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CHILD LABOR: Panel Urges Education, Development As Solution
By Michael Kitchen, UN Wire
UNITED NATIONS -- Eradicating child labor requires education and economic development, according to a panel of top-ranking U.N., government and nongovernmental officials held on 8th May as part of the General Assembly's special session on children. "Education and child labor are interrelated," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, adding that her agency is trying to "expand focus on education," particularly for girls, who often receive less schooling than their male counterparts.
Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Eveline Herfkens added that plans to stop child labor already exist and that implementing them is the real problem. "We all know what to do now. Let's join hands and do it," she said. "Let this be the last panel on this issue."
Several hundred children and adults held a rally near U.N. headquarters yesterday, calling on the world body to tackle a wide variety of issues involving youths and to urge enforcement of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The participants voiced a wide range of concerns, including Catholics condemning the use of children as soldiers, Tibetans demanding the release of the child crowned as Panchen Lama by the Tibetan government in exile, Israel supporters protesting the impact of terrorism on children and Palestinian supporters protesting the impact of occupation on children.
5. BANGLADESH: U.N. Launches Plan To Train Clerics On Secular Issues
The United Nations has launched a program in Bangladesh to train future Muslim clerics in subjects sometimes considered taboo, such as sex education and family planning, according to U.N. Development Program spokeswoman Lisa Hiller.
"This is one of the best ways to reach people with the message about HIV/AIDS," she said, noting that "studies have shown that the awareness of HIV/AIDS is not very widespread in Bangladesh."
The program, launched at the Imam Training Academy in Dhaka, has expanded the students' curriculum of Islamic theology and Quranic studies to include secular issues such as human rights, women's empowerment and HIV/AIDS. Most of the academy's 50 students have welcomed the program, saying the information will assist them in advising and counseling the country's population, most of which is Muslim. Bangladesh has more than 200,000 mosques. "Islam doesn't shy away from sensitive issues like family planning," one student said. "So we feel what we are learning is compatible with our religion."
Citing the success of the initiative, the United Nations says it plans to expand the program within the next few weeks to include recruits to the Bangladeshi police force (Alastair Lawson, BBC Online, May 6).