John Kibwola, 14, braves the scorching afternoon sun as he sells his collection of plastic bottles along Acholi Street in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu.

"It is from doing this that I get something to eat," Kibwola told IRIN. "I have been selling used plastic bottles and containers for the last two years.”

He has been hawking the bottles since he left his village of Cwero, about 65km east of Gulu town.

This was after his parents died in an attack by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) militia. "That was the end of everything and since then life has never been the same," he said.

"I could not bear the difficult living conditions in the village, my brother is disabled and my relatives said they did not have the means to help so I decided to move to the streets."

The streets in Gulu have more children like Kibwola, their stories often similar. The majority are also orphans, who lost their parents in the two-decade long war in the north that pitted government forces against LRA rebels.

Hawking is not the only trade for this these children - child prostitution is also common.

"We normally get our clients in the pubs mostly traders from Southern Sudan, truck drivers and people living in the town," a 15-year old girl who declined to be named told IRIN.

She said she earns between 3,000 (US $2) and 7,000 shillings ($4.60) per day depending on the number of clients.

Images of child labour recur at most places in the town. At a local fuel station 13 young boys line up hoping to sell their plastic bottles to the incoming customers who might need them for storing kerosene.

"I collect used plastic bottles from rubbish pits in the town and then sell them," a boy, who only identified himself as Okeny, told IRIN.

"In the morning, I fetch water for people in the town," Okeny said, adding that he earns 200 shillings (about 13 US cents) for a 20 litre jerrican of water.

As former internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to return to their homes, cases of children being separated from their families are on the rise thus the increase in the number of children in the streets.
Children are also being left behind in some IDP camps, exposing them to various forms of abuse, according to a recent assessment of the Lalogi IDP camp in Gulu. The assessment was conducted by the UN Children's Fund, the NGO World Vision and the local Gulu Support the Children Organisation.

"The situation is very bad in the IDP camps... with parents leaving their children alone with no adult care giver to take care of them, we encourage parents to go with their children to the villages," Santa Oketta, the Gulu district secretary for children affairs, said.

About 40 percent of the northern region's IDPs, estimated at more than two million at the height of the war, have left the IDP camps for their homes or to resettlement camps closer to their original villages.

Oketta said the number of street children and child prostitutes is on the rise, adding that the number of children affected has not yet been established.

"This is a problem that requires urgent attention otherwise we are losing out a lot with young girls engaging in prostitution and others abandoning their homes for the street," she said.

In the meantime, Okeny and Kibwola continue to struggle to make a living on the streets. "We are ready to go to school if we get somebody to help us," they said.

IRIN 

The 4th Global Forum on Children Affected by HIV and AIDS, taking place in Dublin, has called for a package of social welfare services to tackle child poverty and assist households in developing countries affected by HIV and AIDS.

The forum, attended by 200 delegates from 42 countries, is co-hosted by Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas aid programme, and UNICEF.

The Forum will attempt to secure commitments for children affected by HIV and AIDS to realise their right to health, education and welfare. The provision of social services is key to ensuring that children living in households affected by HIV and AIDS are not forced to drop out of school to care for sick relatives or to engage in paid work when a breadwinner falls ill.

Cash transfers and other social welfare instruments may alleviate poverty, improve school attendance and nutritional intake, the Forum heard.  Delivering the key note speech, the Prime Minister of Ireland, Brian Cowen TD, re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to the world’s poorest children and said: “All the evidence points to broad social protection and welfare approaches as a means of mitigating the impact of HIV on children. Our own history of social policy and protection, with the introduction of pensions and allowances, demonstrates the importance of these instruments in responding to household and child poverty.”

The Executive Director of UNICEF, Ann M. Veneman joined the Taoiseach at the Forum.  Speaking about UNICEF’s work with children affected by HIV and AIDS, Veneman said: "For too long children have been the missing face of the aids pandemic. This conference, generously co-hosted by the Irish government, provides an important opportunity to discuss approaches for dealing with children impacted by HIV and AIDS.”

Singer and HIV/AIDS Campaigner Annie Lennox will also address the Forum. 

Additional Notes:
This is the fourth meeting of the Global Partners’ Forum, established to provide momentum in fulfilling global commitments for children affected by HIV and AIDS as enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals and the 2001 United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS. The forum brings together leaders in Government, civil society and the United Nations to review progress, set priorities, and make commitments for children affected by HIV and AIDS. 

