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Thursday, March 14, 2013
ScienceDaily: Child Development News
Monday, March 11, 2013
Anantanand Rambachan: A Theological Reflection on Shiva on the Occasion of Mahashivaratri
On March 10, Hindus around the world will celebrate Shivaratri (The Night of Shiva). I share these theological reflections on the occasion of this sacred festival.
For centuries, Hindus have worshiped and described God through the name and form of Shiva. The name Shiva connotes kindness, benevolence and grace. Shiva is also commonly known as Shankara, meaning one who acts unceasingly for the good of all. The many names and forms of God available in the Hindu tradition are not just expressions of India's religious and cultural diversity. These also express profound insights about the nature of God and human existence that enrich our theological understanding. I want to suggest four ways in which the name and form of Shiva speak relevantly to us about divinity and the meaning of human life.
The first insight arises from the contrast between the iconic representations of Shiva and those of God as Vishnu. Although, both may be seen as forms of the one God, there are unmistakable differences. Icons of Vishnu typically represent him in the symbols of royalty, power and affluence. He wears a crown on his head, jewels around his neck, golden earning on both ears, and resplendent robes. Shiva, on the other hand, wears nothing but a loincloth; his only "jewels," are snakes and rosaries. The icon of Shiva attracts us by its stark simplicity, asceticism and lack of adornment. The eyes of Vishnu are open, looking out to the world; the eyes of Shiva are half-closed in meditation.
The representation of Vishnu with the symbols of kingship and splendor properly emphasizes the nature of God as the omnipotent source, lord and sustainer of creation. The icon of Shiva, empty of all trappings of power and wealth, reminds us that the meaning of human life is be found in who we are and not in what we own. Although wealth and power are important for human wellbeing, these are impermanent, unpredictable and ultimately fail to satisfy the thoughtful person. Our human worth is an intrinsic one that has its source in the divine that exists at the heart of everyone. Shiva's half-closed eyes point to the condition of being awake to this divine reality.
The second insight about Shiva arises from his association with time and change. As a form of God, Vishnu is associated with preservation and stability, the familiar and the predictable that afford us constancy and continuity. Shiva reminds us that even as we value and seek stability, change is inevitable. On his flowing hair, Shiva wears the crescent moon, the symbol of time, reminding us that there is no creation without movement and motion and that there can be no peace without our acceptance of impermanence. Shiva invites us to see the positive possibilities in change. Without change, our sons and daughters will not grow into beautiful young men and women, the seeds that we plant will not blossom into plants and winter will not come to an end.
The third insight about Shiva is a challenge to our own expectations of where and in what forms we may discover divinity. The city of Varanasi (Banaras) is one of the most sacred locations in Hindu geography. It is famous for its cremation grounds. Elderly and terminally ill Hindus travel to Varanasi in the hope of dying within its sacred precincts. Traditionally, death is an event of in-auspiciousness and ritual impurity; cremation grounds are avoided, as well as contact with a deceased body. Varanasi, however, is the holy city of Shiva and the location of one of the most famous Shiva temples. Shiva is described as frequenting the cremation grounds, dressed in beggarly attire and smearing himself with the ash of the cremation sites. The point seems to be that we must be careful not to associate God only with beautiful temples and richly adorned icons. Although we teach God's omnipresence, we are more reluctant to discern God in places associated with death and suffering. Shiva reminds us not to place limits on divine reality. Our boundaries, our notions of purity and impurity, are not Shiva's own. His association with the place of death dramatically states this fact.
The fourth insight about Shiva is concerned with our consciousness of our environment and our need to be good stewards of the earth and its resources. The most popular representation of God as Shiva depicts him as residing in a Himalayan abode in the midst of lush and verdant vegetation. The bull, Nandi, sitting happily next to Shiva and the snakes playfully adorning his neck and arms present us with a portrait of natural harmony. The Ganges River is shown as flowing from and through Shiva's luxuriant hair, suggesting that nature's bounties are divine gifts. We are more likely to abuse nature when we disconnect the natural world from its divine origin and strip it of sanctity. The icon of Shiva, placed firmly in the midst of nature speaks, of our interdependence with and our inseparability from the natural world.
