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  ETHIOPIA: Families hard hit by food crisis
KARAT, 3 September 2008 (IRIN) - The crowd that filled Konso Mekane Yesus primary school in Karat town, 600km south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, were not pupils, but hundreds of mothers and children forced by food shortages to queue for relief...
  TANZANIA: Vaccination campaign treats millions of children
DAR ES SALAAM, 2 September 2008 (IRIN) –   Millions of parents and guardians sent their children to be vaccinated on 30 and 31 August in a national campaign against measles, polio and other diseases, officials said on Tuesday. ...
  Save the Children Staff in Sudan relocated
SCS staff in Sudan relocated After Sudan’s President has been indicted yesterday by the ICC prosecutor for war crimes the UN and humanitarian agencies fear increased tensions in the country in general and Darfur...
  KENYA: Desperate displaced girls turn to sex work
MOMBASA , 9 July 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - Like thousands of other Kenyans, Susan Wairimu, 17, was displaced from her home in the Rift Valley Province's Molo district during the violence that followed a disputed presidential election in December 2007 and...
  ETHIOPIA: Malnutrition increasing in southern regions
ADDIS ABABA , 24 June 2008 (IRIN) - The humanitarian situation in southern Ethiopia is becoming more critical, with increasing malnutrition being reported among young children in the past few weeks, a senior UN official said. "The situation...
  Unaccompanied children of war
GULU, 3 June 2008 (IRIN) - Caught in crossfire during fighting between Ugandan government forces and rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), six-month-old Emmanuel acted according to instinct: he clung to his mother.   But by the time soldiers...
  ZIMBABWE: Children bearing the burden of political violence
  JOHANNESBURG , 30 May 2008 (IRIN) - More than 10,000 children have been displaced by election violence in Zimbabwe , according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). In a statement UNICEF said that...
  ZIMBABWE: Children bearing the burden of political violence
JOHANNESBURG , 30 May 2008 (IRIN) - More than 10,000 children have been displaced by election violence in Zimbabwe , according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). In a statement UNICEF said that it "strongly denounced the...
  KENYA: The little village that could
 22 May 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - The word 'nyumbani' means home in Swahili, and that is exactly what a pilot village in the eastern Kenyan district of Kitui is trying to provide for two generations devastated by the AIDS pandemic. More...
  Child migrants tell all
    JOHANNESBURG , 29 April 2008 (IRIN) - The stories of children who travel alone in Southern Africa tell of beatings at the hands of the authorities, of their possessions being taken, of forced labour, and their vulnerability...
  I have a mine in my living-room, what should I do?"
    MALAKAL, 28 April 2008 (IRIN) - Dengershufu in Malakal, capital of the Sudanese state of Upper Nile, looks like any low-income suburb of a post-conflict Southern town, with roadside stalls selling dry fish from the...
  SUDAN: Darfur attackers violated international law - UN
Recent attacks by militias and Sudanese government troops on West Darfur villages in which scores of people were killed and thousands displaced, violated international humanitarian and human rights law, the UN said. "At least 115...
  SUDAN: Hundreds of children missing after Darfur attack
Several days after Sudanese government-backed militia attacked villages in West Darfur, hundreds of children remain unaccounted for, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. There are an unknown number of children aged 12-18 who are missing, especially...
  KENYA: Crisis highlights cluster complications
The post-election crisis in Kenya has highlighted some of the shortcomings of the cluster approach, introduced two years ago to improve emergency responses involving many actors. Some NGOs perceived it as a threat to their positions and a tool with...
  ETHIOPIA: Strategy to focus on malnutrition
 Ethiopia's new national nutrition strategy will target children younger than two years of age because a significant number suffer chronic malnutrition, a senior official said. "We must fight malnutrition," Addisu Legesse, Deputy...
  ETHIOPIA: Strategy to focus on malnutrition
Ethiopia 's new national nutrition strategy will target children younger than two years of age because a significant number suffer chronic malnutrition, a senior official said. "We must fight malnutrition," Addisu Legesse, Deputy...
  SUDAN: Whooping cough outbreak in West Darfur
A dramatic rise in whooping cough cases has been reported near El Geneina, capital of the Sudanese state of West Darfur, but insecurity has made it difficult for medical personnel to reach the affected populations, according to an international NGO....
