In a common struggle for education and against extremism: "“If with my humble efforts the voice of tens of millions of children in the world who are living in servitude is being heard, congratulations to all,” Kailash Satyarthi on winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2014

Malala Yousafzai, with her father, Ziauddin, spoke in Birmingham, England, after learning she had won the Nobel prize. Darren Staples/REUTERS

Reaching across gulfs of age, gender, faith, nationality and even international celebrity, the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the 2014 peace prize to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India.

The award joined You-safzai, a Pakistani teen who attained worldwide fame when she was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for promoting girls’ education, with Satyarthi, a veteran of campaigns to fight child labor and trafficking...READ MORE

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Malala Yousafzai speaks in Britain about winning the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi, who speaks with journalists at this home in New Delhi after the announcement.

“I’m thankful to my father for not clipping my wings and for letting me to fly.” Malala Yousafzai

Today is International Day of the Girl Child! To mark the day, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women.

The Elders

“Have the courage to take action. Society is ready to change.”

Today is International Day of the Girl Child! To mark the day, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women.

Read her blog: http://theelders.org/article/lets-not-be-afraid-challenge-traditions-harm-girls

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Opinion

Hina Jilani, 11 October 2014

Let's not be afraid to challenge the traditions that harm girls

“Have the courage to take action. Society is ready to change.”

Marking the International Day of the Girl Child, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women.

In the international community we talk about the family as being the basic unit of society. Today we see that the family has become the biggest locus of violence, especially against women and children.
If we do not address issues like child marriage, we will never expect the family – or allow it – to become a unit which is able to give dignity and equality to all its members.

Challenging culture and tradition

We need to correct the perception that any harmful practice is a part of what we call culture and tradition, which people can be proud of. Harmful practices should not be equated with culture and tradition.

Even if some parts of the world consider harmful practices a part of culture or tradition, we must remember that those who are harmed by these cultural and traditional practices are women.
Are women not a part of that society? Are they only subjects of culture, with no hand in making culture?

Culture and tradition in themselves evolve out of historical changes. They should not be allowed to become obstructions to change.

International community: have the courage to act

Local and international actors need to understand that child marriage is an issue that has gone from the local to the international. It is not an issue that the international community is using or is imposing on national and local communities.

There are political movements in these countries. I come from such a movement. We don't deal with figures; we leave that to UNICEF and the United Nations. We deal with actual lives, so we are not talking about child marriage and its effects on society, and on girls and women in the abstract. We have faces to show you; we have victims to put before you; and our society has seen those faces.

The international community needs to know that any initiative to eliminate and curb child marriage will receive the weight of those movements behind it.

Have the courage to take action. Society is ready to change – and accept change.

In Pakistan – my country – about two decades ago, there were a significant number of people, myself included who were trying to resist state-sponsored trends, trends which would have decimated women’s and girls’ rights. Instead, there have been legal reforms on child marriage, progressively making it better for women and girls. It’s still inadequate, but when these positive reforms were implemented, there was no resistance from the broader society.

We must work together

Governments should make sure that they have courage to take the step, to ensure that they are not being overcautious. They must not submit to the influence of interest groups, of religious lobbies, of conservative lobbies. This is not the time to either become an apologist or be defensive, or over-romanticise what is certainly something which has proved to be – figures have proved it, data has proved it, research has proved it – definitely harmful for the world’s population, whether they are girls or women.

It is time that local and national movements – and international initiatives – become mutually reinforcing and strengthening. We need to work together to ensure that local initiatives and movements do have an impact. Because local pressure as well as international pressure can force governments to change. To make sure that state social policy and the weight of state social policy is put behind laws – so that these laws have impact.

The work for the defence of human rights must prioritise the welfare and the protection of the girl child.

Governments have the duty to protect. At the same time, civil society also has the duty to promote and defend human rights.

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The Elders were impressed that men in nearby Ambo Meske village were willing to discuss gender equality. Many men have taken part in courses that raise issues such as family care, non-violence, alcohol abuse and sharing domestic duties.

Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for risking their lives to fight for children's rights... "widening the concept of peace work to include efforts to improve human rights, fight poverty and clean up the environment."

