The Secretary General of the African Federation of Environmental Journalists (AFEJ) Mr. Daud Abdi Daud who has been tracking the rape case and was among few journalists present at the attorney general on Tuesday 22 January to follow the case affirmed that the raped women clearly stated her position and tells the attorney general that she was raped by uniformed government soldiers even her father and uncle were confirmed the case as well as her husband who is in a one of the detained people publicly voted for that his wife was raped by uniformed government soldiers.
The drivers and dynamic in this case should be investigated and prosecuted by the African Union and the United Nations as publicly acknowledged that rape violence is a tactics of war crime according Zeinab Hawa Bangura the special secretary general representative in conflict related sexual violence.
The human rights groups worried the situation and issued triangle statement today to address the rape violence and the journalist custody. For your information kindly have looked the below statement from the Committee to Protect the Journalists (CPJ), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International.

Somalia: Free Journalist, Others Unlawfully Detained
Police Response to Sexual Violence Chills Media Freedom
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/12/somalia-free-journalist-others-linked-rape-allegation

The African Federation of Environmental Journalists (AFEJ) calls in need of attention release by all the detained innocent people including the journalist without political row among the Somalia government institutions over the ongoing rape violence and generally solicited Somalia environmental journalists to do accurate coverage over the rape issues which is now imperative one with a lot of worry.
For more information of the ongoing Somalia rape violence please contact AFEJ Secretary General Mr. Daud Abdi Daud who is now tracking the cases wholly on +252616349997 or email dimbil@afejnews.org

(Addis Ababa, January 21, 2013) – The African Union (AU) should make human rights central to its discussions about crises situations in Africa at its summit meeting this week in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to the AU chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The Ordinary Summit begins on January 21, 2013, and AU heads of state are due to meet on January 27 and 28 in Addis Ababa.

The AU summit should address the human rights crises in Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Somalia as well as the human rights challenges around upcoming elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said. Of particular concern are the human rights implications of the deployment of an African Union/United Nations-supported international military force in Mali and the need to ensure proper safeguards for protecting civilians and a human rights monitoring capability. Potential abuses not only by the Malian security forces but also by the armed forces of countries potentially taking part in the operation bring particular urgency to the situation, with the recent resumption of hostilities in Mali.

“The AU summit is an important regional forum for ensuring that human rights considerations are injected into every crisis response,” said Tiseke Kasambala, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The AU has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the military intervention in Mali does not contribute to further human rights violations in already insecure environments. That means abiding by international law and making civilian protection a priority.”

In eastern Congo, concerted regional and international action is required to help end the cycle of abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Over the past nine months, M23 rebels in eastern Congo have committed widespread abuses amounting to war crimes, including deliberate killings of civilians, summary executions, rapes, and recruitment of child soldiers. The rebels have received significant logistical and military support from neighboring Rwanda.

Talks between the M23 and the Congolese government, which began in December 2012 and resumed in January, appear to be faltering and so far, have made little progress.

“The violence in eastern Congo continues to lead to appalling loss of civilian life,” Kasambala said. “Rwanda should immediately stop supporting the abusive rebel group M23 and the AU should insist that M23 commanders implicated in war crimes are brought to justice.”

Ongoing talks over the deployment of an African-led intervention brigade as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo should consider mandating this force to support arrest operations of suspects sought on international and national warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said.

In Sudan, the human rights and humanitarian situation has deteriorated, particularly in the conflict-affected areas of Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur. The fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-North) in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states has affected nearly one million people, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands from both states since mid-2011. The Sudanese military has used indiscriminate aerial bombardments in populated areas of both states. 

Government forces along with government-affiliated militia are also responsible for other serious abuses against civilians in both states, such as ground attacks on villages, destruction of grain and water sources that are critical to the survival of the population, arbitrary detention, and sexual violence against women and girls. Sudan has blocked humanitarian aid groups from the areas outside government-controlled towns where civilians are in dire need of food aid.

