04T14:33:28ZViolence in South Africa: the search for root causes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299883/original/file-20191101-88382-k8b9fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents and small business in a poor community in Cape Town</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africans are frequently reminded of just how violent the country is. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-research-reveals-about-drivers-of-anti-immigrant-hate-crime-in-south-africa-123097">Attacks on foreign nationals</a> and <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-09-05-ramaphosa-talks-to-gender-violence/">the killing of women</a> and <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/crime-stats-seven-women-three-children-killed-every-day-in-sa-32867352">children</a> have been prominent in the news. The latest crime statistics show that between 2018 and 2019, murder, assault and sexual offences rates <a href="https://africacheck.org/factsheets/factsheet-south-africas-crime-statistics-for-2018-19/">increased</a>. </p>
<p>Our studies of families in the Western Cape province show some links between family life and violence in society. The families in these studies were from urban and rural communities with high rates of violence, crime, gangsterism, poverty, substance abuse, school dropouts and teenage pregnancy. We looked at <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cscript/fmch/2016/00000004/00000003/art00004">how well families are doing</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-017-9722-5">their resilience</a> under difficult circumstances, and the relationship between <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-80542018000100004">family conflict and aggression among children aged 10-12</a>. We have also examined <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/crim/28/2/EJC185956">why sex offenders re-offend</a> and <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-80542016000300008">the relationship between healthy family life and family satisfaction</a>. </p>
<p>The findings overall show that when there is abuse, neglect, conflict, violence, substance abuse, poor relationships and disconnectedness in families, there may be dire consequences for society, and specifically children. </p>
<p>The behaviour of members of these families often ends in violence, crime and incarceration. Family members struggle to show affection for and interest in one another. Family conflict also negatively affects people’s competence, relationships and autonomy, and leads to aggression in preadolescents. </p>
<p>Our research suggests that violence and risk may be transferred across generations, and that interventions need to focus on teaching and enhancing the capacity of family members to understand the implications and consequences of their actions on others and how these are transferred to children. It also shows it’s important for family members to be able to appropriately communicate and express their emotions; respect fellow human beings and the environment; and to especially value women and children in the family so as to prevent all forms of violence. </p>
<p>Our research also points to the need to promote such basic values as respecting others’ rights, as well as the need for social care to be made more accessible to families.</p>
<h2>Importance of the family</h2>
<p>Ideally, the family provides a safety net. It is within the family that people should find stability, share roles, support one another and communicate positively with one another. </p>
<p>But families often <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953609006157">don’t live up to this ideal</a>. It is often in families that children might first witness violence, both verbal and physical. It’s also in families that children may suffer neglect and be exposed to ill-treatment of the elderly and animals.</p>
<p>Adults, especially parents, may withdraw their love and be uninvolved in children’s lives. This can result in various behavioural problems in children, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229711000268">mental illness or aggression</a>. </p>
<p>Such deviant behaviour can become a way of life for the affected children. In the absence of effective interventions, these behaviours spill into schools, personal relationships, work and <a href="http://www.centrelearoback.org/inrich/assets/documents/G_Evans_CumulativeRiskandChildDevelopment.pdf">the rest of society</a>. </p>
<h2>Families at risk</h2>
<p>The expectation is that the family protects its members but in our research we found the family to place child wellbeing at risk. </p>
<p>In two separate studies of offenders we found: </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.co.za/content/crim/28/2/EJC185956">Sex offenders who re-offend</a> stated that their families were dysfunctional and characterised by substance abuse and family violence, unemployment, inadequate support or protection, early exposure to lewd sexual acts and relationship problems. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/carsa/15/1/EJC155201">retrospective study</a>
of family characteristics of sex offenders, the majority of participants had experienced family violence, long term separation of parents, a negative relationship with the mother, alcoholism and being raised by a single mother. </p>
<p>In two separate small sample studies, we studied the potential role of violence and conflict in the family on the child. In a study of <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-80542018000100004">preadolescent children (10-12 years)</a> who had problems at school, we found that family conflict frustrated their basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness and competence). This was linked to antisocial behaviour and aggression.</p>
<p>We also studied families in shelters for <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/asp/article/viewFile/136128/125619">women victims of domestic violence</a> to investigate whether childhood exposure to domestic violence could be a predisposing factor for falling victim to violence in adulthood.</p>
<p>We found that exposure to domestic violence occurred before adolescence for the majority of the sample. It was often due to a disagreement between the mother and her partner. The children often witnessed the mother’s partner shouting at her and insulting her. We found that the participants tended to have similar experiences in their own relationships. Thus, exposure to violence in the family as a child potentially creates a risk for the experience of violence as an adult. This correlation was moderate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299882/original/file-20191101-88403-nebabj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remembering victims of violence against women in Cape Town.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In trying to understand how satisfied people were with <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-80542016000300008">the way their families functioned</a>, we found nurturing and supporting one another as well as clearly and equitably assigning tasks to family members, and being able to consistently express warmth and love, resulted in high family satisfaction. Such cohesion makes families more stable and less at risk. </p>
<h2>Breaking the cycle</h2>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-2909.106.1.3">Violence begets violence</a>. Our research suggests that violence and risk are potentially transferred across generations. The link needs to be broken for South Africa to become less violent. </p>
<p>The United Nations Children’s Fund has also identified the family as key to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/">achieving the Sustainable Development Goals</a>. It has highlighted the need for family-friendly policies and programmes in reducing the social acceptance of all forms of violence.</p>
<p>Failure could potentially hinder a country’s efforts to meets its <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">developmental goals</a>. These include ending poverty, promoting good health and lifelong education as well as gender equality, youth employment and ending violence. </p>
<p>It’s the government’s role to safeguard the rights of families to social care and to make it more accessible for families. One way of doing this could be to establish teams of health and psychosocial practitioners. </p>
<p>These could see psychologists, social workers, health practitioners and community-based organisations work together to provide social care to families. Families could also be encouraged to form community networks to support and advise one another on family care. </p>
<p>These are not new ideas, but the existing structures for social support are not integrated. Greater integration of efforts to strengthen families is key to better protecting children and promoting their well-being. </p>
<h2>Lessons from elsewhere</h2>
<p>A lot could be learnt from Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, as well as Australia and Brazil.</p>
<p>Amsterdam has youth and family centres in each municipality. These easily accessible centres offer an integrated, inter-professional and multidisciplinary approach to helping families, including <a href="https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/living/everyday-essentials/families-and-children/parent-and-child-centre">parent training</a>.
Australia’s approach includes the creation of social or community networks and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242695785_Can_government_measure_family_wellbeing_A_literature_review/figures?lo=1">enhancing parent-child attachment</a>. </p>
<p>Brazil created the <a href="https://qz.com/1298387/brazils-wildly-ambitious-incredibly-precarious-program-to-visit-every-poor-mother-and-change-their-childrens-destiny/">Criança Feliz parent coaching programme</a> in 2017, to reach four million pregnant women and children by 2020. Social workers conduct home visits to very poor families to help them improve the parent-child relationship early on. </p>
<p>This programme is based on Unicef’s <a href="https://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/index_68195.html">Care for Child Development intervention</a>, which encourages families to be sensitive and responsive, building stronger relationships with children and stimulating early learning through play and communication.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Families play an important role in human development because the family is where children have their first experiences. This is often what is mirrored in society. The family is therefore the key to address violence in society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicolette V Roman receives funding from The National Research Foundation, Grants - 118581, 115460, 11855. </span></em></p>Research shows that abuse, violence and poor relationships in families may have dire consequences for society, and specifically children.Nicolette V Roman, SARChI: Human Capabilities, Social Cohesion and the Family, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188052019-07-24T11:07:43Z2019-07-24T11:07:43ZWithout school, a ‘lost generation’ of Rohingya refugee children face uncertain future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284171/original/file-20190715-173329-1o9xio3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C598%2C5000%2C2485&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Rohingya refugee girl sells vegetables in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh. Access to education is extremely limited in the camps, and most children — particularly girls — receive little to no formal education, Aug. 28, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bangladesh-Rohingya-Educated-Girl/0b6997c47fe14323af772cc61f40c407/13/0">AP Photo/Altaf Qadri</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The boy’s eyes lit up when he talked about his dream of becoming a doctor. </p>
<p>Seven-year-old “Mohammad” – not his real name – is a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar. I met him at a learning center at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in early July 2019. </p>
<p>After sharing his aspirations, Mohammed quickly remembered reality.</p>
<p>“I know my dreams will never come true,” he said with a faint smile.</p>
<h2>Refugee crisis of global proportions</h2>
<p>Mohammed is among the more than <a href="https://unhcr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=5fdca0f47f1a46498002f39894fcd26f">700,000 Rohingya</a> who have taken refuge in Bangladesh after an <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1017802">ethnic cleansing</a> campaign of <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/for-rohingyas-there-is-no-place-called-home/article19620567.ece">rape, killing and torture</a> by the Myanmar military in mid-2017. They joined the <a href="https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/rohingya-refugees-bangladesh-facts">more than 200,000 Rohingyas</a> who had previously fled Myanmar’s brutal efforts to rid <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-persecution-of-myanmars-rohingya-84040">the Buddhist-majority country of this marginalized Muslim minority</a>. </p>
<p>Of the <a href="https://unhcr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=5fdca0f47f1a46498002f39894fcd26f">newly arrived Rohingya</a>, three-quarters are women and children, <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/68127">according to the United Nations</a>.</p>
<p>In a noteworthy humanitarian gesture, the Bangladeshi government has given refuge to these persecuted people. Aided by Bangladeshi community organizations, various UN agencies and <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/70243.pdf">other international donors</a>, the Rohingya have been receiving <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-visited-the-rohingya-refugee-camps-and-here-is-what-bangladesh-is-doing-right-90513">shelter, food, clothes and basic health care</a> since the massive exodus in 2017. </p>
<p>This essential care, which cost an estimated <a href="https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/2019_jrp_at_a_glance_-_snapshot.pdf">US$920.5 million in 2019</a> represents a gargantuan global effort. Still, the resources are <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/01/rohingya-crisis-issues-challenges-emerged/">woefully inadequate</a>. </p>
<p>Most Bangladeshi refugee camps are overcrowded and, as a result, <a href="https://unhcr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=5fdca0f47f1a46498002f39894fcd26f">unhygienic</a>. Residents survive on the absolute bare minimum of nutrition and other necessities. <a href="https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/deadly-monsoon-destroys-5000-shelters-in-bangladesh-rohingya-camps">Monsoon rain</a>, cold and landslides are everyday threats for these Rohingya, as I’ve witnessed firsthand during my visits to Bangladeshi camps in 2017 and 2019. </p>
<p>It is a dismal existence for all. But it is the plight of the roughly 500,000 Rohingya children living in limbo that strikes <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rubayat_Jesmin">me</a> as bleakest. </p>
<h2>Concerns of a lost generation</h2>
<p>Research shows that future of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/research/evalreports/4fe317589/refugee-education-global-review-sarah-dryden-peterson-november-2011.html">refugee children grows more imperiled the longer they remain out of school</a>. </p>
<p>In many countries that host substantial refugee populations, including Turkey, Lebanon and Uganda, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/education.html">the United Nation’s refugee agency</a> and <a href="https://www.unicef.org/education">the United Nations Children’s Fund</a> ensure children receive a quality, full-time education, either at the camps or in nearby public schools.</p>
<p>Even so, just 23% refugee children worldwide are enrolled in secondary school, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/education.html">according to the UN’s High Commission on Human Rights</a>. Just 1% attend university.</p>
