11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Abuse and torture of children during interrogation and detention ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23636]

"MOLSA's juvenile facilities lacked adequate resources and did not adequately support rehabilitative programs. Other reports stated that children were abused and tortured during interrogation while detained by MOI and MOD security forces before their transfer to MOLSA facilities."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Orphanages in Baghadad and provinces; case of grave conditions in Baghdad orphanage ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 24028]

"MOLSA operated 18 orphanages for older children in Baghdad and the provinces, housing a total of approximately 420 children, and 40 orphanages for young children, housing approximately 1,500 children.

On June 10, an orphanage in Baghdad was discovered to house 24 severely malnourished boys from three to 15 years-old. The boys were found naked in a darkened room without windows and were tied to their beds. The children were provided medical treatment and moved to another orphanage. The minister of labor and social affairs drew criticism for stating that the children were healthy. In November two orphans at this facility died after contracting cholera. At year's end four additional children had been diagnosed with the disease. Arrest warrants were issued for three employees of the orphanage, all of whom remained at large."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Trafficking victims from charitable institutions; reports of teenage boys sexually exploited by criminal gangs ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 24029]

"Anecdotal evidence and media reports suggested that some trafficking victims were taken from orphanages and other charitable institutions by employees of these organizations. In 2006 MOLSA accused private orphanages of involvement in these activities and called for all private orphanages to be under its purview and inspection authority; however, it was unclear whether MOLSA achieved this goal by year's end. There were also reports that criminal gangs used threats and blackmail to exploit teenage boys sexually for commercial and other motives.

Both the MOI and the KRG MOI have responsibility for trafficking-related issues. However, the demands of the security situation relegated trafficking to a lower priority. Trafficking crimes were not specifically enumerated in MOI statistics on criminal activity.

The MOI did not monitor trafficking crimes, include them in the police training curriculum, or conduct trafficking-related investigations.

The MOLSA and MOHR also had roles in anti-trafficking efforts. The government did not have programs to prevent trafficking; however, it operated orphanages and homeless shelters, which may have prevented vulnerable individuals from becoming trafficking victims."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Prohibition of child labour and enforcement of the law ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 24037]

"The law prohibits the worst forms of child labor; however, the government did not effectively enforce these laws. The law limits working hours for workers less than 18 years of age and prohibits their employment in dangerous occupations. The minimum age for employment is 15 years; however employment of anyone under 16 years in work detrimental to health, safety, or morals is prohibited. The Child Labor Unit of MOLSA's Labor Directorate had neither enough inspectors nor resources to enforce the law or maintain programs to prevent or remove children from such labor.

Despite the various laws and regulations, children were routinely used as an additional source of labor or income among the one million families subsisting on a daily income of less than $1.00 (1,250 dinars). This work often took the form of seasonal manual labor in rural areas. In cities it often meant begging or peddling a variety of products, as well as working in sometimes hazardous automobile shops or on construction sites.

Projects to combat child labor were few, and those that existed affected few children. The government introduced a targeted, means-tested social safety net program in 2005 to reduce poverty and protect children against the deteriorating living conditions in their households. To date, one million families have received benefits and services administered by MOLSA. The SSN package includes a child allowance, conditional upon school attendance, and programs to assist former and current street children are also funded by the government. Additional projects to enhance the protection of children have been funded by international organizations and NGOs.Some NGOs have reportedly had difficulty implementing projects addressing child labor due to threats from gangs and militias that allegedly use children on the streets as fighters or drug sellers.

The Italian branch of the international NGO Terre des Hommes operated a rehabilitation and counseling center for a small number of working street children in Baghdad. Kurdish authorities supported several small-scale projects to eliminate child labor in the KRG area."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN Assistance Mission for Iraq

Children killed or maimed in attacks against schools carried out by armed groups ("Human Rights Report (1 July - 31 December 2007)") [ID 24375]

