Copyright Stichting Red een Kind
This is a guest blog by Jan Lamberink, Manager Regions and Programs at Stichting Red een Kind. Stichting Red een Kind is a Dutch NGO working in conflict- and post conflict areas. Their main aim is to empower children as well as their families who are at risk.
Today, 20 November, the world is observing International Children’s Day. A day to pause, reflect, and celebrate children. Children in most cultures represent joy and hope. Looking ahead to our future, children are the answer for a better world. A world where justice prevails. For large groups of women and children living in conflict and post-conflict areas however, today’s reality is often so shockingly different.
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Stichting Red een Kind
Last week Foreign Secretary William Hague addressed the Wilton Park conference on preventing sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations. His message for those who use rape as a weapon of war is that the shameless culture of impunity has to be shattered and targeted as the next global challenge. And not without reason.
Every year thousands of women and children are affected by war and sexual violence. A tiny article in one of the Dutch newspapers recently reported that 12% of the women in Eastern Congo are raped. Incomprehensible statistics representing oceans of tears. How on earth will the mothers of Congo explain their children what justice is all about?
Red een Kind (Help a Child) is a Dutch based NGO established in 1968, both working in conflict and post-conflict areas. Justice is one of the core values of the organisation. Our main aim is to empower children as well as their families when they are at risk. Red een Kind will not accept a world in which children see their mothers being abused. A world where girls and boys have to fear the insanity of their fellow citizens. Nor a world where atrocities and impunity have become the norm.
Through the years we had the privilege of getting to know a fraction of the incredible resilience of women and children in Africa and Asia. We have caught a glimpse of their marvellous ability to straighten their backs and keep going in times when the heavens cry.
This is what keeps us going too. And this is why we wholeheartedly welcome the campaign started by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague. Together with respected organizations like Amnesty International and Save the Children we will take up the challenge to fight what is not supposed to be. And to strengthen what we do want to see; peaceful communities in which women and children prosper.