In Darfur, armed conflict between the government forces and militias and the rebel groups continues, in addition to inter-ethnic clashes over resources. Scores of people have been killed in the fighting and the AU/UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) peacekeepers have repeatedly come under attack. The Sudanese government restricts the movement of AU/UN peacekeepers and nongovernmental organizations, preventing access to large parts of the region. The AU should press the government of Sudan to grant immediate and unfettered access to humanitarian agencies in the conflict-affected areas of Darfur, and Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, Human Rights Watch said.

“An urgent response is required to resolve the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Sudan,” Kasambala said. “The AU should demand that the Sudanese government immediately stop the indiscriminate aerial bombardments and other violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.”

During the past year, a new government replaced the transitional authority in Somalia, and AMISOM troops made significant military advances into territory held by the Islamist armed group Al-Shabaab. The human rights situation in Somalia nonetheless remains poor, Human Rights Watch said. State security forces have been implicated in serious violations of fundamental rights that contribute to the insecurity of the population. These include killings of journalists in government-controlled areas, rape, and severe restrictions on access to food and shelter for displaced people.  

Foreign forces including Kenyan forces under AMISOM command, as well as Ethiopian forces, have also committed abuses in south-central Somalia during military operations, including indiscriminate shelling.

“The AU should urge the Somali authorities to end abuses by state security forces,” Kasambala said. “The AU should also ensure that respect for humanitarian law and accountability for abuses during military operations by AMISOM are a priority.”

The deployment of a long-term AU election observer mission to Kenya this coming March is an important contribution to free and fair elections, but the possibility of election-related violence is a growing concern, Human Rights Watch said. In the past year, 400 people have been killed and over 200,000 people displaced in incidents of ethnic, resource-based, and politically motivated violence in the coast region of Northern Kenya and parts of Nairobi. The pre-election violence has been among the worst in Kenya since 1992.

Few of those responsible for the violence that followed the 2007 elections in Kenya have been brought to justice, raising fears that those responsible for the violence during the 2007 elections could carry out further acts of violence in 2013.

“The ongoing violence and lack of justice for victims of human rights abuses during the 2007 elections makes it vital for the AU to send a strong message to the Kenyan authorities that grave abuses should not go unpunished,” Kasambala said.

The AU should provide for early deployment and sufficient numbers of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and AU election observers to Zimbabwe, where a lack of institutional and legal reform has raised the specter of violence and other rights abuses during elections to be held in 2013. The AU should keep the monitors on the ground after the elections, long enough to deter violence and intimidation.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Mali, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/africa/mali
 For more Human Rights Watch reporting on the Democratic Republic of Congo, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/drc
 For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Sudan, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/africa/sudan

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Somalia, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/africa/somalia

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Kenya, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/africa/kenya
 

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Zimbabwe, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/africa/zimbabwe

For more information, please contact:
In Addis Ababa, Tiseke Kasambala (English): +251-927-423-196 (mobile); or kasambt@hrw.org
In New York, Daniel Bekele (English, Amharic): +1-212-216-1223; or +1-917-385-3878 (mobile); or bekeled@hrw.org
In Amsterdam, Leslie Lefkow (English): +31-6-21-59-73-56 (mobile); or lefkowl@hrw.org
In Paris, Jean-Marie Fardeau (French, English, Portuguese): +33-6-45-85-24-87 (mobile); or fardeaj@hrw.org
In London, Carina Tertsakian (English, French): +44-207-713-2764; or +44-790-350-3297 (mobile)

“The Kenyan authority decision is an intimidation to the laws and conventions of the human rights as I believe and is also a threat to many civilians who similarly escaped terrorist acts by Shabab due to reprisal including women, children, human rights activists and journalists”said Daud Abdi Daud the Secretary General of AFEJ from Mogadishu, Somalia.

“ As Kenya’s President H.E. Mwai Kibaki said that his country is malleted with terrorist attacks and attributed the incursions of being planned from neighborhood Somalia. I’ agree with the president of Kenya that shabab is threat to Kenya security but women, children and journalists cannot be similar to Shabab and they need to be protected as 18 journalists killed in Somalia only this year of 2012 by Shabab, however, this quandary among Kenya and Somalia authorities still waits global involvement by United Nations and the African Union” Mr. Daud added
This statement from the secretary General of AFEJ comes after when the President of Somalia H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud traveled to Kenya today and met Kenya authorities since he was elected as a president.