<p>Because Bangladeshi authorities have not <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/08/05/bangladesh-not-my-country/plight-rohingya-refugees-myanmar">granted the Rohingya official refugee status</a> and consider them instead “forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals,” the roughly 500,000 Rohingya children in the country have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEIzZXuwbdo">no access to a formal education</a>. Rohingya children are not permitted to attend Bangladeshi public schools.</p>
<p>The United Nations Children’s Fund and its partners offer Rohingya refugees aged 4 to 14 two-hour daily lessons on Burmese, English, math and life skills at about <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/rohingya-crisis/over-145000-rohingya-kids-return-school-in-bangladesh-1691719">1,600 learning centers located at the camps</a>. These classes keep about <a href="https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/rohingya-crisis">145,000 Rohingya children</a> – or about 30% of the Rohingya youngsters in Bangladesh – occupied for part of the day but do not provide the kind of formal education that will allow the children to work toward a high school degree and enter the job market.</p>
<p>The camps offer no schooling at all for Rohingya refugee adolescents aged 15 to 18. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284170/original/file-20190715-173360-1wohbs8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">English-language exercise books at a UNICEF-supported ‘learning center’ at one of the Kutupalong refugee camps in Bangladesh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rubayat Jesmin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some teenagers, mostly boys, have <a href="http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2018/05/28/lost-generation-no-education-no-dreams-rohingya-refugee-children">turned to madrassas</a>, or Islamic learning centers, where they can receive a religious education. </p>
<p>The remaining Rohingya children who attend neither UNICEF classes nor madrassas are simply left to fill their own day. At the Rohingya camps, I saw boys working in shops, playing cards or sitting idle at all hours of the day.</p>
<p>When I asked Mohammad what he does when he is not in school, he told me that he “takes care of his family.” </p>
<p>“I play with the other kids, too,” he added with a grin.</p>
<p>Adolescent girls, I learned, are often kept at home by their parents because of the Rohingya’s conservative social and religious norms. </p>
<p>The camps can also be dangerous for girls. Human traffickers have been known to <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-rescues-23-rohingya-girls-traffickers-100837393.html;_ylt=Awr9IMn2VixdQAsAg45XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEycjZocGwxBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwM2BHZ0aWQDQjc2NzZfMQRzZWMDc3I-">target young Rohingya women</a>, promising them jobs outside the camps. Girls face other forms of violence and human rights abuse at Bangladesh’s camps, too, including <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/2019-joint-response-plan-rohingya-humanitarian-crisis-january-december-0">child marriage</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284174/original/file-20190715-173360-k7h2df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bangladeshi camps for the Rogingyas are typically overcrowded, unhygienic, muddy and prone to landslides.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rubayat Jesmin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rohingya repatriation</h2>
<p>Growing up in unstable conditions, with <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/rohingya-crisis/news/rohingya-lost-generation-struggle-study-bangladesh-camps-1716781">no possibility of study</a>, Rohingya children like Mohammed are at risk of becoming a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/23/lost-generation-unicef-warns-on-fate-of-rohingya-children">lost generation</a>.</p>
<p>Their limbo may not last forever. In response to heightened international pressure, <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/rohingya-crisis/rohingya-refugee-repatriation-will-begin-this-afternoon-1660885">Myanmar in November 2017 agreed</a> to take the Rohingyas back <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/rohingya-crisis/rohingya-refugee-repatriation-will-begin-this-afternoon-1660885">starting November 2018</a>. </p>
<p>However, their return was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/rohingya-refugee-repatriations-bangladesh-myanmar">postponed</a> due to protests by the refugees, who feared <a href="http://brca.org.au/2018/11/13/conditions-not-safe-for-rohingyas-return-to-myanmar-unhcr/">conditions in Myanmar was not yet safe</a>. The United Nations and other international refugee services have also voiced concern about sending the Rohingya back, saying there was <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/no-progress-so-rohingya-can-return-home-1737253">no indication</a> that the Myanmar government had punished the people responsible for the crimes in Rahkine state, nor agreed to give the Rohingya citizenship. </p>
<p>Considered foreigners in both Myanmar, their native country, and Bangladesh, where they’ve sought refuge, the Rohingya Muslims are the world’s <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/myanmars-rohingya-refugees-are-the-worlds-largest-group-of-stateless-people/">largest stateless people</a>.</p>
<p>While the negotiations for their repatriation <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/hasina-wants-quick-repatriation-rohingyas-1524367">continue</a>, a generation of <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/18-months-after-exodus-myanmar-rohingya-children-crossroads">traumatized Rohingya children wait for their futures to begin</a>. </p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rubayat Jesmin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An estimated 500,000 Rohingya children, refugees from Myanmar, are growing up in Bangladesh in overcrowded camps with no access to formal education.Rubayat Jesmin, Doctoral Student, College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1170462019-05-24T12:03:18Z2019-05-24T12:03:18ZChild migrants around the world are being denied their human rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276348/original/file-20190524-187176-1nkejvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Endless transit. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Panos Pictures/UNICEF</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>At 3am we were forced to leave the bus station. We were caught by the police. They asked if we had passports. We said no, we are from Afghanistan, please help us – the police drove away. </p>
<p>Afghani refugee, 15, on meeting police in Paris</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Abed – not his real name – had been in Paris after a treacherous overland journey from Afghanistan. He is one of many youngsters whose families fear the situation in their own country enough to send their children alone to a safer land. With his father already dead and his brother disappeared, Abed’s uncle and mother sold land to pay nearly US$20,000 to an agent to escort him to the UK. </p>
<p>The agent agreed to take the boy the whole way, feed him well and make comfortable travel arrangements. Instead Abed was passed from agent to agent, travelled in often unbearable conditions, witnessed intimidation and beatings by authorities, and was sometimes lucky to eat at all. When refused help by the Paris police, the consequences were not disastrous. He at least hadn’t been detained, and ended up reaching the UK hiding in a container ship, then applying for asylum and being granted temporary leave to remain. </p>
<p>But all too often, child migrants <a href="https://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data/storage/f/2017-08-08T105712/Unaccompanied%20Minors%20in%20Migration%20Process.pdf">end up</a> in the hands of traffickers who <a href="https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/stocktaking_initiative_on_child_rights_in_the_global_compacts.pdf">force them</a> into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/24/britains-child-migrants-i-was-told-i-was-going-on-a-picnic">sexual exploitation</a> or <a href="https://www.ecpat.org.uk/blog/child-victims-suffer-under-hostile-immigration">slavery</a>, often accompanied <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/27/migrant-children-sexual-abuse-complaints-filed-documents-hhs">with violence</a> or even <a href="https://www.scarymommy.com/migrant-children-tortured-border-inmmigration-detention-centers/">torture</a>. Many more <a href="http://website-pace.net/en_GB/web/apce/children-in-detention">end up</a> in state detention, often used by authorities as an alternative to care, with long-term effects on their mental and physical health. In the US, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48375144">for instance</a>, six child migrants from Guatemala and El Salvador have died in custody since December. The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/05/20/migrant-child-death-government-custody-vpx.cnn">most recent</a>, an unnamed 16-year-old boy, was “found unresponsive” during a routine check. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275655/original/file-20190521-23848-1qp8rok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In search of a better life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bihac-bih-september-09-2018-camp-1301536540?src=EQBV1cWpVTPt7i8JTc5D5w-2-17">Adjin Kamber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When we recently interviewed unaccompanied refugee and migrant children in Scotland, many told us how during dangerous journeys, no one helped them. Many of these children – and others we have interviewed in countries as diverse as Germany, Mexico, Morocco and Ethiopia – had lost their trust in adults. A recent <a href="https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/A_right_to_be_heard_youthpoll.pdf">UNICEF survey</a> found that 38% of young migrants and refugees make similar claims about lack of support. </p>
<p>This is the 30th year since <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">the adoption of</a> the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ratified by every nation except the US, which is only a signatory and so isn’t bound by the convention, it is a commitment to universal human rights for children to the age of 18. It includes a right to life, survival and development. It includes a right not to be tortured or ill-treated; a right to be protected from violence, abuse and neglect; a right to be protected from sexual exploitation, and from inhuman or degrading treatment. It includes a right to appropriate care, health care, education and an appropriate standard of living. </p>
<p>This framework is underpinned by other international agreements such as the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/protection/alternative_care_Guidelines-English.pdf">UN Guidelines on Alternative Care 2009</a>, which aim to protect children deprived of parental care by making the state responsible for providing an alternative. Yet many child migrants are denied these rights. So how do we ensure our supposed commitment to children’s rights lives up to what was intended?</p>
<h2>The great shift</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.savethechildren.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Save-the-Children-Responds-to-the-Child-Refugee-Crisis-December-2016.pdf">Vast numbers</a> of children and families are on the move around the world. There are now 30m children <a href="https://www.unicef.org/eca/press-releases/around-30-million-children-displaced-conflict-need-protection-now-and-sustainable">displaced by conflict</a>, the highest since World War II, and vastly more unaccompanied child migrants are being recorded than at the beginning of the decade. Besides war, other factors driving child migration include <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/research/children-and-migration-rights-and-resilience/">poverty</a> and <a href="https://unu.edu/publications/articles/climate-change-migration-and-the-rights-of-children.html">climate change</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Refugees as a proportion of world population, 1980-2017</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275397/original/file-20190520-69189-46prfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.unhcr.org/blogs/statistics-refugee-numbers-highest-ever/">UNHCR</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Certainly, there <a href="https://www.togetherscotland.org.uk/resources-and-networks/resources-library/2019/02/child-rights-connect-30th-anniversary-of-the-un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child/">have been</a> achievements <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-for-children-moving-alone">in relation to</a> child migrant rights. In Palermo in Sicily, a system <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/media_95485.html">has been</a> set up to ensure every arriving child receives a legal guardian from the local community. Mexico <a href="https://idcoalition.org/interactive-map-alternatives-to-detention/">is pioneering</a> a system of alternative care for child refugees, providing accommodation and full support and enabling them to become part of the community. In Ethiopia, we filmed impressive work to register lone children quickly to reunite them with families or place them in foster care in refugee camps. </p>
<p>But so much more could be done to help such children. It doesn’t help that much of our evidence relies on first-hand testimonies, since country data is often poor or non-existent. The best information relates to Europe. <a href="https://www.ecre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AIDA_2017Update_Children.pdf">This report</a>, for example, highlights everything from failures to appoint legal guardians in Bulgaria to increasing detentions in France to patchy accommodation in Germany. But even in Europe it can still be difficult to build up a full picture about any one country, still less to compare them. </p>
<p>In any case, most migration is actually between low income countries. This <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/figures-at-a-glance.html">accounts for</a> 85% of refugees – particularly in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon and Uganda. These countries receive only minimal assistance from wealthier countries to help fulfil child migrants’ rights. This is despite the fact that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child favours such international cooperation. </p>
<p>All state parties to the convention have to report on progress to the relevant UN committee, which publishes <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crc/pages/crcintro.aspx">regular reports</a> about each country. The committee does its best to be critical where appropriate, but too many countries are still not prioritising the rights of child migrants to any real extent – and the US is not being held to account at all; its refusal to ratify the convention is a blatant disregard for children’s rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275651/original/file-20190521-23835-1mxmjnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The implementation gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/abstract-blur-bokeh-defocus-image-background-617081084?src=EQBV1cWpVTPt7i8JTc5D5w-2-25">fishman64</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have to ask all nations why they think it acceptable that the rights of children in such difficult circumstances so often stop at borders. The global community needs to treat these children with dignity, providing them with access to education and healthcare, and ensuring that alternative care rather than detention is available. There needs to be proper casework to identify their needs and provide care, and family contact where possible. </p>
