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Barriers and facilitators to providing assistive technologies to children with disabilities in Afghanistan

WHITAKKER, Golnaz
WOOD, Gavin
February 2022

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Due to the impacts of the ongoing conflict, Afghanistan’s child population is at high risk of being born with or acquiring a primary or secondary disability. According to a recent estimate, up to 17 per cent of Afghanistan’s children live with some form of disability. Assistive technologies (AT) – the systems, services and products that enhance the functioning of people with impairments – are likely to be required by a large proportion of children with disabilities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which includes a commitment to provide AT equitably to all who need it. However, little action has been taken to meet this commitment, and there continues to be a vast gap between the need for AT and its provision. This work presents the landscape of AT provision, the barriers and facilitators to provision, and provides recommendations to begin to close the gap. 

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to build on the evidence in the literature, and to understand the factors affecting AT provision in Afghanistan

Towards Inclusive Education - The impact of disability on school attendance in developing countries

Suguru Mizunoya
Sophie Mitra
IzumiYamasaki
May 2016

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The paper aims to reduce the global knowledge gap pertaining to the impact of disability on school attendance, using cross-nationally comparable and nationally representative data from 18 surveys in 15 countries that are selected among 2,500 surveys and censuses. These selected surveys administered the Washington Group Short Set (WGSS) of disability-screening questions, covering five functional domains of seeing, hearing, mobility, self-care, and remembering, and collected information on educational status. The paper finds that (i) the average disability gap in school attendance stands at 30% in primary and secondary schools in 15 countries; (ii) more than 85% of disabled primary-age children who are out of school have never attended school; (iii) the average marginal effect of disability on primary and secondary school attendance is negative and significant (-30%), and (iv) countries that have reached close to universal primary education report high ratios of disabled to non-disabled out-of-school children and (v) disabled children confront the same difficulties in participating in education, regardless of their individual and socio-economic characteristics.

Promoting the rights of children with disabilities

UNICEF INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTRE
October 2007

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This report provides a global perspective on the situation of over 200 million children living with disabilities. It focuses upon two conventions, the Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), presenting relevant facts and figures based upon reports from countries across regions, from a wide range of sources. Related issues about disability and inclusion, children's rights and the importance of a supportive environment for children with disabilities are discussed in detail. This report would be useful for people interested the rights of children with disabilities

Caring for children affected by HIV and AIDS

United Nations Childrens' Fund (UNICEF) Innocenti Research Centre (IRC)
November 2006

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This paper highlights the urgent need to support families and communities to care for children orphaned by HIV & AIDS. It looks at how the epidemic undermines children's health and schooling

1990 - 2005 Celebrating the Innocenti declaration on the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding

INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTRE, UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
2005

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In 1990, the Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding set an international agenda on breastfeeding and the recognition ofthe right of the infant to nutritious food enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This publication reviews the context of the Innocenti Declaration and analyzes the achievements that have been realized towards the targets that were established in 1990. It describes the continuing and new challenges that exist to optimal feeding of infants and young children, and suggests a way forward towards the global aim of ensuring universal enjoyment of children’s right to adequate nutrition.

The evolving capacities of the child

LANSDOWN, Gerison
2005

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The Convention on the Rights of the Child introduces for the first time in an international human rights treaty, the concept of the 'evolving capacities' of the child. This principle has been described as a new principle of interpretation in international law, recognising that, as children acquire enhanced competencies, there is a diminishing need for protection and a greater capacity to take responsibility for decisions affecting their lives. The Convention allows for the recognition that children in different environments and cultures, and faced with diverse life experiences, will acquire competencies at different ages. Action is needed in law, policy and practice so that the contributions children make and the capacities they hold are acknowledged. The purpose of the study is to open the discussion and promote debate to achieve a better understanding of how children can be protected, in accordance with their evolving capacities, and also provided with opportunities to participate in the fulfillment of their rights. Although the paper discusses children of all ages, section 2 (p.12) focuses on early childhood development and the cultural environment

Children and disability in transition in CEE/CIS and the Baltic States

UNICEF INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTRE
2005

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This report presents the status of children with disabilities in the former Soviet Union and Baltic States (i.e. CEE/CIS). It explains existing rights and education, healthcare and recreation facilities that are provided for children with disabilities. The concerns of children with disabilities and their parents are highlighted on various issues. This report would be useful for people interested in the status of children with disabilities in the former Soviet Union and Baltic States

Ensuring the rights of indigenous children

MILLER, Michael
February 2004

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This Digest details how the rights of indigenous children in both rural and urban areas are often compromised or denied. Specific areas of concern include the rights of indigenous children to survival and development, to good health, to education that respects their cultural identity, to protection from abuse, violence and exploitation, and participation in decision-making processes relevant to their lives. At the same time, however, indigenous children possess special resources as custodians of a multitude of cultures, languages, beliefs and knowledge systems. As this Digest discusses, the most effective initiatives to promote the rights of indigenous children build upon these very elements. Such initiatives recognize the inherent strength of indigenous communities, families and children, respect their dignity and give them full voice in all matters that affect them. The child age group in this report is from 0 - 18, with some areas that focus on early childhood development. For example, the right to birth registration, a name and nationality (p 9), or intercultural initiatives for safe childbirth in Peru (p 15)

How high is infant mortality in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS?

