Children of the World

Issues Concerning Children Around the World

Children and Education

In the Millennium Declaration of September 2000, Member States of the United Nations made a commitment to universal education as a primary means to address the crippling poverty that grips so many areas across the globe. But universal education has been difficult to achieve. After decades of commitments, some 121 million children are still denied this right. And gender parity in education continues to be a major problem, as 65 million of those children are girls.

International development efforts are drastically short-changing girls, leaving hundreds of millions of girls and women uneducated and unable to contribute to positive change for themselves, their children, or their communities. At least 9 million more girls than boys are left out of school every year, statistics that have lasting implications not only for girls and women, but for their children and families as well. Girls denied an education are more vulnerable to poverty, hunger, violence, abuse, exploitation and trafficking. They are more likely to die in childbirth and are at greater risk of disease, including HIV/AIDS.

Read more about the State of the World's Children 2007 from UNICEF.

Child Labor

Advocacy organizations estimate that 250 million children work in developing countries, some as young as age five. They often work long hours in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. They are reduced to little more than slaves, forced to work, confined and beaten, denied the freedom to leave and return to their families. Deprived of education and a normal childhood, they remain locked in a cycle of poverty and face lasting physical and psychological harm.

One of the cruelest forms of human trafficking is the use of young girls (and boys) as sex slaves. The highly lucrative illegal trade in children is one of the world's most heinous crimes. Learn more from the International Justice Mission and the Polaris Project.

See images of child labor at the Child Labor Photo Project.

Read more about child labor at Human Rights Watch.

Child Soldiers

In dozens of countries around the world, children have become direct participants in war. Denied a childhood and often subjected to horrific violence, some 300,000 children are serving as soldiers in current armed conflicts. They serve in government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia, and a wide variety of non-state armed groups in more than 85 countries. Such children are exposed to the worst dangers and the most horrible suffering, both psychological and physical. What is more, they are easily manipulated and encouraged to commit grievous acts, which they are often unable to comprehend. Many girl soldiers are expected to provide sexual services as well as to fight.

Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Many are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. Others join armed groups out of desperation. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children perceive armed groups as their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed. Because of their immaturity and lack of experience, child soldiers suffer higher casualties than their adult counterparts. Even after the conflict is over, they may be left physically disabled or psychologically traumatized.

"One boy tried to escape, but he was caught. His hands were tied, and they made us kill him with a stick. I felt sick. I knew this boy. We were from the same village. They told me they would shoot me if I did not kill him. They pointed a gun at me, so I had to do it. I still dream about the boy from my village whom I killed."

Susan, age 16, abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.

More resources on child soldiers from Human Rights Watch.

Children Having Children

More than a million infants and an estimated 70,000 adolescent mothers die each year in the developing world because young girls are marrying and having children before they are physically ready for parenthood. According to the fifth annual State of the World’s Mothers report issued recently by Save the Children:

• Each year one in every 10 births worldwide is to a mother who is still herself a child.
• Girls in their teens in poor countries are twice as likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes compared with older women.
• Children born to children are more likely to be delivered prematurely and at low birth weight and are more likely to die in the first month of life.
• Young mothers also face enormous health risks. Obstructed labor is common and results in newborn deaths and death or disabilities for the mother. Research shows that young mothers and their babies also are at greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

The world community has largely neglected the issue of children having children, which in the developing world is often the result of child marriages. Child marriage violates the human rights of millions of girls by threatening their health, restricting their education, and limiting their social, economic and political growth. Most nations have declared 18 as the legal minimum age for marriage. Yet, in the next decade, more than 100 million girls worldwide will marry before their 18th birthday. Some will be as young as 8 or 9 and many will marry against their will.

The United Nations Population Fund is calling for concrete steps to discourage child marriage and improve the chances of a productive life for young girls in developing countries:

• Highlighting the increased risk of HIV infection for young girls who marry much older men, especially in communities with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS;
• Fostering national and community dialogue over the human dignity and human rights of all persons, and the security and health threats entailed in forced or early marriage of girls;
• Helping girls to complete their secondary education and working to address the root causes of early marriage, such as poverty and discrimination against girls;
• Designing safe, appropriate and effective educational skill-building, and livelihood opportunities for unmarried girls that may assist them in deferring marriage by raising their literacy, increasing their income generation and overall economic and social well-being.

Child Sponsorship

One of the most effective means of helping the world's poor is through child sponsorship. Visit these sites to find out how you can make a difference in the life of a child.

• Save the Children
  One of the largest child sponsorship organizations, undertaking a wide range of initiatives to aid needy children and their families.
• Children International
  A non-profit organization providing sponsorship and assistance programs for children around the world since 1936.
• Childreach
  Part of the largest non-sectarian sponsorship organization in the world, respecting the diversity of religions and cultures of its program participants.
• Child Foundation
  An international non-profit organization focused on helping needy children stay in school.
• Give For Kids
  Become a monthly donor through Mercy Corps' Give for Kids program. A dollar a day is all it takes to make a difference in a child's life.
• Missionary Cooperative Plan
  Outreach effort in the U.S. and Canada from the Catholic diocese of Tororo, Uganda. Father John Kauta for more information.

The Poverty Puzzle

Try your hand at the poverty puzzle. Drag and drop the puzzle pieces and see what poverty looks like.