News & Views
ChildFund Alliance members are undertaking a project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration.
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Preventing Irregular Child Migration in Central America (PICMCA)
Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) is leading a CAD $15.2M regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua designed to improve the well-being of children and youth who are at risk of irregular migration. The Government of Canada is contributing CAD $12.6 million to the four-year project. The initiative addresses a number of the root causes that fuel irregular migration — from high levels of crime and violence, limited employment and educational opportunities, to social exclusion and a lack of information on the inherent dangers of migrating without following the normal immigration procedures. For this project, CCFC is partnering with two non-governmental organizations: ChildFund International and EDUCO.
UN: Child Rights Violators Put on Notice that Abuses Must End
- by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
- / Statements
Annual UN report names 66 perpetrators for abuse and exploitation of children in conflict, including the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen
NEW YORK, June 26, 2018 – The UN Secretary-General’s latest report is evidence of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s continued disregard for children’s rights in Yemen, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released his annual report on children and armed conflict to UN Security Council members. The report details grave child rights violations in conflicts around the world in 2017, including Yemen. According to the UN’s findings, the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for killing or maiming 670 children in Yemen, out of a total of 1,316 child casualties documented in 2017. It also found that the coalition was responsible for 19 out of 20 documented attacks on schools and nearly half of all attacks on hospitals in Yemen last year.
ChildFund International to Serve Children Still Separated from Families at the U.S. Border
- by ChildFund International
- / Statements
Right now, as policies and procedures surrounding children separated from their families continue to evolve, a major concern has yet to be resolved: the plight of those thousands who remain removed from their parents. ChildFund International is deeply concerned about their wellbeing. We have been working with children and families on both sides of the border for decades, and will apply that unique expertise and insight to assist these children until they can be reunited.
“These kids are doubly traumatized, first in the dangerous journey from their home countries and then in being taken from the people who love them,” said Anne Lynam Goddard, ChildFund’s president and CEO. “They need much more than basic sustenance. They need emotional support and care. Children who are not in the care of their parents are also even more vulnerable to exploitation and neglect.”
With ChildFund, Neelam Makhijani aims to create a better tomorrow for children
- by Rekha Balakrishnan
- / Blog
As CEO and Director of ChildFund India, Neelam Makhijani is working to give excluded and vulnerable children the capacity to improve their lives and become adults who bring positive change in their communities.
As a journalist in New York, Neelam Makhijani worked for a leading Asian weekly, where she wrote and commented on South Asian political issues. Her job connected her to many humanitarian initiatives and she decided to take her job on-ground and “be the change she wished to see”.
ChildFund International Joins World Cup Campaign to #PassTheHappiness to Teens Where It’s Needed Most
- by ChildFund International
- / Blog
Today, thousands of people worldwide are beside themselves with excitement at the kickoff of the world’s foremost soccer tournament. Here at ChildFund International we have something else to celebrate: We have teamed up with Coca-Cola, Walmart International and One World Play Project to #PassTheHappiness. Through this worldwide campaign, we will receive a share of 100,000 unpoppable soccer balls for teenagers in our programs.
As the voice behind the Coca-Cola Anthem for the 2018 World Cup, artist Jason Derulo joined Coca-Cola as spokesperson of the #PassTheHappiness campaign to help bring the power of play to underprivileged youth globally.
“This is a great opportunity to give back, not only to my home country of Haiti, but to teenagers around the world,” Jason Derulo says, juggling a One World FutbolTM at his home outside Los Angeles. “This ball is amazing.”
Papua New Guinea is One of the Most Dangerous Places for Expectant Mothers
- by ZZ Lundberg, New York Minute Mag
- / In the News
Recent reports have shown that Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the most dangerous countries for mothers and pregnant women. According to the aid agency ChildFund Australia, women in PNG are 35 times more likely to die during pregnancy than women in Australia.
One of the biggest issues that leads to death or severe complications for both the mother and child is a lack of supervised births at adequate birthing facilities. In 2016, only 40 percent of women in PNG gave birth at a health facility with a specialized birth attendant.
“No woman should die giving birth. Yet in a country just 160 kilometers north of Australia, women are losing their lives every day during childbirth due to unsafe conditions and causes that are completely preventable,”
ChildFund Alliance welcomes the adoption of Security Council resolution on role of youth in negotiating and implementing peace agreements
- by Diana Quick
- / Statements
ChildFund Alliance welcomes the adoption of Security Council resolution 2419 (2018), which calls for increasing the role of youth in negotiating and implementing peace agreements. The resolution, adopted on 6 June by a unanimous vote, recognizes that the marginalization of youth is detrimental to building sustainable peace and countering violent extremism.
“ChildFund strongly believes that child and youth participation is key to building stronger, safer communities,” said Meg Gardinier, Secretary General of ChildFund Alliance. “Child [and by extension youth] participation is one of the core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which asserts that children and young people have the right to freely express their views and that there is an obligation to listen to children’s views and to facilitate their participation in all matters affecting them.”
Pursuing a global vision to end violence against children
- by Patrick Canagasingham, CEO Christian Children's Fund Canada
- / Blog
Our progress for positive change in Paraguay is setting the stage for collaboration with governments and civil-society organizations around the world
If you’ve ever been to Paraguay, you might understand the feeling of community you experience from people in all corners of the country. I experienced this genuine welcome on my recent trip there a few days ago, but my eyes were also opened to one side of the country I couldn’t see.
I couldn’t see what happens behind closed doors. Jorge Méndez Rheineck, our country director in Paraguay, spoke frankly about the situation: “Violence against children in the home is a problem for too many. Worse, children suffer sexual abuse from adults they trust — relatives, family, friends and neighbours,” he said.
An open letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the children of Yemen
- by Diana Quick
- / Statements
ChildFund Alliance, together with 23 other civil society organizations, wrote an open letter regarding the situation of children in Yemen to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, ahead of the publication of this year’s Children and Armed Conflict Annual Report.
As organisations working to protect children in situations of war, we sincerely welcome your decision in 2017 to include the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition along with other violators in the annexes of your Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed (“Annual Report”) based on credible UN-verified evidence of violations against children in armed conflict. As your report noted, the Coalition was responsible for killing and injuring at least 683 children during 2016.
The participation of children and adolescents and the eradication of violence against children
- by Diana Quick
- / Statements
Read the final statement of the International Seminar "Participation of children and adolescents in the eradication of violence against children," held in Asunción, Paraguay on 30 May 2018.