One of the compelling forms of Shiva represents him as Dakshinamurti, the teacher of wisdom. He is seated under a banyan tree, surrounded by eager students, As a teacher, Shiva is eternally young, suggesting that his teaching is a continuous process for those of us who are open to learning. As we worship Shiva on Shivaratri, let Shiva also become our teacher. May we learn from him the value of detachment, the positive possibilities in change, the ability to see divinity where we least expect, and a renewed value for nature as a sacred gift.
Click through to see photos from Mahashivatratri celebrations:
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Want to join a real estate slime wave?
If you?re not very bright, have no self respect, and don?t mind committing the occasional crime, Schwab Property Solutions has a job for you.
You can start out by acquiring multiple gmail accounts and get paid $1 per live ad for spamming Craigslist with repetitive ads. If your ad leads to the sale of a property you?ll be paid $100. You?d need a broker?s license to work on a pay-per-lead basis, but there?s no indication that Schwab requires you to have one ? or any evidence that Schwab has one.
If a buck an ad doesn?t pay your bills you can become a ?BANDIT SIGN POSTER? and illegally litter the public way for $10 an hour plus a gas allowance and $250 per successful lead. Again, Schwab doesn?t require you to have the requisite broker?s license to accept payment-per-lead, and gives you no warning that you can be fined or arrested for planting commercial signs on public property.
From those menial tasks you can advance to positions where you?re almost certainly acting as a real estate broker and committing misdemeanor violations of the Illinois Real Estate License Act if you aren?t properly licensed.
According to Schwab?s LinkedIn profile, Schwab Property Solutions ?is the premier real estate investment company in Chicago specializing in reverse wholesaling nationwide. The mission statement for our company is to bring order to the chaos of the real estate industry with systems and checks/balances in place.?
Schwab self-describes as a ?serial entrepreneur.? His longest-running enterprise, RaveWaves Inc was recently involuntarily dissolved. Schwab recently lost the address he?s listed at in the RaveWaves corporate record in a foreclosure. The McHenry County Recorder?s office lists apparently unsatisfied state and federal tax liens against him. That doesn?t seem like a great position from which ?to bring order to the chaos of the real estate industry.?
Related posts:
- Stop using Craigslist to shop for rentals, says real estate veteran
- YoChicago ?honored? as top Chicago real estate website
- When real estate agents don?t know where they are
- Real estate listing errors ? a human or systems problem?
- Would you like to hose your real estate agent?
Source: http://yochicago.com/want-to-join-a-real-estate-slime-wave/29636/
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Saturday, March 9, 2013
Players' association gives OK to NHL realignment
NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL moved a step closer to realignment Thursday as the players' association approved a proposed plan that is set to go into effect next season.
Now that the league has gotten the go-ahead from union chief Donald Fehr, the NHL will only need to get approval from team owners to put it in place.
"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented to a revised plan for realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "Our next step will be to bring the proposed plan for realignment to the NHL board of governors for its consideration."
Fehr signed off on the plan after discussions with the union's executive board and said the realignment issue will be "re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season."
No official details of the changes have been released by the NHL, but it is widely believed that teams such as Detroit and Columbus will be put into more travel-friendly divisions in the Eastern time zone, and the Winnipeg Jets ? formerly the Atlanta Thrashers ? will leave the Southeast Division for a spot in the Western Conference.
Up until now, there has been an even split of teams with 15 in each conference. Under the new plan, the East will have 16 clubs in it ? making playoff qualification a bit tougher.
The two divisions out West will contain seven teams each. The East divisions will both contain eight.
Each conference will still have eight teams in the playoffs but the setup will be slightly different.
Instead of the current system, under which the top eight teams in each conference make the playoffs, the new plan will award spots to the top three teams in each division along with the next two teams with the best records as wild cards.
The new Atlantic Division in the East will be comprised of Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York's Rangers and Islanders, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington. The Central Division will contain Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.
Out West, the new Midwest Division will feature Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg. The Pacific Division will be made up of Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.
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Delta Air Lines CEO opposes TSA policy on knives
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2006, file photo, knives of all sizes and types are piled in a box at the State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga., and are just a few of the hundreds of items discarded at the security checkpoints of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will be for sale at the store. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The head of Delta Air Lines on Friday joined the growing opposition to the Transportation Security Administration's new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives onto planes.
