Human Rights

If you are like me, you find yourself outraged at least once every couple weeks…ok maybe once a week…ok maybe more often than you wish at uninformed remarks made by public figures on issues you care about. Well, Rush Limbaugh’s comments last Friday takes the cake. Apparently, Rush Limbaugh believes the brutal African militia – […]

October  seems to be the month of awareness, most noticeably, it is currently Breast Cancer Awareness Month. When you look around, all you seem to see is pink for Breast Cancer, however, it is not October’s only worthy cause.  This week I will bring you a few causes that have designated October their awareness month. […]

Earlier this week, the U.N. Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) published a highly critical report alleging that Afghan security forces have engaged in “systematic torture” in prisons and detention facilities. According to interviews with more than 300 suspects held in these facilities, Afghan security forces engaged in beatings, sexual assault and other acts that might constitute […]

Regardless of how much you want to shield the children of the world from exposure to sexual content, it is increasingly difficult and near impossible. Shy of eliminating all forms of media from your child and then never leaving the house with them in tow, you really can’t. We live in a world where sex […]

A child’s first access to human rights comes with the registration of their birth.  Birth registration is more than than a right, but the key to the future.  Without a birth certificate a child is left to wander through life vulnerable to abuse and victimization.   Despite how valuable birth registration is to a child’s welfare, registering […]

In July, the UN declared a famine in two regions of Southern Somalia, the first such announcement in the region since the infamous 1984 famine in Ethiopia. Somalia continues to find itself gripped tightly by starvation; the famine has claimed the lives of some 30,000 children in the last 3 months alone. More than 12 […]

I woke up this morning to the amazing news that three women shared this year’s Nobel Peace Prize: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee; and Tawakkul Karman, a Yemeni opposition leader. These three women have all been trailblazers for non-violent social activism and for the inclusion of women in peace building. As […]

For the second year in a row, the Obama Administration is skirting a new law that prohibits U.S. security aid to countries that use child soldiers. Signed into law only three years ago by President Bush, the Child Soldier Prevention Act is designed to encourage countries to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate child soldiers by restricting […]

Last year in the lead up to Halloween I published the piece, Is Halloween Getting too Sexy for Kids? Four years ago on Halloween I brought you the article, Too Sexy For Your Kids? | Children, where I discussed how our children are over-sexualized. The issue can be far reaching: from what is playing on […]

Last month, UNICEF announced that the child mortality rate has dropped substantially.  The new estimates are published in the 2011 report Levels & Trends in Child Mortality, issued by the UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME), which is led by UNICEF and the WHO with participation from the World Bank and the UN […]

October is TransFair USA’s Fair Trade Month, and the 2011 theme is “Every Purchase Matters.”  The goal behind this year’s theme is to illustrate how individuals can get involved with fair trade and what impact that can have on farmers and laborers across the globe. The month of October is dedicated to increasing consumer awareness of what fair […]

As a follow-up to the recent post, Bring an end to cyber bullying, it is appropriate to share the story of one mother’s plea to see that anti-gay bullying is denounced by Congress.  Tammy Aaberg  is the mother of a gay high school student from Minnesota who committed suicide after being harassed and bullied by […]