The political scene of the two countries recently was not good and its widely believed that this bilateral presidential meeting could boost the hope of many Somalis or pave the way a new humanitarian upheavals against dozens of Somalia refugees.

“We African environ journalists want to unite the reporting of the right of all people to make their voices heard and participate fully in public life though the human rights violations in Africa is still on the frontline news as Human rights Watch reported the deaths of four Sudanese student protesters and the disappearance of two others”said the Secretary General of the African Federation of Environmental Journalists (AFEJ) from Mogadishu while he was attending a UN and European Union celebration event on the human rights day in Mogadishu, Somalia.

“Boosting the voice from the voiceless is a fundamental human right and the basis
of a free and democratic society. We stand ready to support the
African society and human rights actors  in their tireless efforts to protect this fundamental right and to address the culture of impunity” Mr. Daud added

AFEJ Background Information:

The African Federation of Environmental Journalists (AFEJ) is a network and regional association founded in April 15, 2011, dedicated to promoting education understanding and awareness of the environment through the honest and accurate reporting of local, regional and international environmental and development issues. It acted as the head of national environmental journalist forums or media organizations of 42 countries in African region.

(Nairobi, December 11, 2012) – Sudanese authorities should immediately investigate the deaths of four student protesters and the disappearance of two others at the beginning of December 2012, in Madani, Jazeera state, and hold those responsible to account, Human Rights Watch said today.

“The murky circumstances of these deaths are fueling more protests and violence,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Sudanese authorities should immediately investigate, bring those responsible for these deaths and disappearances to justice, and stop its security forces from using violence and excessive force against protesters.”

The student deaths have caused violent protests in Khartoum and other towns, with protesters calling for justice and for the government to be replaced. Sudanese security forces used teargas, beat protesters with sticks and batons, and arrested dozens, including lawyers and high profile opposition party members, on December 9 and 10.

News emerged on December 7 that the bodies of three students, Mohamed Younis al-Nil, Adel Mohamed Ahmed, and Alsadiq Abdullah Yagoub, had been found in a sewage canal near Al Jazeera University. The body of a fourth student, Nu’man Ahmed Koreishi, was also found later in the canal. The students were reported missing earlier in the week during protests over the university’s refusal to register Darfuri students unless they paid full tuition. Under the Darfur peace agreements of 2006 and 2010, Darfuri students qualify for a tuition exemption. Sudanese universities have interpreted the provision inconsistently, however, prompting protests by Darfuri students at several campuses in recent years.

On December 2, national security officials entered the university and arrested 11 Darfuri students who had appealed to the administration for a fee waiver. In the following days, students protested at the university. Police, national security officers, and pro-government students clashed with the protesters.

Approximately 60 were arrested on December 5, according to Sudanese groups following the case. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said the government security forces pushed the protesters toward the canal, causing several students to fall in. Six protesters were reported missing, including the four whose bodies were later recovered from the canal. Two other students are still missing.

The circumstances of the deaths are unclear. One witness told Human Rights Watch the bodies of three of the deceased bore signs of beatings, suggesting at a minimum that they had been beaten, most likely by security forces, before they died. The university administration said the students drowned. Authorities have refused to provide the medical examiner’s report. National security officials arrested Mohammed Zain Osman, a lawyer for one of the deceased students’ families, when he requested the report on December 7.

Sudan’s Justice Ministry announced on December 10 the formation of a commission of inquiry into the deaths. The investigation should be independent, transparent, and capable of identifying those responsible for the deaths, Human Rights Watch said.

“Withholding the autopsy report only gives the impression the authorities have something to hide,” Bekele said. “Sudan needs to find out what happened to these students and make the findings public. The government should impartially investigate the deaths and prosecute those responsible for these deaths and disappearances.”

Sudan has consistently failed to follow through on promises to investigate abuses in which officials and government forces are implicated. Its failure to investigate crimes in Darfur led the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, which hears cases when a government is unable or unwilling to investigate on its own. In 2010, the government said it would investigate the death of Mohammed Musa following a demonstration in Khartoum, but investigation results were never made public and no one was identified as responsible or prosecuted for the crime.

