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In conflicts and disasters, protect children from child labour
by ILO, Unicef, World Vision, agencies
 
12 June, 2017
 
Globally over 1.5 billion people live in countries that are affected by conflict, violence and fragility. At the same time, around 200 million people are affected by disasters every year. A third of them are children.
 
A significant proportion of the 168 million children engaged in child labour live in areas affected by conflict and disaster. The World Day Against Child Labour this year focuses on the impact of conflicts and disasters on child labour.
 
Conflicts and disasters have a devastating impact on people’s lives. They kill, maim, injure, force people to flee their homes, destroy livelihoods, push people into poverty and starvation and trap people in situations where their basic human rights are violated.
 
Children are often the first to suffer as schools are destroyed and basic services are disrupted.
 
Many children are internally displaced or become refugees in other countries, and are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and child labour.
 
Ultimately, millions of children are pushed into child labour by conflicts and disasters.
 
As the world strives to achieve the elimination of child labour by 2025, on this World Day Against Child Labour, let’s join forces to end child labour in areas affected by conflict and disaster.
 
http://ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/wdacl/2017/lang--en/index.htm http://ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/06/this-is-the-nation-of-170-million-enslaved-children/ http://bit.ly/2s4MezY http://www.ituc-csi.org/forcedlabour http://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-labor http://www.wvi.org/topics/child-labour http://www.worldvision.com.au/global-issues/work-we-do/child-labour http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/our-thematic-areas/child-protection/protection-children-harmful-work http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_child_labour.html http://www.un.org/en/events/childlabourday/resources.shtml


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Crop Prospects and Food Situation, No. 2 June 2017
by UN Food & Agriculture Organization
 
8 June 2017
 
Food insecurity strains deepen amid civil conflict and drought. FAO report notes heavy toll of disrupted farming, higher prices and displaced livelihoods.
 
Large agricultural harvests in some regions of the world are buoying global food supply conditions, but protracted fighting and unrest are increasing the ranks of the displaced and hungry elsewhere, according to the new edition of FAO''s Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.
 
Some 37 countries, 28 of which are in Africa, require external assistance for food, according to the report.
 
Civil conflict continues to be a main driver of severe food insecurity, having triggered famine conditions in South Sudan and put populations in Yemen and northern Nigeria at high risk of localized famine. Adverse weather conditions are exacerbating the threat of famine in Somalia.
 
Refugees from civil strife in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Central African Republic are putting additional pressure on local food supplies in host communities, the report notes.
 
Some 5.5 million people are estimated to be severely food insecure in South Sudan, where maize and sorghum prices are now four times higher than in April 2016. In Somalia, about 3.2 million people are in need of food and agricultural emergency assistance, while in Yemen the figure is as high as 17 million.
 
In northern Nigeria, disruption caused by the conflict has left 7.1 million people facing acute food insecurity in the affected areas, with even more deemed to be in less dire but still "stressed" conditions.
 
The 37 countries currently in need of external food assistance are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People''s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
 
While worldwide cereal output is strong, production outcomes are mixed across the globe. South America is expected to post strong increases, led by Brazil and Argentina.
 
Regional production in Southern Africa is expected to increase by almost 45 percent compared to 2016 when crops were affected by El Niño, with record maize harvests forecast in South Africa and Zambia. This should help reducing food insecurity in several countries such as Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
 
The overall food supply situation in the Sahel region is also satisfactory after two consecutive years of strong crops, the report notes.
 
East Africa, however, has suffered from insufficient rainfall at the start of the 2017 season, fall armyworm infestations and local conflicts. As a result, a record 26.5 million people in the sub-region are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance, and the situation could be aggravated further in the coming months as the lean season peaks.
 
An estimated 7.8 million people are food insecure in Ethiopia, where drought has dented crop and pasture output in southern regions.
 
Moreover, cereal domestic prices reached exceptionally high levels in May, with the local cost of maize jumping by as much as 65 percent this year in parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the report noted.
 
A severe drought in Sri Lanka, followed by heavy rains and local flooding in late May, will likely reduce the country''s paddy production by nearly a third compared to the average; a joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission was fielded in March 2017 to assess the drought impact and the results are expected to be released next week.
 
Cereal output in the 54 Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) is set to rise by 1.3 percent this year to 480 million tonnes, due to a strong performance in India and the rebound in Southern African countries, according to FAO''s forecasts. http://bit.ly/2sMS8Wi


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