RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Raising Children Behind Bars

Soledad Acevedo was an 18-year-old mother of two eking out a living by means of menial casual work in 2002 when she was sent to prison in the Argentina province of Buenos Aires, accused of armed robbery and attempted homicide. Now she is 24, and is excited as she meets with IPS in her cell.

ECONOMY-AFRICA: HIV/AIDS Reduces Children’s Education Chances

Children who live in communities with an HIV prevalence rate of 10 percent or more have half a year of schooling less than children in other communities.

IRAQ: ‘Special Weapons’ Have a Fallout on Babies

Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.

ROMANIA: State Grows Up in Looking After Children

Romania used to be infamous for its nightmarish orphanages. Since 2001, however, the national system of care for vulnerable children has been undergoing a successful reform process.

EDUCATION-ASIA: Girls Should Go to School, Stay There

It is not enough that girls go to school - they must also remain in school and complete their education, a goal that educators, policymakers and communities all need to brush up on.

TRINIDAD: “There Are Monsters Among Us”

Eight-year-old Hope Arismandez never stood a chance. The autopsy report said she had been stabbed repeatedly, hit on the back of the head with a blunt object and her throat slit.

EL SALVADOR: More than Charity-Based Strategies Needed to Uproot Violence

The strategies followed by the Salvadoran government to prevent violence and crime have serious shortcomings, say experts and youngsters considered "high risk," who are the main beneficiaries of these initiatives.

EUROPE: No Asylum, Now Go To Jail

Asylum-seekers whose bid to live in the European Union has been rejected could be detained for up to 18 months under a new law approved by the bloc's 27 governments.

BURMA: Thousands of Children Orphaned By Nargis

Ko Ko Aung remembers the moment when he thought he had lost his older brother, Wai Yan Soe, to the powerful waters that tore through their house on the night Cyclone Nargis struck, one month ago.

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Tobacco Regulations as Solid as Smoke

Government funds to fight tobacco use in Latin America, which kills one million people each year, pale in comparison to the health costs of this epidemic and receive only a small portion of the tax revenues from the tobacco industry.

MEDIA-INDIA: Child Scribes in Villages Raise Development Issues

Children should be seen, not heard - an adage that remains in practice in most parts of rural India even today where the orthodox patriarchal traditions continue to hold sway in tightly-knit local communities.

PAKISTAN: Quake Orphans Still Dependent on Charity, NGOs

Thousands of children orphaned by the earthquake that hit northern Pakistan in October 2005, leaving 85,000 people dead, continue to be dependent on charity and support provide by donors and non-government organisations (NGOs).

DEVELOPMENT: Faith-based Groups Fight for a Better World

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that nearly 30 to 70 percent of the sprawling health infrastructure in the African continent is owned or run by faith-based organisations.

RIGHTS: Despite Landmark Treaty, Children Still Under Siege

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which came into force in September 1990, has been described as a landmark treaty ensuring the human rights of the world's 2.2 billion children.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Suffer the Little Children

Located high in the Drakensburg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, Sterkspruit is a picturesque rural area that includes several tribal villages. In the midst of this natural beauty, however, a tragedy has been unfolding over recent months.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Calls for Peace Echo at Children's Forum

In a fittingly solemn gesture of peace and renewal, children and adults belonging to different faiths offered flowers and prayers, Monday, for the thousands of people who became the first ever victims of a nuclear bombing in this city 63 years ago.

DEVELOPMENT: Poverty Thrives Amid Unprecedented Prosperity

Global poverty is thriving - rather ironically - amidst one of the most prosperous times in human history.

Q&A: ''Failing to Act For the Benefit of Children Is a Crime''

The world's religions are poised to step out of their 'comfort zones' to heed the feeblest of voices - those of children. Under the aegis of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC), these religious institutions are learning to set aside differences and work together for the sake of 2.2 billion children around the world.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Youths Find Their 'Voice'

If the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step then such a step has just been taken by a group of children from different parts of the world, guided by an older generation dedicated to giving youth a brighter and safer future.

JAPAN: Religious Leaders Renew Pledges to Children

Renewing solidarity and respect for the fundamental rights of children, over 1,300 religious leaders of different faiths, grassroots workers, and decision makers from about 60 countries are gathered in this historic Japanese city to give the younger generation a much-needed 'voice'.

VENEZUELA: Fifty-Two Violent Deaths a Day, and No Respite in Sight

On the day a report was released ranking Venezuela as one of the most violent countries in the world, a local anti-drugs prosecutor was murdered, a mob lynched a suspected criminal in the capital, and gunmen fired 20 shots, killing another suspect.