  KENYA: Violence slowing down humanitarian effort
Roadblocks and violence across much of western Kenya are putting a strain on efforts to assist hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs), according to relief workers. "On 14 January, one of our trucks, carrying 17 tonnes...
  KENYA: No place to call home
Jennifer Atieno was mourning the death of her daughter when the family received threatening leaflets warning members of her ethnic group to leave the town of Thika as the post-election violence and inter-community intimidation spread to central ...
  KENYA: Officials grapple with implications of sending IDPs "home"
UN and Red Cross officials briefed negotiators from Kenya's political parties meeting on 4 February as part of a dialogue aimed at resolving the political crisis. Leaders from the government and opposition discussed humanitarian issues as the second...
  KENYA: Peter Okoth: "We are threatened by the same people we treated for their injuries
Peter Okoth is the medical superintendent at Naivasha District Hospital. After ethnic violence in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, Okoth and his family, as well as several other members of the hospital's medical team, have joined displaced people...
  KENYA: Violence paralyses western towns as political crisis deepens
 Increasing violence and tension in several towns in western Kenya continue to hinder the provision of basic services such as health, education and transport, in addition to causing untold suffering to thousands of people displaced since the...
  KENYA: Pledges high but millions more needed in humanitarian aid
Close to US$30 million has already been pledged by international donors for humanitarian operations to assist people affected by Kenya 's post-election crisis, but millions more are needed, according to UN and non-governmental aid agencies. ...
  KENYA: Health workers grappling with conflict-related sexual violence
As Kenya counts the human and material cost of the political violence, hospitals are reporting an increase in reported rapes during the immediate post-election period, spurring the government and health organisations to find ways to treat these cases...
    KENYA: Lucy Awino: "I pray that things will go back to how they were before"
KENYA: Lucy Awino: "I pray that things will go back to how they were before" NAIROBI, 11 January 2008 (IRIN) - Lucy Awino, 40, moved to Limuru, 35km northwest of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, in 1975. The town is dominated by President Mwai Kibaki's...
  KENYA: Homeless in the homelands - the perils of IDP evacuation
NAIROBI, 7 January 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of people displaced (IDPs) by recent post-election violence in Kenya are being evacuated to areas which, although more conducive to their safety because of ethnic affinity, pose a risk of "destitution" because...
  SOMALIA: Maadey Suufi: "The worst experience of my life
MOGADISHU, 2 January 2008 (IRIN) - Maadey Suufi, a 27-year-old father from Buur Hakab, fled his home 10 years ago because of drought and insecurity. Since then, he has lived in an overcrowded camp for the displaced in the Suuq Ba'ad area of north...
  KENYA: Rape on the rise in post-election violence
NAIROBI, 2 January 2008 (IRIN) - Amid the violence that engulfed several residential areas of the Kenyan capital following the declaration of controversial results of the presidential elections, women in particular have been targetted, with at least...
  CHAD: Army forcibly recruiting youths, rights group says
NDJAMENA, 14 December 2007 (IRIN) - The Chadian military is reportedly recruiting young men by force, possibly including children, to help stem losses from recent fighting with rebels on several fronts in the east of the country. Human Rights...
  13 December: Ebola outbreak leads to border closure
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have closed the lake and land border with Uganda and shut down two markets as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Ebola from its neighbour. Several dozen traders in...
  13 December: Phelister Njeri: "I fear my two-week-old twins will catch pneumonia, sleeping on this cold floor"
Phelister Njeri, in her 20s, became a mother of five two weeks ago when she delivered twins at her home in Keringet division of the volatile New Molo district in Kenya's Rift Valley province. Njeri delivered at home because she could not make it to...
  11 December: Aid focus shifts to recovery in Uganda
The return of relative calm to northern Uganda after two decades of devastating civil war has set in motion the return of about one million displaced civilians and highlighted the importance of funding post-conflict recovery, a key focus of...
  9 August: Urge to prioritise war affected children in Uganda
Northern Ugandan youngsters have urged the International Criminal Court, ICC, to do a better job of educating them about how the court's work will affect children who suffered harm during the 21-year civil war between Ugandan government forces and the...