Crackdown on student protests
From June through August of 2012, Sudanese security forces cracked down on a wave of student protests, sparked initially by austerity measures, in towns across Sudan. National security officials detained protesters for weeks or months, subjecting many to beatings, insults, and other mistreatment and torture while in detention.

Darfuri students were treated particularly harshly during the protests, former detainees told Human Rights Watch, describing beatings, sleep deprivation, and racist insults. Security forces also responded particularly harshly to protests in Darfur, shooting live ammunition to disperse protests and killing 13 in South Darfur in August.

For more information, please contact:
In New York, Jehanne Henry (English, French): +1-212-216-1291; or +1-917-443-2724 (mobile); or henryj@hrw.org
In Amsterdam, Leslie Lefkow (English): +31-6-21-59-7356 (mobile); or lefkowl@hrw.org
In Johannesburg, Tiseke Kasambala (English): +27-11-484-2640 (mobile); or kasambt@hrw.org
In London, David Mepham, (English): +44-20-7713-2766; or +44-7572-603995 (mobile); or mephamd@hrw.org

Out of the 26 million persons internally displaced due to conflict or human rights violence in 2011, an estimated 10 million were in Africa, with at least a  further half million internally displaced due to sudden onset natural disasters, such as floods.  While precise figures are not yet available, the continent is also impacted by displacement related to slow onset natural disasters, such as desertification and more frequent droughts, associated with the effects of climate change.

However, I believe that the significance of the Kampala Convention goes beyond Africa – as an international model this comprehensive Convention represents the culmination of over two decades of work during which Governments, civil society and the international community have sought to improve the way we address the plight of millions of internally displaced persons across the globe.

In many contexts, the situation of internally displaced persons affects the stability of states. This is especially the case in post conflict /crisis situations, as I have seen through my missions for example, in Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan. The Kampala Convention can contribute to stabilizing displaced populations through the specific obligations it sets out to States and other actors, such as obligations relating to humanitarian assistance, compensation, and assistance in finding lasting solutions to displacement as well as accessing the full range of their human rights.

The unique ‘added value’ of this Convention stems from how comprehensive it is and the manner in which it addresses many of the key challenges of our times, and indeed, of Africa.  If implemented well, it can help States and the African Union address both current and potential future internal displacement related not only to conflict, but also natural disasters and other effects of climate change, development, and even mega trends such as population growth and rapid urbanization. The Convention provides a solid legal framework for dealing with many of the complex dynamics of internal displacement in Africa today.

The Convention is significant in many respects. It sets out the obligations of the State parties, but also of the African Union, international organizations and members of armed groups, to prevent displacement, protect and assist people once displacement has occurred, and to find lasting solutions to displacement. Under the Convention, States have specific obligations to allocate resources, adopt national policies and strategies and enact or amend national laws to ensure that displacement is prevented and that IDPs are protected and supported until they reach a sustainable solution to their displacement.

Based on the spirit of partnership on which the Kampala Convention is founded, it is vital that the international and donor communities now support African States, the African Union and civil society in raising awareness and building the capacities to implement the Convention. This is and will remain one of the key priorities of my mandate over the next few years.

I also urge those States that have not yet done so, to sign and ratify this landmark Convention, which embodies principles of good governance, respect for human rights and preparedness so necessary to prevent and address the human crisis related to situations of internal displacement.”

(*) The Kampala Convention, which was adopted in October 2009 and has been signed by 37 African Union Member States, has come into force today – one month after receiving the 15th ratification by Swaziland on 6 November 2012. Check the Convention: http://www.unhcr.org/4ae9bede9.html

                                                                                                 ENDS

Chaloka Beyani, a Zambian national and professor of international law at the London School of Economics, was appointed as Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons by the Human Rights Council in September 2010.  Learn more about the mandate and work of the Special Rapporteur, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/idp/index.htm

For more information and media requests, please contact Rosa da Costa (+41 22 917 9140 /rdacosta@ohchr.org) or write to idp@ohchr.org

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)

By Jocelyne Sambira

Tonte Ikoluba was 13 years old when her grandmother came to her family home to circumcise her. It was important she go through the rite, her grandmother said, in order to become a respectable woman and increase her chances of getting married some day.

