20 Nov 2012

SOMALIA / UNIVERSAL CHILDREN’S DAY

In Mogadishu, children from a camp for internally displaced people were invited by the Somali Women's Development Centre to commemorate Universal Children's Day on 20 November 2012. AU-UN IST

Posted at: November 20, 2012 6:04 pm

Duration: 02:07

Available in: SD

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STORY: SOMALIA / UNIVERSAL CHILDRENS DAY
TRT: 2.07
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ SOMALI /NATS

DATELINE: 20 NOVEMBER 2012, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOTLIST:

1. Med shot, sign reading "Celebration of Child's Day"
2. Wide shot, children entering the Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC)
3. Med shot, women helping a child to put on t-shirt
4. Wide shot, woman singing to the children
5. Wide shot, women and children signing and clapping
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sahra Mohamed Ahmed, Founder of the Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC):
"They come to the IDP (Internally Displaced People), they are different children. Some of them are disabled children, blind and deaf children and some are paralysed also. Today they feel different because now we have the new government and they hope to have a new chance to have especially health care and education."
7. Med shot, two girls playing a game
8. Med shot, children dancing with the women
9. Med shot, women singing and clapping
10. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Fatha Mohamud, Internally Displaced Child:
"We want to go to school and to get healthcare."
11. Med shot, boy signing and clapping
12. Med shot, woman caregiver singing
13. Close up, women waving balloons
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Arale, Child Protection Officer:
"We give them some playing materials like footballs and basketballs and also we give them some drinks and some t-shirts, so that they feel that they have some people who are supporting them."
15. Wide shot, children leaving the centre

STORYLINE:

The International Children's Day is officially celebrated across the world on 1st June, but not in Somalia, where the rights of children have been ignored if not non-existent due to years of war that plagued this Horn of Africa nation.

To accommodate countries like Somalia, the UN General Assembly recommended that all countries should establish a Universal Children's day on an 'appropriate' day.

In Mogadishu, children from a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) were invited by the Somali Women's Development Centre in Mogadishu to commemorate Universal Children's Day on 20 November 2012. The UN recognized day was established in 1954 to protect children working long hours in dangerous circumstances and to have access to education.

After over 20 years of war and conflict Somali children have been robbed of a childhood and many have been displaced from their homes in other parts of the country. In May 2011 drought and war pushed these children and their families from the Bay and Bakol districts into the capital Mogadishu.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sahra Mohamed Ahmed, Founder of the Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC):
"They come to the IDP (Internally Displaced People), they are different children. Some of them are disabled children, blind and deaf children and some are paralyzed also. Today they feel different because now we have the new government and they hope to have a new chance to have especially health care and education."

Aided by UNICEF and other organizations, the Somali Women's development Centre supports the 125 families in the Barwaqo IDP camp with blankets, kitchenware and tents. There are no schools for the children in the camps. Today they invited the most under privileged, some of whom are orphans.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Fatha Mohamud, Internally Displaced Child:
"We want to go to school and to get healthcare."

The women's organization are working towards getting better health and education and ultimately to get the families resettled in their own region, but today it was all about fun and these children being children again.

SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Arale, Child Protection Officer:
"We giver them some playing materials like footballs and basketballs and also we give them some drinks and some t-shirts, so that they feel that they have some people who are supporting them."

Forty-five percent of Somalia's population are children below the age of 15, according to recent data from the population reference bureau. Their data also shows that in every 1000 live births in the country, 107 infants die.

Filed under 14.02.02 - HUMAN RIGHTS AU/UNIST SOMALIA.