  6 August: Red Cross confirms pullout from Ethiopia’s Ogaden
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pulled out from Ethiopia ’s restive Ogaden region following a government order, but still hopes to return, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. Authorities in Ethiopia ’s Somali regional...
  3 August: Rights abuses continue in Sudan according to UN
The special UN envoy on human rights in Sudan said on Thursday she had not seen any improvement since her last visit and complained of a lack of transparency by the Khartoum authorities. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan Sima...
  2 August: Darfur UN-AU force to boost humanitarian access
The new UN-African Union force for Darfur, established by the UN Security Council and accepted by the Sudan government on 1 August, will improve security and humanitarian access, aid officials and analysts say. According to a UN official...
  1 August: Child labour on the rise in southern Sudan
Words have been said and pledges made to curb out child labour in southern Sudan . But it seems the vice is deep rooted contrary to what many expected. Leer town of Unity state is a sprawling area amidst waters of the Sudd. It is a...
  1 August: Risk of cholera outbreak in Nairobi slums
Residents took to the streets of Nairobi 's second largest slum, Mathare, on 31 July after five days without water left them facing serious disease outbreaks, they said. "The public toilets are polluted and sick people are using the toilets...
  27 July: Update on education in Lakes, southern Sudan
Below is a news update on Education in Lakes State , according to the State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Background Lakes State has an estimated area of 93,900 Km2. it has 8 counties with 52 Payams and an estimated...
  27 July: Aid to flood victims in southern Sudan
United Nations humanitarian agencies are rushing food and health kits to southern Sudan where heavy rainfall in recent days has affected nearly 10,000 people, some of whom have sought shelter in public buildings. The UN Children's Fund...
  25 July: 25,000 more Darfurians flee home
Violence and insecurity in Darfur has forced 25,000 more people from their homes and is straining the capacity of camps swollen with refugees fleeing conflict in western Sudan , the UN said in a report on Tuesday. "Aerial bombings by the...
  25 July: Male circumcision as HIV prevention?
Is mass male circumcision the new big thing in HIV prevention, or is it a risky social experiment that threatens to divert funding from tried and tested interventions? And can we advocate for male circumcision while condemning the practice...
  24 July: Child soldiers in the Chad conflict
The Chadian army and its allied paramilitary forces are keeping thousands of child soldiers out of demobilisation efforts, despite the government’s promises to release underage fighters from military service, Human Rights Watch say in a new report....
  15 June: Sharing experiences on Juvenile Justice
High officials, legal personnel from the Juvenile Justice Courts and a representative from an NGO, SABAH from Khartoum are visiting the Juvenile Justice programme of Save the Children Sweden in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia, on Monday 18 June, 2007....
  13 June: 21 children imprisoned in Rumbek, southern Sudan
On Wednesday 6 June, primary schools around Rumbek, southern Sudan , went on strike demanding for the payment  of their teachers’ salaries. The children marched to the offices of the Ministry of Education, Finance and Health at the state...
  13 June: World Day Against Child Labour
This year the World Day Against Child Labour focuses on the elimination of child labour in agriculture. Worldwide, agriculture is the sector where the largest percentage of working children is found - nearly 70 per cent. Over 132 million girls and...
  11 June: Child soldiers found in Somali capital
Up to 400 child soldiers who had fought with the Islamic Courts Union, have been discovered in Mogadishu by government forces, the UN children's agency, UNICEF, said Friday. They were found during an operation in the trouble-torn capital...
  11 June: Sudanese children abducted for fighting and sex
Children in Sudan , especially in the Darfur region, continue to be abducted for use in battle, forced labour or sexual exploitation, a UN human rights body said on Friday. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the Khartoum...
  7 June: Maternal mortality highest in southern Sudan
Rates of pregnancy-related deaths in southern Sudan are the highest in the world, a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) official said. "Rates are actually at 2,030 per 100,000 births, the worst in the world," UNFPA’s southern Sudan...
  6 June: Flood-hit coastal families in Kenya need aid
Hundreds of families affected by flash floods caused by heavy rainfall along Kenya 's Indian Ocean coastal region in the past month need food aid and other humanitarian assistance, relief workers said. "We require at least 10 metric tonnes...