"The violence claimed the lives of many children, their immediate families and caregivers. An indiscriminate attack with the largest number of casualties among children was recorded on 6 August when 27 civilians were killed, among them 12 children, and 30 others wounded, when a truck bomb detonated in a residential neighborhood in al-Qebbek area of Tala’far in Nineveh governorate. Scores of children have been killed or maimed in schools, which were frequently targeted by various armed groups. On 17 September, three elementary schools were attacked by gunmen in Imam al-Mansour, al-Katbiya and Balad Ruz areas. Other attacks in which children were reported to have been killed included the following: five civilians, including two children, killed in a mortar attack in the town of Khalis on 18 August; four women and three children killed in a roadside explosion near Baghdad’s Technology University on 8 October; a child aged 10 and three other civilians killed in a bomb explosion in a residential area in Tuz Khormatu on 9 October; six civilians killed and nine others wounded, including young students, when a roadside bomb planted near the playground of al-Marid al-Arabi School in Baghdad detonated on 11 October; six civilians killed and 20 others wounded, including women and children, in a car bomb explosion near al-Zawra’ Park in Baghdad on 16 October; and three children killed and 10 other civilians wounded in a mortar attack on a residential area in Balad Ruz on 9 November. The ongoing violence produced a low turnout of students, including young children, in a number of Baghdad neighborhoods when schools re-opened for the new academic year on 30 September."

Document(s): Open document

26.06.2007 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Baghdad: Orphanage scandal ("Baghdad orphanage scandal raises concerns") [ID 20493]

"Parents who have had to leave their children at care institutions have expressed outrage at the discovery of over 20 severely malnourished boys who had been left without proper care in a Baghdad orphanage last week. The 24 boys - most of whom are mentally handicapped and aged 3-15 - were found on 10 June naked in a dark room without windows by US and Iraqi soldiers on a routine patrol. Many of the children were tied to their beds and too weak to stand once released."

Document(s): Open document

22.06.2007 - Source: ReliefWeb

UNICEF concerned at conditions for orphans and vulnerable children in Iraq ("UNICEF concerned at conditions for orphans and vulnerable children in Iraq"), Author: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) [ID 20468]

"The ongoing conflict and displacement are now putting the welfare of all children at risk, particularly those orphaned. Families struggling to feed and educate their own children are increasingly unable to take on others. A concurrent decline in the number of qualified child-care workers in Iraq makes it harder to provide institutionalized children with the necessary quality of support. This is particularly true for children with special needs, who are probably the most vulnerable of all Iraqis."

Document(s): Open document

12.06.2007 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Article on child labour and poverty ("Child labour on the rise as poverty increases") [ID 20669]

"Thousands of children [...] have moved onto the streets to help augment their family’s income, either because they have lost their fathers in the violence, or because they are forced to help as their families do not consider education to be important. Some of the children have no one to look after them.

The UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF) estimates that about 11 percent of Iraqi children under 14 work. [...] The 2006 annual UNDP report said one third of Iraqi families are living in poverty, but specialists believe the number could have increased markedly since then."

Document(s): Open document

15.03.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Evidence of insurgents using child soldiers ("original document (English)") [ID 10397]

Insurgents are using children, orphans or children of insurgents, as informants, messengers and train them as fighters.

Document(s): original document (English)

10.01.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Parents concerned as child kidnappings increase ("original document (English)") [ID 10387]

"Parents in Iraq are becoming increasingly concerned over the safety of their children following reports of hundreds of child kidnappings last year, officials say. Families are being asked for huge ransom payments by unknown criminals and some of them have even sold their homes and cars to pay. (...)"

Document(s): original document (English)

16.09.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Irak: Children work instead of going to school ("original document") [ID 10398]

"Iraqi children are suffering both economically and psychologically after the war to topple Saddam Hussein, with many forced to work instead of attending school, a recent Ministry of Education (MoE) survey says."

Document(s): original document

07.09.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Chronic malnutrition among children and water-borne diseases ("original document") [ID 10401]

"The incidence of child malnutrition and water-borne diseases is increasing in some areas of Iraq, according to health experts. In Baghdad, one of the main causes of malnutrition is infections caused by poor sanitation, particularly in the suburbs.

"Cases of children with chronic diseases are coming to us regularly. Sometimes it is too late to provide treatment and the child dies. Most families only take their children to a hospital when the case is practically out of our hands and resources. It is becoming chaotic," Dr Muhammad Yussef, a paediatrician from Kindy Hospital, told IRIN in Baghdad.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported, quoting recent Ministry of Health data, that about three out of 10 children in Iraq are chronically malnourished or stunted and have a low height for their age. This is a consequence of underlying poverty and the inadequate intake of micronutrients, it said.

Chronic malnutrition is more common among children living in the central and southern governorates, particularly those of Thi-Qar, Wassit, Anbar, Babil and Basra, according to the agency.

Almost half of Iraq’s total population of 26 million is aged under 18, according to UNICEF and a study by the agency in May last year showed that acute malnutrition among children had almost doubled since the war in March 2003, moving from 4 per cent to 7.7 percent. "Children who are acutely malnourished are literally wasting away and for severe cases their condition can be fatal," the agency warned in a statement last year. One Iraqi child in eight dies before their fifth birthday, it added.