Ireland has made a high-level political commitment to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. With over €100 million being spent annually on HIV and other communicable diseases, the Government is investing in programmes that are benefiting those most in need, with a particular emphasis on supporting children. Resources are channelled through a range of organisations working at global, regional, country and community levels.

About UNICEF:
UNICEF works on the ground in more than 150 developing and transitional countries to help children survive and thrive. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for poor countries, UNICEF works to advance the Millennium Development Goals by supporting child health and nutrition, quality basic education for all boys and girls, access to clean water and sanitation, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation and AIDS.

UNICEF 

Children should not be seen as victims of sexual exploitation, but rather the front-line fighters against it, said non-profit Save the Children Sweden at a preparatory meeting in Dakar in advance of the World Congress against sexual exploitation of children and adolescents to be held in Rio, Brazil in November 2008.

The summit will be co-organised by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and NGO End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT).

Save the Children’s West Africa adviser Elkane Mooh told IRIN it is children who are best placed to help address the situation. “They are the primary actors in this because they know the situation best. Abuse is something which is hidden, but kids can share this information by talking to each other – together they can help find the solutions.”

Up to 22 children from 15 African countries joined human rights groups, child specialists and non-profit organisations to debate how children can take on a bigger role in the fight against exploitation.

“Children need a voice in society,” 14-year-old Tenicia from South Africa told IRIN. “Adults tend to forget about children. Most children don’t know about the dangers of sexual exploitation. They don’t know their rights.”

Although accurate statistics are hard to come by, child rights advocates at the conference say it is possible sexual exploitation of children is on the rise.

Save the Children’s Mooh says the global economic slump is partly to blame. “The food price crisis and the difficult economic conditions we’re going through can mean that parents are more likely to turn a blind eye to these activities. Children have more and more economic responsibility within the family – and this puts pressure on them.”

In Kenya, 80 percent of surveyed child sex-workers said a family member or friend introduced them to sex work according to the International Labour Organization.

Young people at the Dakar meeting discussed different forms of exploitation, from sex tourism and sexual violence at school, to forced and early marriages, and sexual violence during and after conflicts.

Breaking the silence with a text message

One suggestion children put forward is to tap into youth-friendly communication tools. Mamadou, 16, from Senegal said “When a child has gone through this [exploitation] it can be too difficult for them to talk to their family about it – or even to a helpline. So, texting a help service could be a better way of making children talk.”

But opening a dialogue is just part of the equation. “When a child is the victim of sexual exploitation by a tourist, they must first get medical help”, says 17-year-old Chamir from Togo, “but the hospital should give that information to the Ministry of Health and also to the Ministry of Tourism that controls the hotels. It’s important that the different departments communicate with each other.”

UNICEF West Africa adviser Joaquim Theis says the heart of any strategy for change should involve children. “The vast majority of children don’t have a choice in life. They aren’t given information…they are not involved in decisions made about them. We need to move beyond these very limited forms of children’s participation and move towards a freedom of expression, of information and decision making – their basic civil rights.”

Yassin (15) from Gambia is among the youths expected to present at the Rio Congress. “We have to come together. This is really affecting us young children. Sugar-daddies give short term benefits but long-term problems. We can make a difference – the future lies in our hands.”

IRIN 

This reporter recently visited the centre to get first hand information about its operations in the country.

In an exclusive interview with the Director of the centre Madam Amal Abbass-Saal at the Centre, she said that they accept applications from any child who possesses the motivation, ability and character that enable them to succeed. “We give each child the opportunity to reach their full potential. Play, she said is an essential element in the development of well rounded healthy children. It is vital to their intellectual, social, emotional and physical development,” she noted. Since we consider creative play as the work of the child, our aim is to nurture the vital imaginative life of a child, by giving them the space and time to enjoy freely and creatively every day. The Centre she said, provides day care services to young children in preparing a gentle journey towards formal education from two and a half years old onwards.

According to local authorities ninety children were kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Dungu territory, Orientale Province on Wednesday, September 17, 2008.  During simultaneous attacks on the Kiliwa, Duru, and Nambia villages the LRA took fifty children from a primary school in Kiliwa and forty others from a secondary school in Duru.  The children are presumed to have been taken to nearby LRA bases in the forest.