In this Feb. 18, 2014 file photo, Malala Yousafzai, visits Zaatari refugee camp near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan. Children's rights activists Yousafzai, 17, of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://news.yahoo.com/malala-kailash-satyarthi-win-nobel-peace-prize-090630266.html

Malala, Satyarthi win Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for risking their lives to fight for children's rights.

Malala, a 17-year-old student and education activist, is the youngest ever Nobel winner. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two years ago for insisting that girls also have the right to an education.

Satyarthi, 60, has been at the forefront of a global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labor since 1980, when he gave up his career as an electrical engineer. The grassroots activist has led the rescue of tens of thousands of child slaves and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation. He has also survived several attempts on his life.

"This is an honor for all my fellow Indians, as well as an honor for all those children in the world whose voices were never heard before properly," Satyarthi told India's NDTV network.

The Nobel committee's announcement reflected a delicate diplomatic balance, naming one activist from Pakistan and another from India, two countries that are long-time bitter rivals; one Muslim and one Hindu; both sexes; an elder statesman of child's rights and a youthful advocate who had herself been a victim.

The Nobel Committee said it was an important point to reward both an Indian Hindu and a Pakistani Muslim for joining "in a common struggle for education and against extremism." The two will split the Nobel award of $1.1 million.

By highlighting children's rights, committee widened the scope of the peace prize, which in its early days was given for efforts to end or prevent armed conflicts.

"It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected," the committee said. "In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation."

Malala was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls' education in Pakistan, speaking out in TV interviews. The Taliban had overrun her home town of Mingora, terrorizing residents, threatening to blow up girls' schools, ordering teachers and students into the all-encompassing burqas.

She was critically injured on Oct. 9, 2012, when a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her in the head. She survived through luck — the bullet did not enter her brain — and by the quick intervention of British doctors visiting Pakistan.

Flown to Britain for specialist treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, she underwent numerous surgeries but made a strong recovery.

Malala currently lives with her father, mother and two brothers in Birmingham, attending a local school. She has been showered with human rights prizes, including the European Parliament's Sakharov Award.

The Nobel committee said Satyarthi was carrying on the tradition of another great Indian, Mahatma Gandhi.

"Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi's tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain," the committee said.

The founder of the Nobel Prizes, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, said the prize committee should give the prize to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

The committee has interpreted those instructions differently over time, widening the concept of peace work to include efforts to improve human rights, fight poverty and clean up the environment.

"The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and adolescents contributes to the realization of the "fraternity between nations" that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will," the committee said.

Former Indian diplomat Lalit Mansingh praised the Nobel committee's choices this year.

"The Nobel committee is always aware of the international situation and is conscious of helping in conflict resolution. The award, especially at a time when India-Pakistan relations are under stress, is a nice gesture," he said.

The Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics and literature were announced earlier this week. The economics award will be announced on Monday.

All awards will be handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

“Breaking the cycle of poverty, breaking the cycle of discrimination, breaking the cycle of inequity – the choice is ours to make.”

Flagship report launched: Adolescents are key to prosperity and equity

'The State of the World's Children 2011'

By Chris Niles

NEW YORK, USA, 25 February 2011 – Young people are the key to a more equitable and prosperous world, according to UNCEF’s new flagship report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2011 – Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity,’ launched today at UN headquarters in New York.

VIDEO: 25 February 2011 - UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on the launch of UNICEF's flagship publication,‘The State of the World’s Children 2011 – Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity,’ at UN headquarters in New York.

The report says that investing in the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents – those who are between the ages of 10 and 19 – can break entrenched cycles of poverty.

“We need to focus more attention now on reaching adolescents, especially adolescent girls, investing in education, health and other measures to engage them in the process of improving their own lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.

Need to reach older children

While the international community has made tremendous gains in improving the health and well-being of children under 10, the SOWC report emphasizes that less progress has been made in reaching older children.

The vast majority of these adolescents live in developing countries. Their numbers are rapidly growing, and the challenges they face are formidable:

• Almost half the world’s adolescents of secondary school-age don’t go to secondary school; they are vulnerable to trafficking and recruitment into armed groups
• About 150 million young people between the ages of 5 and 14 are engaged in child labour
• More than 70 million girls and women have undergone genital cutting, which usually occurs by the onset puberty.

“These outrageous statistics don’t even begin to cover the countless numbers of adolescents who are denied adequate nutrition, who lack access to basic health services and care, who become mothers in childhood, at great risk to their lives,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde Johnson, who launched the report at a press conference, together with a panel of experts.