Delta CEO Richard Anderson said in a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole that he shares the "legitimate concerns" of the airline's flight attendants about the new policy.
Allowing small knives to be carried on board after a ban of more than 11 years "will add little value to the customer security process flow in relation to the additional risk for our cabin staff and customers," Anderson said in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
"If the purpose is to increase security checkpoint flow, there are much more effective steps we can take together to streamline the security checkpoints with risk-based screening mechanisms," he said.
Delta, based in Atlanta, is the world's second-largest airline. It is the first major airline to join not only flight attendants but pilots, federal air marshals and insurance companies in a burgeoning backlash to the policy. Pistole announced the policy on Tuesday.
TSA spokesman David Castelveter declined to comment on the letter. He said TSA plans to implement the policy on April 25 as scheduled.
Airlines for America, a trade association representing major U.S. airlines, has been supportive of TSA without explicitly endorsing the policy.
"We support the TSA's approach of combining its vast experience with billions of passenger screenings with thorough risk-based assessments," Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the association, said in response to a request Friday for the association's position.
Anderson cited only small knives in his letter. The policy will also allow passengers to include in their carry-on luggage novelty-size baseball bats less than 24 inches long, toy plastic bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs. Items like box cutters and razor blades are still prohibited.
Knives permitted under the policy must be able to fold up and have blades that are 2.36 inches or less in length and are less than 1/2-inch wide. The policy is aimed at allowing passengers to carry pen knives, corkscrews with small blades and other small knives
There has been a gradual easing of some of the security measures applied to airline passengers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The new policy conforms U.S. security standards to international standards and allows the TSA to concentrate its energies on more serious safety threats, the agency said when it announced the change this week.
The policy change was based on a recommendation from an internal TSA working group, which decided the items represented no real danger, the agency has said.
TSA has said the presence on flights of gun-carrying pilots traveling as passengers, federal air marshals and airline crew members trained in self-defense provide additional layers of security to protect against misuse of the newly allowed items.
Not all flights, however, have federal air marshals or armed pilots onboard.
The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, representing nearly 90,000 flight attendants, said Thursday it is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public education campaign to reverse the policy. A petition posted by the flight attendants on the White House's "We the People" website had nearly 12,000 signatures late Friday urging the administration to tell the TSA to keep knives off planes.
"The continued ban on dangerous objects is an integral layer in aviation security and must remain in place," the coalition, which is made up of five unions, said in a statement.
Jon Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, whose 26,000 members include federal air marshals, complained that he and other "stakeholders" weren't consulted by TSA before the "countersafety policy" was announced. He said the association will ask Congress to block the policy change.
The Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations, which represents 22,000 pilots, said it opposes allowing knives of any kind in airliner cabins.
"We believe the (terrorism) threat is still real and the removal of any layer of security will put crewmembers and the flying public unnecessarily in harm's way," Mike Karn, the coalition's president, said.
The new policy has touched off a debate over the mission of TSA and whether the agency is supposed to concentrate exclusively on preventing terrorists from hijacking or blowing up planes, or whether it should also help protect air travelers and flight crews from unruly and sometimes dangerous passengers.
"The charter, the mission of TSA is to stop an airplane from being used as a weapon and to stop catastrophic damage to that aircraft," David Castelveter, a spokesman for the agency, said. Pistole's position is "these small knives, these baseball bats, these sporting items aren't going to contribute to bringing an airplane down," he said.
In an era of reinforced cockpit doors and passengers who have shown a willingness to intervene, the threat from terrorism has been greatly reduced, said Andrew R. Thomas, a University of Akron business professor and author of several books on the airline industry and security.
"Acts of aberrant, abusive and abnormal passenger behavior known as air rage remain the most persistent threat to aviation security," he said.
Adler, representing the air marshals, said aviation security is neither "terrorist-proof nor psycho-proof," and both should be protected against.
TSA's "primary concern, and their only concern, is to protect the cockpit to make sure the planes aren't turned into missiles," he complained. "Traveling Americans are expendable, disposable and otherwise irrelevant to air travel safety."
The new policy has aviation insurers concerned as well.
