Photo: Naresh Newar/IRIN

A recent report said 2,973 minors of the former Maoist army are being discharged (file photo)

KATHMANDU, – A proper rehabilitation programme for thousands of former child soldiers - many of whom are over 18 now - is needed in Nepal, say specialists.

“Unless there is a good rehabilitation package, there is less chance of them being released and this should be done soon before they lose their childhood years again,” Tarak Dhital, from Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), a national NGO, told IRIN.

According to a report released this month by the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) 2,973 minors of the former Maoist army, also known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), are being discharged.

The minors, aged between 16 and 18, are among around 20,000 former Maoist combatants staying in seven cantonment sites around the country since the November 2006 peace agreement was signed.

However, they have yet to receive the rehabilitation and reintegration assistance they need.

The Maoists reportedly recruited thousands of children during their decade-long conflict with the Nepalese state, which resulted in more than 14,000 deaths.

But more than two years since the agreement was reached, the plight of these young boys and girls remains unresolved, with many fearing time for their proper reintegration into society is running out.

Eligibility

Since 2006, many of the minors under 18 have since been classified as adults and Dhital is concerned that many of the underage soldiers are losing years waiting for the government to come up with a proper rehabilitation package.

But according to the UN, even if they are now adults, they will still be entitled to rehabilitation services once they are released.

“All disqualified minors are eligible for the reintegration services to be provided by the government. Even those who are no longer minors still have to go through the official discharge and reintegration process and, just like other minors, are entitled to the reintegration services of their choice,” Jacques Boyer, deputy representative of the UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF), told IRIN.

UNICEF, UN Development Programme (UNDP), UNMIN and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) have been providing technical assistance to the government to facilitate the early release and rehabilitation of disqualified minors, including guidance to the government in maintaining minimum standards during release and reintegration processes, as well as links to organizations involved in vocational training and psycho-social services.

Photo: Naresh Newar/IRIN

Social workers speak to former child soldiers (file photo)

Rehabilitation package

Child rights experts, however, say there is still no clarity as to what kind of rehabilitation package will be introduced or when.

Until now, there has only been a consensus between the Maoist leaders and the government to release the child soldiers, they said.

The Maoists are no longer in government after their leader, Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal quit in May.

According to officials, a high-level team from the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction has visited the cantonment sites where the Maoist combatants are confined to interview the soldiers about their rehabilitation needs.

But while the government intends to release all the former child soldiers within three months, child rights activists and other specialists say more time will be needed.

Only two weeks have passed since the government team went to the cantonments, and it will take another few months to build a complete rehabilitation package, according to local sources.

In addition, it might take a long time to reach a consensus between the Maoists and the government on the reintegration services.

UNICEF says it is ready to support their rehabilitation, and that education support should be provided.

“If minors are unable to continue school because of their families’ expectations for them to contribute to family earnings, then the families should be provided with income-generating support so as to allow those minors to continue education,” explained Boyer.

Boyner expressed concern over the delayed release of the minors, as well as linking their release to the overall security-sector reform process.

nn/ds/mw source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: CIMMYT, Bangladesh

The appearance of rickets usually associated with a lack of sunlight in Bangladesh is unexpected

DHAKA,  More than half a million children in Bangladesh could be suffering from rickets, a debilitating disease associated with poor nutrition and lack of sunlight, according to a recent survey.

The National Rickets Survey 2008 based its estimate on its finding that 197 out of 20,000 children (0.99 percent) had rickets.

The survey, the first of its kind in Bangladesh, estimated that 550,000 children aged 1-15 could be suffering from the disease.

“Rickets is a softening of bones in children. It can lead to fractures and deformity. It is caused by the deficiency of Vitamin D and calcium. Children suffering from malnutrition are the primary victims of rickets,” A.K.M. Azad Choudhury, a leading child care specialist, told IRIN.

Rickets, which affects bone growth and results in gross deformities, is usually associated with a lack of sunlight and its appearance in Bangladesh is unexpected, according to scientists based at Cornell University, who first studied the disease in the region in the late 1990s.

They found that calcium deficiency among children in Bangladesh is somehow exacerbated by either soil or water conditions, or poor nutrition, or a combination of these.

The 2008 survey was conducted jointly by Rickets Interest Groups of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), CARE Bangladesh, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the government’s National Nutrition Programme.

ICDDR,B experts say in the survey: “We do not yet fully understand the relative contribution of environmental, biological and dietary factors in Bangladesh that lead to such a high proportion of rickets.” They have called for further study and research.

But the survey found that children with rickets drank very little milk, a rich source of calcium.

Rickets can cause permanent deformities like bowlegs, pigeon breast, and knock-knees.

The disease was first reported in Bangladesh by Social Assistance and Rehabilitation of the Physically Vulnerable (SARPV), an NGO, in 1991 in Chakaria, a sub-district of Cox’s Bazaar, a southeastern coastal town.

Prevention

A meeting of international experts on rickets held in Dhaka in 2006 identified community-based awareness as one of the most effective measures against the spread of rickets. Experts at the meeting said efforts to boost rice production over the years had influenced diets: there was less emphasis on calcium-rich foods such as dairy products and leafy green vegetables.

To prevent rickets, health experts recommend a child should be breast-fed up to the ninth month, then weaned and put on to cow’s milk and other foods rich in vitamin D and calcium, like eggs and dairy products such as butter, leafy vegetables and small fish.

Calcium supplements such as lime can also be added to staple foods like rice and bread. Plenty of sunlight, fresh air and exercise are also necessary to ensure sufficient Vitamin D intake.

ao/jk/cb source.www.irinnews.org

By Standard Team

The proscribed Mungiki group that has been described as a security nightmare has mutated into a curious form – this time as a ‘custodian of the law’.