Most families recently interviewed by IRIN at hospitals in the capital agreed that the situation before the recent conflict was better, adding that medical assistance was quicker then. "I've been trying for three days to get medical help for my son and only today did they examine him and found that he has malnutrition and that the case is dangerous," Antissar Muhammad, 29, told IRIN at Sadr city hospital in a suburb of Baghdad.

Staff at most of the big medical centres in Iraq say that for every five children treated, at least two are suffering from malnutrition, particularly those in three of the biggest suburbs of Baghdad: Sadr city, Shoola and Shawaka.

Wathiq Ibrahim, one of the doctors at the Central Teaching Hospital for Paediatrics in the capital, told IRIN that cases of child malnutrition, before the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein, were attributable to food deficiency, as 60 percent of the population was dependent on food rations following UN sanctions on the country as a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s.

However, 80 percent of current cases are due to infections caused by dirty water resulting in diseases such as cholera.

"The street in front of my home is absolutely destroyed by US tanks and you can see the dirty water coming out everywhere. I cannot control my son in going out from home all the time and today I'm here for five nights waiting for him to recover from malnutrition and cholera," Madiha Abbas, who was waiting for his sick five-year-old son at the local hospital in the Shoola suburb, told IRIN.

"We are a pour suburb; I think that the government should look first after us," he added.

Dr Ibrahim argued that the suffering of children was also used in a political game by the former regime. "The old regime was giving higher numbers to the UN in relation to malnutrition in the country just to prove that the sanctions imposed by them were causing a big destruction of children's lives in Iraq. It is true that the numbers were high, but they were giving approximately double the real number," he said.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health said that in order to overcome this situation, all agencies need to work together and target the most vulnerable areas. The country's health system is still suffering from the effects of conflicts, including the 1991 Gulf war, in which the infrastructure of Iraq was greatly damaged.

The recent US-led conflict has also affected services available, following the large scale looting of medical facilities.

Foreign aid has helped alleviate some of the problems. Despite insecurity, since the end of the war, UNICEF has delivered thousands of tons of supplies. These include emergency medical and water supplies and high-protein biscuits for malnourished infants.

In addition, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched a new project in July 2004 to provide food aid to primary school children to encourage school enrollment and help reduce malnourishment. Pregnant and lactating mothers, as well as the chronically sick in vulnerable districts were also targetted by the scheme.

However, the situation in the capital is improving. Paediatric specialists from the Medical Union in Iraq add that cases of malnutrition have been falling in Baghdad. Ibrahim said that immediately after the recent conflict, 12 out of 20 beds at the Central Teaching Hospital for Paediatrics in Baghdad, were occupied by youngsters suffering from malnutrition, but that this figure had now dropped to five or six.

"Our statistics inside the hospital in Baghdad show that 40 percent of clinically treated children are suffering from malnutrition. But our medical sources in the south say 60 percent of them are suffering from malnutrition and of this number 80 percent are caused by untreated water," Ibrahim explained.

Malnutrition is increasing in the south and cases are more critical in the under resourced suburbs of Baghdad due to poor sanitation, dirty water and an increase in cholera, doctors told IRIN.

In order to help alleviate the problem, a group of medical students is volunteering their services in Baghdad and Basra. They are reaching out to communities, educating people about hygiene and how to prevent malnutrition. They teach mothers the importance of boiling water for drinking and alert them to the symptoms of cholera and malnutrition. "It's a nice preventive way to protect the child from reaching hospital in a chronic medical phase," Salah Abd-al-Hassan, one of the medical volunteers in Baghdad, told IRIN.

"If all the Iraqi people, and especially the government, help us like these volunteers are, then we can be sure that our children are going to be safe in this country of war and blood," Youssef Al-Katabi, a father of six in Sadr city, told IRIN."

Document(s): original document

20.08.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Iraq: Children remain vulnerable ("original document") [ID 10380]

"UNICEF SAYS CHILDREN IN IRAQ REMAIN VULNERABLE. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on 18 August that while the agency has helped improve the situation for Iraq's children over the past 18 months, more work needs to be done to ensure the safety of youth, the UN News Center reported (http://www.un.org/news).

"The children of Iraq have suffered enough. They have gone through three wars, 12 years of sanctions, and live in extraordinarily difficult circumstances -- often living in fear of violence," Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF said in a statement.