“UNICEF demands the unconditional release of the abducted children,” stated Julien Harneis UNICEF eastern DRC’s Chief of Field Operations.  “These children were taken from their schools; UNICEF is very concerned that they will now be forced to fight or support fighting, putting their lives at risk.” 

In addition to the child abductions, a village chief and two Italian missionaries were taken, at least three civilians killed, health centers have been looted, and houses burnt.  In Kiliwa, the entire village except for the health center was burnt to the ground.  The population has fled and as of this morning has started arriving in Dungu town.

UNICEF is coordinating with humanitarian actors for an emergency response. 

UNICEF calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all children by the LRA and for all actors to ensure the protection of children and women.  UNICEF reminds all parties that the abduction and use of children in armed groups is a war crime and crime against humanity.   

About UNICEF DRC
UNICEF has mounted one of its largest emergency humanitarian operations in the world in the DRC.  UNICEF and its network of operational partners continues responding to the needs of internally displaced persons, returnees, and host communities with programs in health, nutrition, education, child protection, essential household items, and water, sanitation and hygiene. In order to respect the fundamental rights of Congolese children to survive and realize their potential, UNICEF advocates for sustainable peace and stability in the eastern DRC.

UNICEF 

The Republic of Congo’s government has launched a nationwide weeklong campaign of action aimed at tackling the country’s high rates of infant, juvenile and maternal mortality.

“I seize this opportunity to fight maternal and infant mortality, my primary concern,” Health and Social Affairs Minister Emilienne Raoul said at the launch of the campaign in the town of Ouesso, some 800 km north of the capital, Brazzzaville.

According to a 2005 demographic and health survey, 781 of every 100,000 births resulted in the death of the mother. The same survey showed the infant and juvenile mortality rates to be 75 and 117 per thousand respectively. The survey also showed that there had been no improvement in these indicators since 1990.

Across the country during the week of action, impregnated bed nets are to be distributed, while children are to be treated for parasites, given vitamin A supplements and pregnant mothers given birth kits.

The government used the occasion of the week of action to give birth certificates to 2,012 as yet unregistered children in indigenous communities.

“Our children have this right because they are citizens just like the Bantu,” said Paul Ngama, head of one such family.

Indigenous communities, sometimes referred to as Pygmies, account for about 10 percent of Congo’s three million inhabitants.

IRIN 

Experience has shown that it is possible to run successful paediatric HIV programmes in rural African settings, yet less than 10 percent of patients on life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are children, field officers of the international medical NGO, Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), have said.

"Studies show that without treatment, 50 percent of children with HIV will die within the first two years of their lives," Fernando Parreno, who has worked for MSF's ARV programme in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, said at the recent International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. "It is imperative that all children are diagnosed and started on treatment as early as possible after diagnosis, or too many children will continue to die."

Children in rural Africa are rarely taken to hospital for HIV testing and accurate testing facilities for children are few and far between, so they are often diagnosed too late to benefit from treatment programmes.

MSF has more than 10,000 paediatric patients in more than 50 projects in poor countries around the world. An analysis of all child patients under five who started taking ARVs in 2002 found that by January 2008, 79 percent were still on treatment.

"In Rwanda, where MSF has over 300 children on ARVs, we decided to increase testing by proposing to all patients that they bring their children in for testing," said Johan Van Griensven, of MSF's programme in Rwanda. "We faced reluctance from the nurses, who were uncomfortable disclosing the HIV status of children, and from parents, who feared a positive result and its implications."

Van Griensven said after training the nurses were better able to disclose a child's status to them in a sensitive and informative way. Parents whose children test positive are actively encouraged to disclose their children's status to them.

"We have developed child-adapted tools to talk to children about HIV in ways they can understand," he added. "But as kids get older their perceptions change, so it is important to keep supporting them as they grow into adolescence; support groups have been very helpful in enabling children to talk openly about their experiences."

Helen Huerga, who is with MSF Kenya, said it was crucial for the family to be involved in the child's treatment, so programmes encouraged parents to attend children's clinic days; she also noted that community support was crucial to follow-up.