Girls are the most overlooked

SOWC also finds that girls are often the most overlooked, even as they have the most potential to pass wealth and well-being on to their children.

“Two cents of every development dollar goes to adolescent girls globally. That makes me think that we as a community can do better,” said UN Foundation Executive Director for Women and Population Tamara Kreinin.

The report indicates that not only is it right to meet the challenges that adolescents face and give them the opportunity to participate in their societies, but it makes economic sense, as well.

“It is also the smart thing to do, enabling us to consolidate our historic gains in early childhood and child survival, and to accelerate progress,” said Ms. Johnson. “Breaking the cycle of poverty, breaking the cycle of discrimination, breaking the cycle of inequity – the choice is ours to make.”

Present and Future: The Urgency of Children’s Rights in Palestine- DCI "Our children are our future... But our children are our present, too"

http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3326&ed=191&edid=191Present and Future: The Urgency of Children’s Rights in Palestine

By Rifat Odeh Kassis

Our children are our future. This is a common idea, easily borrowed for slogans and sayings; an idea with which, I suspect, most people in the world would agree.

But our children are our present, too. The problems they encounter, the challenges they face, reveal a diagnosis of the problems and challenges afflicting society itself.

Sixty-three years into Israeli occupation, the state of Palestinians’ human rights is grave, and the state of Palestinian children’s rights is graver still. In a situation dominated by military control, violence, intimidation, fragmentation, and the violation of basic rights to free movement, education, health services, and so forth, all Palestinians have seen their liberties constantly violated and denied - and children, growing up in this atmosphere with all the toxins it contains, are the most severely affected.

Defence for Children International - Palestine Section (DCI-PS) seeks to provide resources, support, empowerment, and hope to Palestinian children and their families in the midst of this environment. DCI-PS is the Palestinian chapter of the international DCI movement, which works to protect and promote children’s rights through 45 national sections across the globe. Founded in 1991 and staffed by a dedicated team of employees and volunteers, our main office is located in Ramallah, though we work throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Our vision is a Palestinian community that is fit for all children: a community that is free and independent; a community in which justice, equality, and respect for human dignity prevail; and a community in which children can enjoy and exercise their human rights without any kind of discrimination. In our work and our advocacy, we prioritise the child’s best interests above all, and emphasise children’s own right to participation: we encourage and act upon the belief that children themselves are fully capable of articulating their needs, of participating in the social processes that honour those needs, and thus of acting as true agents of social change.

Our work at DCI-PS is structured according to our three central roles: to document (we have a monitoring and observing role); to defend (we provide legal representation for children in Israeli prisons and children in conflict with the Palestinian law, advocate for their rights, and seek accountability from primary duty-bearers); and to empower (through capacity-building initiatives and work with others, e.g., networking, coordination, and cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental bodies).

DCI-PS’s legal and advocacy work seeks - among many other goals - to improve the protective environment for children within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (this includes assisting in developing a Palestinian juvenile justice system in accordance with international standards); monitoring and documenting the conditions of children in detention within both the PA and Israeli systems; representing Palestinian minors in Israeli military courts; providing legal and psychological support to children in conflict with the law and to their families; producing advocacy materials about discriminatory Israeli governmental and military policies; and strengthening the programmatic capacities of child-focused community-based organisations working alongside us in the Palestinian context.

And what does this context contain? In other words, what is the reality experienced by Palestinian children, and what are the primary obstacles to the true fulfilment of their rights?

The detention policies of the Israeli state. Among the most egregious aspects of Israel’s detention policy overall is its treatment of child prisoners. While military regulations active in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) technically define a child of 16 as an adult (and while this in itself defies the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines an adult as 18 years old), in practice, children as young as 12 are tried in military courts, with 14-year-olds often being tried as adults. Children are routinely grouped with adults in detention, and neither Israel nor the PA has juvenile courts. Starting from the Second Intifada, Israel began to utilise administrative detention against children; since that time, too, the arrest and detention of children has become more rampant and systemic, with around 350 to 430 child prisoners held each month.