"We think this move is a bad idea, and isn't in the interests of the traveling public or flight crews in the aviation industry," said Joe Strickland, head of American operations for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, a leading global aviation insurer.
"Safety is the highest priority of every commercial air carrier, flight crew member and air traffic controller," he said. "We don't see how these changes support this priority."
___
Freed reported from Minneapolis.
___
Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
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Friday, March 8, 2013
The world gets smaller one purchase at a time for online businesses ...
Posted on March 7, 2013 by surveyoronline
John Arnolds logs onto his web-based store that sells vintage vacuum tubes around the globe. Jan Wilderom photo.
By Jan WilderomMarch 5 2013
Lots of people buy things online, and that?s fine with John Arnolds, who sells vacuum tubes on the Internet.
Arnolds? business happened almost by accident. He bought tubes so he could fix old radio?s he collected.
?I just collected them over the years thinking I would need them for repairs, but then I realized I had 1,500 to 2,000 tubes and if I live another 100 years I would go through them, but??
Arnolds sells a large number of his vacuum tubes to international locations.
?How else could I be selling to all these places other than online? I suppose once upon a time you could do it though a magazine, but the Internet has replaced that.?
Even with the convenience, Arnolds said it?s not all-smooth sailing.
?I found that I was spending hours and hours setting this whole thing up.?
Charlottetown?s Back Alley music store owner Pat Deighn said it really helps his business.
?It?s hard now a days to have A to Z stock, especially in a market like this.?
Deighn said he uses Ebay but he prefers to use purchase sites rather than bidding to get products.
?eBay is good. There are certain other sites that you can use where you don?t have to bid. Amazon?s great.?
Sometimes it costs a bit more to get certain albums, but people are okay with the cost, Deighn said.
?It definitely costs a little more, but the Internet allows us to get more limited products. Plus, people are willing to pay a little more to get them.?
Most of the fun is in the search, said Deighn.
?There?s nothing better than having a beer or two, putting on some vinyl and searching the Internet for vinyl?s.?
Arnolds wasn?t always a supporter of web-based sales.
?As a retailer, I was against it because I was always for local businesses. But then, I don?t think you could have a store that just sells tubes.?
Besides, its not a big business, he said.
?I am not making a fortune with them. In fact, I am offering them on the low side of their value. I am not planning on running the other stores out of business.?
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Child marriages: 39,000 every day
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Public release date: 7-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Marshall Hoffman
marshall@hoffmanpr.com
703-801-8602
Hoffman & Hoffman Worldwide
More than 140 million girls will marry between 2011 and 2020
NEW YORK, 7 March 2013 Between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
If current levels of child marriages hold, 14.2 million girls annually or 39,000 daily will marry too young.
Furthermore, of the 140 million girls who will marry before the age of 18, 50 million will be under the age of 15.
Despite the physical damage and the persistent discrimination to young girls, little progress has been made toward ending the practice of child marriage. In fact, the problem threatens to increase with the expanding youth population in the developing world.
"Child marriage is an appalling violation of human rights and robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects," says Babatunde Osotimehin, M.D, Executive Director, UNFPA."A girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled. Since many parents and communities also want the very best for their daughters, we must work together and end child marriage."
Girls married young are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence and sexual abuse than those who marry later.
"Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged 15-19. Young girls who marry later and delay pregnancy beyond their adolescence have more chances to stay healthier, to better their education and build a better life for themselves and their families," says Flavia Bustreo, M.D., Assistant Director-General for Family, Women's and Children's Health at the World Health Organization. "We have the means at our disposal to work together to stop child marriage."
On March 7, a special session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will focus on child marriage. The Governments of Bangladesh, Malawi and Canada will jointly sponsor the session. It is held in support of Every Woman Every Child, a movement spearheaded by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that aims to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.
The session will address the problems created by early marriages and ways to prevent them. Mereso Kiluso, a Tanzanian mother of five now in her 20s, who was married at 14 to an abusive man in his 70s, will describe her experience.
If child marriage is not properly addressed, UN Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5 - calling for a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate and a three-fourths reduction in the maternal deaths by 2015 - will not be met.
Child marriage - defined as marriage before the age of 18 - applies to both boys and girls, but the practice is far more common among young girls.