Need for suitable ARVs

However, support at the community and health centre level was not being matched with the same commitment by large drug manufactures, according to Karen Day, a pharmacist from MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.

"Although there are 13 ARV formulations specifically developed for children, they are not adapted for use in resource-poor settings. Most of them are liquid, and come as three, often unpalatable, separate drugs that are difficult for children to take; others are in powder form and need to be reconstituted. In many cases there may not be an adequate supply of clean water to do this," she said.

"What we need from the drug companies are small, scored – and therefore easy to halve – tablets that are chewable and stable at high temperature and high humidity," Day suggested. "They must also develop fixed-dose ARVs for children; so far, only one fixed-dose exists, and none for second-line treatment."

She said there was a need to reach children earlier with treatment in order to improve their chances of survival. New guidelines by the UN World Health Organisation recommend that children under 12 months be diagnosed as early as six weeks and be started on treatment immediately, regardless of CD-4 count (which measures the strength of the immune system) or clinical signs.

PlusNews 

Fr. Peter Stephen Lopez on Sunday gave children the chance at the Blessed Sacrament Church, Kanifing allowing them to take care of the Mass. Little children regarded by Jesus as samples of the way to God, are the future of a lot of things in the world and this is acknowledged by many people with foresight that can be seen around by the many people who care for the development of children. Fr. Peter Lopez has just shown one aspect by allowing children to take care of the Mass at his church. Children many believe can do a lot the elders can do if given the chance to do so. Children were seen as unique by Jesus who made them examples before the Apostles and onlookers. This gave the option to those who were living a different life to see how their transformed lives like those of children would get them into Heaven. The opportunity and the openness to these children would enhance their growth into holiness and responsible citizenship. Read on and see what Jesus said about children and what prompted Fr. Peter Lopez to give children the chance to be seen at Mass.

The Blessed Sacrament Church went silent as children took charge of the Mass this past Sunday. It was not a Feast Day but the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, according to the Catholic rites. Children ran from all parts of Kanifing to be part of the occasion. Children sang songs during the Mass did the readings and above all did the collection bringing the offertory to the foot of the altar. They were seen happily taking the place of the ushers who always gather to usher in church members. Parents saw the good in their children and some saw their children rising to the rank of priests and Sisters in the future as they portrayed how they have gathered a lot from the elders’ example in the church or at their parents’ homes.

Jesus and Little Children:

One Day, Jesus was instructing the people and mothers began bringing their little children to Him. They wanted Him to place His holy hands on them and to pray for them.

When the disciples saw the mothers coming with the children, they were upset. They did not think Jesus should be disturbed in this way. So they began to turn the mothers and children aside.

The mothers and children were disappointed. They had come with such great hopes. Now they could not even speak to the master.

At this point, Jesus caught sight of the mothers and children, and of the disciples turning them away. He became indignant and rebuked the disciples for their actions.

Jesus then put His arms about the children and began to bless them.

From this we learn many important lessons. No matter how old we may be, we should have clean hearts full so simple trust and faith in God, like the children that Jesus told us to imitate. We should also have special care for children and love them as Jesus loved them.

In the real life situation, we have seen how children are given the back bench to sit and are put behind everything. In many instances, the elderly leave children behind because they are children. Children crying in church are frowned at and even insulted to be taken out of the church. The love of children should make a lot of people embrace them and help them because Jesus had said if we should go to heaven then we should be like little children. That means they are meek, humble and innocent. This is not a distant thing from Christian faith because believers in those days actually showed surprise but later understood it well. UNICEFF was created so as to get the concerns of children under control and then there come the children’s rights and many other protocols. The Gambia government too joined hands to embrace the rights of the child and made it known to school authorities what was expected from them. This brought about lots of questions and oppositions from teachers who were always bent on training with the rod, not to spoil the child.

In Fr. Lopez’s sermon, he praised children as Jesus would do. He said they were like seeds, if parents and the community water them and nurture them well, they shall reap the best out of them. “Children are close to our hearts, they need us and we should be seen as examples that they can copy from. We have seen what they can do in our church. I encourage all parents to release their children to come to the church, to get the instructions they need.” Fr. Lopez further said that Jesus loves children and as elders we should love them without pretence. The children were praised by the congregation and their parents were delighted with their action in the Mass they so adore.