<p>Unless the world makes concrete commitments to address these children’s rights much more effectively, any celebrations of the convention’s 30th anniversary this year will ring very hollow. We have the international principles, the knowledge, and examples of promising practice – as we <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-for-children-moving-alone">have gathered</a> for a new online course – in all continents across the globe. It is time that the millions of displaced children like Abed are treated with the respect, care and support they deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chrissie Gale's department receives funding from the Scottish government. Certain research relevant to this article has also received funding from the Swiss government (the Swiss Confederation), the German government (German Cooperation), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Davidson's department receives funding from the Scottish government. Certain research relevant to this article has also received funding from the Swiss government (the Swiss Confederation), the German government (German Cooperation), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Cantwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the human rights of child migrants rarely follow them when they cross borders.Chrissie Gale, International Lead, CELSIS, University of Strathclyde Jennifer Davidson, Executive Director, CELCIS, University of Strathclyde Nigel Cantwell, Honorary Doctor of Children's Rights, University of Strathclyde Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1132212019-03-15T11:56:59Z2019-03-15T11:56:59ZNew UN guidelines to mainstream human rights in the global drugs debate<p>It’s 110 years since international cooperation on drug control began. In February 1909 the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/this-day-in-history-the-shanghai-opium-commission-1909.html">International Opium Commission in Shanghai</a> saw governments from around the world come together to address what was dubbed “the opium question”, by proposing a global plan to suppress illicit opium use and markets. The meeting kicked off a century-long project of ever increasing international collaboration to eradicate illicit drug use and markets, culminating in the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/treaties/">three United Nations drug treaties</a> adopted in 1961, 1971 and 1988.</p>
<p>Since the 1970s, and the start of the “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/crime/the-war-on-drugs">war on drugs</a>”, these efforts have been marked by the increasing use of laws focused on punishment, policing, prisons and even the military as core tools of drug enforcement. Alongside this there has also been an escalation of human rights violations linked to drug control.</p>
<p>While ignored for many decades, the human rights consequences of drug enforcement are an increasing concern within UN bodies. In some cases, this is the result of years of <a href="https://www.hri.global/contents/561">patient campaigning</a> by civil society organisations and <a href="https://www.hr-dp.org/contents/1532">affected communities</a>. In others, it has been triggered by gross human rights violations linked to drugs, such as <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/tondo-vigilante-gang-war-on-drugs-series-conclusion">state killings</a>, the <a href="https://www.hri.global/files/2019/02/22/HRI_DeathPenaltyReport_2019.pdf">death penalty for drug offenders</a> and HIV epidemics <a href="http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/JC2954_UNAIDS_drugs_report_2019_en.pdf">driven by unsafe injecting drug use</a>.</p>
<p>While this attention is welcome, it has <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/drug-control-and-human-rights-in-international-law/F741DAD5332289EE22DB1718D8B89F5B">rarely resulted</a> in systematic or operational change within UN mechanisms to ensure the protection of human rights. But this is now beginning to change.</p>
<h2>Joint commitment</h2>
<p>In early March, the Chief Executives Board of the United Nations, representing 31 UN agencies – including the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime – adopted a common <a href="https://www.unsceb.org/CEBPublicFiles/CEB-2018-2-SoD.pdf">position on drug policy</a>. Among the actions agreed is was a commitment to “support the development and implementation of policies that put people, health and human rights at the centre … and to promote a rebalancing of drug policies and interventions towards public health approaches”. </p>
<p>This agreement creates potential for significant policy evolution on drugs within the UN as a whole. However, the vast majority of human rights violations driven by drug control – <a href="https://www.hri.global/files/2019/02/22/HRI_DeathPenaltyReport_2019.pdf">executions</a>, <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/bangladesh-deadly-war-on-drugs-by-naomi-burke-shyne-2018-10?barrier=accesspaylog">killings</a>, <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/amp/sunday-times/lifestyle/2016-03-27-killing-the-economic-lifeblood-of-the-eastern-capes-weed-producing-people/">involuntary crop eradication</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-drugs-thailand-prisons/soaring-prison-population-prompts-thailand-to-re-think-lost-drug-war-idUSKCN0ZX01J">mass incarceration</a>, <a href="http://newjimcrow.com/">racist policing</a>, <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/expecting-better-improving-health-and-rights-pregnant-women-who-use-drugs">gender-based violence</a>, <a href="https://www.dejusticia.org/en/publication/palliative-care-and-their-status-in-latin-america/">denial of life saving health programmes</a>, to name a few – are not the result of UN inaction. They are driven by national laws and policies that member state governments implement to, in their view, fulfil UN drug treaties obligations.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, some countries have begun to review and reform these harmful rules, promoting societal well-being and reducing the harms of illicit drug economies. Judicial reviews of the criminalisation of possession for personal use have taken place in <a href="http://sjconsulta.csjn.gov.ar/sjconsulta/%20documentos/verUnicoDocumento.html?idAnalisis=671140">Argentina</a> and <a href="http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZACC/2018/30.pdf">South Africa</a>, for example. There have been <a href="https://www.release.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/publications/A%20Quiet%20Revolution%20-%20Decriminalisation%20Across%20the%20Globe.pdf">national referendums on promoting health in drug policy</a> in Italy and Switzerland, and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/where-weed-legal-around-world-you-can-now-officially-smoke-pot-canada-1173623">legislative reviews of cannabis laws</a> in Uruguay, Canada and some US states.</p>
<p>Despite this progress, far too many countries remain entrenched in the war on drugs approach, and human rights violations are still taking place as a result. Member states’ divergent approach has resulted in increasingly fragmented political discourse in UN forums too. Human rights discussions are divisive, and commitments to promote them largely rhetorical or lost in diplomatic translation. </p>
<h2>From questions to solutions</h2>
<p>The stagnation of these political debates has often obscured progressive developments on <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=2ahUKEwiH5ayAyIHhAhXMcJoKHTIIAuMQFjABegQICBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ohchr.org%2Fen%2Fhrbodies%2Fhrc%2Fregularsessions%2Fsession30%2Fdocuments%2Fa_hrc_30_65_e.docx&usg=AOvVaw3Yv1gkE3TcC4g761wyXMjO">human rights</a> and <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/UNODC_Human_rights_position_paper_2012.pdf">drug control</a> elsewhere in the UN. What has been missing to bridge this gap is a shared tool to clarify global human rights conversations and guide national reform. Which is just what we, as part of a team of international experts, have now published with United Nations Development Program, World Health Organisation and UNAIDS as the <a href="https://www.humanrights-drugpolicy.org/">International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy</a>.</p>
<p>Based on established international legal standards, these guidelines cover 27 principles that span the drug market from cultivation to consumption. It is also a catalogue that reflects the expansive human experience of drug control, from cancer patients travelling days to receive morphine, to the struggles of indigenous peoples to protect their sacred relationship with psychoactive plants, to the people who are criminalised for using drugs and denied essential harm reduction services.</p>
<p>The guidelines do not create new laws, but centralise existing human rights standards in the context of drug control. They provide concrete guidance on what states can and should do to promote the safety, security, well-being and rights of their communities. Following their launch, sub-regional and national dialogues with key government, civil society and academic stakeholders are being planned to localise and demonstrate the practical power of these standards.</p>
<p>The century-old international drug control monolith was not erected overnight. Nor will it be reformed or dismantled overnight. That process will take time and determination, and commitment to prioritising evidence, health and rights in national and international lawmaking. The guidelines are one milestone in that journey towards reform, one that we hope helps shift the focus of global drug policy away from “the opium question” to “the rights solution”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Rick Lines is co-founder and Chair of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, which is one of partners on the project described in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Hannah is the Director of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy at the University of Essex (HRDP) and receives funding from the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development, implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development; the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs; and the United Nations Development Programme to develop and/or implement the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy. The Guidelines are published by the HRDP, United Nations Development Program, World Health Organization and UNAIDS.</span></em></p>The UN’s new rights focus has the potential to overhaul the punitive nature of the war on drugs.Rick Lines, Associate Professor of Crimininology and Human Rights, Swansea UniversityJulie Hannah, Director, International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/950732018-06-24T07:21:44Z2018-06-24T07:21:44ZMalawian school children with disability struggle to access drinking water and toilets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224479/original/file-20180622-26549-9sremp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Schools, according to policy, must have at least one latrine or toilet for boys and girls that cater for pupils with disabilities. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The image of a primary school child leaving their wheelchair outside a pit latrine and crawling across an unclean floor to perform basic bodily functions is stark.</p>
<p>These and similar stories emerged from a study we conducted in a Malawian town. And they suggest that while the southern African nation is being hailed for its efforts to get more children in the classroom, more work is needed to ensure their experiences on school grounds – and especially in bathroom facilities – are positive and safe.</p>
<p>In developing countries fewer than 5% of children that have disabilities <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/614161468325299263/%20pdf/266900WP0English0Inclusive0Education.pdf">attend school</a>. In Malawi, UNICEF <a href="https://www.unicef.org/malawi/resources_12771.htm">estimates that 2.4% of the young people</a> have a disability. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0376835X.2018.1461610">our study</a> we assessed the water and sanitation facilities at primary schools in a rural town in Malawi to see how disability friendly they were. We were keen to understand how well schools had translated Malawi’s policies on access to water, sanitation and hygiene into practice. </p>
<p>Our data showed that no school had facilities that fully met the needs of students with disabilities – not even private schools which is often thought to provide better services.</p>
<p>Instead we found that children with disabilities had several challenges. Some had no access to facilities while others had to walk long distances to access them. Others struggled to walk on the uneven walkways; and others struggled to operate the hand pumps to access water. </p>
<p>Our study highlights some cost effective measures that schools can invest in to make these facilities more disability friendly. But it also underscores the need for increased government support, budgeting and enforcement to ensure national policies are met.</p>
<p>But our findings are also important to show education policymakers that the existing policies are not effective in rural areas. It’s a scenario that is likely to play out in many of the low-resource districts in Malawi and in other low and middle-income countries.</p>
<h2>Barriers of access</h2>
<p>We conducted our study in Rumphi – a small but growing agricultural trading town known to grow tobacco as a cash crop. People get water from municipal water taps or hand pumps and most households have an unimproved traditional pit latrine, consisting of a basic pit covered by an earthen floor and either brick or grass walls. </p>
<p>Malawi has several policies that ensure that people with disabilities have access to water and sanitation. The national sanitation policy, introduced in 2008, stipulates that public places must have facilities which cater for people with special needs. Schools, according to the policy, must have at least one latrine or toilet for boys and girls that cater for pupils with disabilities. </p>
<p>But in practise, this is not the case. In our study we evaluated the infrastructure at 10 schools in the Rumphi: seven public and three private schools. </p>
<p>During interviews with pupils who had disabilities and teachers we were given first-hand accounts of the difficulties the pupils encountered. </p>
<p>There were two sets of problems. The first related to the children’s inability to access and operate drinking water facilities; the second related to cleanliness and privacy of the pit latrines. </p>
<p>Most students asked friends rather than teachers to help them. Others just tolerated the situation. </p>
<h2>Drinking water facilities</h2>
<p>Most children were put in harm’s way when they tried to access facilities with drinking water. Children who were, for example visually impaired, struggled to see the path to the pump if there was too much sunlight or cloud cover, placing them in danger of falling. Others who had physical disabilities struggled to operate the hand pump handle. They risked the danger of hurting themselves. </p>
<p>Some of the water sources were as far as 350 metres away from the classrooms. None of the schools had access ramps to the pumps or supporting rails leading to the source. Some had steps leading to the water source which would be difficult for a child with physical impairments to access.</p>
<p>At most of the schools the paths to the hand pump was uneven and at all the facilities there was no shade to help children with albinism. </p>
<h2>Unclean pit latrines</h2>
<p>The children also struggled to use sanitation facilities because they were unclean and sometimes the floor was covered in urine and faeces. Wet and dirty floors were the most common challenge. This was particularly problematic for children who had physical impairments and needed to place their hands on the ground in order to access the pit latrine. </p>
<p>In addition, we found that some of the pit latrines were up to 114 metres away from the classrooms. The World Health Organisation has <a href="http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/wash_standards_school.pdf">recommended</a> that facilities shouldn’t be further than 30 metres from classrooms. </p>
<p>Only one school had a toilet with a door and a raised seat but none of the schools had drop-hole covers or supporting rails leading to the pit latrines.</p>
<p>The latrine doors were less than 1 metre wide so wheelchairs could not access them. This mean that children in wheelchairs had to leave them outside and crawl into the facility to use it. </p>
<h2>National guidelines</h2>
<p>In our interviews with the pupils they raised cost effective solutions that could make the existing school infrastructure friendlier.
