Child

Senegal Dismantles Paedophile Network Linking France In a significant crackdown on organized crime, Senegalese authorities have arrested 14 individuals in connection with a criminal network operating between Senegal and France. This group, composed primarily of Senegalese nationals, is accused of engaging in serious offences involving the exploitation of minors. According to police reports, the alleged crimes committed by this network include "organised paedophilia, pimping, rape of minors under 15, sodomy, and…

GALKAYO, Somalia — Authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland State region on Tuesday executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14-year-old domestic worker, a rare use of the death penalty against a woman that has reignited nationwide debate over child protection and household labor. Hodan Mohamud Diiriye, 34, was shot by firing squad in the central city of Galkayo after a court found she beat to death teenager Saabirin Saylaan late last year. Officials said the sentence was carried out under qisas, an Islamic legal…

Somalia’s child-protection reckoning after a teenager’s killing — and a rare death sentence The killing of 14-year-old orphan Saabirin Saylaan in Galkayo has jolted Somalia into a painful examination of how the state, communities and families protect — and fail — their children. A court in Puntland State convicted caregiver Hodan Mohamud Diiriye, 34, of murder and sentenced her to death, an exceptional punishment in a child-abuse case that underscores both the scale of public outrage and the fragility of Somalia’s protective…

Kyiv, Ukraine — At least three people, including a four-year-old child, were killed Friday as Russia launched a “massive” missile and drone barrage across Ukraine, striking power facilities and triggering emergency outages in multiple regions amid freezing temperatures, Ukrainian officials said. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the assault “an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities,” noting the barrage landed “in the midst of negotiations aimed at ending this war.” He urged Ukraine’s Western partners to increase…

Global Health Funding Cuts Threaten Child Survival Rates, Gates Foundation Warns The Gates Foundation has issued a stark warning that millions of children worldwide could face death due to reductions in global health funding, jeopardizing decades of progress in child survival. In its latest report, We Can't Stop at Almost, the foundation revealed a troubling forecast for child mortality rates, marking a significant step back in health advancements this century. According to the report, an alarming 4.6 million children…

Namibia’s children exposed: online life and the quiet rise of digital harm Snapshot of a hidden crisis A new study has lifted the lid on a worrying trend in Namibia: an estimated 20,000 children are exposed to online sexual exploitation and abuse every year, according to research published by the Disrupting Harm project. The study, which maps technology‑facilitated abuse of children, also finds that roughly 80 percent of Namibians aged 12 to 17 use the internet — primarily for schoolwork and social media — creating both…

Somalia moves to prosecute alleged child abuse filmed for social media; court orders detention Somalia’s top prosecutor has referred a high-profile child abuse case to a Mogadishu court after a video circulated online allegedly showing a man burying a young child alive. The Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday the Banadir Regional Court has reviewed preliminary evidence and ordered the defendant, identified as Ali Abdi Sheikh Khadar — known locally by the nickname “Dhegadiish” — into temporary detention while…

Sub-Saharan Africa's Struggle Against Child Poverty: A Call to Action In a world that has seen significant strides in reducing extreme child poverty, one region remains starkly excluded from this progress: Sub-Saharan Africa. According to a recent report by the World Bank and UNICEF, this area has not only failed to improve over the past decade, but it has also allowed the specter of poverty to loom larger over its youngest inhabitants. Alarmingly, more than half of the region's children live below the poverty line,…

Kenyan man indicted in U.S. child-nutrition fraud probe as investigators trace money to Nairobi real estate

A Desperate Hunger: African Children Face a Nutrition Crisis In a landscape already marred by conflict, instability, and natural disasters, the looming shortage of life-saving nutritional aid in four African countries presents a new and urgent humanitarian crisis. The depletion of essential supplies threatens the survival of millions of children and puts a spotlight on the broader global challenge of funding cuts amid escalating needs. The Bitter Reality of Hunger Among the hardest hit are Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South…