Child marriage is a global issue but rates vary dramatically, both within and between countries. In both proportions and numbers, most child marriages take place in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
In South Asia, nearly half of young women and in sub-Saharan Africa more than one third of young women are married by their 18th birthday.
The 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are: Niger, 75 percent; Chad and Central African Republic, 68 percent; Bangladesh, 66 percent; Guinea, 63 percent; Mozambique, 56 percent; Mali, 55 percent; Burkina Faso and South Sudan, 52 percent; and Malawi, 50 percent.
In terms of absolute numbers, because of the size of its population, India has the most child marriages and a prevalence of 47 percent.
What progress has been made to stop the practice has been in urban areas where families see greater work and education opportunities for young girls.
A violation of the rights of girls
"No girl should be robbed of her childhood, her education and health, and her aspirations. Yet today millions of girls are denied their rights each year when they are married as child brides," says Michelle Bachelet, M.D., Executive Director of UN Women.
Child marriage is increasingly recognized as a violation of the rights of girls for the following reasons:
- Effectively ending their education
- Blocking any opportunity to gain vocational and life skills
- Exposing them to the risks of too-early pregnancy, child bearing, and motherhood before they are physically and psychologically ready
- Increasing their risk of intimate partner sexual violence and HIV infection
"Child marriage is a huge problem in poor communities," says Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA. "Early marriage and child marriage robs the future. Girls lose the opportunity for education. They lose the opportunity to choose their partner and must live with that pain for the rest of their lives."
The World YWCA will present a petition to CSW urging the group to pass a special resolution calling for an end child marriage. Signatories believe that by working collaboratively, member states and concerned groups can end child marriage by 2030.
Despite the fact that 158 countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18 years, laws are rarely enforced since the practice of marrying young children is upheld by tradition and social norms.
The detrimental effects of early child marriage
"Child marriage is not only wrong, it is dangerous. It exposes a young girl to profound health risks from early pregnancy and difficult childbirth and it exposes her baby to complications of premature birth," says Anthony Lake Executive Director of UNICEF.
According to the UN, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death for girls aged 15-19 years in developing countries. Of the16 million adolescent girls who give birth every year, about 90 percent are already married. UNICEF estimates some 50,000 die, almost all in low- and middle-income countries. Stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50 percent higher among mothers under the age of 20 than in women who get pregnant in their 20s.
In many poor countries, most young girls, regardless of age, are forced to demonstrate their fertility once they are married.
"These children, because that's what they are, are discouraged from using contraceptives or might have to ask their husbands' permission, or they have no knowledge of or access to what they need," says Carole Presern, PhD, Executive Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and a midwife.
Violence common in child marriages
Loss of girlhood and health problems related to early pregnancy are not the only hazards confronting young brides.
Even though some parents believe early marriage will protect their daughters from sexual violence, the reverse is often true, according to UN studies.
Young girls who marry before the age of 18 have a greater chance of becoming victims of intimate partner violence than those who marry at an older age. This is especially true when the age gap between the child bride and spouse is large.
"Child marriage marks an abrupt and often violent introduction to sexual relations," says Claudia Garcia Moreno, M.D., of WHO, a leading expert in violence against women. "The young girls are powerless to refuse sex and lack the resources or legal and social support to leave an abusive marriage."
A complex issue with deep roots
Child marriage, which has existed for centuries, is a complex issue, rooted deeply in gender inequality, tradition and poverty. The practice is most common in rural and impoverished areas, where prospects for girls can be limited. In many cases, parents arrange these marriages and young girls have no choice.
Poor families marry off young daughters to reduce the number of children they need to feed, clothe and educate. In some cultures, a major incentive is the price prospective husbands will pay for young brides.
Social pressures within a community can lead families to wed young children. For example, some cultures believe marrying girls before they reach puberty will bring blessings on families. Some societies believe that early marriage will protect young girls from sexual attacks and violence and see it as a way to insure that their daughter will not become pregnant out of wedlock and bring dishonour to the family.
Too, many families marry their daughters simply because early marriage is the only option they know.
"Many faith leaders and their communities are already working to end child marriage and other forms of violence against children. Changing stubborn behavior is immensely challenging, so we must go further to positively influence beliefs and actions," says Tim Costello, Chief Executive of World Vision Australia.
