Siddharth Chatterjee: Perspectives-My work in the United Nations, the Red Cross and the Indian Army

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j964XqRWfNI&feature=youtu.be The use of children as combatants in conflicts is amongst the most egregious violations of human and child rights and is a practice that continues unabated. I feel that it is a humanitarian imperative to persuade political and military leaders of both state and non state entities that the military is no place for a child and the use of humanitarian diplomacy is an important tool to help achieve that. In Sudan, a decade ago, it was possible to demobilize children during an armed conflict – rather than waiting for it to end and loss of a generation of children to war – through quiet and determined persuasion and advocacy as well as astute and decisive leadership at all levels. I was UNICEF’s, Chief of Field Office for Southern Sudan at the time of the negotiations and led the demobilization of nearly 3551 child soldiers during an ongoing conflict. I highlight the point that the world cannot afford to wait for co...

Battle for Water: Water scarcity compounds India's food insecurity This is a link to my opinion piece in the Reuters, on some of the challenges India faces. The harsh reality is that 1 in 4 malnourished child in the world is in India and India ranks 65th out of 79 countries in the Global Hunger Index recently published by IFPRI

Poverty and Insecurity Must Not Prevent an End to Polio We are at the last mile. Eradicating polio could be a fine legacy that we can leave for all children. A polio free world.