  6 June: Day of the African Child 2007 on child trafficking
In Soweto , South Africa , thousands of black school children took to the streets in 1976, in a march more than half a mile long, to protest against the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language....
  4 June: Donors fail to fulfill pledges to help Africa
Three years after pledging a doubling of aid for Africa and new opportunities for African exports, donor nations are falling behind in fulfilling their promises, according to a statement released by the World Bank on Sunday. The assessment...
  4 June: Making humanitarian work safer
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a policy-setting humanitarian forum, recently issued Saving Lives Together, guidelines on staff safety and security among UN agencies and NGOs. Despite a 'menu of options' that had been in existence since...
  30 May: UN OHCHR Annual Report 2006
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has released its 2006 Annual Report , providing a detailed account of the increasing range and impact of its human rights work around the world. The document uses charts,...
  25 May: Watchdog points to abuses across region
Human rights violations, by states as well as other groups, continued unabated in several countries in the Horn and Eastern Africa , Amnesty International (AI) states in its annual report. The report, launched on 23 May, details abuses, including...
  25 May: Risk of health crisis in southern Sudan
The increased movement of people within southern Sudan , including the return of hundreds of thousands of former refugees and internally displaced persons, could create a public health crisis across the impoverished region, a humanitarian official...
  25 May: Child trafficking on the rise in DR Congo
Hundreds of children have been trafficked into the Republic of Congo from several West African states, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The majority of the children – many as young as nine – come to Pointe-Noire, the Congo’s...
  18 May: Violence still hampering humanitarian action in Darfur
Although many humanitarian activities, including a successful polio vaccination campaign, are currently being carried out in Sudan ’s Darfur region, violence continues to threaten the operations, according to the United Nations Mission in Sudan...
  16 May: One-third of conflict victims were children
A report by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on children in Somalia estimates that more than one-third of the people who were killed and injured in fighting in 2006 were children, with violence in southern and central ...
  16 May: New NGO Advisory Council for follow-up on violence
A new NGO council is being formed specifically to support strong and effective follow-up to the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children. Its primary purpose is to encourage and maintain NGO involvement at national, regional and international...
  14 May: Refugee repatriation to gather pace
Voluntary repatriation of southern Sudanese refugees from Uganda is set to increase with the introduction of a third corridor of return to Eastern Equatoria state in August, the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said last week. Officials...
  11 May: Child soldiers demobilised
Chad 's government has signed a deal with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to begin demobilising child soldiers from its national army. The agreement is a U-turn for the government, which as always denied that it has had under-age fighters....
  10 May: Deployment of UN troops to start within 3 months
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said on Wednesday that the deployment of some 3,000 UN personnel to reinforce the African Union (AU) force in the western Sudanese region of Darfur would start after six months. UNMIS Spokesperson...
  8 May: Sweden the best country to be a mother and a child
Save the Children USA has released its eighth annual Mothers’ Index that ranks the best, and worst, places to be a mother and a child and compares the well-being of mothers and children in 140 countries, more than in any previous year. Sweden , ...
  8 May: Experts meet to discuss orphans
With more than 18 million children expected to have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010, a United Nations-backed alliance has met to discuss the looming crisis of how millions of children orphaned or made vulnerable by the epidemic can build their...
  8 May: Violence handbook for parliamentarians launched
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union recently launched a joint handbook for lawmakers to help them devise the necessary strategies, from introducing legislation to allocating public funds, to protect...
  30 April: 37 schools closed in Kenya due to insecurity
Emmanuel Barasa, 17, is a former primary school pupil from the Mt Elgon district in western Kenya, along the Kenyan-Ugandan border. Barasa, who is now living with relatives in Bungoma, a neighbouring district, described the effects the fighting...
  27 April: Seizing the opportunity for peace in Uganda
The peace talks which resumed yesterday in Juba, southern Sudan , may well be able to end the brutal twenty-year insurrection in northern Uganda but they need more robust international support. Seizing the Opportunity for Peace ,...
  26 April: Malaria accounts for one death every 30 seconds
East African countries on Wednesday marked Africa Malaria Day by announcing a review of control strategies, ranging from the use of more effective drugs to indoor spraying with DDT. In Tanzania , the government launched an anti-malaria combination...