This included keeping facilities clean, adding doors for privacy, reducing the height of steps or replacing them with a ramp. These could cost as little as 54 000 Malawian kwacha (USD$78) per school.</p>
<p>This shows that authorities should include the input of students with disabilities whose voices are often overlooked when solutions are considered. It also shows that special education teachers need to be trained on ways to make infrastructure at schools more disability friendly. </p>
<p>Malawi could look to countries like South Africa where a national guideline was developed in 2008 to allow people with disabilities to access toilets easier. These guidelines could be practically adapted for schools in Malawi. </p>
<p>When the school bell rings to end the day in Malawi, both government and community-based action are needed to step up to help children with disabilities at school in smaller towns. The situation in Malawi is likely to be consistent across other neighbouring countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rochelle H. Holm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children with disabilities face several challenges and need to be heard to make school infrastructure friendlier for them.Rochelle H. Holm, Manager, Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation, Mzuzu UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/954452018-04-29T08:52:00Z2018-04-29T08:52:00ZWhy it’s hard to get South Sudan’s former child soldiers back to school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216082/original/file-20180424-94157-17oplkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The opportunity of getting an education is key to reintegration.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNMISS/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/18/africa/south-sudan-child-soldiers-freed/index.html">200</a> child soldiers have been freed from armed groups in South Sudan. The 112 boys and 95 girls, all under the age of 18, took part in a “laying down of arms ceremony” after which efforts will be made to reunite them with their families and their reintegration process will begin. </p>
<p>The children were part of a <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/04/23/a-whos-who-in-south-sudans-splintering-civil-war_c1747342">new</a> civil war that broke out in the Republic of South Sudan, two years after it was granted independence from Sudan. The ongoing conflict has ripped the country apart, making the living conditions for most South Sudanese worse than ever before. </p>
<p><a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ear11.pdf">Characterised</a> as a struggle over power and resources, the conflict is driven by corruption and ethnic rivalries. The main actors are the former rebel group and political party Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition led by former Vice President Riek Machar. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-child-soldiers-released-2018-htmlstory.html">About 19 000 child soldiers</a> are thought to be part of the conflict and so the release of any is great news. But it’s not guaranteed that they will reintegrate successfully. The reintegration process, often done by UNICEF and local communities, is crucial in determining whether these youth remain as civilians or return to the barracks as soldiers. </p>
<p>Based on interviews and observations with 20 former child soldiers in South Sudan, <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S1479-358X20140000012012">my research shows</a> that though children do get forcibly recruited, many “choose” to join the armed groups. They are driven by poor socio-economonic conditions – like a lack of food, housing and security – and because they can’t afford school or physically get to one. And so they find the military, and the <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S1479-358X20140000012012">protection of a gun</a>, to be the better option. </p>
<p>It is therefore imperative that education, whether formal schooling or an alternative system, be part of the reintegration process. Because without it the children find themselves in a vicious cycle and though thousands <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/stolen-childhoods-release-child-soldiers-south-sudan">have left</a> armed groups, they find themselves back with them for the same reasons as before. </p>
<p>But education isn’t accessible to most children in South Sudan. <a href="https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/emis_2016_-_statistics_booklet_-_2017-02.pdf">In 2016</a> only 50% of children aged 6-13 were enrolled in primary education and just 3.5% aged 14-17 were enrolled in <a href="https://windle.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/Secondary%20Schools%20in%20South%20Sudan..pdf">secondary</a> education. There are challenges in finding a school, and being able to afford to go to one. This is even harder for demobilised child soldiers who are often traumatised and stigmatised. </p>
<h2>Education challenges</h2>
<p>One of the biggest problems in South Sudan is a lack of school facilities. A recent <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF_South_Sudan_Report_Childhood_under_Attack_15Dec_FINAL(1).pdf">report</a> states that there have been 293 military attacks on schools, affecting over 90,000 children. Due to this security concern, education isn’t readily available in many home communities and so shortly after the former child soldiers are reunited with their families, they leave. They usually go to bigger towns in search of schools, staying with distant relatives or family friends. </p>
<p>Even if the children manage to get into a school, the classrooms are overpopulated (in some secondary schools there <a href="https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/EAC/article/view/1312">can be</a> over 100 students in a class), there are few decent textbooks and the teachers aren’t properly trained. The education the children get is very poor in quality. </p>
<p>The children will also have to pay for it. Even though most of the schools are meant to be government funded, my research <a href="https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/EAC/article/view/1312">shows</a> that teachers are often not paid and so the students pay fees to give the teachers a little income. But with few resources and no support system, the children struggle to do this and run the risk of not attending or not having teachers. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>The global agenda for education <a href="https://en.unesco.org/education2030-sdg4">is focused</a> on teaching and learning for all, with an emphasis on quality and sustainability. But in the case of South Sudan the first main problem is access. If this was resolved it could keep former child soldiers occupied and prevented them from being re-recruited. It would also ensure that they were socialised in a non-violent environment and were working together with others towards a common future. </p>
<p>Experience shows that to reach child soldiers with educational interventions, they must be <a href="https://www.unicef.org/wcaro/Role_of_education_and_demobilised_children.pdf">specifically</a> targeted. The government also needs to ensure teachers are paid and trained in psychosocial support. The education should be geared towards accommodating and supporting the childrens’ traumatic past, increasing their chances of successful reintegration. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this might all be too much to ask in the midst of a civil war where I often hear people say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are all traumatised</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Merethe Skårås does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For the thousands of children who have left armed groups, education is crucial to their reintegration.Merethe Skårås, PhD candidate and lecturer, Oslo Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/806232017-11-12T09:43:54Z2017-11-12T09:43:54ZThe belief that Africa’s Quranic students are passive victims needs to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181858/original/file-20170813-27082-nw6ad3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pupil reads the Quran during lessons at a religious school in Dakar. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Claire Soares</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thirteen-year-old Moussa had large brown eyes and a timid but warm smile. He was skinny for his age. The youngest of his siblings, he was often told off by his older sister. But even she was shocked and afraid to tell their parents when she learned from his teacher that Moussa had secretly dropped out of the final year of primary school. </p>
<p>When I asked him in confidence what had happened, he beamed and explained that he had been attending the local Quranic school instead: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I just prefer to learn the Quran! That’s all I want to do. And it’s easy!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A few months later, Moussa’s uncle found out that he had dropped out of primary school and beat him severely. Debate ensued within his extended family over what to do. Most of his family were adamant that he should finish primary school, feeling that it would be useful for him in the future. </p>
<p>But his parents could tell that he was genuinely committed to learning the Quran. His mother raised the funds from trade to send him to a Quranic boarding school in the capital city.</p>
<p>This situation took place in the strongly Islamic context of northern Senegal, where I spent eight months living in a rural village conducting fieldwork for a PhD at the University of Sussex. Moussa’s story appears in my recent chapter <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-bloomsbury-reader-in-religion-and-childhood-9781474251105/">“Passive victims or actively shaping their religious education?”</a> </p>
<p>Moussa’s experience contradicts the image that policymakers, donors and NGO staff often create of children as passive in decisions about their education. People assume that parents, and fathers in particular, are the ones who make decisions about children’s schooling. Yet children clearly take an active role and, in cases like Moussa’s, sometimes defy the wishes of adults.</p>
<p>The presumption that children are passive is particularly evident in debates around Islamic education, and Quranic schooling especially. This affects policies regarding the sector, as well as the way in which researchers approach the subject. It’s time for a change, where the voices and agency of Quranic school pupils are heard and acknowledged.</p>
<h2>Representation of pupils as victims</h2>
<p>Quranic schools, or “daaras” in Senegal, tend to have a bad reputation among NGOs and in national and international media. These schools are usually portrayed as sites where students – known locally as talibés - are kept in squalid and unsafe conditions, and forced by abusive clerics to beg for money. </p>
<p>Begging for alms, working for a cleric and learning in conditions of deprivation have always been a feature of Quranic schooling in Africa. These practices were designed to fund the schools and teach the students humility and empathy for the poor. </p>
<p>Yet widespread poverty and urbanisation have led to more and more clerics abusing the practice, requiring that children beg so much that they learn very little. </p>
<p>The problem with this discourse is that is only tells one side of the story. Although there are roughly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/world/africa/13dakar.html">50,000 children</a> in Senegal who beg on behalf of Quranic teachers in the major cities, they don’t form the whole picture. Hundreds of thousands of Senegalese children attend Quranic pre-schools, or fee-paying Quranic boarding schools, in which conditions are better. </p>
<p>The image of the talibé as a victim of sinister clerics and poor, ignorant or negligent parents reinforces the idea that children are passive in educational decisions. This thinking also justifies external intervention on behalf of children.</p>
<p>It conceals the fact that children – in line with or against their families’ wishes – may opt for this form of education. They may even prefer to attend schools where they have to beg, rather than state schools. </p>
<h2>Understanding educational preferences</h2>
<p>All educational choices should be seen in context. Moussa and other boys like him who preferred Quranic schools perceived that unless you come from a rich and well-connected family, investment in state schooling is unlikely to get you a secure job. </p>
<p>This view is supported by many studies showing <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-employable-are-african-graduates-their-countries">high levels of unemployment even among university graduates</a> in developing countries, and the <a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/failing-young-people-addressing-the-supply-side-bias-and-individualisation-in-youth-employment-programming">pitfalls of development schemes which invest in education when there are no jobs available</a>. </p>
<p>Another problem is that state schools in Senegal teach very little religion, and fail to meet the demands of many Muslim parents and young people. This is a legacy of French colonial policy, but is also a characteristic of a country which must answer to international donors ahead of its majority Muslim population. </p>
<p>Proposed “modern” state Quranic schools haven’t materialised. State reforms of existing Quranic schools have usually been rejected by clerics for imposing unrealistic requirements on them, and bowing to donor agendas.</p>
<p>Yet Quranic schools are often criticised out of context, without their supply and demand linked to widespread poverty, or the persistent low quality and low relevance of the state school system.</p>
<h2>Children’s right to choose</h2>
<p>Moussa came from a family where many generations of men earned prestige and livelihoods as Muslim clerics. His older brothers and cousins had attended Quranic schools and then migrated to Europe, the US and central African countries. They had succeeded in religious professions such as being imams, but also through trade and low-skilled labour in service industries. </p>
<p>Boys like Moussa were confident they could do the same. In contrast, they felt that state schools offered less prestige and fewer economic opportunities.</p>
<p>Moussa wanted to go to a fee-paying Quranic boarding school. These schools allow pupils to study the Quran full-time and do not require children to beg. They are not the ‘worst kind’ of Quranic schools portrayed in the media. But children do choose to attend those as well.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://unicef.is/sites/unicef.is/files/atoms/files/child_trafficking_in_guinea-bissau.pdf">UNICEF study</a> explains how several NGOs removed children against their will from Quranic schools in Senegal and “repatriated” them home to neighbouring Guinea Bissau. </p>
<p>Some children disliked the schools, but others wanted to attend in order to study and travel. Yet the NGOs assumed all the children had been trafficked - <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/middleeastandnorthafrica/organised-crime/UNITED_NATIONS_CONVENTION_AGAINST_TRANSNATIONAL_ORGANIZED_CRIME_AND_THE_PROTOCOLS_THERETO.pdf">defined as the transportation of persons for the purpose of exploitation</a> - because they were begging for the cleric. The actions of the NGOs went strongly against the desires of some of the children and their families.</p>
<p>The fact that children shape their educational path has several implications for policy and research. When trying to understand school enrolment patterns, surveys of parents or just fathers mask the complex ways in which whole families, including children, arrive at decisions. </p>