As of December 2010, there were 213 children in detention; 30 were between 12 and 15 years old; one child was held under administrative detention (which means being arrested and detained with neither charge nor trial, justified by administrative order instead of judicial decree). The most common charge for children in detention is stone-throwing. As of October 2010, Jerusalem police are implementing a policy of increased/extended house arrest for children charged with throwing stones, as well as high fines for their families, in an attempt to “discourage” this activity.

Violence and abuse during detention. In addition to regularly suffering similar abuses as adult prisoners - beatings, humiliation, being painfully shackled, etc. - child prisoners are subjected to many tactics designed to exploit their young age and intimidate them into confessions. These illegally obtained confessions are often used as evidence in the military court system, leading to the convictions of about 700 Palestinian children each year. In Silwan, a flashpoint neighbourhood in East Jerusalem (22 homes are under threat of demolition by the Jerusalem municipality, and the neighbourhood contains particularly virulent settlement activity), 76 percent of children arrested report that they were subjected to some form of physical violence during arrest, transfer, or interrogation. Their reports include accounts of slapping, punching, kicking, beating with a rifle, and having their hands painfully restrained for hours at a time. Children are routinely interrogated in the absence of their parents.

Settler violence. During the period from March 2008 to July 2010, DCI-PS documented 222 settler attacks against Palestinians, causing 364 injuries - 93 of them suffered by children. Half of these attacks occurred in or around the city of Hebron. In investigations/analyses of 38 such attacks against children, it was found that settlers opened fire in 13 of the cases (killing 3 children, injuring 10); in 8 cases, soldiers participated, ignored the events, or punished the victims rather the attackers.

Targeted shootings. Each day in the north of Gaza, close to the border fence that separates it from Israel, scores of boys and men search for building gravel and other materials that could be used for construction - another consequence of the blockade and its accompanying shortage of work and resources. During the period between 26 March and 23 December, DCI-PS documented 23 cases of children who had been shot by Israeli soldiers while collecting gravel between 50 and 800 meters from the border fence.

Domestic abuse. Many cases of physical and psychological violence, including sexual abuse, go unreported within the oPt - often due to deeply entrenched social stigmas that prevent families from openly addressing such problems. Even when addressed, many cases of domestic abuse are mediated informally and never reach official institutions or trained professionals.

Lack of effective protection. Within the PA, the legislative framework that regulates child protection at the domestic level is both outdated and poorly enforced. Although the PA adopted the Palestinian Child Law in 2004, an important first step toward the condemnation of violence against children, the scope of this legislation is limited in terms of the protection it actually provides. For example, it does not stipulate precise penalties for violations of the law, nor does it adequately allocate responsibilities among primary duty-bearers.

The Ministry of Social Affairs is the main body responsible for overseeing the oPt’s child protection mechanism, but it doesn’t have a sufficient number of protection centres or officers under its supervision to fully accommodate the number of children who require protection; likewise, collaboration with other governmental and non-governmental bodies (e.g., to strengthen inter-ministerial child protection policy) leaves much to be desired. The oPt also lacks an adequate juvenile justice system: the mechanisms that exist for dealing with children in conflict with the law are outdated, and its protection methods and resources do not meet international standards.

I could go on. The problems are seemingly endless; the violations are appalling; our present reality is, clearly, a troubled one.

Yet working with DCI-PS - with my impassioned colleagues, with other organisations determined to make a difference, with children themselves and their remarkable strength - reminds me every day that we must not resign ourselves to this reality. Indeed, we must change it. And we can, little by little, child by child, family by family, lawyer by lawyer, law by law … in collecting affidavits from children and ensuring that their voices be heard; in representing children in court who would not otherwise have been defended; in advocating internationally for the rights of children in, for example, Gaza, a place so painfully inaccessible to most of us in person and so easily neglected by the world; in collaborating with both governmental bodies and other NGOs to gradually effect changes in the very institutions - and mentalities - that exist with respect to children’s rights; it is clear that we are all, both children and adults, growing and changing.

There is a great deal of work to be done before we can confidently say that we have “a Palestinian community that is fit for all children.” In the meantime, when we remember that our children are both our present and our future, we can work together in sharing our experiences, energies, and abilities to strengthen both.

I invite you to visit the DCI-PS website, www.dci-pal.org, to learn more about our work - and about the children we are working for.

Rifat Odeh Kassis is president of Defence for Children International Executive Council - Geneva, and general director of Defence for Children International - Palestine Section.