  25 April: Intensified fighting in Somalia blocks aid to children
Despite their eagerness to help those who have been affected and displaced by violence in Somalia ’s capital Mogadishu , UN agencies today said their efforts are thwarted by the worsening security situation. “We have heard the appeal of Somali...
  23 April: 100 new primary school to be built in southern Sudan
World Bank will build 100 new schools in various parts of southern Sudan , the tenders will soon be advertised and weather permitting the construction work is expected to start at latest in September this year, the WB said in a press statement....
  23 April: UN troops bring new hope for Darfur
Sudan 's long-awaited agreement to the United Nations-African Union (AU) "Heavy Support package" for Darfur has been cautiously greeted by the international community, but both the UN and AU admit that the task of setting up the operation has...
  20 April: Millions of lives at risk in Lake Victoria region
The lives of 30 million people living and dependent on Lake Victoria are in danger as a result of uncontrolled municipal and industrial waste, urbanisation and slum overpopulation, a senior United Nations official said on Thursday. "Lake...
  23 April: Somali war escalates
Shells pounded Mogadishu on Saturday, killing at least 73 people to swell a death-toll already in the hundreds from this week’s battles pitting militias and Islamists against Somali and Ethiopian troops. The escalating war has also sent...
  20 April: Urgent need for protection in Sudan, report says
Children in war-ravaged areas of Sudan have endured unspeakable violations and urgently need protection, according to a report by a network of NGOs monitoring violations against children in situations of armed conflict. “The violations include...
  20 April: Army must stop use of child soldiers in DR Congo
The Congolese government should immediately stop former rebel warlords now commissioned as national army officers from recruiting and using child soldiers in army brigades deployed in North Kivu province, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch...
  16 April: Over 10,000 Sudanese refugees back from Uganda
The number of Sudanese refugees to return home from Uganda in the last year has passed the 10,000 mark, after 204 refugees headed home on Friday, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has said. UNHCR said in statement on Friday that a convoy of Sudanese...
  12 April: More AU Peacekeepers attacked in Darfur
The ongoing violence in Sudan 's Darfur region continued to rise after three soldiers from the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) were attacked by unidentified armed men on Tuesday near Sortony in North Darfur . One man was killed and the other...
  12 April: Threat to food security in southern Sudan
Attacks on civilian populations in southern Sudan by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) pose a significant threat to food security and overall stability in Equatoria states, according to a report. The attacks, which intensified...
  11 April: 50,000 Sudanese refugees repatriated to southern Sudan
On Monday, the UNHCR-assisted voluntary repatriation operation bringing southern Sudanese refugees back to their homeland surpassed the 50,000 mark. The day’s returnees included a convoy from Fugnido camp in Ethiopia bringing home 543 Sudanese...
  11 April: UN report on sexual violence in Darfur
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today called for investigations into widespread sexual violence, sometimes directed towards children, during attacks by Sudanese Government forces and allied militia in Darfur . In a new ...
  10 April: Eritrea bans female circumsision
Eritrea has banned the life-threatening practice of female circumcision, the Eritrean information ministry has said. Anybody involved in female genital mutilation (FGM) would be punished with a fine and imprisonment, it said. The move follows...
  10 April: Sudan obstructs aid workers of denouncing rights violations
The UN humanitarian chief told the Security Council last week that Sudan blames aid workers in Darfur for inappropriate political activities but in fact government does not tolerate people who speak about violation of humanitarian rights. ...
  10 April: Landmines continue to plague the south
A demonstration to show how sniffer dogs are used to find landmines was underway while Cosmos Abolou explained the use of artificial limbs to delegates attending World Mine Action Day on Wednesday. "We're beginning to get mine victims from further...
  27 March: Eastern Africa TB control programmes inadequate
Several countries in eastern Africa have a high incidence of tuberculosis but have yet to develop effective national strategies to curtail the disease, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said in its 2007 global TB report, Global tuberculosis control...
  23 March: Hoping for better times in Somalia
The Somali capital of Mogadishu has witnessed daily mortar attacks over the past few months but serious efforts are being made to improve its fragile security, according to the mayor. "Stabilising the city is the number-one priority,"...