<p>With respect to Quranic schooling, children are those most directly affected by school policy and therefore have the right to be consulted. They are also in a good position to suggest improvements to the educational options available. </p>
<p>Above all, they have the right to avoid being coerced by well-meaning adults who don’t know enough about local realities, who may actually do more harm than good.</p>
<p><em>Names have been changed to protect the identity of research informants</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anneke Newman collected the data for this article during a PhD at the University of Sussex, UK. She received a PhD scholarship from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK. </span></em></p>The assumption that children’s schooling decisions are mainly decided by their parents, and their fathers in particular, is not entirely accurate.Anneke Newman, Teaching Fellow (Anthropology), University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/867012017-11-08T11:11:14Z2017-11-08T11:11:14ZVolunteer tourism: what’s wrong with it and how it can be changed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192983/original/file-20171102-26472-evd7h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Madonna with her adopted son, David Banda, at an orphanage, 40 km from the capital Lilongwe April 19, 2007.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Volunteer tourism, or voluntourism, is an <a href="https://www.cabi.org/cabebooks/ebook/20013143345">emerging trend</a> of travel linked to “doing good”. Yet these efforts to help people and the environment have come under <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17450128.2010.487124">heavy criticism</a> – I believe for good reason. </p>
<p>Voluntourists’ ability to change systems, alleviate poverty or provide support for vulnerable children is limited. They simply don’t have the skills. And they can inadvertently perpetuate patronising and unhelpful ideas about the places they visit.</p>
<p>The trend of voluntourism has come about partly through initiatives by large-scale, well established organisations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, CARE International and World Vision. They raise money for programmes they have developed for orphans and vulnerable children. </p>
<p>Their <a href="https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/how-you-can-help/emergencies/rohingya-crisis">appeals</a> have been effective because needy children tend to <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271173">arouse compassion</a> and because modern communication technology makes it easy to share the call to help.</p>
<p>But there are dangers in these appeals, which are mostly aimed at Western audiences. For example, singer Madonna, in her documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrZMwi0g-hc">I Am Because We Are</a>, says Malawi is in a “state of emergency”. She says there are over a million children orphaned by AIDS in the central African country and that they are</p>
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<p>living on the streets, in abandoned buildings, and are being abducted, kidnapped, and raped.</p>
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<p>Madonna’s description is inaccurate. There are <em>not</em> a million children living on the streets of Malawi, nor are there <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2010.00313.x/abstract">high levels of abduction and rape</a>. </p>
<p>Aside from sometimes creating an inaccurate impression, these appeals have attracted increasing numbers of student volunteers, best described as amateur humanitarian workers. They intend to serve people, especially children, but do they?</p>
<h2>The trouble with voluntourism</h2>
<p>Most students bring few relevant skills to their volunteer sites. They are not required to commit to long-term involvement either. Instead, volunteers take part in service projects like basic construction, painting, tutoring in English and maths, distributing food, or “just being a friend” to children perceived as alone and in need of social support. </p>
<p>Voluntourism with children also perpetuates the notion of a desperate Africa needing the benevolence of the West. Volunteers are led to imagine that their engagement directly addresses suffering. Many believe the children they work with don’t have any other social systems to support them materially or socially. </p>
<p>This is evident from the images and anecdotes they circulate of a suffering, sick Africa. The images they portray is that Africa is incapable of escaping poverty and violence without Western intervention. </p>
<p>The ways volunteers get involved tend not to address the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2016.1263308">causes of suffering</a>.</p>
<p>The design of these programmes leads to superficial engagement for volunteers. This makes it hard for them to think about – or do anything about – the structural issues that create humanitarian crises in the first place. </p>
<p>These issues include the history, social, political and economic conditions that frame people’s lives.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2016.1263308">research</a> suggests that students who engage in these programmes actually contribute towards the mystification of larger systems that produce inequality, poverty, particular patterns of disease distribution, and various forms of violence. </p>
<h2>Programmes need to be reworked</h2>
<p>The problems outlined here do not necessarily mean that volunteer work should be abandoned. In an increasingly violent and xenophobic world, these kinds of cross-cultural engagement can help people understand and appreciate each other. </p>
<p>But if this is to be achieved, volunteer experiences need to be reframed and programmes reworked. Any organisation taking young people to volunteer sites in Malawi ought to be preparing them with adequate information before they go as well as opportunities for critical discussion during and after their trips. Many of these programmes are associated with college campuses or organised religious groups that have the capacity to learn about, teach, and support a more sophisticated cultural exchange. </p>
<p>Students need to learn about the political, social, economic and cultural histories of the places they visit. They should be given the opportunity to explore systems of poverty and inequality in greater depth. </p>
<p>Most importantly, students need to think about these experiences as cultural exchanges meant to generate knowledge and respect about other ways of being and not as trips that “help” the poor. </p>
<p>If volunteers can understand the people they work with as citizens with rights rather than objects of charity, they can begin to think about long-term partnership, justice and structural change. </p>
<p>I believe long-term commitment is key. Doctors, engineers, computer scientists and particular types of educators have important skills and could make more enduring contributions. Doctors, for example, they could train medical personnel on new procedures to use once the volunteer leaves. </p>
<p>For the shorter term, volunteers should see their presence as a cultural exchange rather than as humanitarian relief.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86701/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Freidus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Voluntourists’ ability to change systems, alleviate poverty or provide support for vulnerable children is limited. They don’t have the skills and can perpetuate patronising and unhelpful ideas.Andrea Freidus, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina – CharlotteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/759002017-04-11T14:07:25Z2017-04-11T14:07:25ZHow learning empathy can help build better community projects in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164323/original/image-20170406-16663-deqma.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Unicef team creating a collaborative paper plane.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unicef</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Empathy is one of the most important skills any leader can have. A huge 2015 <a href="http://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/EmpathyInTheWorkplace.pdf">research project</a> across 38 countries found that empathy makes leaders more effective and their businesses more successful. </p>
<p>But how do you teach empathy? How can it be cultivated in students who will become leaders in future? And could it be done in a way that foregrounds ancient, indigenous knowledge and practices which might have been sidelined by colonialism?</p>
<p>For instance, in 2005 Unicef developed a plan to hand out mosquito nets to help curb malaria in Malawi. But instead of using the nets to cover themselves while sleeping, people used them for fishing – a phenomenon that’s been seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/mosquito-nets-are-often-used-for-fishing-a-smart-response-is-needed-66283">elsewhere in Africa</a>, too.</p>
<p>Unicef assumed that the need for protection against malaria was among Malawians’ priorities. But actually, the most urgent need was for basic sustenance. This is an example of how developing a better understanding of the local context can assist in coming up with solutions that meet users’ needs.</p>
<p>Organisations also need to understand that knowledge already exists in communities which must be considered when coming up with solutions for social challenges. In parts of Africa like <a href="http://ir.jkuat.ac.ke:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/1493/Thuku%2c%20%20Loise%20Nyakeru-%20%20MSC_%20Environmental%20Legislation%20and%20Management-2013.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">Kenya</a> and Sudan, as well as in <a href="http://fa.jibresearch.com/?page_id=63">India</a>, for example, villagers use cow urine around their houses’ perimeters to ward off the mosquitoes that carry malaria. Cow urine and dung is also used as a pest repellent mixed into the lining of houses’ walls. </p>
<p>It’s these kinds of contextual considerations that have informed my work with <a href="https://www.unicef.org/">Unicef</a> in a design thinking programme that focuses on empathy and respecting indigenous knowledge.</p>
<h2>Putting people first</h2>
<p>Unicef deals with issues related to children all over the world. In 2016 it approached the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking (the d-school) at the University of Cape Town to develop more human-centred solutions to some of the complex challenges facing vulnerable children and families, particularly on the African continent.</p>
<p>Design thinking is a human-centred approach to problem solving. It develops an understanding of problems through engaging with those affected – the users. Its approach to solving problems is participatory, involving the users in finding solutions.</p>
<p>Unicef is involved in solving a number of complex challenges, and realised that it’s critical to put humans at the centre of that work. It wanted to ensure that the solutions designed would contribute to local communities’ sustainability and resilience. Unicef too often goes into communities offering solutions without considering local ideas, approaches and knowledge – as the Malawi mosquito net project showed. Its employees don’t spend time, really understanding the problems they’re trying to solve before designing solutions. </p>
<p>That’s where instilling empathy comes in: organisations need an empathetic mindset that leads to better understanding not just of what the problem is, but also what caused it in the first place.</p>
<p>That’s what informed my ongoing design thinking programme with Unicef. It’s a customised programme that helps train organisations in design thinking. I’m working with Unicef Malawi and some of its partners – and developing empathy forms a big part of the course.</p>
<h2>Empathy in design thinking</h2>
<p>There are two types of empathy in design thinking: emotional and cognitive. Emotional empathy centres on instinct, emotions and shared experience. The emotional aspect includes assessing our own thoughts and actions for the purpose of personal learning and development. Design thinking encourages students to cultivate curiosity and challenge prejudice to discover commonalities with other people who may be different from them. Listening is extremely important, too.</p>
<p>Emotional empathy is a starting point for individual team members in any design thinking programme before they shift focus towards the user for whom they’re designing solutions.</p>
<p>The second dimension of empathy is cognitive. Here, one comes to understand how others may experience the world from their point of view. Cognitive empathy includes the mental process of acquiring and understanding through thoughts, experience and senses. It includes processes like knowledge, memory, judgement, reasoning and decision making.</p>
<p>Understanding different points of view requires humility: we may have been trained as experts in our various disciplines but that hardly means we know everything. Each person possesses very little knowledge, which becomes valuable when a team comes together.</p>
<p>All the participants in a design team need to be empathetic with the users they’re designing for if their solutions are to be relevant. This informed my planning for the Unicef course.</p>
<h2>Immersion</h2>
<p>The participants include Unicef employees and people from organisations that implement the solutions Unicef develops. I started by taking participants through a three day introduction to design thinking. They had to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team. They had to learn the value of empathy for the user – that’s, people affected by the problems they’re trying to solve.</p>
<p>They took part in an immersion experience at the <a href="https://capetownsocietyfortheblind.co.za/?page_id=884">Cape Town Society for the Blind</a>. This took them into a very different context and forced them to experience the physical world as blind people do. It was a powerful way to help them understand the implications of navigating a world not designed to facilitate their access. They ate dinner in the dark and were forced to use all their other senses in the same way blind people must.</p>
<p>All this helped participants to understand that even those they might consider less knowledgeable have experiences, emotions and aspirations. This understanding helps with the development of true empathy.</p>
<p>Empathy for others and understanding their context could go a long way in helping organisations to come up with relevant solutions. An understanding of context allows us to learn from others’ experiences and to arrive at an informed solution with the users. This allows organisations to solve the right problems – and, in the long run, to help communities become more resilient and self-sustaining.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keneilwe Munyai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How do you teach empathy? Can it be in a way that foregrounds ancient, indigenous knowledge and practices? Design thinking might hold the answers.Keneilwe Munyai, Programme Manager, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/750902017-04-03T14:22:08Z2017-04-03T14:22:08ZWhy the new education curriculum is a triumph for Kenya’s children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163085/original/image-20170329-1664-1fsnvlt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Kenya the obsession with high exam grades means extra pressure on children.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Thomas Mukoya</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every child and parent in Kenya knows all too well that grades matter.
