[child-rights] UNICEF presents The State of the World's Children 2006

Abused and Neglected, Millions of Children Have Become Virtually Invisible

LONDON, 14 December 2005 -– Hundreds of millions of children are suffering
from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually
invisible to the world, UNICEF said today in a major report that explores
the causes of exclusion and the abuses children experience.

The agency said that millions of children disappear from view when
trafficked or forced to work in domestic servitude. Other children, such
as street children, live in plain sight but are excluded from fundamental
services and protections. Not only do these children endure abuse, most
are shut out from school, healthcare and other vital services they need to
grow and thrive.

The State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible is a
sweeping assessment of the world's most vulnerable children, whose rights
to a safe and healthy childhood are exceptionally difficult to protect.
These children are growing up beyond the reach of development campaigns
and are often invisible in everything from public debate and legislation,
to statistics and news stories.

Without focused attention, millions of children will remain trapped and
forgotten in childhoods of neglect and abuse, with devastating
consequences for their long-term well-being and the development of
nations. The report argues that any society with an interest in the
welfare of its children and its own future must not allow this to happen.

Meeting the Millennium Development Goals depends on reaching vulnerable
children throughout the developing world" said UNICEF Executive Director
Ann M. Veneman, launching the report in London. "There cannot be lasting
progress if we continue to overlook the children most in need - the
poorest and most vulnerable, the exploited and the abused."

WHY CHILDREN BECOME INVISIBLE 

In the past, UNICEF has reported extensively on how poverty, HIV/AIDS and
armed conflict are undermining childhood itself. Excluded and Invisible
details how these factors, as well as weak governance and discrimination,
deprive children of protection from abuse and exploitation, and exclude
them from school, healthcare and other essential services at alarming
rates.

The report finds that children who lack vital services are more vulnerable
to exploitation because they have less information on how to protect
themselves, and fewer economic alternatives. Children who are caught in
armed conflict, for example, are routinely subjected to rape and other
forms of sexual violence. It is these children – alone and defenseless –
who are being ignored.

The report argues that children in four circumstances are most likely to
become invisible and forgotten:

Children without a formal identity. Every year, over half of all births in
the developing world (excluding China) go unregistered, denying more than
50 million children a basic birthright: recognition as a citizen. Children
who are not registered at birth do not appear in official statistics and
are not acknowledged as members of their society. Without a registered
identity, children are not guaranteed an education, good healthcare, and
other basic services that impact their childhood and future. For example,
unregistered children are denied a place in school when birth certificates
are required to gain access. Simply put, children who do not have a formal
identity are not counted, and they are not taken into account.

Children without parental care. Millions of orphans, street children, and
children in detention are growing up without the loving care and
protection of their parents or a family environment. Children caught in
these circumstances are often not treated as children at all.

An estimated 143 million children in the developing world - 1 in every 13
children - have suffered the death of at least one parent. For children in
deep poverty the loss of even one parent, especially a mother, can take a
lasting toll on their health, and education.

Globally, tens of millions of children spend a large portion of their
lives on the streets, where they are exposed to all forms of abuse and
exploitation.

More than 1 million children live in detention, the vast majority awaiting
trial for minor offenses. Many of these children suffer gross neglect,
violence, and trauma.

Children in adult roles. The report argues that children who are forced
into adult roles too early miss crucial stages of childhood development.

Hundreds of thousands of children are caught up in armed conflict as
combatants, messengers, porters, cooks, and sex slaves for armed groups.
In many cases they have been forcibly abducted.

In spite of laws against early marriage in many countries, over 80 million
girls across the developing world will be married before they turn 18 –
many far younger.

An estimated 171 million children are working in hazardous conditions and
with dangerous machinery, including in factories, mines and agriculture.

Children who are exploited. Shut away by their abusers and held back from
school and essential services, children who are the victims of
exploitation are arguably among the most invisible. Their lives and
numbers are virtually impossible to track.

Some 8.4 million children work in the worst forms of child labour,
including prostitution and debt bondage, where children are exploited in
slave-like conditions to pay off a debt.

Nearly 2 million children are used in the commercial sex trade, where they
routinely face sexual and physical violence.

Every year, it is estimated that millions of children are trafficked into
underground and illegal worlds where they are forced into dangerous and
degrading forms of work, including prostitution.

A vast but unknown number of children are exploited as domestic servants
in private homes. Many are banned entirely from going to school, suffer
physical abuse and are underfed or overworked.

The report also asserts that children who live in ‘fragile states’ –
countries that are unable or unwilling to provide basic services for their
children – are virtually invisible. Discrimination on the basis of gender,
ethnicity or disability also factors into the exclusion of children. For
example, discrimination shuts millions of girls out of school and blocks
critical services for children from ethnic minorities and indigenous
groups. An estimated 150 million children live with disabilities globally,
many without opportunities for education, healthcare, and nurturing
support because of routine discrimination.

MEETING OUR COMMITMENTS TO CHILDREN

The State of the World’s Children argues that the world must go beyond
current development efforts to ensure that the most vulnerable children
are not left behind.

Governments bear primary responsibility for reaching out to these
children, and must step up their efforts in four key areas:

Research, monitoring and reporting: Systems to record and report on the
nature and extent of abuses against children are essential to reaching
excluded and invisible children.

Legislation: National laws must match international commitments to
children, and legislation that fosters discrimination must be changed or
abolished. Laws to prosecute those who harm children must be consistently
enforced. For example, weak law enforcement perpetuates the climate of
impunity that surrounds the rape of children.

Financing and capacity-building: Child-focused budgets and the
strengthening of institutions that serve children must complement laws and
research.

Programmes: Reform is urgently required in many countries and communities
to remove entry barriers for children who are excluded from essential
services, for example, eliminating the requirement of a birth certificate
to attend school.

The report also outlines concrete actions that can be taken by civil
society, the private sector, donors and the media to help prevent children
from falling between the cracks. These and other efforts by people and
organizations at all levels of society help to build a protective
environment for children – one that protects children from abuse in the
same way that immunization and adequate nutrition protect them from
disease.

Governments, families and communities must do more to prevent abuse and
exploitation from happening in the first place and to protect children who
fall victim to abuse.

Laws that hold perpetrators of crimes against children accountable must be
implemented and vigorously enforced; attitudes, traditions and practices
that are harmful to children must be challenged; and children themselves
must get the information and life skills they need to protect themselves.

“Those who harm children rob them of opportunities to grow up safe,
healthy and with dignity,” Veneman said. “To ensure that children are
protected, the abuse and exploitation of children must be brought to light
and those who violate children brought to justice.”

The Authority on Children

The State of the World’s Children is UNICEF’s annual flagship publication.
It is the most comprehensive survey of global trends affecting children
and provides the most thorough almanac of up-to-date statistical data on
children. SOWC is used globally by governments, NGOs, and academic
institutions as the authority on childhood. Data tables from the report
are fully searchable at 
{http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/statistics/statistics.php }.

UNICEF Press release



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