In the News

With school now back in session for children around the world, countless boys and girls likely start their mornings thinking about what to eat for breakfast, what to wear to school, or how they will do in a sporting event later in the day. For an untold number of other children, however, their waking thoughts are filled with dread and anxiety over a global occurrence that can and must end—violence against children. A new survey of children across five continents reveals children are living their days in fear of violence, with girls fearing bad things will happen to them, and boys fearful they will be forced to do bad things to others.

New ChildFund survey of thousands of boys and girls reveal significant insights into the global occurrence of violence against children

A new global survey conducted by ChildFund Alliance of nearly 5,500 children from 15 countries reveals children feel poorly protected and believe the adults in their lives do not listen to them.

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NEW YORK, 26 June 2019 – Thirty years after global leaders promised to protect the rights of all children, millions are not in school, face poverty, exploitation, violence, neglect, and abuse. A new report, A Second Revolution: 30 years of child rights, and the unfinished agenda, says it is time for the global community to fulfil the broken promises of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UN CRC).

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Findings demonstrate encouraging results for a Canadian-backed migration project as the U.S. takes steps to cut similar aid to the Northern Triangle countries.

Preventive measures such as skills training, violence prevention training, safe spaces, and changes to government policies and programs are providing Central America’s young people with alternatives to migration, according to a new report released today by ChildFund Alliance. Early Learnings of PICMCA: A Promising New Approach to Preventing the Crisis of Child Migration in Central America shares encouraging findings on the root causes of irregular migration of children and ways to keep young people from fleeing their homes.

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On February 25, 2019, nine civil society organizations released an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres urging him to list the Saudi and Emirati-led Coalition (SELC) in the annexes of his upcoming 2019 annual report on children and armed conflict. The letter calls on the Secretary-General to include the SELC in ‘list A’ of his annexes for all relevant violations, including attacks on schools and hospitals, in order to ensure a credible, accurate listing of perpetrators. The letter documents three of the five ‘trigger’ violations for listing, including killing and maiming, attacks on schools and hospitals, and recruitment and use. The stakes have never been higher, with verified reports of grave violations of children’s rights increasing by nearly 25 per cent in 2018.

José María Faura is the Executive Director of Educo, a global development and humanitarian action NGO with over 25 years’ experience working to defend children and their rights, and especially the right to an equitable and quality education.

BARCELONA, Jan 23 2019 (IPS) - Children´s education is in a state of emergency when it comes to protracted crises. 75 million school-aged children and young people are in desperate need of educational support, are either in danger of or are already missing out on their education in countries facing war and violence (1*).

Yet education has traditionally been the most underfunded area regarding humanitarian aid, coming in at less than 3% of total global funding (2*).

8 October 2018, New York, NY - ChildFund Alliance is pleased to announce it has received a two-year $375,000 grant from Oak Foundation. These funds will support the Alliance’s Child-friendly Accountability initiative.

“The initiative aims to empower children to hold governments and local leaders accountable to their obligations to end all violence against children, as laid out in Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children,” said Meg Gardinier, Secretary General of ChildFund Alliance. “It is a rights-based project that builds children’s knowledge and gives them the skills they need to take action to improve child protection in their communities.”

Ten years ago, Ariana Dunne began sponsoring Shaban, a three-year-old boy in Uganda. For the price of four cups of coffee a month, she has continued to sponsor Shaban, and recently got a chance to go and visit him.

Ariana writes about her experience sponsoring a child through ChildFund Ireland, and the emotional meeting with 13-year-old Shaban, his family and community. 

Read the full article in SHEmazing.

ChildFund International, Futures Without Violence, Save the Children and World Vision applaud today’s introduction of S.Res.606 by Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas and Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, calling on Congress to recognize the harmful impact that violence has on the healthy development of children and youth. S.Res.606 condemns all forms of violence against children and youth globally – including physical, mental and sexual violence, neglect, abuse, maltreatment and exploitation. The introduction of the resolution lays the groundwork for future leadership and coordination across the U.S. government on this issue.

Read the full article in Business Wire

The seventh leg of the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour spent four days in the Philippines.

... the last event of the tour was a rugby clinic for 100 children at the Concepcion Elementary School in Marikina City. The activity was delivered by Rugby World Cup 2019 Worldwide Partner DHL in collaboration with the Philippine Rugby Football Union, Davao Durian Rugby Club and ChildFund, through their Pass it Back programme. The children enjoyed rugby-based sessions as well as learning important life skills centred around key rugby values of passion, solidarity, integrity, respect and discipline.