During the final year of primary school, pupils sit to write a nationally administered exam that determines their progression to secondary school. Children have to attain high grades in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) to secure places in the best secondary schools – public or private.</p>
<p>Here too, the teachers emphasise attainment of high grades, perhaps even more than back in primary school. Long hours in class are just a part of the preparation for the final exam which determines admission into university.</p>
<p>Private schools, which many parents opt for, have a financial incentive to pursue high grades for their students. When these schools attain a high mean grade, they draw more students into their ranks which translates into higher revenues.</p>
<p>This obsession with high exam grades means extra pressure on children to cram content in order to pass a series of internal exams leading up to KCSE. It also means that schools have little time to pay attention to learners who are struggling with the <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Improving-learning-outcomes.pdf">challenges of adolescence</a>.</p>
<p>Learners received little guidance on appropriate coping mechanisms that would enable them to deal with the academic pressures and other life changes that they were experiencing. Those that became truant and undisciplined were eventually pushed out of the school because they weren’t meeting the minimum grades expected.</p>
<p>But a fundamental change is about to take place. A new education system is set to replace the 32 year-old 8-4-4 system which has come to symbolise much of what’s wrong with education in Kenya today. The current <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ERP-III-policy-brief-2.pdf">system</a> of education starts with eight years of primary school followed by four years each for secondary school and university.</p>
<p>The changes mean that children will have an opportunity to be children. They will not be pressured to get high scores so that they can join the so-called ‘good schools’. Children will be able to learn at their own pace and not be pawns in an education system that’s obsessed with high mean scores. </p>
<p>The changes proposed in the new curriculum are aligned to the vision of the new curriculum reform and that is to </p>
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<p>enable every Kenyan to become an engaged, empowered and ethical citizen. This will be achieved by providing every Kenyan learner with world class standards in the skills and knowledge that they deserve, and which they need in order to thrive in the 21st century </p>
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<h2>Children will be children</h2>
<p>The new <a href="http://www.kicd.ac.ke/images/PDF/national-curriculum-policy.pdf">2.6.3.3.3. curriculum</a> is designed to place children’s needs before those of their teachers, schools and parents. It aims to enable every Kenyan child to be an engaged, empowered and ethical citizen. This will be accomplished by equipping teachers with the means to teach well, within school environments that have adequate resources for every learner. </p>
<p>Effective delivery of the curriculum will require knowledgeable and professional teachers who can use appropriate teaching methodologies including coaching, facilitation, and mentoring. In this way, teachers will be viewed as role models who inspire learners to achieve their potential.</p>
<p>Moreover, teachers will need to adapt this curriculum to meet the requirements, interests, and talents of every child, while diagnosing the learner’s needs and collaborating with other significant people in the child’s life such as parents and members of the local and wider community.</p>
<p>Another change in the new curriculum is elimination of summative evaluation. This refers to exams that were done at the end of 8 years of primary school, four years of secondary school, and four years of high school, in the 8.4.4 system of education. Instead, it spreads out the evaluation throughout the duration of the child’s stay in school. </p>
<p>Children will be assessed based on their competencies, meaning their ability to apply knowledge and skills in performing various tasks within specific settings. This will help determine the individual strengths and weaknesses of the learners. </p>
<p>There will be two types of evaluation in upper primary. Formative assessment will be continuously administered from grades 4-6. This will enable the continuous monitoring of learning and provide regular feedback that teachers can use to improve their delivery. </p>
<p>Summative assessment for a group of randomly selected learners from across the country, will be administered at the end of grade 6. Their performance will be used to gauge the overall ability of all the students transitioning to Grade 7. In doing so, the new curriculum moves away from a one-off summative assessment and embraces an approach where all children’s abilities are recognised and appreciated.</p>
<h2>Navigating life’s challenges</h2>
<p>They will also be exposed to life skills from pre-primary in addition to all the other subjects that they will be taught. This will ensure that from an early age, children have the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills to help them navigate life’s challenges as they progress with their education.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/index_66242.html">UNICEF</a></p>
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<p>life skills refer to both psycho social and interpersonal skills that can assist people to make informed decisions, communicate effectively and develop coping and self-management skills that would help lead to a healthy and productive life.</p>
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<p>Children in senior secondary will be exposed to community service and physical education. The assessment of this level of education will be based on project work, national examinations and community service, in which parents and other stakeholders will be involved. Moreover, parents and other players will help in identifying opportunities for the learners to apply their competencies. Teachers will then document the learner’s achievement.</p>
<p>This emphasis on parental involvement reflects the importance that the curriculum places on the role of parents. Parental involvement has been a key component of two intervention studies conducted by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), in Nairobi’s informal settlements. </p>
<p>APHRC research has documented that the school is just one place where the teaching of life skills occurs. In the home and family setting, parents shape the attitudes, skills, and values that young people acquire. The project, <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Improving-learning-outcomes.pdf">Improving Learning Outcomes and Transition to Secondary School</a>, showed that communication between parents and their children improved learning outcomes. </p>
<p>More research shows that parental communication with a child of the opposite gender (father to daughter and mother to son) <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4546127/">significantly reduces risky behaviour</a> and delays sexual activity among adolescents.</p>
<p>The new curriculum therefore offers parents the opportunity to be involved in their children’s education. These empowered parents will take the initiative to participate in school, at home and within the community. More importantly, the curriculum will help ensure the holistic development of children within a friendly learning environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75090/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benta A. Abuya does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new education system in set to replace the 32-year-old 8-4-4 system which has come to symbolise much of what’s wrong with education in Kenya today.Benta A. Abuya, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/746412017-03-15T13:41:59Z2017-03-15T13:41:59ZAppeals for aid to fight Horn of Africa famine ignore the plight of Eritreans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160923/original/image-20170315-5324-wp64nt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A camp for people affected by malnutrition in Eritrea. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">A photo smuggled out of Eritrea by the Freedom Friday network. </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The international community has finally woken up to the critical situation across the Horn of Africa. Conflict and drought have left millions at risk of famine. In the UK, an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39272811">appeal has been launched</a> by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) for assistance for 16m people from Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan. To underline the gravity of the situation, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson <a href="http://home.bt.com/news/world-news/boris-johnson-in-somalia-for-surprise-visit-amid-drought-and-famine-warning-11364164804132">visited Somalia</a> on March 15 to observe conditions on the ground.</p>
<p>This is not just a British response. Turkey – with important links to Somalia – <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2017/03/05/turkey-launches-aid-campaign-for-drought-hit-horn-of-africa-and-yemen/">pledged</a> to provide assistance for the region earlier in March. Germany also <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-gabriel-urges-aid-to-prevent-africa-famine/a-37912625">promised</a> to help those in most need.</p>
<p>But in the rush to provide help to those facing starvation one community has been ignored: Eritreans.</p>
<p>There is no doubt about the scale of the need. A recent <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2017_Eritrea_HAC_0.pdf">report</a> from the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, detailed the critical situation facing Eritrea’s women and children due to drought in recent years. It said:</p>
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<p>Malnutrition rates already exceeded emergency levels, with 22,700 children under five projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2017. National data also indicates half of Eritrean children are stunted.</p>
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<h2>Aid blocked</h2>
<p>It’s not that aid agencies are reluctant to led a hand – but Eritrea rejects their support. As one humanitarian monitoring system – the Assessment Capacities Project – <a href="https://www.acaps.org/country/Eritrea">explained</a>:</p>
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<p>The Eritrean government severely restricts the access of humanitarian actors inside the country. Very little is known about humanitarian needs: UNICEF estimates that the total affected population is 1.5m.</p>
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<p>Only a handful of UN organisations, and a few non-governmental organisations, are allowed to operate in the country. Even they find their hands tied behind their backs.</p>
<p>President Isaias Afwerki, one of Africa’s most ruthless dictators, has refused to recognise the plight of his people. This crisis has been building for years, yet in January 2016, when the first indications of the scale of the drought was becoming clear, the official media carried this <a href="https://www.tesfanews.net/no-food-crisis-in-eritrea-president-isaias/">message</a>: </p>
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<p>In view of the harvest shortfall that has affected the whole Horn of Africa region, President Isaias stated that the country will not face any crisis in spite of reduced agricultural output, the information ministry said, after he was interviewed by state-run media.</p>
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<p>The president’s denial of the critical situation that was developing was extremely unfortunate. It has made aid agencies’ cooperation with the Eritrean government complex, and it is difficult for them to provide aid to the Eritrean people.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160920/original/image-20170315-5357-py0bpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A photo of a young girl smuggled out of Eritrea by the network Freedom Friday.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Freedom Friday.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But this should not deter the international aid community. Information has been smuggled out of the worst-affected areas by Eritreans working with the victims of the drought. They are forbidden from taking their mobile phones or cameras into the feeding centres but some have managed to do so, sending them abroad illicitly at risk to themselves and their families. The photographs, taken in recent months, show children wasted from malnutrition and outbreaks of cholera. </p>
<h2>How to get Eritreans help</h2>
<p>What is required now is a two-pronged approach. First, assistance channelled through those UN agencies – UNICEF, the UN refugee agency and the World Health Organisation – that are <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Eritrea%20CERF%20Funding%202006-2016%20%28as%20of%2031%20July%202016%29.pdf">currently operating</a> on the ground.</p>
<p>Second, diplomatic pressure on the Eritrean government to allow the aid to get through. The European Union has <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/eritrea_en">already pledged</a> €200m for the country’s long-term development – although this approach been <a href="https://theconversation.com/fleeing-for-freedom-eritrean-refugees-are-being-abandoned-by-europe-73712">criticised</a> for its focus on stopping Eritrean refugees arriving in Europe. However, the channels that have been established should be used to persuade a reluctant regime to accept the hand of friendship in a time of need.</p>
