Child Soldiers
300,000 children, some as young as seven, are estimated to be fighting in conflicts worldwide. Girls as well as boys are enlisted. Many are sexually abused or forcefully recruited as ‘wives’ for adult soldiers.

Urge the UK government to make greater efforts to ban the use of child soldiers.Or join Trocaire’s campaign to make the use of child soldiers unacceptable in any circumstances.

Refugee Children
Refugee children should have the same rights as any other children but in the UK they don’t. Save the Children is calling on the UK government to remove the 1991 Reservation on immigration and nationality to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. They need you to join their campaign.

CHILDREN and HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS is a global crisis of immense proportions. To date the epidemic has left a staggering 13 million orphans. Grim though the situation is, the outlook is far from hopeless. Hope for tomorrow lies with children. We must begin to protect them today. Visit the Global Movement for Children site.

POLIO: A CHILD KILLER DEFEATED
In June 2002 Europe achieved a historic milestone: it is now a polio-free region. The last case of polio in Europe occurred in Eastern Turkey in 1998. Between 1995 and 1998 over 60million children received anti-polio vaccine. Continuing surveillance will be essential to guard against re-infection of the region from other parts of the world.
On 21st June 2002 Philip D. O’Brien, UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe said: “In Europe and elsewhere we have worked to reach children living in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable, including some conflict-affected areas. This unprecedented effort which has been rewarded today with European certification must be continued until we reach all children, everywhere, with polio vaccine.”