BBC News – Canadian Omar Khadr goes on trial at Guantanamo Bay

via BBC News – Canadian Omar Khadr goes on trial at Guantanamo Bay.

Canadian citizen Omar Khadr is the only Westerner still being held at Guantanamo Bay military prison; he was detained in Afghanistan at the age of 15. He’s now 23.

International law says children captured on the battlefield must be treated as victims, and not as perpetrators. Child-soldiers are supposed to be rehabilitated and given the chance to re-enter society.

Please write to President Obama at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact and ask him to halt this trial, which is in violation of international law, and instead arrange for the repatriation and rehabilitation of Mr. Khadr.

Help Stop Child Sex Trafficking

Countries of Destination, as measured by the extent of reporting of trafficking

Right now before the US Congress there is a bill that could make a real difference in the fight against the buying and selling and trafficking of innocent children, most of whom are girls.

This bill, International Megan’s Law, would mandate reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers trying to engage in international travel, and prevent entry into the U.S. by any foreign sex offender against a minor.

In the U.S. and around the world, thousands of pimps, traffickers, and child molesters treat girls like objects to be used and discarded.   This bill will send a loud and unambiguous message to those who believe they can buy, sell and abuse girls with impunity: never again.

Please send your Congressperson a letter today to help protect girls before more are solicited or kidnapped by the pimps who steal their childhoods for profit.

Click on the Change widget in the left hand column of my blog or visit: http://www.change.org/actions/view/help_stop_child_sex_trafficking to take action.

What has Changed for Girls since 1995?

In September of 1995 the United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. The official name of the Conference was “The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace”. 189 governments participated in the conference and more than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 non-governmental organizations.

The outcome document of this conference known as The Platform for Action set out a number of actions that were to lead to fundamental changes in the lives of women and girls. Section L of the document focuses on the girl child and contains nine strategic objectives with corresponding actions that were to be taken by governments and civil society.

The objectives are:

  1. Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl-child.
  2. Eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against girls.
  3. Promote and protect the rights of the girl-child and increase awareness of her needs and potential.
  4. Eliminate discrimination against girls in education, skills development and training.
  5. Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition.
  6. Eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour and protect young girls at work.
  7. Eradicate violence against the girl-child.
  8. Promote the girl-child’s awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life.
  9. Strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of the girl-child.

In 2010 the United Nations will review progress on Beijing. An important part of this Beijing +15 review will be to ask how and in what ways girls are better off or worse off than they were in 1995.

As an NGO representative at the UN working on girls’ issues I am interested in what you think, especially if you are a girl.

Can you cite one success and one failure regarding any or all of these objectives? Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas.

Read more at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/girl.htm