<p>There is a good precedent for this. During the last great famine to hit the region in 1984-85, the Eritrean liberation movement – then fighting for independence from Ethiopia, and now governing Eritrea – accepted the assistance offered to it by charities and international donors. In 1984, $400,000 worth of food and other essentials <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vjZhFR3vTvgC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=aid+for+EPLF+1984+1985&source=bl&ots=OZRyZho2FE&sig=SjV4I2VyfeRZoKSlUmRDNLhy3iQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMs6OxqtjSAhWPHsAKHWRMCL8Q6AEIMjAD#v=onepage&q=aid%20for%20EPLF%201984%201985&f=false">was provided</a> to the rebels. If the Eritreans could accept aid in the past then why not accept it now?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74641/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Plaut is affiliated with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London</span></em></p>Eritreans are at risk of severe malnutrition – but aid agencies struggle to access those in need.Martin Plaut, Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/722822017-03-08T07:54:21Z2017-03-08T07:54:21ZBangladesh’s new child marriage law swings in the wrong direction<p>Bangladesh is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/gender-equity-in-schools-in-muslim-countries-it-can-be-done-32271">global poster child</a> when it comes to improving women’s status in the developing and the Muslim worlds. It also outranks all of its South Asian neighbours in terms of gender equality. </p>
<p>The World Economic Forum’s <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/">Global Gender Gap Report</a> has placed Bangladesh above India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka for two consecutive years. In 2016, the country was placed 72nd among 144 countries while India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan were placed 87th, 110th, 100th and 143th respectively. </p>
<p>The country is ahead of India and Pakistan in terms of enrolment in primary and secondary education and has leapfrogged both in <a href="https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2014/12/paths-to-development-is-there-a-bangladesh-surprise/">immunisation rates and child mortality reduction</a>. Perhaps unexpectedly, it also tops South Asian countries on the <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/south-asia/">political empowerment gender gap</a>.</p>
<p>These achievements are <a href="http://www.epw.in/journal/2013/44/commentary/bangladeshs-achievements-social-development-indicators.html">exceptional</a> considering the fact that Bangladesh is poorer than India and Pakistan. But the prevalence of child marriage in the country is a departure from this <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X1400134X">list of many cases</a> of “positive deviance” in gender and social statistics. </p>
<h2>A significant blemish</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf">UNICEF</a>, Bangladesh has the highest rate of marriage in the world among girls under 15. And it is ranked eighth in terms of marriage under the age of 18. </p>
<p>The country is suffering from a <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/9/child-marriage-reaches-epidemic-rates-in-bangladesh.html">child bride “epidemic”</a> in which one in three girls is married below the age of 18. By contrast, a much smaller proportion of girls in Pakistan marry young, although the 2016 WEF report ranked Pakistan second to last in the world for gender inequality.</p>
<p>At the July 2014 <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/girl-summit-2014">Girl Summit in London</a>, the Bangladesh government pledged to revise the country’s Child Marriage Restraint Act. Its aim was to end marriage of girls under the age of 15 by 2021. </p>
<p>The government has <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bill-passed-okaying-underage-marriage-special-cases-1368451">just passed a bill</a> penalising early marriages. But it includes a <a href="http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/11/24/child-marriage-restraint-act-2016-gets-final-nod/">controversial clause</a> saying “under special circumstances” and with the consent of both the court and parents, girls under 18 may be married with no penalties for those involved.</p>
<p>Under the previous law, marriage under the age of 18 was legal for the people marrying because the age of marriage is governed by personal laws based on religion, including both Islam and Hinduism. But it penalised acts related to the marriage of a girl under 18, including facilitating or arranging the marriage, and registering or contracting it. </p>
<p>The new law takes the same approach. But the previous law provided no exceptions in terms of when acts relating to child marriage was an offence. Because the new law does this, it is being seen as <a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20170112182557-wubd3/">a step in the wrong direction</a>.</p>
<p>The chief of the parliamentary standing committee on women and children’s affairs, Rebeka Momin, has defended the move, saying that keeping the special provision would not increase child marriage. <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bill-passed-okaying-underage-marriage-special-cases-1368451">She stressed that</a> “there was no alternative to keeping the special provision considering the socio-economic reality, especially in rural areas.”</p>
<p>The amendment grants more powers to the parents of girls under 18. It is worrying because it not only <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/child-marriage-act-rights-bodies-decry-special-provision-1368946">overrides public opinion</a> but objections raised by <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/02/bangladesh-legalizing-child-marriage-threatens-girls-safety">experts</a> on children’s health and rights. And it reduces the deterrent effect of the previous law.</p>
<p>Child marriage is driven by a <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf">number of factors</a> such as low rates of education for girls, high fertility rate, the low social status of women, extreme poverty and concern over insecurity. It is no surprise that countries such as India, Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda are global hot spots for child marriage and also belong to the bottom quarter of countries in the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report. </p>
<p>Bangladesh’s child marriage prevalence is not unique in South Asia either. Nepal also ranks highly, despite being <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/south-asia/">one of the top five climbers</a> over the past decade on the overall global gender gap index and on educational attainment. </p>
<p>Clearly, there is <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/11/closing-gender-gap-developing-world/">no single solution</a> to the problem. But the exception clause is certainly an oddity. </p>
<h2>Bangladesh’s deviation</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/12/many-countries-allow-child-marriage/">Most countries have some form of exemption</a> to their legal minimum marriage age. In the United States, for instance, most states set 18 as this minimum. But <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/10/why-does-the-united-states-still-let-12-year-old-girls-get-married/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.c6aa89198c9b">every US state allows for children younger than 18 to marry</a>, typically with parental consent or judicial approval, under specific circumstances. </p>
<p>In as many as 27 states, laws do not specify an age below which a child cannot marry under any circumstances. But transparent birth and marriage registration systems, gender-inclusive education, a democratic culture and child rights protection agencies at the local level <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/politics/child-marriage-law-and-freedom-choice-134188">ensure that the legal right to marry</a> before 18 is not abused. These institutional provisions are absent in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>In contrast to high-income countries, marriage decisions in Bangladesh take place in <a href="http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/3/commentary/child-marriage-law-and-freedom-choice-bangladesh.html">conditions of extreme poverty and illiteracy</a>. So legal provisions for marriage under the age of 18 risks the possibility of increasing child marriage.</p>
<p>Among developing countries with a high prevalence of child marriage, Bangladesh’s relatively superior rank in several other gender indicators lends it a unique advantage in the battle against the practice. It is much better placed than others to gain from primary prevention strategies that include renegotiating marriage age laws and ensuring that they are uniform across communities, rather than focusing on “marriage busting” approaches. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/12/bangladesh-dont-lower-marriage-age">controversy</a> about <a href="http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/law-rights/2017/02/27/child-marriage-bill-passed/">the bill</a> risks drawing policy attention away from primary prevention strategies and harming the fight against child marriage in the country. </p>
<p><strong>Acknowledgement:</strong> <em>Sajeda Amin, Senior Associate at Population Council, New York, and Sara Hossain, Honorary Executive Director of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>M Niaz Asadullah has received funding from the Australian Development Research Awards (ADRA) Scheme for a recently concluded project on women's education and life choices in rural Bangladesh.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zaki Wahhaj has received funding from the Australian Development Research Awards Scheme for a recently concluded project on women's education and life choices in rural Bangladesh.</span></em></p>Bangladesh is a global poster child when it comes to improving women’s status in the developing and the Muslim worlds. But a recent amendment to the country’s marriage law threatens its progress.M Niaz Asadullah, Professor of Development Economics, University of MalayaZaki Wahhaj, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/733802017-03-01T15:00:01Z2017-03-01T15:00:01ZHow South Sudan’s warlords triggered extreme hunger in a land of plenty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158498/original/image-20170227-26340-8bg3ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman waits to be registered at a food distribution centre run by the United Nations World Food Programme in Thonyor, Leer state, South Sudan. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siegfried Modola</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A man-made famine? That question has been on the lips a lot in recent days after it was <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56205#.WLA0SW997IU">declared</a> in South Sudan. The last time this happened in Africa, or anywhere, was in <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39086#.WLA0GW997IU">Somalia</a> in 2011.</p>
<p>The classification of a famine as man-made is applied to severe hunger arising from a set of foreseeable, and therefore avoidable, circumstances. According to criteria set down by the United Nations a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-39025927">famine</a> is declared in an area when at least 20% of households are viewed as being exposed to extreme food shortages, 30% are malnourished and deaths from hunger has reached two persons a day for every 10,000. </p>
<p>Famines can result from natural or man-made causes. Natural causes include droughts, plant disease, insect plagues, floods and earthquakes. A prolonged drought is behind the recent warning of <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/rewind/2017/01/crisis-horn-africa-somalia-famine-170117081319175.html">potential famine</a> in Somalia by the World Food Programme.</p>
<p>The human causes of famine include extreme poverty, war, deliberate crop destruction and the inefficient distribution of food. South Sudan’s predicament falls square under this category. There have been no major droughts, flooding or other natural catastrophe reported. Instead a <a href="http://www.eurasiareview.com/17022016-long-and-dark-road-to-peace-the-future-of-south-sudan-analysis/">three year conflict</a> that has engulfed the country, combined with high food prices, economic disruption and low agricultural production has resulted in UN and the government of South Sudan declaring a famine in the country.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/02/famine-declared-part-south-sudan-unity-state-170220081516802.html">According</a> to the head of the World Food Programme, the avoidable conflict between the main political protagonists is solely to blame. Years of conflict have created a situation in which many women, children and the elderly are suffering needlessly and have no access to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/appeals/south_sudan.html">food or water</a>. </p>
<p>High food prices, economic disruption and low agricultural production have resulted in the large areas becoming <a href="http://www1.wfp.org/countries/south-sudan">“food insecure”</a>. The situation could not have come at a more difficult time. Years of conflict have crippled the economy and hammered the value of its currency. Severe inflation has seen the value of its currency plummet 800% in the past year alone. This has made food <a href="http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-sudan/inflation-cpi">unaffordable</a> for many families. </p>
<p>Despite the deteriorating situation the government of South Sudan has been using its limited resources to <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southsudan-security-un-exclusive-idINKCN11E2P8">buy weapons</a>, increase the number of states, pay military wages and wage war on civilians.</p>
<h2>Conflict sows seeds of hunger</h2>
<p>Significant progress in reducing global hunger has been achieved over the past 30 years. But the impact of conflict on food production and citizens ability to feed themselves is often underestimated. This was highlighted in a <a href="http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/21483/1/sp06je04.pdf">study</a> that found that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“civil wars and conflicts are detrimental to food security, but the negative effects are more severe for countries unable to make available for their citizens the minimum dietary energy requirement under which a country is qualified for food aid” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is true of South Sudan, which can <a href="http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp252353.pdf?iframe">feed itself</a> in peace time. Just six months ago, many parts of the country were bustling with agricultural activity, producing enough food for the local populations. </p>