The criminal gang that thrives on extortion, leading to some violent turf wars in the slums, while beheading anyone who goes against the grain, evolved from quasi-religious vigilantes, securing footholds in parts of Central, Nairobi and Rift Valley provinces.

But the group quickly shook off its religious pretensions, although its members retained snuff sniffing to entrench its reputation, as a vicious gang that would not allow anything to undermine its commercial interests.

Acting as law enforcers, some members now masquerade as investigators with powers to search, prosecute, judge, and punish those who infringe on their neighbours’ rights and property.

The sect then holds informal court sessions and administers justice by imposing fines, warnings, and injunctions restraining “wrongdoers” from further transgression.

In some places the sect members have appointed themselves as elders who arbitrate on domestic disputes and even grant or reject divorce.

There have been cases where spouses have been ‘directed’ to separate or face dire consequences in cases where the elders rule that a couple has irreconcilable differences.

Driven by desperation, some wronged parties have turned to the sect to assist them in persuading unco-operative debtors to pay up.

The sect also imposes commissions for each amount collected and those who are unwilling or cannot honour their debts end up with broken limbs.

Despite the Government’s pronouncement of eradicating all gangs the police appear to be unable, or unwilling to crush the outlawed sect.

source.standard.ke

By: JEFF OTIENO

The former ruling party KANU is currently embroiled in a vigorous Campaign to clean up its house a head of 2012 polls.

According to sources within the party’s top echelons the abrasive campaign onslaught to revive the former ruling party has been finalized.

KANU operative Tom Alila told journalists that areas such as Nyanza and Western Provinces have been earmarked by the co-ordinating committee whose mandate is to traverse the regions to recruit and popularize the party.

Alila argued that the former ruling party’s popularity had diminished courtesy of a clique whose agenda he described as “egocentric and parochial”.

“KANU is the only party in the country with known structures at the grassroot and therefore we won’t allow a clique whose agenda is not clear to kill it”, he said.

When pressed further by this writer to state where he belonged in terms of camps, he remained none committal. In KANU there is a camp allied to finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and the other tilting to the son of former president Daniel Arap Moi,  Gedion Moi.

Moi’s camp recently made it clear that come 2012 elections the party will go it alone. But Uhuru’s camp which joined President Mwai Kibaki’s bandwagon under PNU flagship in the last disputed elections hasn’t made its stand clear yet.

Last weekend, the party had a bee hive of activities in the larger southern Nyanza doing recruitment and sensitization and in a fortnight to come they will roll their gears in Western Province towns like Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia among others.

With the prevailing wrangles in the ODM and PNU, KANU seems to be strategizing to capitalize in what pundits have described as inevitable looming fall outs.

Further, it will be interesting to see what mechanisms the former ruling party will deploy to wrestle a clout being enjoyed by ODM top brass under the tutelage of the Prime Minister Raila Odinga (Nyanza) and Musalia Mudavadi (Western).

But like it’s said, in a game of politics anything is possible; time will be the best judge.

END

Ebow Godwin, Lomé

After 13 days detention in neighbouring Ghana following allegations of possessing military uniforms and scam Mr. Nicolas Lawson, leader of the opposition Party for redemption and Renewal, PRR paid tribute to Togo government for its intervention leading to his release.

Mr. Nicolas Lawson was accused by a Ghanaian businesswoman for fraud and sexual harassment last month.

Following these allegations the Togolese opposition leader was detained in cells in Ghana pending investigations for over 13 days.

He said “it is in such adversity that you can see the sense of humanity and dignity of people”.

“If I told you that I am free today due to the Togo government’s intervention many people will not believe it but it is true”, he declared.

After thanking the government for its gesture he asked “if the Togo government sees that one of the political leaders is arbitrary detained  in a foreign country , do you think that they have to leave me to my facts because I am an opponent?”.

“The Togolese government did not think that way but they have signed a bail so that I can be free. So I have to thank them but this cannot derail my democratic aspirations because it is my right to denounce if something is going wrong”, Mr. Nicolas explained.

Responding to a question whether this situation will change his move by joining the ruling RPT party or the government, the Togolese opposition leader said “my fight it is not a fight of joining anybody or not but it is rather to change Togo into a real democratic country where the rule of laws is applied”.

He then appealed to the Togolese politicians to elevate their spirit of humanity when one of them is affected because a political opponent it is an eternal enemy.

Mr Lawson also lashes at the judiciary administration in Ghana for failing to apply laws as he was detained for 13 days over allegations without having access to a lawyer or a court.

“What is going on in Ghana it is not good. How can you detained a suspect in inhuman conditions following an allegation for over 13 days without allowing him to have access to his lawyer or to go to a court”, he vehemently protested.

He has called upon the Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills to take immediate actions to help him seek redress and also to tackle the corruption prevailing in the institutions like CID and BNI in Ghana.

Concerning the charges against him, Mr. Lawson presented a document of registration belonging to Diligent Hands limited company owned by Mme Donita Neequaye the complainant and which allows it to supply the Ghanaian Army with different types of equipment.

It will be recalled that Mr. Lawson was managing the company before his arrest following the allegations.

He said “all these allegations put against me it is just to tarnish my political career in Togo. Some questions I was asked by the agents show really that some people wanted to stop my aspirations because of their political affiliation to some Togolese political leaders in Togo”.

The Togolese opposition leader therefore declared that this situation will not affect his political aspirations because he is fighting for the right cause.

It will recalled that the arrest of Nicolas Lawson in Ghana last month has nearly brought to a dislocation the prevailing renewed  relations between the two countries after allegations of possessing military uniforms were put against him.

He was presidential candidate in 2003 against the late Gnassingbe Eyadema and has declared this year his intention to take part in the upcoming presidential elections slated for 2010.

End