Clinton Applauds Global Effort To Help Orphans

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute today for its efforts to provide permanent homes for orphans around the world. 

“We meet today because we all believe that every child deserves a safe, loving, permanent family of his or her own,” Clinton said during a policy summit meant to coincide with the release of findings from the group’s year-long “The Way Forward Project.”

Clinton detailed her past experience working for children’s causes, which began in law school when she explored legal protections for abused children. During that time, the former First Lady worked for the Children’s Defense Fund to gather data to help make the case that children with disabilities deserve an education. While traveling the world, Clinton visited two of Mother Theresa’s orphanages in India and a state orphanage in Romania, which further encouraged her efforts to pass legislation to fund permanent homes for orphaned children.

“Consistently the studies prove that children in residential institutions too often experience developmental delays [and] attachment disorders that obviously impact their ability to mature and success later in life,” Clinton said today. “One recent study showed that on average children reared in orphanages had IQs 20 points lower than those raised in foster care.”  

Yet, Clinton deplored that while there have been tremendous efforts to get children out of orphanages and into caring homes, UNICEF still estimates that there are at least two million children in orphanages around the world.

This is where The Way Forward Project comes in. The effort, which was launched last November, brought policy makers, investors and practitioners together to seek ways to improve the full continuum of care for vulnerable children around the world. Their 200-page report concluded that “family-based care is the optimal environment for children and should therefore be the underlying goal for children who, because of things such as disease, war, violence and poverty find themselves living alone, on the streets or in institutions.”

“Let’s work together on this because, for me, there is no higher priority,” Clinton said. “The work I do every day as Secretary to try to make the world a more peaceful, stable, free place is really aimed at helping the next generation realize their God-given potential and this is a big part of that.” 

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and evangelical Christian Pastor Rick Warren also spoke at today’s event.

Click here to see a photo taken at the Summit. 

Famine Stalks Somalia: UN Urges World Action

Somalia is facing a level of famine not seen since the 1980’s, senior UN officials have warned, calling for massive humanitarian assistance for the southern part of the country. 

An acute drought and continued fighting have forced hundreds of thousands of civilians into already overcrowded refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, where over 1400 new refugees are seeking shelter every day. 

“I believe Somalia represents the worst humanitarian disaster in the world” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutteres told journalists during a visit to a refugee camp in Kenya on Sunday. “And that is why we need to do everything everything we can to make it possible to deliver massive humanitarian assistance inside Somalia.”

 Threats from militias and a worsening security situation over the past months have left much of Southern Somalia out of the reach of aid agencies. Last week UN officials in Somalia welcomed the decision by al -Shabaab, a militant Islamic organization in control of large portions of the country, to allow humanitarian access to those in need.

But the rapidly growing number of displaced peoples has also put additional strain on neighboring states. Kenya and Ethiopia, who are struggling to manage the effects of the food crisis on their own populations, are continuing to see a large influx of displaced people.

The town of Dadaab in Northern Kenya is currently home to the largest refugee encampment in the world and operating well beyond its capacities. Over 350 000 people have sought shelter there, and 10,000 new Somali refugees are arriving every week. 

Over the weekend, Kenyan government officials turned down a UN Refugee agency request to open an other nearby camp to better manage the overflow of displaced people.

“You can imagine what it is like in a camp that was built for 90 000 people that now host over 360 000 people” UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos told reporters today. “The implications in terms of access to water sanitation, our ability to supply the most basic services to those people are extremely limited.”

Amos said she was “disappointed” the Kenyan governments decided to turn down the UN request and urged the international community to do more for the Horn of Africa. 

“We urgently need a united approach to the relief effort so we can avoid a descent into the famine like conditions last seen in the 1980’s.” she said “It’s clear that the effects of this drought are going to last for at least the rest of this year, and the situation in drought affected areas is expected to worsen. The need to do more now is urgent, but in addition, we also need to plan for the longer term, to help people rebuild their lives when the situation improves.”

Pending legislation threatens human rights in Ethiopia

“Internal stability and anti-terrorism are main focuses for the United States in Ethiopia,” said David Kramer, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Kramer was part of a panel of experts at the Center for Strategic & International Studies who held a discussion today on “Human Rights and Governance in Ethiopia.”

“We have seen a number of efforts that are perceived in many circles, in Ethiopia and here, of trying to close the political space in Ethiopia. Of immediate concern is the latest draft of the Charities and Societies Proclamation as well as the Media Law. Both of these run the risk of curbing freedom of speech, civic development and capacity building that we feel are very important to development of a democratic system and a respect to human rights in that country,” said Kramer.

Yoseph Mulugeta Badwaza, Secretary General of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, described the likely impact of the pending legislation known as the “CSO Bill,” which threatens non-governmental organizations that receive foreign contributions in support of human rights, civic education, and peace building activities. Ethiopia is currently the third largest recipient of U.S. aid in the African continent, and the panel agreed this legislation would severely hamper human rights regulation in the country.

Chris Albin-Lackey of Human Rights Watch said the draft of this legislation “isn’t just important in it of itself, it’s also very important as a bellwether and a very alarming signal about the overall direction that Ethiopia is moving in.”