Malawi's work to end child marriage
In Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, at least half of young women are married before the age of 18. The country is working to end the practice "to allow the girl child to continue with education, to become a learned citizen who can contribute to the development and economy of the country," says Mrs. Catherine Gotani Hara, Malawi's Minister of Health.
Another reason for Malawi's effort is the high teenage pregnancy rate and the fact that teen pregnancies contribute to 20-30 percent of maternal deaths in the country. "By ending early marriages we can avert up to 30 percent of maternal deaths and also reduce the neonatal mortality rate," she says.
The Minister reports that Malawi has taken a number of steps aimed at ending the practice of child marriage. These include:
- Providing free universal access to primary education;
- Working with chiefs to sensitize their communities on the importance of sending children to school, with an emphasis on the girl child;
- Implementing a policy that allows girls who become pregnant during school to go back to school after delivery to continue their education;
- Working with parliamentarians to raise the age at marriage to 18 years by 2014; and
- Providing Youth Friendly Health Services. This outreach empowers youths with the information that would enable them to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
UN Millennium Development Goals
Ending child marriage is closely related to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Every Woman Every Child initiative and to efforts to reach Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 3, 4 and 5 to promote gender equality, to reduce child mortality and to improve maternal health.
The continued occurrence of child marriage has hindered the achievement of these MDGs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.
"I urge governments, community and religious leaders, civil society, the private sector, and familiesespecially men and boysto do their part to let girls be girls, not brides," says the Secretary-General.
Ending child marriage would also help countries achieve other MDGs aimed at eradicating poverty, achieving universal education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and should also figure within a renewed development agenda.
"The needs of adolescent girls were overlooked in the Millennium Development Goals; they must have a central place in any new goals set by the international community," said Lakshmi Sundaram, Global Coordinator of Girls Not Brides. "By using the rate of child marriage as an indicator to monitor progress against new goals, we can make sure that governments address the practice and focus on ensuring the welfare of their girls."
Strategies for ending child marriage recommended to the Commission on the Status of Women include:
- Supporting and enforcing legislation to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 years;
- Providing equal access to quality primary and secondary education for both girls and boys;
- Mobilizing girls, boys, parents and leaders to change practices that discriminate against girls and to create social, economic, and civic opportunities for girls and young women;
- Providing girls who are already married with options for schooling, employment and livelihood skills, sexual and reproductive health information and services (including HIV prevention), and offering recourse from violence in the home;
- Addressing the root causes of child marriage, including poverty, gender inequality and discrimination, the low value placed on girls and violence against girls.
###
Participants at the special session on child marriage will include: Margaret Mensah-Williams, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Namibia; Michelle Bachelet, M.D., Executive Director of UN Women; Babatunde Osotimehin, M.D., Executive Director of UNFPA, Lakshmi Sundaram, Global Coordinator of Girls Not Brides; and Tim Costello, CEO, World Vision Australia. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA, will moderate the session. Comments will be provided by government co-hosts of the event: H.E. Catherine Gotani Hara, Minister of Health of Malawi; H.E. Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, Permanent Representative to the UN, Bangladesh, and Guillermo Rishchynski, Permanent Representative to the UN, Canada, Carole Presern, Executive Director, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health will introduce government representatives.
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Public release date: 7-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Marshall Hoffman
marshall@hoffmanpr.com
703-801-8602
Hoffman & Hoffman Worldwide
More than 140 million girls will marry between 2011 and 2020
NEW YORK, 7 March 2013 Between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
If current levels of child marriages hold, 14.2 million girls annually or 39,000 daily will marry too young.
Furthermore, of the 140 million girls who will marry before the age of 18, 50 million will be under the age of 15.
Despite the physical damage and the persistent discrimination to young girls, little progress has been made toward ending the practice of child marriage. In fact, the problem threatens to increase with the expanding youth population in the developing world.
"Child marriage is an appalling violation of human rights and robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects," says Babatunde Osotimehin, M.D, Executive Director, UNFPA."A girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled. Since many parents and communities also want the very best for their daughters, we must work together and end child marriage."
Girls married young are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence and sexual abuse than those who marry later.
"Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged 15-19. Young girls who marry later and delay pregnancy beyond their adolescence have more chances to stay healthier, to better their education and build a better life for themselves and their families," says Flavia Bustreo, M.D., Assistant Director-General for Family, Women's and Children's Health at the World Health Organization. "We have the means at our disposal to work together to stop child marriage."
On March 7, a special session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will focus on child marriage. The Governments of Bangladesh, Malawi and Canada will jointly sponsor the session. It is held in support of Every Woman Every Child, a movement spearheaded by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that aims to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.
The session will address the problems created by early marriages and ways to prevent them. Mereso Kiluso, a Tanzanian mother of five now in her 20s, who was married at 14 to an abusive man in his 70s, will describe her experience.
If child marriage is not properly addressed, UN Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5 - calling for a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate and a three-fourths reduction in the maternal deaths by 2015 - will not be met.
Child marriage - defined as marriage before the age of 18 - applies to both boys and girls, but the practice is far more common among young girls.
Child marriage is a global issue but rates vary dramatically, both within and between countries. In both proportions and numbers, most child marriages take place in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
In South Asia, nearly half of young women and in sub-Saharan Africa more than one third of young women are married by their 18th birthday.
The 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are: Niger, 75 percent; Chad and Central African Republic, 68 percent; Bangladesh, 66 percent; Guinea, 63 percent; Mozambique, 56 percent; Mali, 55 percent; Burkina Faso and South Sudan, 52 percent; and Malawi, 50 percent.
In terms of absolute numbers, because of the size of its population, India has the most child marriages and a prevalence of 47 percent.
What progress has been made to stop the practice has been in urban areas where families see greater work and education opportunities for young girls.
A violation of the rights of girls
"No girl should be robbed of her childhood, her education and health, and her aspirations. Yet today millions of girls are denied their rights each year when they are married as child brides," says Michelle Bachelet, M.D., Executive Director of UN Women.
Child marriage is increasingly recognized as a violation of the rights of girls for the following reasons:
- Effectively ending their education
- Blocking any opportunity to gain vocational and life skills
- Exposing them to the risks of too-early pregnancy, child bearing, and motherhood before they are physically and psychologically ready
- Increasing their risk of intimate partner sexual violence and HIV infection
"Child marriage is a huge problem in poor communities," says Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA. "Early marriage and child marriage robs the future. Girls lose the opportunity for education. They lose the opportunity to choose their partner and must live with that pain for the rest of their lives."
The World YWCA will present a petition to CSW urging the group to pass a special resolution calling for an end child marriage. Signatories believe that by working collaboratively, member states and concerned groups can end child marriage by 2030.
Despite the fact that 158 countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18 years, laws are rarely enforced since the practice of marrying young children is upheld by tradition and social norms.
The detrimental effects of early child marriage
"Child marriage is not only wrong, it is dangerous. It exposes a young girl to profound health risks from early pregnancy and difficult childbirth and it exposes her baby to complications of premature birth," says Anthony Lake Executive Director of UNICEF.
According to the UN, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death for girls aged 15-19 years in developing countries. Of the16 million adolescent girls who give birth every year, about 90 percent are already married. UNICEF estimates some 50,000 die, almost all in low- and middle-income countries. Stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50 percent higher among mothers under the age of 20 than in women who get pregnant in their 20s.
In many poor countries, most young girls, regardless of age, are forced to demonstrate their fertility once they are married.
"These children, because that's what they are, are discouraged from using contraceptives or might have to ask their husbands' permission, or they have no knowledge of or access to what they need," says Carole Presern, PhD, Executive Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and a midwife.
Violence common in child marriages
Loss of girlhood and health problems related to early pregnancy are not the only hazards confronting young brides.
Even though some parents believe early marriage will protect their daughters from sexual violence, the reverse is often true, according to UN studies.
Young girls who marry before the age of 18 have a greater chance of becoming victims of intimate partner violence than those who marry at an older age. This is especially true when the age gap between the child bride and spouse is large.
"Child marriage marks an abrupt and often violent introduction to sexual relations," says Claudia Garcia Moreno, M.D., of WHO, a leading expert in violence against women. "The young girls are powerless to refuse sex and lack the resources or legal and social support to leave an abusive marriage."
