Group items tagged

This article states how the costs of migration in Latin America outweigh the rewards concerning the lives of children. Many children in the region endure negative impacts from their parents' migration to generate remittances. UNICEF claims that migration laves children with feelings of abandonment and vulnerability; the children's role models (their parents) are absent from their lives.

Many countries-Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba-are considering it mandatory to teach sexual education in primary schools. Many believe that the exclusion of sexual education has impacted the number of cases of sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and teenage pregnancies. The goal is to bring awareness to these issues in hopes of decreasing the rates and to teach children how to make choices responsibly.

Almost all of Latin America is required to provide sexual education classes for their students, however, these laws are widely ignored. Many children do not receive the proper knowledge about sex until the age of 12 or 13, even though a study conducted in Cuba shows that this is the age children are becoming sexual active. Without the knowledge of the issues of sex it leads to an increase in sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and many abandoned babies. The article also states that children in Argentina do not receive sexual education at all because of the conservative sectors in the area. Many committees and groups are lobbying to help make sexual education more prevalent in students education.

This article discusses the role of sexual education and how it affects the prevention of STDs, unplanned pregnancies, sexual abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Many countries in Latin America have laws stating that sexual education must be taught at schools, however in many of these countries this is not happening. Studies have shown that because these children are not receiving sexual education there are higher rates of unplanned pregnancy, STDs, sexual assault, and earlier ages of engaging in dangerous sexual activities.

This article focuses on the negative affect that the financial crisis in Guatemala is having on children. As a result of remittences, families cannot afford to send their children to school. The percentage of children leaving school are increasing.

Written in 2002, this article talks about improved changes made to children in Latin America in the way of health and education. However, these slight advancements have been met with many new challenges such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. The UN has become very involved in this problem and working on its solution as in many of these developing countries, children make up a great part of the population.

Although our current emphasis in class is the study of masculinity, this website details the problems that women and children face in Latin America. This pertains to our class in that it is important to understand why and how men (and other women) hurt women and children perhaps because of the pressure they feel to be "macho."

This article discusses the experiences of several young women involved in large Guatemalan gangs. Studies have found that almost 40% of gangs are constituted of young women (ages 14-21). These youths are living on the streets, and their fellow gang members often coerce them into group sex and group beatings. They are forced to have sex with most members of the gang, and kill someone, just for initiation. Admist the violence in Guatemala, young children are being orphaned, and end up getting involved in street gangs and violence. The article mentions how sometimes children are beaten at home, and they join a gang to "escape" it, when in reality, they are being beaten by the gangs, "their adopted family", as well. Gang leaders hold intense social control on their members.

This article is about poorer women in Peru dealing with the conflicting issues of whether birth control is right or wrong. It gives a specific example of a woman who killed 2 of her 6 children because she could not afford to take care of them anymore. The poorer people who are also Catholic are having to deal with the large amounts of children and the small amount of money. Some women are up for going to non-natural birth control meathods, but some say their husbands are afraid this will make them more promiscuous.

A Worldfocus contributing blogger writes that a zero tolerance policy intended to curb crime in Mexico has forced some street children into prostitution.

Latin American leaders are trying to prevent HIV in Latin America and the Carribean through sexual education and health promotion programs in schools. Childhood and adolescent years are the most important years of developing, therefore it is imperative to provide education on sexuality. The Costa Rican Government signed an agreement allowing leaders to educate 15-25 year olds on HIV and how to use a condom.

Latin America Ministers pledged to provide broad sex education in schools. Having sexual education can give the children an accurate idea of how bad the issue of HIV/AIDS is, and how they could prevent it. The education will cover a broad range of issues such as how HIV is transmitted and how to use a condom. The governments in Latin America and Caribbean are showing huge leadership in this field to provide the children and adolescents will information that will help this growing epidemic.

Uruguay passed a trailblazing law on September 9th of this year, allowing homosexual couples to adopt children. Uruguay is a predominately catholic country, and same-sex adoption goes directly against some principles of catholicism. Uruguay was also the first Latin American country to allow divorce, and recently allowed homosexual individuals into military schools, as noted in the article.