“I closed my eyes tight and tried to gather my courage,” she said. She wanted to wait a little bit, but her grandmother and another woman held her down.

Female circumcision — otherwise known as female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) — is defined by the World Health Organization as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. It also involves any other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

FGM/C is a millennia-long custom that practicing communities believe is an essential part of raising a girl properly. About 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM/C, according to the World Health Organization. Some 92 million girls 10 years old and above who have undergone the practice are in Africa, the agency adds.

Health consequences

The practice has several immediate and long-term health consequences, says Marci Bowers, a gynaecologist in San Mateo, California. Many women like Tonte suffer for years after being circumcised because of scarring and frequent infections. The pain is constant, says Tonte. She is 35 years old and is still single, she says, because she cannot bear to have anyone touch her “down there.” Not even a doctor.

Dr. Bowers told Africa Renewal that pain is a major problem for her patients. The majority have undergone the most severe kind of cutting, called infibulation, in which the clitoris is removed and the labia are stitched together to form a cover over the vagina. Only a small hole is left for urine, menstrual blood, childbirth and intercourse.

Dr. Bowers is a surgeon who performs “reversal surgery” on her patients to repair the vagina and clitoris so that these women can have more normal lives. “The scar tissue that forms around the clitoris and encases it is uncomfortable. But in the cases where women have been infibulated, by dividing that infibulation, for the first time since the incision they are able to pass urine normally, they are able to pass menses normally. And they are able to have sex or childbirth without a constricting band that prevents those things.”

She says the surgery is 100 per cent effective in alleviating pain for patients. “The relief that overwhelms these women has been one of the reasons women are glad they went through this surgery.”

Advances in surgery

Reconstructive surgery for patients who have gone through FGM/C has been around for a long time. But the technique of clitoral repair surgery was only developed in 2004 by a French urologist, Dr. Pierre Foldès. It entails opening the scar tissue, exposing the nerves buried underneath and grafting on fresh tissue. The procedure reduces the chronic pain associated with FGM/C, allows women to regain clitoral sensitivity and even permits some to attain orgasm.

In Burkina Faso, where Dr. Foldès has trained several surgeons, the procedure has been offered since 2006. Previously, in 2001, the government sponsored and introduced a more general genital repair surgery, reports the National Commission Against Excision. Meanwhile, in an effort to make the clitoral repair surgery readily available in Africa, seven surgeons in Dakar, Senegal, recently received certification after training under Dr. Foldès and Senegalese oncologist Dr. Abdoul Aziz Kassé.

Dr. Bowers was also Dr. Foldès’ pupil and has now volunteered to do similar work. Together with the Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation (CAGeM), an international network devoted to countering FGM, she will help make the surgery available in Africa too. The organization was established in 1998 by a group of women doctors in Africa, in response to the high rate of infant and maternal deaths in communities that practice FGM/C.

CAGeM is building a hospital in Port Harcourt, in southern Nigeria. To be called Restoration Hospital, it will provide the surgery for free and be open to any patient from West Africa. Dr. Aberie Ikinko, director of the organization’s US branch, explains: “We have already 400 women on the waiting list. We are also training the local doctors so that when we leave, they can continue to perform the surgeries for free.”

Campaign for change

A high-level event at the UN General Assembly in September 2012 called for increased commitment and concerted action from governments to ban the practice of FGM/C. A UN resolution, championed by Chantal Compaoré, the first lady of Burkina Faso, is in the works.

After two decades of global efforts to end this practice, many communities are also now embracing change. Close to two thousand communities across Africa abandoned the practice in 2011 alone, according to a report by the Joint Programme for the Acceleration of the Abandonment of FGM/C. Set up in 2008 by the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Population Fund, the programme seeks to spur change and stop the practice through a culturally sensitive, human rights–based approach.

