UNICEF: War has taken a toll on Iraq's children

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: McClatchy

BAGHDAD — More than four years after the United States invaded Iraq , the country's children continue to face a litany of problems from disrupted educations to unsafe drinking water, detentions and violence, UNICEF reported Friday.

Violence and displacement often kept Iraqi children out of school this year. The organization estimates that 2 million educations were interrupted, especially among primary-school students.

The report says that only 28 percent of 17-year-olds in Iraq took final exams this summer, and fewer than half passed. However, UNICEF -supported programs to distribute classroom materials, rebuild schools and provide more learning opportunities benefited 4.7 million children, the agency reported.

Health took a hit, too, as children living in remote areas were faced with poor nutrition and diseases such as cholera. Those living in remote areas were often cut off from health services, although a door-to-door immunization campaign protected 4 million from polio and 3 million from measles, mumps and rubella.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20071221/wl_mcclatchy/2792762

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ERBIL/AMMAN/GENEVA, 21 December 2007: An estimated two million children in Iraq continue to face threats including poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education.

Iraqi children were frequently caught in the crossfire of conflict throughout 2007. Insecurity and displacement continues to cause hardship for many in the most insecure parts of the country and further eroded access to quality essential services country-wide. Iraq remains volatile; however conditions begin to allow for more a concerted effort to deliver assistance.

“Iraqi children are paying far too high a price,” said Roger Wright, UNICEF’s Special Representative for Iraq. “While we have been providing as much assistance as possible, a new window of opportunity is opening, which should enable us to reach the most vulnerable with expanded, consistent support. We must act now.”

Available information from different sources shows that:
Little respite for Iraq’s children in 2007

* Only 28 per cent of Iraq’s 17 year olds sat their final exams in summer, and only 40 per cent of those sitting exams achieved a passing grade (in south and central Iraq).
* Many of 220,000 displaced children of primary school age had their education interrupted, adding to the estimated 760,000 children (17 per cent) already out of primary school in 2006.
* Children in remote and hard-to-reach areas were frequently cut off from health outreach services.
* Only 20 per cent outside Baghdad had working sewerage in their community, and access to safe water remains a serious issue.
* An average 25,000 children per month were displaced by violence or intimidation, their families seeking shelter in other parts of Iraq.
* By the end of the year, approximately 75,000 children had resorted to living in camps or temporary shelters (25 per cent of those newly-displaced since the Samarra shrine bombing in February 2006).
* Hundreds of children lost their lives or were injured by violence and many more had their main family wage-earner kidnapped or killed.
* Approximately 1,350 children were detained by military and police authorities, many for alleged security violations.
Read more of the UNICEF report here:
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_42256.html

[Malva Zebrina]

1. Of course it has. Innocents all

and we have a presidential nominee, who voted to let it happen. Namely, Hillary Clinton, who refuses to say that vote was wrong. She apparently, as do all her supporters, want you all to forget about that vote.

Suffer you little children, according to her. Hillary is being touted as the grand mother, the children defender-- but only if you were born in the United States. All other children can just go to hell and die. And she will vote to contribute to your deaths, you little two year old innocent babies.

[superconnected]

3. Wrong! She does not support the kids in the US, either.

That corporatist is not about helping the people on either side of the planet.

[balantz]

2. The holy child that this administration protects and cares for

is a glob of oil. Black gold with no soul.

[pleah]

4. The thug in chief could care less about these children

He doesn't even care about the children in his own country. It the repug way to stripe away funding for children the elderly and the sick first. Now he, the turd in chief, has done the same thing to the vets. It just doesn't stop with these people.