The past decade began with genuine optimism for the world’s children. With the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 and the World Summit for Children in 1990, it appeared that the right of all children to a decent childhood and respect was finally being taken seriously by governments and the international community.
However, a decade on, these commitments to children have not led to significant improvements in the everyday lives of millions of the world’s children. The facts speak for themselves. Six hundred million children are living in extreme poverty. Millions of children die each year of preventable diseases. Among the world’s primary-age children, 125 million are not in school and another 150 million drop out of school within just four years. Violence against children in families and institutions remains endemic and widely defended. Disabled children in virtually all societies suffer discrimination, violence and abuse, poverty, exclusion and institutionalisation. During the past decade, increasing numbers of children have been affected by conflict, often exploited with brutal and callous contempt as targets of war – between 1993 and 1996, 45% of victims of war were children.1 To date more than 10 million children in Africa have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, denied opportunities for love, affection, comfort and security. And throughout the world, millions of children are forced into harmful and exploitative forms of work or subjected to sexual abuse, prostitution and trafficking. "Children's Rights - A Second Chance," Save the Children
Children and Human Rights
Children suffer many of the same human rights abuses as adults, but may also be targeted simply because they are dependent and vulnerable. Children are tortured and mistreated by state officials; they are detained, lawfully or arbitrarily, often in appalling conditions; in some countries they are subjected to the death penalty. Countless thousands are killed or maimed in armed conflicts; many more have fled their homes to become refugees. Children forced by poverty or abuse to live on the streets are sometimes detained, attacked and even killed in the name of social cleansing. Many millions of children work at exploitative or hazardous jobs, or are the victims of child trafficking and forced prostitution. Because children are "easy targets", they are sometimes threatened, beaten or raped in order to punish family members who are not so accessible. (Amnesty International Report - Children: The Future Starts Here)
Child Labor
At least 250 million children between the ages of five and 14 are working in developing countries. Approximately 120 million of these children work full time, and tens of millions of these work under exploitative and harmful conditions.
Many of the world's working children labor in occupations and industries that are dangerous or hazardous. In agriculture, large numbers of children are exposed to harmful pesticides during their formative years. Others work in occupations and industries--including mining, construction, manufacturing, and services--in which they are exposed to toxic and carcinogenic substances. Working children often perform tasks that are beyond their physical capacity, such as lifting and carrying heavy loads or handling dangerous tools and equipment. Work hazards affect children to a greater degree than adults, in some cases causing irreversible harm to their future development. (U.S. Department of Labor, By the Sweat and Toil of Children)
Children and Armed Conflict
Millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are not merely bystanders, but targets. Some fall victim to a general onslaught against civilians; others die as part of a calculated genocide. Still other children suffer the effects of sexual violence or the multiple deprivations of armed conflict that expose them to hunger or disease. Just as shocking, thousands of young people are cynically exploited as combatants. (Graca Michel, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, UNICEF)
There are an estimated 10 million child refugees. The majority of people flee their homes because of war. It is estimated that more than two million children were killed in conflict in the last decade. Another six million are believed to have been wounded and one million orphaned. Children in 87 countries live among 60 million land mines. As many as 10,000 per year continue to become victims of mines. (UNHCR)
Child Soldiers
More than 300,000 youths and girls currently are serving as child soldiers around the world. Many are less than 10 years old. Many girl soldiers are forced into different forms of sexual slavery. (UNHCR)
Children's Health
Each day in the developing world, 30,500 children (11 million each year) die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections or malaria. Malnutrition is associated with over half of those deaths. (UNICEF) 200 million children are malnourished worldwide. (FAO) AIDS has killed more than 3.8 million children and orphaned another 13 million. In the last five years HIV/AIDS has become the greatest threat to children, especially in countries ravaged by war. In the worst affected countries, it is estimated that as many as half of today’s 15-year-olds will die from the disease.
Children and Poverty
Despite unprecedented global prosperity, a staggering 40 per cent of all children in developing countries – over half a billion – are struggling to survive on less than $1 per day. Poverty is the main underlying cause of millions of preventable child deaths each year. It is the cause of tens of millions of children going hungry, missing out on school or being forced into child labour. Poverty causes lifelong damage to children's minds and bodies, perpetuating the cycle of poverty across generations. (UNICEF)
Education
There are 125 million children who never attend school. Another 150 million children of primary age start school, but drop out before they can read or write.
