Q&A: China Pays a Price for the ‘Lost’ Girls

In a country like China, that regularly exorcises the ghosts of the past, few understand the importance of oral history better than Chinese writer Xinran.

MEXICO: Parents’ Fight for Justice Continues a Year After Nursery Fire

From the moment he wakes up each morning, Abraham Fraijo feels the absence of his daughter Emilia, one of the 49 children who died Jun. 5, 2009, in a fire at the ABC child-care centre in the northwestern Mexican city of Hermosillo. It is the battle for justice that keeps him going.

Child Soldier Case to Kick Off Guantanamo Trials

Legal experts and civil libertarians are attacking the administration of President Barack Obama for resusiscitating what they regard as "deeply flawed" military commissions to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay - and their choice of a "child soldier" as the first defendant.

Young People Blurring Borders

Incorporating young people into the task of fostering understanding between people of various cultural and religious backgrounds is one of the four priority areas of the Alliance of Civilisations.

Banning Junk Foods in Mexico’s Schools to Fight Obesity

Consumer organisations and experts say the Mexican government's plan to remove junk food from schools is a step in the right direction in the fight against obesity in this country, which has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the world, and the second highest rate for adults, after the United States.

Universal Education an Empty Promise for Liberia’s Girls

In a small office tucked behind the stairwell in Liberia’s Ministry of Education, the once-proud staff of the Girls’ Education Unit appear defeated.

U.N. Calls for Universal Ratification of Ban on Child Soldiers

A decade after the passage of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations and human rights groups are urging 44 unsigned countries to join in ratifying the treaty.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Green Initiative Gives Hope to the Disabled

Talib Hussain, 29, became the sole breadwinner of his family of seven after his father suffered a stroke that left him half paralysed. Hussain brings home 4,000 Pakistani rupees (about 47 U.S. dollars) monthly, which he dutifully turns over to his mother.

PERU: Glass of Milk Half Empty

The "Glass of Milk" Programme, created in 1985 in Peru to provide a nutritional supplement for the most vulnerable population, specifically children up to six years old and pregnant and nursing women, is undermined by poor oversight, according to an audit by the Comptroller General's Office.

MIDEAST: Children Fight Off Israel With Music

"Why are you rushing? Isn't it nicer like this?" Mohammed Omer, oud teacher (an oud is similar to a lute) at the Gaza Music School, asks his student. Omer takes the oud and demonstrates, playing the song slowly, gracefully, with the ornamentations that are key to Arab music.

MEXICO: Acrobatics for At-Risk Children

Learning to do aerial acrobatics has not only helped 13-year-old Atenas Padilla overcome her fear of heights, but also to become more tolerant and creative.

African Grandmothers Demand Support in Role as Caregivers

"Africa cannot survive without us," is the message from grandmothers representing all corners of the continent.

LATIN AMERICA: Plan to Eradicate HIV, Syphilis in Newborns in Five Years

With the right treatment, mother-to-child transmission of congenital syphilis and HIV, the AIDS virus, can be prevented. But every year, thousands of babies are still being born with these diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

MEXICO: Children in the Line of Fire in Ciudad Juarez

In Ciudad Juárez, the most violent city in Latin America, Mexico's war on drugs has left at least 110 children dead in the past three years, and over 10,000 have lost parents.

GUATEMALA: Foreign Adoptions Are Back – Along with the Doubts

The reopening of international adoptions in Guatemala in June might not only mean the chance of a better life for many children, but may also spell a return to corruption, fraud and the theft of babies, human rights groups warn.

Chad Redoubles Efforts Against Polio

The polio vaccination campaign under way in Chad has added significance in 2010. The country recorded zero polio cases in 2004, but 66 cases of wild polio were reported in 2009, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

PARAGUAY: Football – Dream for Kids, Moneyspinner for Adults

From passion for football, to football as a profession: many parents in Paraguay are hoping this sport will provide a career for their sons, who flood into football schools with the burden of their dreams -- and their parents' demands -- to become sports idols.

Torture – Live and Well in Turkey

Six years after the ruling Justice and Development Party government declared ‘zero tolerance’ for torture, the practice prevails in Turkey, human rights monitors in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeastern region say.

Like Unemployed Mum and Dad

A generation of children growing up in Eastern Europe face poverty when they reach working age because of the effect their own parents' long-term unemployment will have on them, sociologists and economists have warned.

Ramping up Malaria Prevention in Angola

Crouched on an upturned plastic box, Eva Angelino bounces 11-month old Odelina on her knee, trying to stop her crying. Mother and daughter are waiting in line outside a public health centre not far from the city centre of Angola’s capital Luanda.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Children Undeterred by Attacks, Want Education

"I don’t feel any fear. My parents do. They instruct me almost every day to stay away from crowded places," said Afaq Ali, a Grade 1 student in this capital city of the militancy-wracked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.