Save the Children

The damage to an entire generation of children could soon become irreversible without immediate help, it adds.

The stress of war has led to increased bedwetting, self-harm, suicide attempts and aggressive behaviour among many children, according to a new report.

The findings are based on hundreds of interviews in Syria.

Save the Children says its study is the largest of its kind into the mental health and well-being of Syria's children amid the war, which began in 2011 and has left more than 300,000 people dead.

The government, through the Department for Community Development together with major partner UNICEF and other partners like, Save the Children, Child Fund, World Vision, Buk bilong Pikinini and others, will be joining in on this launch.

With the theme; “Let the children speak”, the event will coincide with International Children’s Day.

The day will see the children entertain the public. They will also be sharing with us how they wish to see their future.

The study says girls as young as 10 are forced to marry much older men in countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia.

Save the Children says early marriage can trigger a cycle of disadvantage across every part of a girl's life.

Conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises are seen as major factors that leave girls exposed to child marriage.

CPO in Bougainville, Desmond Ponpon, applauded welfare offers and CPOs during the launch of the report on child protection systems in PNG, who have laboured tirelessly in trying to assist children and families.

Ponpon said they’ve faced many challenges while doing their job.

He said they’ve been threatened, intimidated and harassed simply because they have spoken up against abuses inflicted upon defenseless, innocent children and women.

The report titled ‘The Child Protection Systems in PNG’, is an assessment of prevention and response services for children and families.

A child protection systems mapping was carried out by Child Frontiers for a period of three months in NCD, Bougainville, Lae, Goroka and East Sepik.

Researchers spoke to child protection officers, the children, parents and community leaders to collect a wide range of data.

The research found that children are experiencing high rates of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

The finding is one of many to feature in a report by the aid agency Save The Children, based on a wide ranging exploration of child trafficking practices in the Solomons.

Researchers discovered that some logging site managers have been finding children for some of their laregely foreign workforce, and there are also reports of girls being recruited for sexual exploitation in Honiara schools.

The aid group said some of the 80 survivors who were brought ashore Thursday in Augusta, Sicily, reported the deaths that occurred the previous day.

Details were scarce, but survivors told Save the Children's advisers that the migrants died as the dinghy began taking in water.

The dead were believed to be mostly sub-Saharan Africans from Senegal, Mali and Benin and included at least seven children, the group reported in a statement.

The affected population has received aid through a mixture of distribution, emergency training and service provision across six sectors: Health, Shelter, Education, Food Security and Livelihood, WASH, Child Protection.

With shelter, food and hygiene the most pressing needs in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, Save the Children worked in partnership with the World Food Programme and the National Disaster Management Office to effect food distributions to the entire populations of Epi, Tongoa, the Shepherd Islands and the outer islands of Efate – almost 23,000 people.