For Child Soldiers, Every Day Is A Living Nightmare
April 5, 2013 § Leave a comment
My OP/ED in the Forbes on child soldiers. I sincerely hope 2013 proves auspicious and a harbinger of hope. This terrible tragedy of child soldiers and children exposed to the savagery of armed conflicts is stopped forever. We must see collective and concerted actions to bring this tragic chapter of human history to a close.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/12/09/for-child-soldiers-every-day-is-a-living-nightmare/
Huffington Post: Promoting Women’s Economic Participation in India
March 28, 2013 § Leave a comment
Huffington Post: Promoting Women’s Economic Participation in India
India is generally at or near the bottom of the heap of women’s misery. A UN index in 2011 amalgamated details on female education and employment, women in politics, sexual and maternal health and more. It ranked India 134th out of 187 countries, worse than Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Iran.
In this article Cherie Blair and I make the case that financial independence, especially for urban poor and rural women, is the best way to ensure their empowerment. This can only come through jobs.
Women are half India’s demographic dividend; if they are given the right tools and community support, they can not only become financially independent, but could also become the engines that fuel India’s future growth
How to improve India’s police – a roadmap
March 28, 2013 § Leave a comment
How to improve India’s police – a roadmap
Indian Bollywood movies have for years perpetuated two stereotypes about law-enforcement in the country. They are either bumbling fools, always arriving well after matters have been sorted and justice has been served. Or they are corrupt; venal men out to exploit the system to satisfy their greed. In truth, while neither stereotype is fully representative of law enforcement personnel in the country, they are not entirely wrong either.
The Hindu: “Are women not part of our being”
February 19, 2013 § Leave a comment
Here is a link to my OP/ED.
My opinion piece in The Hindu, on the scourge of sexual and gender violence in India, which is deeply troubling. Without collective resolve, education, awareness raising and affirmative action this problem will continue to cause misery to many women and children .
TED x: “Demobilizing Child Soldiers – A Story of Change”
February 19, 2013 § Leave a comment
Here is a link to the YouTube of the TEDx talk.
Experts say that once conflicts end and many psychologically scarred child soldiers and young adults, (who have graduated to adulthood from being child soldiers) are demobilized and returned to their communities, it keeps the peace fragile and amplifies the insecurity. Parts of Africa, Asia and South America risk long term instability as there is evidence of children moving from one armed group to another, or become part of criminal gangs.
The Kony 2012 video viewed by over 100 million people, spurred the US congress into action to stop Joseph Kony from getting away with crimes against humanity committed over two decades. The incarceration of former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor and the notorious Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubunga is a step in the right direction.
We should not be held hostage to the obstinacy of armed groups, who violate the rights of the child and the optional protocols by using and abusing children as combatants or non combatants, regardless of their character, cause or ideology. Without exception, condemnation of such actions must be unequivocal and universal. There must be ‘zero-tolerance’ of these groups or those that support these groups. They must know that the full force of justice awaits them.
Finally my TED x talk is also a tribute to the leadership of UNICEF and its staff who worked in South Sudan in one of the most adverse and challenging environments then, and they believed that this was the right thing to do, despite the grave risks of such an untried enterprise being undertaken during a conflict and with a very uncertain ending.
Without the partnership, concern and collegiality of the Samaritans Purse, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the UN’s World Food Programme, as well as the local NGOs of South Sudan, this programme could have easily failed.
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, then the Commander of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, stood by his word…though it did not end the use children during the remaining years of the conflict, but this was an important beginning. It showed that non state actors can also be encouraged and persuaded to abide by international protocols.
The world needs to stand up and say NO to child soldiers. We all have a stake in shaping a better world, and that means investing, protecting and nurturing all children today