Some previous strategies that regarded the rite as “barbaric” and “backward” met with resentment and backlash from local communities. Rather than ending FGM/C, such campaigns pushed supporters to simply hide the practice and scared them from seeking medical care, thereby placing young girls’ lives at continued risk. Recently, educational efforts have been playing a more central role in ending the practice, with many activists choosing to present FGM/C as a public health issue.

Although there is renewed hope for a global ban on the practice, so far there has been little focus on solutions for the many girls and women who have already undergone cutting. The possibility of reconstructive surgery is therefore a godsend to young women like Tonte. “They took away part of my womanhood,” she says. “I just feel very deprived. I want to be whole again.”

(Washington, DC, October 24, 2012) – The authorities in Equatorial Guinea should immediately investigate the alleged enforced disappearance of a top human rights lawyer who has been unaccounted for since the evening of October 22, 2012, EG Justice and Human Rights Watch said today.

Fabián Nsue Nguema, a prominent and respected human rights lawyer who is also active with an opposition party, went to Black Beach prison in Malabo, the country’s capital, on the afternoon of October 22 to try to see a client. He was last in contact with persons close to him by phone from the prison before 5pm. He has not been heard from since.

Nsue has been harassed by the government on numerous occasions, raising concerns that he may have been unlawfully detained. In 2002 he was tortured while in government custody.

“Fabian Nsue’s disappearance while visiting a prison is of grave concern,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to urgently investigate the situation, determine whether he is being held in secret detention, contrary to national and international law, and publicly clarify his whereabouts.”

Sources inside the country said that Nsue went to Black Beach prison at midday local time on October 22 to meet with a client, Augustín Nzogo. In the late afternoon, Nsue spoke by phone with an acquaintance to say that he was still waiting to see his client. At approximately 5 p.m., those trying to reach him on his phone discovered that his phone had been cut off. Nsue failed to return home that evening.

Sources close to Nsue informed Human Rights Watch that those who went to the prison and asked for him were refused access. However, one family member was able to gain access to the prison and said they had seen him there, in detention. Human Rights Watch has not been able to speak directly to this family member to confirm the account.

Sources have told EG Justice and Human Rights Watch that Nsue’s car was still in the prison parking lot on the afternoon of October 23.

“Nsue’s career as a lawyer has been dedicated to fighting injustice and upholding the law, even in the face of harsh government repression,” said Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, a US-based group that advocates for human rights and the rule of law in Equatorial Guinea. “The authorities must fully respect his rights and clarify his whereabouts without delay.”

Equatorial Guinean law prohibits secret and warrantless detentions, and stipulates that charges against an accused must be filed within 72 hours of the arrest. Authorities have violated these laws on multiple occasions in recent months, including the detentions of Florentino Manguire and Wenceslao Mansogo.

An enforced disappearance –that is when a person is deprived of his or her liberty and then there is a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of liberty or to give information on the whereabouts of that person– is a crime under international law, and prohibited in all circumstances.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Equatorial Guinea, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/africa/equatorial-guinea

For more information, please contact:
In New York, for Human Rights Watch, Lisa Misol (English, Spanish): +1-212-216-1265; or +1-646-515-6665 (mobile); or misoll@hrw.org
In Washington, DC, for EG Justice, Joseph Kraus (English, Spanish): +1-202-256-8939 (mobile); or jkraus@egjustice.org
In Tampa, Florida, for EG Justice, Tutu Alicante (English, French, Spanish): +1-615-479-0207 (mobile); or tutu@egjustice.org

Harare / New York -

Food insecurity continues to be a chronic problem in southern Africa, particularly in Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Across the region, more than 5.5 million people in eight countries – a 40 per cent increase from 2011 – face food shortages due to the impact of recurrent natural disasters like droughts and floods, and rising food prices.

“Southern Africa is facing a silent food insecurity emergency,” said Ms. Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, who visited Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. “Regional food production has been weakened by recurrent disasters. In Lesotho, about a third of the population does not have enough food to eat or sell. In Zimbabwe, 1.6 million people are expected to be food insecure and many families are selling their own livestock to cope with this dire situation.”