A complex issue with deep roots
Child marriage, which has existed for centuries, is a complex issue, rooted deeply in gender inequality, tradition and poverty. The practice is most common in rural and impoverished areas, where prospects for girls can be limited. In many cases, parents arrange these marriages and young girls have no choice.
Poor families marry off young daughters to reduce the number of children they need to feed, clothe and educate. In some cultures, a major incentive is the price prospective husbands will pay for young brides.
Social pressures within a community can lead families to wed young children. For example, some cultures believe marrying girls before they reach puberty will bring blessings on families. Some societies believe that early marriage will protect young girls from sexual attacks and violence and see it as a way to insure that their daughter will not become pregnant out of wedlock and bring dishonour to the family.
Too, many families marry their daughters simply because early marriage is the only option they know.
"Many faith leaders and their communities are already working to end child marriage and other forms of violence against children. Changing stubborn behavior is immensely challenging, so we must go further to positively influence beliefs and actions," says Tim Costello, Chief Executive of World Vision Australia.
Malawi's work to end child marriage
In Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, at least half of young women are married before the age of 18. The country is working to end the practice "to allow the girl child to continue with education, to become a learned citizen who can contribute to the development and economy of the country," says Mrs. Catherine Gotani Hara, Malawi's Minister of Health.
Another reason for Malawi's effort is the high teenage pregnancy rate and the fact that teen pregnancies contribute to 20-30 percent of maternal deaths in the country. "By ending early marriages we can avert up to 30 percent of maternal deaths and also reduce the neonatal mortality rate," she says.
The Minister reports that Malawi has taken a number of steps aimed at ending the practice of child marriage. These include:
- Providing free universal access to primary education;
- Working with chiefs to sensitize their communities on the importance of sending children to school, with an emphasis on the girl child;
- Implementing a policy that allows girls who become pregnant during school to go back to school after delivery to continue their education;
- Working with parliamentarians to raise the age at marriage to 18 years by 2014; and
- Providing Youth Friendly Health Services. This outreach empowers youths with the information that would enable them to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
UN Millennium Development Goals
Ending child marriage is closely related to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Every Woman Every Child initiative and to efforts to reach Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 3, 4 and 5 to promote gender equality, to reduce child mortality and to improve maternal health.
The continued occurrence of child marriage has hindered the achievement of these MDGs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.
"I urge governments, community and religious leaders, civil society, the private sector, and familiesespecially men and boysto do their part to let girls be girls, not brides," says the Secretary-General.
Ending child marriage would also help countries achieve other MDGs aimed at eradicating poverty, achieving universal education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and should also figure within a renewed development agenda.
"The needs of adolescent girls were overlooked in the Millennium Development Goals; they must have a central place in any new goals set by the international community," said Lakshmi Sundaram, Global Coordinator of Girls Not Brides. "By using the rate of child marriage as an indicator to monitor progress against new goals, we can make sure that governments address the practice and focus on ensuring the welfare of their girls."
Strategies for ending child marriage recommended to the Commission on the Status of Women include:
- Supporting and enforcing legislation to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 years;
- Providing equal access to quality primary and secondary education for both girls and boys;
- Mobilizing girls, boys, parents and leaders to change practices that discriminate against girls and to create social, economic, and civic opportunities for girls and young women;
- Providing girls who are already married with options for schooling, employment and livelihood skills, sexual and reproductive health information and services (including HIV prevention), and offering recourse from violence in the home;
- Addressing the root causes of child marriage, including poverty, gender inequality and discrimination, the low value placed on girls and violence against girls.
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Participants at the special session on child marriage will include: Margaret Mensah-Williams, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Namibia; Michelle Bachelet, M.D., Executive Director of UN Women; Babatunde Osotimehin, M.D., Executive Director of UNFPA, Lakshmi Sundaram, Global Coordinator of Girls Not Brides; and Tim Costello, CEO, World Vision Australia. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA, will moderate the session. Comments will be provided by government co-hosts of the event: H.E. Catherine Gotani Hara, Minister of Health of Malawi; H.E. Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, Permanent Representative to the UN, Bangladesh, and Guillermo Rishchynski, Permanent Representative to the UN, Canada, Carole Presern, Executive Director, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health will introduce government representatives.
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/hhw-cm3030613.php
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