Full Coverage: Children

31.12.2007 Recruitment of child soldiers in Sri Lanka by rebel forces has long been seen as a serious violation of human rights. A new report by the United Nations says that both factions of LTTE continue to abduct and recruit children to fight their wars.

28.12.2007 Offering children a platform, in the form of special childrenÂ’s village councils, to voice their concerns and problems is bringing about a perceptible change in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. For once, their suggestions are not only being heard but also acted upon.

27.12.2007 The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking invites UN agencies, international organisations and other stakeholders to create an active online community to exchange and share knowledge on ways to combat this global crime. UN.GIFT encourages participants to engage in e-discussions, showcase positive projects, practices, and stories of courage, and draw on its various resources.

26.12.2007 Only a fraction of the millions of children with disabilities in Bangladesh are able to get basic education, owing to governmentÂ’s apparent indifference in ensuring their educational rights. However, the country's social welfare secretary says all that may change soon.

21.12.2007 Dalit and tribal children from across Madhya Pradesh in central India face discrimination at the hands of fellow students and teachers. This was revealed at a public hearing organised by ActionAid partner in Dewas district that exposed major shortcomings in implementing government education policy in the state, and sought a way forward.

20.12.2007 Located in a small hamlet in Boormajra in northern Indian state of PunjabÂ’s Ropar district, a government school was adjudged as the countryÂ’s greenest school second time in a row. A Delhi-based organisation, Centre for Science and Environment under its Green School Programme, in a ceremony held here distributed the awards to 20 schools for their best environmental practices.

18.12.2007 Eight years ago the world's wealthiest countries promised to provide the funding needed to ensure that all children worldwide can attend school. But now, halfway to the global 2015 deadline for universal primary education, developed countries are failing to come up with the aid.

18.12.2007 UNICEF along with Google and One Laptop per Child has recently launched “Our Stories” project. By sharing stories online, children of the world will be able to understand different countries, their cultures, religious traditions and languages.

18.12.2007 In launching an e-learning tool to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS pandemic in Nigeria, OneWorld UK and others had three main objectives: Using ICT to educate young people on reproductive health, improving information on sex education and gender equality.

18.12.2007 UNESCOÂ’s recent report presents quite a bleak scenario of the state of education in Pakistan, where six million children are not attending schools. With the country spending less than 3% of its GDP on education, the organisations like ChildrenÂ’s Resource International are playing a crucial role in spreading literacy.

17.12.2007 Renewed fighting between army troops and rebel forces in the eastern province of North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, is worsening displacement among civilians in the area and leading to forced recruitment of displaced people, including children, as fighters.

15.12.2007 While delegates to the Bali climate conference tried to hammer out an agreement to preserve the planet for future generations, in New York delegates to a UN General Assembly Special Session wrestled with another pressing problem: how to meet the promise of "A World Fit for Children" made by world governments in 2002.

14.12.2007 A recent UNICEF report signals progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

12.12.2007 To remind the Indian government of its own promises that it had made by ratifying the UN Child Rights Convention fifteen years ago on this day (December 11), Child Rights and You (CRY) held a press conference in New Delhi.

11.12.2007 Kerala will soon become the first Indian state to achieve total IT literacy. ICT-based education has shown promising results. Now decision to equip 2,800 high schools with broadband internet connectivity by August next year would open up immense possibilities in the education sector.

11.12.2007 Teams from India have traveled to east and southern Africa to build capacities and provide training in community-based models to reduce child mortality. UNICEF in its report: Progress for Children launched on December 10, highlights progress in several areas, but also stresses the importance of more urgent action.

08.12.2007 In a country where expert advice is hard to find, Nepal’s community health volunteers known as ‘miracle women’ are doing a great job by diagnosing illness, prescribing medicines and running immunisation campaigns. This story is part of a UNICEF series on an upcoming report: Progress for Children, to be launched on December 10, on advances towards the MDGs.

08.12.2007 In India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, Krishnagiri district administration has come out with a unique idea. To ensure that children attend school regularly, it is using a software known as ‘back2school’ that provides an eagle eye to district collector to keep track of all kids missing from classrooms.

07.12.2007 Prominent human rights groups are urging the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Burma in response to its military government's continuing recruitment of child soldiers.