  23 March: Thousands of Chadian refugees flee to Darfur
Thousands of people fleeing conflict in Chad have sought refuge in Sudan s western region of Darfur despite the humanitarian crisis there, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday. An estimated...
  22 March: "I can stand up again, thanks to free ARV"
Sarah, 29, a single mother of two, lives in Kibera, a sprawling slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. She tested HIV-positive a year ago after recurring chest infections. "I can only afford a meal of githeri [a mixture of maize and beans]...
  20 March: Aid workers access to people in Darfur diminishing
Humanitarian access is shrinking rapidly in Darfur where relief workers are attacked and intimidated, a UN humanitarian official said shortly before making his first trip to the region on Tuesday. Briton John Holmes, the humanitarian and emergency...
  20 March: Darfur IDP camps reaching full capacity
Camps for internally displaced persons(IDPs) in the western Sudanese region of Darfur are almost at full capacity due to a continuing influx of people fleeing violence, an assessment report compiled by the United Nations and other aid agencies said....
  19 March: Sudanese women sentenced to death by stoning
Sadia Idriss Fadul and Amouna Abdallah Daldoum, both from the Darfur region in western Sudan, are at risk of being stoned to death after being convicted of adultery. Their sentence could be carried out at any time. Sadia Idriss Fadul, from...
  16 March: Children behind bars suffer abuse in Burundi
Children in Burundi who find themselves in conflict with the law face serious abuses in a criminal justice system that treats them as adults. “Children are sometimes tortured to extract confessions, and most have no access to legal advice or representation,”...
  13 March: Ugandan peace talk to resume soon
The Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have agreed to resume peace talks after two months of uncertainty that followed a rebel demand that the talks be moved from southern Sudan, whose leadership was mediating, the head of the government...
  13 March: Refugee repatriation to southern Sudan resumes
The opening of two new return corridors from Ethiopia to southern Sudan will ease the repatriation of thousands of refugees, mostly to Upper Nile, Jonglei and Blue Nile States, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)....
  9 March: Gender violence widespread in Kenya
Two cases of assault or rape are reported on average every day to the Kilimani police station's gender violence desk in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. About 95 incidents of assault and 24 rape or attempted rape cases were reported to the station...
  2 March: Publication addressing violence against women
Rape in Mauritania, domestic violence in Mexico and Romania, child marriage in Bangladesh, and female genital mutilation/cutting in Kenya are just a few of the abuses visited on women and girls explored in a new United Nations Population Fund report...
  2 March: UN to boost emergency response in southern Sudan
The United Nations is seeking to strengthen emergency response capabilities in southern Sudan by training actors based in Unity and Lakes States, an official said. "This is part of the transitioning of emergency responses from NGOs [non-governmental...
  26 February: 26 displaced children died of diseases in Kenya
Thirty displaced people, including 24 children, have died of pneumonia and malaria in the western Kenyan district of Mt Elgon, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said. "More than 24 displaced children and six adults have died so far due to these...
  22 February: In Lira, Uganda, by-laws pay off
The growing numbers of children absconding from free primary education and child marriages in Lira, Uganda, are the basis on which councilors of Bar sub-county initiated stringent by-laws. Six months since the passing of the laws, there has...
  22 February: Kenya orders Ethiopian asylum-seekers to leave
Ethiopian asylum-seekers, who have been camped near the Kenyan border town of Moyale, have urged the government to rescind an order forcing them to return to Ethiopia, saying they feared for their safety. At least 1,000 people fled their homes...
  22 February: 2,000 families fled their homes in Mogadishu
Civil society organisations in Somalia have appealed to the international community to help at least 2,000 families displaced over the past two weeks by violence in the capital, Mogadishu. "We are appealing to the international community, particularly...
  21 February: Task force to address abuse and exploitation
United Nations agencies and the southern Sudanese government are to establish a task force to monitor cases of sexual abuse and exploitation involving international staff, officials said. "To my knowledge it would be the first such task force,"...
  21 February: Violence out of control in Mogadishu
Days before an African peacekeeping force is deployed in Somalia, violence has spiralled in the capital, Mogadishu, forcing hundreds of families to flee the city and set up temporary camps on the outskirts. The Somali minister of information,...
