Numbers
They never tell the full story.
Think I'd avoided mentioning this yesterday -- Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Death Toll From Cold Rises in South Asia:
South Asians are particularly vulnerable to the cold because millions sleep in unheated homes or outdoors, usually without great risk as winters tend to be mild. For example, New Delhi's average temperature in January is 58 degrees.A total of 1,935 people have died from exposure in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, where the poor live in flimsy, unheated shelters, and are already weak from being underfed or sick.
Had nothing to say about it, to be honest. Still don't, but noticed a link about Nepal at Ellis' place, which led me to Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre's web site:
Established in 1987, Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN) is a pioneer organisation in Nepal for the rights of the child and against child labour exploitation. CWIN is an advocate organisation for the child's rights with focus on children living and working under the most difficult circumstances. CWIN's main areas of concern are child labour, street children, child marriage, bonded labour, trafficking of children, children in conflict with laws and commercial-sexual exploitation of children.
They were mentioned in the article Ellis had linked:
A report by nongovernmental organization Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), said at least 146 children, comprising 40 girls and 106 boys, have died in the last seven years of Maoist insurgency, leaving 2000 orphans and 4000 without homes.[. . .] Educational institutions, especially those in remote areas, have borne the brunt of the conflict. According to school organizations, rebels have bombed and destroyed nearly 100 school buildings across the country.
[. . .] Security forces on search operations in villages also often victimize little children.
As a large number of schools have closed down over the past few years, rural children are compelled to perform household chores or join the ranks of insurgents as child soldiers, messengers or porters.
Although the rebel leadership denied making child recruitments, reports said the number of child soldiers in Maoist ranks was spiraling, with about 1000 children alleged to be performing an active role in the conflict. " We have seen children used as soldiers, informers, porters and employed in hazardous tasks like fetching landmines and other explosives," said Subodh Raj Pyakurel, general secretary of Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in the areas of human rights and social justice.
There's also bad news from neighboring Tibet, which is getting slightly more coverage here in the States despite involving fewer people:
The United States has condemned the execution of a Tibetan man accused of a series of bomb attacks in south-west China.[. . .] Lobsang Dhondup, 28, was executed on Sunday, after being convicted in a closed trial in December of bomb attacks in Sichuan province between 1998 and 2002.
Activists have criticised the trial of Lobsang Dhondup and Tibetan monk Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche - whose suspended death sentence has been upheld - as unfair.
The US State Department said it was also "closely watching" reports that 10 other Tibetans had been detained in the same case.
I imagine this is because it gives us reason to criticize China and distract the world community from our own policy on the death penalty, but I imagine all sorts of unpleasant things sometimes.