In Zimbabwe, Ms. Bragg met with Government officials, including the Ministers of Regional Integration and International Cooperation, and Labour and Social Services, to discuss ways to further strengthen the resilience of affected communities. With the humanitarian community, Ms. Bragg also reviewed increased efforts to usher Zimbabwe into recovery.

Earlier in the week ASG Bragg met with representatives from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Botswana, to discuss ways to further strengthen the partnership, including in disaster preparedness and response. A civilian stand-by surge mechanism for disaster response is expected to soon become operational.

In South Africa, Ms. Bragg also met representatives from the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation and the nascent South African Development Partnership Agency to discuss closer partnership between OCHA and the Government.

“South Africa has been increasingly active in supporting regional and international humanitarian responses. It has provided significant financial support to the CERF, and for humanitarian responses to the earthquake in Haiti and the Sahel crisis,” said ASG Bragg.

“There is no room for complacency when 215 million children are still labouring to survive and more than half of these are exposed to the worst forms of child labour, including slavery and involvement in armed conflict. We cannot allow the eradication of child labour to slip down the development agenda – all countries should be striving to achieve this target, individually and collectively,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.

New estimates released on 1 June showed that some 5 million children are caught in forced labour, which includes conditions such as commercial sexual exploitation and debt bondage – and this is thought to be an underestimate.

The ILO’s child labour Conventions 138 concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour are among the most widely ratified of all the ILO Conventions. Of the ILO’s 185 member States, 88 per cent have ratified the first and 95.1 per cent the latter. The goal is universal ratification by 2015.

There is no room for complacency when 215 million children are still labouring to survive (…)”
Juan Somavia
However, according to a new report entitled, Tackling child labour: From commitment to action, progress in reducing child labour has often been outweighed by a failure to translate commitments into practice.

The largest gap between commitment and action is in the informal economy, where the majority of violations of fundamental labour rights occur, the report says. Children in rural and agricultural areas, as well as children of migrant workers and indigenous peoples, are most vulnerable to being caught in child labour.

The ILO also indicates that relatively few cases against child labour reach national courts of law. Sanctions for violations are often too weak to be effective deterrents against the exploitation of children. This means national judicial and law enforcement institutions along with victim protection programmes need to be strengthened.

While much more needs to be done, the ILO paper recognizes the important progress being made in a number of countries to improve law and practice. This includes:

A growing list of countries establishing national plans to tackle child labour.
Many new legislative prohibitions that aim identify and prevent hazardous work by children.
More legislation being adopted against child prostitution and child pornography.
A marked increase in international cooperation and mutual assistance among member States, particularly on issues concerning trafficking.

“We should also build on national policies and programmes that are in place and learn from them to ensure effective action against child labour in all parts of the world,” said the ILO Director-General. He added: “Decent work for parents, and education for children are indispensable elements of strategies for the elimination of child labour. Let us redouble our efforts and move forward with the Roadmap adopted in The Hague in 2010 to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016.”

The ILO’s Conventions seek to protect children from exposure to child labour. Together with other international instruments relating to children’s, workers’ and human rights they provide an important framework for legislation, policies and actions against child labour.

Notes to Editors:

The World Day against Child Labour, marked each year on 12 June, is the major annual advocacy event focussing on child labour. In 2012 the theme is “Human Rights and Social Justice: Let’s end child labour”. Events are being held in more than 50 countries involving governments, employers, workers, the United Nations, non-governmental and civil society organizations. Events range from high-level policy debates, public debates, media events, awareness-raising campaigns and cultural performances.

For more information or to interview experts in child labour, contact the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour at: +4122/799-6164 or +4176/771-3085 (English), +4122/799-7037 or +4176/371-1252 (English, Spanish), or +4122/799-6618 or +4176/7173-647 (English, French) or via email: ipec@ilo.org

The Policy Note draws on two Reports being considered by the 2012 International labour Conference: ILO, Fundamental principles and rights at work: From commitment to action (Recurrent discussion under the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization and the follow up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work) and ILO, Giving globalization a human face, General Survey on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work in light of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, 2008, Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Report III (Part 1B), International Labour Conference, 101st Session, Geneva, 2012.