<p>The medium sized town of Yei is a good example. Locals report an inability to cultivate their land since the recent escalation of fighting. A town once seen as a place where <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/01/south-sudan-coffee-time-war-160105132312753.html">coffee bean production</a> was on the rise is now a place where farmers no longer venture out. </p>
<p>It’s also <a href="https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/170124_Simmons_RecurringStorms_Web.pdf?wmBiEmhhIrScAX8ew4QTPfzLpiDn6OKL">likely</a> that Yemen, Nigeria, and Somalia, could declare a famine in the next few months. It’s no coincidence that those countries are also embroiled in widespread or localised armed conflict. </p>
<h2>Deteriorating situation</h2>
<p>More than 100,000 people in two counties of Unity state are experiencing famine. This number could rise as an additional one million South Sudanese are on the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/famine-declared-part-south-sudans-unity-state-45605323">brink</a> of starvation. Central Equatoria state, traditionally South Sudan’s breadbasket, has been hit by ethnically targeted killings that have disrupted agricultural production.</p>
<p>Between 40%-50% of South Sudan’s population are expected to be severely food insecure and at risk of death in the <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/indonesia/the-jakarta-pos%0At/20170221/281848643367301">coming months</a>. Over 250,000 children are severely <a href="https://www.unicef.org/appeals/sudan.html">malnourished</a> according to UNICEF and these are number where UNICEF has access to. </p>
<p>Yet the government does not seem to want to address the underlying causes of the famine. In fact it’s unclear what its overall plan is. </p>
<p>It is <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-02/17/c_136064966.htm">relocating</a> by air internally displaced people through Juba into Malakal. The Dinka-controlled government’s strategy is not entirely clear. But some of my informants claim that the objective is to rid the capital of rival ethnic groups that could pose a direct threat to the seat of government in Juba. </p>
<p>Adding to this, the new Special Representative for South Sudan has raised <a href="http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2017/02/un-concerned-for-displaced-in-south-sudans-upper-nile-region/#.WLQo3xKLSRs">concerns</a> over some 20,000 internally displaced people on the West bank of the Nile in the Upper Nile region as a “real problem.” These <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56184#.WKv00hKLSRs">fleeing</a> civilians are victims of government efforts to consolidate power centrally and push certain ethnic groups who are not aligned to the government away from the centre. </p>
<h2>Food aid restricted</h2>
<p>The UN has repeatedly warned that government forces are <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-sudan-famine-latest-africa-civil-war-announce-government-united-nations-un-east-a7589616.html">blocking</a> the delivery of food aid to affected areas. </p>
<p>South Sudan’s government wouldn’t be the first to have done this. In 2012 the <a href="http://viewsweek.com/world/food-as-a-weapon-of-war/">Rohingya</a> in Myanmar who were left to starve amidst sectarian violence with local Buddhist communities. In 2011 it was Sudan starving its people in the Nuba mountain region. More recently in Syria the government was allegedly targeting bakeries, hitting civilians waiting to buy food. </p>
<p>According to the Geneva Convention <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%201125/volume-1125-i-17512-english.pdf">treaty</a> on non-international armed conflicts a government can legally restrict food access for a short-term period if it is militarily necessary. This is a very narrow exception. It cannot and should not be used to punish civilians for their affiliation to the conflict and it cannot be used on a biased basis. And such restrictions must not result in starvation of the civilians. </p>
<h2>Famine and political unrest</h2>
<p>The situation in South Sudan is likely to get worse. The ongoing conflict is likely to escalate as the number of smaller armed groups rises on the back of more localised <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/dec/07/south-sudan-horrific-attacks-prompt-communities-take-arms">self-militias</a> being set up. In the light of this government military action will escalate.</p>
<p>This new dimension in South Sudan’s conflict increases in the chances of further political turmoil and further narrows the window of peace for the world’s youngest nation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew E. Yaw Tchie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nearly half of South Sudan’s population could be severely food insecure and at risk of death in the coming months because of the avoidable acts of civil war in a land of plenty.Andrew E. Yaw Tchie, Conflict Advisor, Ph.D. candidate and Associate Fellow, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718852017-02-08T18:55:59Z2017-02-08T18:55:59ZFemale genital mutilation is hurting Australian girls and we must work together to stamp it out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155991/original/image-20170208-29025-jxo3lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By agencies working together, we can prevent female genital mutilation, which new research confirms is happening in Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/549006412?size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Female genital mutilation or cutting is largely hidden in Australia and other high-income countries. Most people don’t consider it a major issue. But <a href="http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2017/01/12/archdischild-2016-311540.full">our</a> <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213416300382">research</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4676087/">shows</a> it should be.</p>
<p>Our research found girls are presenting to paediatricians in Australia with female genital mutilation, but misconceptions about the practice are common and doctors want more information on how to manage this <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/first-person-to-be-imprisoned-over-female-genital-mutilation-in-australia-20160609-gpfm5i.html">illegal practice</a>.</p>
<p>Health professionals, lawyers, teachers, child protection authorities and communities at risk must be better informed. They must also work together to help prevent female genital mutilation, which contravenes declarations including the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> and the <a href="https://www.unicef.org.au/Upload/UNICEF/Media/Our%20work/childfriendlycrc.pdf">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>.</p>
<h2>What did we find?</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4676087">found</a> health professionals worldwide are poorly informed about female genital mutilation: why it is performed, and its relationship to culture rather than religion.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213416300382">survey</a> of Australian paediatricians, for instance, found 10% had ever seen a child with female genital mutilation; few knew the procedure was done outside Africa; few routinely asked about or examined girls for female genital mutilation; or understood the World Health Organisation (WHO) <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/">classification types</a>. Few had read local policy on how to manage girls presenting with female genital mutilation. Most had no relevant training and requested <a href="http://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation-and-cutting/">educational resources</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213416300382">Some paediatricians</a> had been asked to perform female genital mutilation, or for information about who would perform it. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4676087/">Increasingly</a>, we are learning some immigrants to high-income countries, including Australia, may <a href="http://adc.bmj.com/content/101/3/212">have had the procedure or be at risk</a>. </p>
<p>Of the girls with female genital mutilation who Australian paediatricians had seen, all were from immigrant families, mostly from Africa, and seen in refugee clinics. Two children had female genital mutilation performed in Australia. One child born in Australia was taken to Indonesia for the procedure, a country where as many as <a href="http://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation-and-cutting/">49% of girls</a> under the age of 14 years have had female genital mutilation.</p>
<h2>An ancient, global cultural practice</h2>
<p>Female genital mutilation is an ancient cultural practice, entrenched in some societies. It is often wrongly thought to be dictated by religion, yet is contained in the scriptures of none. Traditionally, female genital mutilation is practised in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. </p>
<p>In some countries (including Egypt, Somalia and Sierra Leone) it affects more than <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD(2).pdf">90% of the female population</a>.</p>
<p>UNICEF identifies female genital mutilation as a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD(2).pdf">global concern</a>, estimating that over 200 million girls and women live with female genital mutilation. At current rates, 63 million more girls will have had the procedure by 2050.</p>
<h2>What is female genital mutilation?</h2>
<p>The World Health Organisation <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/">defines</a> female genital mutilation as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Procedures range from cutting or nicking the hood of the clitoris through to total removal of the clitoris and labia and sewing up the external opening (infibulation). Female genital mutilation does not include <a href="http://womhealth.org.au/conditions-and-treatments/genital-cosmetic-surgery">cosmetic procedures</a> such as labiaplasty that are increasingly popular in high-income countries. </p>
<h2>What are the consequences?</h2>
<p>Female genital mutilation is <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/">usually performed</a> in girls under 15 years old, and is often initiated by someone they trust, including family members, and conducted under non-sterile conditions, without pain relief. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, female genital mutilation is associated with <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/">physical complications</a>, ranging from bleeding to urinary tract infection, incontinence, difficulties with menstruation, sexual problems, infertility and <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606688053/abstract">complications during childbirth or for the newborn</a>. </p>
<p>But it is the <a href="http://www.nofgmoz.com/">psychological trauma</a> – post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks, anxiety and depression - that haunts many of the victims way beyond childhood and impacts their adult relationships.</p>
<p>Some women who have had female genital mutilation <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/khadija_gbla_my_mother_s_strange_definition_of_empowerment">describe</a> it as child abuse, gender-based violence and gender discrimination, associated with a power play by men who want to control the lives of their wives and daughters. </p>
<h2>Ending female genital mutilation</h2>
<p>Several international agencies have called on female genital mutilation to be banned, including the <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html">UN</a> and its children’s agency <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/joint-programme-female-genital-mutilationcutting">UNICEF</a>. Although progress has been made towards ending female genital mutilation globally, <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/publications/unfpa-unicef-joint-programme-female-genital-mutilationcutting-accelerating-change">we have a way to go</a>.</p>
<p>We are aware that preventing this ancient cultural practice requires us to understand the complex motivation behind it. Although inherently risky, the procedure is entrenched in the social fabric of many communities. </p>
<p>As UNICEF <a href="https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58002.html">explains</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Communities practice [female genital mutilation or cutting] in the belief that it will ensure a girl’s proper upbringing, future marriage or family honour. In many contexts, the social norm upholding the practice is so powerful that families have their daughters cut even when they are aware of the harm it can cause.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nevertheless, UNICEF remains firm that no form of female genital mutilation be tolerated.</p>
<p>For us to end female genital mutilation, we need a multi-sectoral approach including education and empowerment of women to enable them, in partnership with men in their communities, to say “no” to female genital mutilation. </p>
<p>To do this, communities must be supported by health professionals and child protection authorities, underpinned by legislation banning female genital mutilation.</p>
<p>Unlike the United Kingdom, Australia has no national integrated female genital mutilation prevention policy linking health, education and community services. This should be a priority.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71885/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Female genital mutilation is largely hidden in Australia and other high-income countries. But the United Nations says it is a global concern – and our research found it does affect girls here.Elizabeth Elliott, Professor of Paediatrics & Child Health and Director of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, University of SydneyYvonne Zurynski, Director of Research, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit and Associate Professor Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.