Claims that Switzerland-based mining and commodities major, Glencore International AG, has benefitted from child labour at copper and cobalt mines in the DRC, have revived questions on the conduct of mining companies in Africa.

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' (ECA) Youth Programs Division is working with organizers of the 12th World Summit of Nobel Laureates in Chicago to empower the next generation of young activists for peace. ECA's Youth Leadership Peace Program is bringing a global youth voice to the summit, both in person and virtually.

Simon Dube*, 15, has just been released from a Zimbabwean jail after serving a three-month sentence for theft. After his arrest he was detained for two days in a holding cell in Harare, where he alleged police assaulted him to extract a confession that he stole goods from his neighbour’s home.

Walking along first-street in Harare's central business district, one is occasionally accosted by dirty children holding begging bowls. Usually accompanied by their parents or guardians, the children will accept anything from money to food.

Widespread poverty, a lack of social services and poor enforcement of legislation are hindering efforts to eradicate child labour in Zimbabwe.

It’s an election year once again. To politicians it means way up the ladder to the political office and all its benefits. To children it means parents being beaten up or killed; health and rights being violated and the minors being made even more vulnerable to political exploitation than in previous years.

Poverty, abuse and cultural practices are preventing a third of Zimbabwean girls from attending primary school and 67 percent from attending secondary school, denying them a basic education, according to a recent study which found alarming dropout rates for girls.

Children from across the country have called on the government to be more responsive and proactive in addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), who are among the most affected by the collapse in the provision of social services.

Orphans and vulnerable children from more than 80,000 households in Zimbabwe are set to benefit from a three-year government and donor-funded programme to cushion them from the worst effects of poverty.

Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean orphans and otherwise vulnerable children will benefit from cash transfers, educational aid and protection services under a new Government programme launched in partnership with the United Nations and international donors.