The UN reports that nearly half of Iraq's population is under the age of 18. Many children were vulnerable to malnutrition, disease, and exploitation prior to last year's war, with one in eight children dying before their fifth birthday. Today, children -- particularly girls -- remain vulnerable because of the security situation, and the UN reports that parents often keep their children out of school because of the instability. Over 100 children were killed in fighting in Al-Basrah and Al-Fallujah during the month of April. Land mines and explosive ordinances remain constant dangers.

UNICEF has made extraordinary progress, however. Working with only local staff for the past year, the agency has teamed up with Iraqi authorities to immunize thousands of children. The agency has also provided education kits for primary schools, repaired water and sewage plants, and provided supplies to community centers for children. It also distributed mine-risk education leaflets to Al-Fallujah residents in an effort to promote public awareness. A short video on the efforts of the agency in Iraq was recently posted to the agency's website (http://unicef.org)."

Document(s): original document

05.07.2004 - Source: European Center for Kurdish Studies

Stellungnahme vom 5.7.2004 an RA Walliczek, Minden ("Stellungnahme vom 5.7.2004 an RA Walliczek, Minden") [#25180],  [ID 10391]

Document(s): Open document

24.06.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Treatment of autistic children ("original document") [ID 10384]

"A crowd of boys and girls with inflatable rubber rings around their waists splashed around in an outdoor pool, closely watched by three women at the Rami Institute for autistic and slow learners in the Mansour district of the western part of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Rami Saba, 10, after whom the semi-private centre is named, took a few steps back, then did a running jump into the pool, splashing everyone nearby. He emerged, laughing, and introduced himself with a hearty handshake as water dripped off of him.

Saba and the other autistic children at the centre play together. Almost all of them had smiles on their faces and a couple hummed to themselves. None of them had any idea of the political and financial dealings swirling around them. Some 40 children go to school at the centre in a quiet neighbourhood; several of them also live there.

The centre appears to be the only one of its kind in the country, although there may be at least 3,000 autistic children in Iraq, Sabah Sadik, national adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, told IRIN, adding that he did not know how many people were affected by autism as much of the country's health records had been destroyed.

Some parents are able to pay the US $200 per month it costs for their children to go to the school, but most cannot. Aid agencies supply most of the food there. The British-based Muslim Hands NGO has been paying workers' salaries, said Nawfal al-Rawi, Iraq director of the group.

Enfants du Monde, a French-based children's aid agency, recently furnished a special speech therapy room with colourful puppets and other tools of the trade. Saba's father provides some of the funding but can't be expected to be able to pick up the tab forever, said Nebras Sadoun, director of the centre.

"Workers at the remaining small number of international aid agencies in Baghdad are said to be leaving Iraq," Sadoun told IRIN, a prospect that made her nervous. However, Al-Rawi said Muslim Hands had no plans to leave.

At least two of the remaining small number of NGOs in Iraq have said they will close their doors for as much as two weeks before and two weeks after the scheduled handover of sovereignty to Iraqi officials on 30 June. US-led Coalition troops are expected to stay in Iraq after that date, but only at the request of the Iraqis and it is not known yet for how long.

Since an interim government is expected to work after the handover, officials should take on more responsibility in looking after social agencies and centres such as hers, Sadoun stressed. "This is our worry. If the NGOs leave, we will have a very bad situation," she said. "We need some help from the government to take care of these children. They should support us."

Former President Saddam Hussein was notoriously tight-fisted when funding such centres, but workers used to receive their money from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs or the Ministry of Health, said Sadek. "Now we're discussing how we can support them," he said. "Our budget is a very limited resource, but we support their ideology."

Other centres around Iraq face similar worries. Several orphanages around Baghdad receive food under a food ration card system now handled by the Ministry of Trade. But most are also dependent on outside help.

"We're helping them because the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs says it doesn't have the money to pay them," al-Rawi said about the Rami centre. "We also bring them food and clothes. If we can do something for them, we will do it."

Even basic infrastructure problems plague the centre, according to Sadoun, who ran around switching off air conditioners during the 100-plus degrees Fahrenheit day before a colleague switched on a generator outside.

"Under the former regime, at least our water worked, and we had electricity most of the time," she said. "Now, the price of cooking gas is sky-rocketing and we have a lot of other troubles."

Inside, children with more severe cases of autism were stringing coloured beads onto wooden rods. Haneen, 7, was able to shout out the colour of each bead as she picked it up from a bowl of beads. Mohammed, 8, sang softly to himself and does not talk to visitors.