ALESHINA, Nadezhda
REDMOND, Gerry
November 2003

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Official statistics seem to suggest that in post-communist Europe infant mortality rates have significantly decreased through the 1990s. As infant mortality rate is a key indicator of the Millennium Development Goals, reliable measurement is crucial to assess progress. This paper argues that official counts may understate the gravity of the problem in at least 15 countries in the region. This may be due to unclear definitions of 'live birth' and 'stillbirth', misreporting of infant deaths, nonregistration of births or deaths. The paper also discusses the uncertainties associated with survey based estimates, and call for further work to be done to improve collection of data and effectiveness of surveys

Birth registration : right from the start

INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTRE, UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
March 2002

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This Digest looks at birth registration -- a fundamental human right that opens the door to other rights, including education and health care, participation and protection. Unregistered children are often the children of the poor and excluded, such as refugees or particular indigenous groups. Lack of registration exacerbates their poverty and underscores their marginalisation. Non-registration also has serious implications for national goverments. Countries need to know how many people they have and how many there are likely to be in the future, in order to plan effectively. This Digest emphasizes the crucial importance of birth registration, explores the obstacles to universal registration and highlights the actions -- including awareness raising, legislative changes, resource allocation and capacity building -- that are needed to ensure the registration of every child

The child friendly cities initiative in Italy

CORSI, Marco
2002

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This paper reviews the strengths and limitations of different child friendly cities initiatives in Italy and the many measures by national, regional and local governments to support them. City initiatives have sought to respond to the constraints that industrialisation and urbanisation have placed on children’s safe mobility, use of city space and participation. Many of the initiatives described have promoted children’s participation in city governance, often through children’s councils that developed proposals for city governments. Also described are special provisions by municipal authorities to ensure more attention to children’s issues, many of them involving environmental improvements that benefit children (for example, making children’s routes between home and school safer, expanding parks, creating bicycle tracks). The paper also describes children’s assessment of impacts, also their critical views of administrators who failed to keep their promises and teachers who were too controlling in participatory projects

Children in Bulgaria : growing impoverishment and unequal opportunities

GANTCHEVA, Roumania
KOLEV, Alexandre
January 2001

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This paper investigates the changes that have occurred over the last decade in three dimensions of child welfare recognised as fundamental child rights - economic well-being, health and education. Then it concentrates on particularly vulnerable groups of children - those born of teenage and single mothers and those living in institutions. The data show that the human cost of economic transition has been high and children have been among the most vulnerable groups of the society

The two faces of education in ethnic conflict : towards a peacebuilding education for children

BUSH, Kenneth
SALTARELLI, Diana
Ed
2000

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This document challenges a widely-held assumption that education is inevitably a force for good. While stressing the many stabilising aspects of good quality education, editors Kenneth Bush and Diana Saltarelli show how education can be manipulated to drive a wedge between people, rather than drawing them closer together. This Innocenti Insight outlines the negative and positive faces of education in situations of tension or violence, including the denial of education as a weapon of war (negative) and the cultivation of inclusive citizenship (positive). It emphasises the need for peacebuilding education. The publication is about children of all ages, but it also discusses the creation of ethnic identity from an early age (section 1), and gives examples of the destruction of primary schools as a weapon of war (p.11)

Children and violence [whole issue]

1997

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This resource examines..."violence by and to children, using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as its framework. The focus is on interpersonal violence, both intrafamilial and extrafamilial. Sexual abuse and exploitation are included because, although they do not necessarily involve violence or coercion, the vast majority of evidence indicates their generally harmful physical and psychological effects. Children’s involvement in armed conflict is also discussed, as are the prevalence of violence involving children and the reasons why children become violent"

Child friendly cities initiative

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)

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This website is a knowledge base for the global Child Friendly Cities (CFC) Initiative. It contains the CFC Database, which collects information on the role played by local governance systems in the areas of child rights, child participation and services for children; a CFC toolkit, which offers a definition of a CFC, examples of good practice and successful methods from around the world, a framework for action and key references

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