  15 February: Campaign against FGM in Eritrea is working
The Eritrean government and civil society have expressed optimism that efforts to combat female genital mutilation (FGM) were bearing fruit, saying the campaign against the practice was gaining support in rural villages where excision was most common....
  15 February: Thousands displaced in land clashes in Kenya
At least 30,000 people have been displaced and 60 killed in continuing clashes over land in the western Mt Elgon District of Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said on Wednesday. "As I speak to you now, the fighting is going on," Linet...
  14 February: Education and livelihoods in southern Sudan
The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children has released a new report,  From the Ground Up: Education and livelihoods in southern Sudan . The report is based on findings from a November 2006 assessment in southern Sudan...
  12 February: Sudanese child soldiers struggle to give up guns
Former child soldiers in southern Sudan are failing to settle back into their communities and instead are picking up guns to fight again, a UN official said last week. Radhika Coomaraswamy of Sri Lanka, the special envoy for children and armed...
  9 February: Violence continues to limit Darfur aid operations
Humanitarian operations in the western Sudanese region of Darfur have resumed in some areas, but security concerns are still restricting activities in others, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said. Operations had resumed in Khor Abeche...
  9 February: Fighting forces still recruiting children in Africa
Ten years after international guidelines were established to stamp out the recruitment and use of child soldiers, under-age fighters are still actively being recruited. Fighting forces are recruiting and using child soldiers in Burundi, Chad, Democratic...
  5 February: Rights group accuses Ethiopia of crackdown
Human rights group Amnesty International has accused the Ethiopian government of a new crackdown against opposition supporters. Amnesty issued a statement late Friday saying that more than 40 opposition supporters had been seized in mass arrests...
  5 February: Increased child recruitment in Darfur
Boys in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region are increasingly at risk of being recruited into armed groups, while sexual violence against girls is unabated, despite growing official awareness, a top United Nations envoy said last week. Following visits...
  2 February: Report on implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Kenya
During the 44th session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, conclusions and recommendations concerning the implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child in Kenya were highlighted. Please find the Session Report , and...
  2 February: Sudanese authorities to reinforce child protection
Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, accompanied by the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, Ms. Rima Salah, has concluded a 7 day visit to Sudan. The objective of the visit was...
  1 February: UN Secretary General urges patience in Darfur
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has urged patience to end the bloodshed in Darfur and voiced hope that Sudan would keep a pledge to allow a joint African Union-United Nations force in the war-torn region. Ban also said that his current four-nation...
  31 January: European Children’s Network launches Website
The European Children’s Network (EURONET), representing 35 children’s rights national and transnational NGOs from across Europe , is pleased to announce the launch of its new website. The European Children's Network is a coalition of networks and...
  30 January: Streamlining ARV provision for refugees
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has launched a new policy to ensure that HIV-positive refugees and other displaced people around the world have access to life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication. The policy, designed to offer...
  26 January: New venue key to Uganda peace talks
Uganda 's stop-start peace talks will resume only if the government agrees to negotiate with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels at a different venue, the UN envoy for the conflict said on Thursday. The LRA, a northern Ugandan rebel...
  24 January: International Conference on Sexual Abuse of the African Child to be held in Nairobi, Kenya
The first International Conference on Sexual Abuse of the African Child will be held in Nairobi , Kenya from 24–26 September, 2007. The aim of the conference is to advance knowledge regarding the various types of sexual abuse and their complexity...
  22 January: Meningitis outbreak in southern Sudan
At least 1,000 people have died in one week in southern Sudan ’s Warap state from meningitis and another unknown disease, state governor Anthony Bol Madut said in a statement on Sunday. Emerging from Africa’s longest civil war, southern...
  20 January: Ugandan rebels reject invitation to peace talks in Juba. Save the Children urge the international community to act.
A Ugandan rebel spokesman reiterated Friday that the group will not resume negotiations with the government until the venue and mediator are changed, but the shadowy leader of the group was quoted by an intermediary as suggesting talks were still possible...
  17 January: Joint statement from members of the United Nations Country Team in Sudan
Over the last two years the efforts of humanitarian agencies in Darfur have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the region’s conflict. During this time mortality rates were brought below emergency levels, global malnutrition...