The centre can only teach the children until they reach the age of 12, the director of the centre said. After that, their families have to find another way to teach them and take care of them.

"Their mental capabilities are so weak," Sadoun said, shaking her head. "Our society doesn't know anything about disabled and handicapped children. We need more education to teach them," she stressed."

Document(s): original document

09.06.2004 - Source: UN Human Rights Council (formerly UN Commission on Human Rights)

Report focused on political, military, security and human rights situation ( treatment during arrest, detention) and the situation of children and women ("Report of the High comissioner for human rights and fallow-up to the world conference on human rights E/CN.4/2005/ 4") [#25826],  [ID 10381]

Document(s): Open document

23.02.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Northern Iraq: Help for disadvantaged children ("original document") [ID 10385]

Document(s): original document

18.12.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Former street children at Mercy House in Baghdad ("original document") [ID 10392]

Former street children at Mercy House in Baghdad, which is run by the Ministry of Social Work. Mercy House is getting some financial help from Enfants du Monde, a French NGO working with children.

Document(s): original document

30.10.2003 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Baghdad Parents And Teachers Worry Schools Will Be Next 'Soft' Terror Target ("Baghdad Parents And Teachers Worry Schools Will Be Next 'Soft' Terror Target") [ID 10386]

"The recent upsurge in violence in Baghdad has affected nearly every aspect of life in the Iraqi capital. The city's schools are no exception. They are rarely guarded, leaving parents and teachers to worry that they represent an easy "soft" target for terrorists looking to mount more suicide attacks against Iraqi civilians."

Document(s): Baghdad Parents And Teachers Worry Schools Will Be Next 'Soft' Terror Target

07.10.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

School attendance falling due to fear of abduction ("IRAQ: School attendance falling due to fear of abduction") [ID 10388]

"At a time when the aid community is scaling down in the country due to deteriorating security, reports of children being kidnapped for ransom in and around the capital, Baghdad, are having a detrimental effect on education, according to a British based NGO. "Approximately 50 percent of children are not going to school because their parents are too scared to send them, having heard these stories about children being kidnapped and held for ransom," a spokesman for Save the Children UK, Paul Hetherington, told IRIN"

Document(s): IRAQ: School attendance falling due to fear of abduction

24.09.2003 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Millions Of Children Receiving Immunizations ("Millions Of Children Receiving Immunizations") [ID 10403]

"Some 3.5 million Iraqi children were vaccinated this week in a campaign organized by Iraq's Health Ministry, the United Nations Children's Fund, and the World Health Organization. [...] The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has supplied 25 million doses of vaccines to Iraq to help prevent the spread of polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, and tuberculosis -- considered the main killers of children in developing countries. This week's campaign was the third of its kind in Iraq and will be followed by three more through the end of the year. There are some 4.2 million children in Iraq under the age of five, but officials say it is impossible to reach every one of them during each vaccination round."

Document(s): Millions Of Children Receiving Immunizations

13.08.2003 - Source: UK Border Agency (Home Office)

Shi'a Islamic groups have taken over the Dar al-Rahma orphanage in Sadr City [ID 10394]

"Shi'a Islamic groups have taken over the Dar al-Rahma orphanage in Sadr City. The orphanage is reported now to be safe and clean but the new authorities impose a strict Islamic code. Girls must wear a headscarf tight round their hair or they are beaten. They must pray five times a day, cannot listen to music and must not even look at the boys' quarters. A former worker said that marriage and social control appeared to be the priorities of the orphanage management, saying that in the month she worked there five girls were married."

Document(s): Open document

13.08.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Four-year-olds working on the streets, says World Vision ("IRIN: Four-year-olds working on the streets, says World Vision") [ID 10399]

"Children as young as four go out into the streets of Iraqi towns to beg and sell goods, before returning to their parents’ homes at night, according to findings by the international relief and development organisation World Vision. In northern Iraq, children work on the street for up to 12 hours a day, a recent assessment said. Some have been victims of violence. Others are school dropouts. Yet others have never have been to school at all. In many cases, members of their families are sick or disabled and unable to work. World Vision found that the daily earnings of such children ranged between 500 and 3,000 Iraqi dinars (16 US cents to $2)."