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, the legislative branch in Uruguay passed a bill allowing for gay and lesbian couples to adopt children. This law had major support from the Senators in a 17 out of 23 vote and is unlike any other gay rights movement bill in Latin America. Liberal activists hope this is just the first step in a very long line of the liberation of not only gay rights, but human rights. Uruguay is also noted to be the first Latin American country to approve divorce and women's right to vote.

This organization is an NGO based in Mexico and in this case Ecudor, specifically to work with street children and their families. When I used to live in Ecuador I worked for this group for six months as a sort-of social worker. Working there I encountered many people matching the descriptions of those found in "Reason to Believe" chapter 1.

This organization is an NGO based in Mexico and in this case Ecudor, specifically to work with street children and their families. When I used to live in Ecuador I worked for this group for six months as a sort-of social worker. Working there I encountered many people matching the descriptions of those found in "Reason to Believe" chapter 1.

This article article talks about the uncertain future adoptions from Guatemala have. Nowadays the adoption system is very corrupt and in many cases mothers are forced and bribed to give up her children, rather than needing to give them up. Guatemala is the second largest popular country for adoption, just below China. So, if Guatemala were to discontinue adoptions from the U.S., it would change the structure of the U.S. as well. So, although adoption is not yet closed, officials are advising people to be cautious when planning to adopt from Guatemala.

Guatemala is experiencing a drastic inflation in necessary survival items such as food, housing, and clothing. This inflation concerns the entire country, especially the poor and children under five. In May of 2008, The Regional Ministerial Conference met "Towards the Eradication of Child Undernutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean" in Chile. The meeting hoped to find methods of preventing and eradicating child undernutrition in the region, especially under the inflated circumstances. Thousands of Guatemalan families are food insecure, and therefore many suffer from malnutrition. This article discusses the meeting last May; their goals, initiatives, and decisions.

Guatemala's president declares a "state of public calamity" as thousands of families face severe food shortages.

This year, Guatemala is facing an extreme food shortage. 25 children have already died from starvation, and millions of communities are at risk for malnutrition. The UN Food Program has distributed nutritional biscuits to the most affected areas. The food shortage was brought on my drought which led crops to failure. This adds to the extreme figures of malnutrition, which almost half of Guatemala's children suffer from.

Guatemala has the resources to prevent child hunger compared to poorer countries in Latin America, but according to Unicef approximately half of Guatemala's children are suffering from malnutrition, making it the sixth worst performance of a nation in the world. The growing problem is a result of the current economic crisis, and the effects are being seeing through the decrease in monetary aid being sent from Guatemalans working in the United States. In order to break the cycle of poverty it is essential for the Guatemalan government to address the inequality of income.

In Caracas a group of protesters has been accusing the government of President Hugo Chavez of indoctrinating children into backing socialist values. The law requires schools to base their teaching on a certain set of beliefs, specifically "the Bolivarian Doctrine", which refers to the ideals of 19th Century independence hero Simon Bolivar. This article reminds us that some governments, not only in Latin America, still can force people to believe in certain ideas and educate them.

This article discusses about a group of mothers/grandmothers and their attempt to reconstruct their lives during and after living in Argentina's "Dirty War". They protested to be reunited with their children/grandchildren who were kidnapped by the military. We see here a group of women trying to strengthen a post-conflict society. Through passive activism, "Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo" confronted the government and voiced for those who were silenced; restoring what was lost during the war.

This aritcle discusses women in Latin American and how their education effects their fertility rate. Generally, poorer women who lack education have more children than richer women who had the chance of education. This is evidentally true for other cultures, but particularly for women in Latin America because men are very dominant and if a child is to be educated it is more likely to be the boy instead of a girl. The aritcle gives details about the essential need for women to have education, not only to break social bias against class, but also to promote development of countries and reducing fertility rates.

In 2007, Mexico City proposed legalizing prostitution. Many believe if prostitution were legal, it would cause even more women and children to be forced to be sex slaves and prostitutes. Prostitution is already a dangerous and too common practice in Mexico City. As discussed in the article, legalizing it would be no means remedy the situation, it would most likely worsen it.