One billion 'denied a childhood'

[emad]

bbc

More than one billion children around the world face a brutal existence because of poverty, war and Aids, the UN children's agency reports.

The conditions in effect deny them a childhood, Unicef says.

More than half of under-18s are affected, according to its report, The State of the World's Children.

"Too many governments are making informed, deliberate choices that actually hurt childhood," said Carol Bellamy, director of Unicef.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4080023.stm

[KurtNYC]

1. "Free the Children" by Craig Kielburger

Includes his meeting with the head of Unicef in India -- office the size of a tennis court with marble floors. Kielburger is (was) a 12 year-old Canadian who founded an international organization which has helped thousands of kids escape slavery and abuse. His confrontation with Unicef is one of the more memorable events in the book.

In the same chapter, he details his chance meeting with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. An inspiring book for anyone interested in this subject.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060930659/qid=1102605206/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-5639214-2330268?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[jmcgowanjm]

2. Poverty Facts and Stats

Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less
than two dollars a day ( and why even this is
absurd-

The one dollar a day procedure is absurd: the evidence
amply confirms that population groups with per capita
incomes of 2, 3 or even 5 dollars a day remain poverty
stricken (ie. unable to meet basic expenditures of food,
clothing, shelter, health and
education).

http://www.transnational.org/features/chossu_worldbank.html

The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt
repayments are being extracted directly from people who
neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.

The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants

http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp

The War on Terror is the War on Dissent/The War of
the Rich v the Poor -the top 1% vs the bottom 80%.

[underpants]

3. Aaron Brown had this on last night

Want to end terrorism?
End poverty

Want to end poverty?
Educate

It IS that simple

[gottaB]

4. links to full report from UNICEF

State of the World's Children, 2005

More up at the UNICEF homepage.

[Just Me]

5. The U.S. has 3% of the world's population and the majority of,...

,...the world's wealth. We have tens of millions of our own children living in poverty,...and leave over half of the rest of the world's children dying in wars and famine and disease while simultaneously increasing CEO's pay to over 500X the average American worker.

Compassion my ass!!!