  17 January: Children affected by war in Somalia
Peace and stability are urgently needed in Somalia to end the suffering of thousands of Somali children affected by the recent conflict, said UNICEF and Save the Children. Children have been victims of conflict and, according to eye-witness accounts,...
  16 January: Border closure keeps children out of school
At least 2,000 Somali children who attend schools in northeastern Kenya have failed to resume classes a week after school re-opened, due to the closure of the border, officials said. Kenyan officials confirmed that the children, who attend schools...
  15 January: Children and HIV/AIDS in Africa
A new report published by Save the Children Sweden examines how a rights-based approach's underlying principles of universality, indivisibility, responsibility, and participation can provide a firm foundation for framing priorities and...
  5 January: Protect Somali children from conscription
An increasing number of children are being conscripted into Somalia ’s fighting factions, exposing them to attacks and separating them from their families, humanitarian agencies have warned. However, a spokesman for Somalia ’s Transitional Federal...
  4 January: Alarm at reports of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers in southern Sudan
Voicing deep concern at media reports that United Nations peacekeepers in southern Sudan have engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse of locals, including children, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon soundly denounced the practice while pointing out that...
  24 December: Civilian lives at stake when Ethiopia attacks Somalia airport
It was not clear how many times the airport was struck but at least one person was reported injured. Mogadishu is held by an Islamist militia, which has been fighting the Ethiopia-backed interim government. Ethiopia 's prime...
  22 December: High Commissioner for refugees visits Chad among growing insecurity
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, left Geneva on Wednesday on a two-day mission to Chad amid a recent deterioration in the security situation in the east of the country, where tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees...
12 December: State of the World's Children 2007, UNICEF report
Eliminating gender discrimination and empowering women will have a profound and positive impact on the survival and well-being of children, according to a new UNICEF report issued on UNICEF’s 60th anniversary. Gender equality produces the “double dividend”...
  7 December: Fears of humanitarian crisis in Somalia as war talk escalates
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed concern over reports of imminent war in Somalia , as increased insecurity could worsen the humanitarian crisis in the war-scarred country. "The...
  5 December: Sudan has the highest rate of HIV infection in north Africa
The United Nations says it is making progress in combating HIV/AIDS in Sudan , but warned that infection rates may be on the rise in the war-torn Darfur region. UN estimates that Sudan has the highest rate of HIV infection in north Africa and...
  1 December: World AIDS Day marked in Ethiopia
1 December is World AIDS Day. The Day was proclaimed by the World Health Organisation and the UN General Assembly in 1988. Since then, it has provided yearly opportunities to raise awareness and organise campaigns about this growing issue. Around 40...
  24 November, Nairobi: 4 million people in Darfur are in desperate need of help
Four million Sudanese in conflict-wracked Darfur are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance as newly rearmed Arab militias and rebels escalate attacks and resume looting and burning villages, the UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said. He decried...
  22 November, DR Congo: Police arrest 87 children over election clashes
Police in Kinshasa , capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), have arrested 337 people, including 87 children, over violence that rocked the city on Saturday, Interior Minister Denis Kalume said on Monday. At least four people died when...
  21 November, Nairobi: Aid to be flown in for children affected by Somali floods
Save the Children will be flying desperately needed relief items into Somalia to help vulnerable children that have been affected by severe flooding. Three planes carrying a total of 42 metric tonnes of relief items will be flown to Belet...
  12 November: UN’s Jan Egeland visit Juba to push for peace
UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland met negotiators from the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army on Saturday, hoping to give fresh impetus to peace talks aimed at ending the rebels’ 20-year insurgency. Egeland, speaking in...
  19 October: Ending physical and humiliating violence against children
Thousands of children in countries across six continents are coming together on 19th October to demand their governments put an end to violence against children. Save the Children's Day of Action sees children in over 60 countries staging...
  18 October: 40 teenagers killed by security forces in Ethiopia
Ethiopian security forces massacred 193 people - triple the official death toll - during anti-government protests following last year’s election, a senior judge appointed to investigate the violence said Wednesday. Unarmed protesters were...
  16 October: Darfur refugees plea for more protection
Refugees in the camps scattered across Darfur live in fear, saying the African Union peacekeeping mission does little to protect them even as rising violence is driving away crucial humanitarian aid. Displaced Darfuris are seen in the...