UN should help govt push Burmese reconciliation
More than 3,000 Karen, mostly women and children, have fled from Burma into Thailand to escape heavy fighting since June 2. The influx is creating problems for Thailand which, as Burma’s neighbour and chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is justified in wanting a say on how well the junta’s national reconciliation plan is going.

Bangkok Post, June 26, 2009

Pope offers support to UN campaign to end use of child soldiers
Pope Benedict XVI offered his public support to the United Nations’ efforts to prevent the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers and said he prays each day for suffering children around the world.

Catholic News Service, June 26, 2009

S Lanka camp young ‘malnourished’
The high rate of malnutrition reported among children in camps for displaced people in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern, a senior UN official says. The UN’s representative on children and armed conflict told the BBC’s Sinhala service that the government should set up special feeding programmes.

BBC News, June 26, 2009

Jonathan Pearlman and photographer Kate Geraghty ventured to eastern Congo, a land where reason has taken flight and rape has become the norm.
Rape was a way to get payment, a way of rewarding ourselves
For the first time, former Congolese militia boys tell how they raped without regret.

Sydney Morning Herald, June 27, 2009

See also multimedia special: Sexual Warfare in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and other situations of violence. Two of the ICRC’s focus areas include:

• women and war
• children in war

This site contains extensive information and resources, including photos, videos and audio.

www.icrc.org

Pakistan: Children of the Taliban

FRONTLINE/World correspondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy takes a dangerous journey through her native Pakistan to investigate a militant branch of the Taliban that is recruiting young boys, blowing up girls’ schools, and challenging government rule. Read a synopsis and watch the video (36min 30secs).

FRONTLINE/World/PBS, April 14, 2009.

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes - and we must.”

Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2002