Document(s): IRIN: Four-year-olds working on the streets, says World Vision

16.07.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Report on sexual violence and abduction of women and girls, the impact of fear and barriers to persecution in cases of sexual violence ("Climate of fear: Sexual violence and abduction of women and girls in Baghdad") [#14325],  [ID 10389]

"Reports of sexual violence and abduction of women and girls abound in Baghdad. Medical practitioners, victims, witnesses, and law enforcement authorities have documented some of these crimes. Human Rights Watch is concerned that many other cases go unreported and uninvestigated. Some women and girls fear that reporting sexual violence may provoke “honor” killings and social stigmatization. [... ] Since prosecutors, perpetrators, and “anyone who has an interest” in the matter may petition for the suspension of the investigation or sentence under these provisions, the law adds to the already considerable social pressures on victims not to pursue their cases. If victims do file and pursue a complaint, they are faced with the possibility that their abuser or their families will force them to enter into a marriage where they are likely to endure marital rape or other sexual and physical violence. Perpetrators who enter such marriages must remain married for at least three years, potentially extending the torment of their victims, or face a resumption of prosecution or reinstatement of the sentence. The absence of functioning criminal and judicial systems in postconflict Iraq may lead to increased resort to such marriages that in many cases may amount to forced marriages in reality as family members and criminals seek “resolutions” at the expense of victims’ rights."

Document(s): Open document

04.07.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Children still suffering due to power and water shortages ("IRIN: Children still suffering due to power and water shortages") [ID 10404]

"The poor water and sanitation conditions still obtaining in Baghdad are behind a steep rise in the number of cases such as these. It has been like this for more than two months now, and there are few signs of improvement as summer temperatures in the capital soar. [...] The frequent power cuts and lack of electricity in Baghdad means that the water is pumped at low pressure, which allows sewage to seep into the network. Most of the water in Baghdad is contaminated, and there is a lack of sterilising agents."

Document(s): IRIN: Children still suffering due to power and water shortages

02.07.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

New initiative to protect vulnerable children ("IRIN: New initiative to protect vulnerable children") [ID 10405]

"UNICEF says the centre's ultimate goal is to provide a temporary lodging while efforts are made to reunify the children with their families. But this is not always easy. Families often refuse to take the children back - especially if they have been on the streets and suspect the children to have been involved in drugs or sexual activity. The social workers have to try to reconcile family members, but sometimes it is just not possible. The new home for these children is just the beginning. UNICEF is also supporting a drop-in centre for street children, which has some emergency accommodation and is to open along with a youth club. Aid workers say the priority is not to build institutions, but to set up community based projects to help some of Iraq's most vulnerable children."

Document(s): IRIN: New initiative to protect vulnerable children

18.06.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

UNICEF reopens Basra Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre ("IRIN: UNICEF reopens Basra Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre") [ID 10406]

"Allan Dow, a UNICEF spokesman, said the NRC at the Ibn Ghazwan Hospital in Basra had been refurbished, re-equipped and restocked, and was now ready to treat the 25 badly malnourished children currently in the hospital. The remaining centres are all expected to resume operations in the next few weeks."

Document(s): IRIN: UNICEF reopens Basra Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre

06.06.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Too poor to go to school ("IRIN: Too poor to go to school") [ID 10400]

"Having dropped out of primary school six months ago, Tawana Umar is adamant that he does not wish to return. "I cannot go back to school, because we are too poor," says the 11-year-old. "I have to work to help my family. If I don't help them who will?"

Document(s): IRIN: Too poor to go to school

03.06.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

When I was nine years old, my father forced me to marry his best friend. ("IRIN: Economic freedom seen as key to women's equality") [ID 10390]

"When I was nine years old, my father forced me to marry his best friend. In exchange, he took his friend's 10-year-old daughter as his new wife. I didn't understand what was happening. "After one month of living with my husband, I fell sick. The authorities told my father that I was too young to be married, and that I should be divorced," she told IRIN. She recalls how during her convalescence, her father and brothers berated her for the shame she had brought on the family. But, three years later, just as Gharibah thought she had dealt with the trauma of the abuse, a family friend raped her. "Very soon after it happened, many people came to know. I don't know who told them. But I remember that my father and brothers beat me severely for six months after that. They told me they would kill me. I heard of other women who were killed after they had been raped, and so one night I decided to leave. I was 13 years old when I closed my heart on my family," she told IRIN."

Document(s): IRIN: Economic freedom seen as key to women's equality

21.05.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Focus on orphans ("IRIN: Focus on orphans") [ID 10396]

"A UNICEF officer, Hatim George Hatim, said that the war would in all probability create more orphans. The traditional safety net for these children was the extended family but with the collapse of the Iraqi economy, many were now too poor to cope with another child."

Document(s): IRIN: Focus on orphans