Poverty snatches childhood from millions

According to a recent report of the International Labour Orga-nisation (ILO), about 246 million children between the ages of five and 14 worldwide are involved in child labour.

Some 160 million children under the age of five are still malnourished, 110 million will never have the opportunity to attend school, and more than 600 million live in families earning less than $1 a day.

These overwhelming figures are just a small representation of the state of children worldwide. The list can be extended even further by stating figures of the number of children who are victims of trafficking and those killed or mutilated in civil wars.

Although it is said that children represent both the essence of life and the hope of the future, it seems that in 2002 the rights of millions of children to decent basic healthcare and education are still not granted.

On the contrary, some of these children are denied childhood and often subjected to terrible violence. Under such circumstances, one can but wonder about the future of our planet and our children.

Yet, the plight of these children could have been even worse today without the efforts and special programmes implemented by the international community, especially the United Nations.

Indeed, recognising the vulnerability of children and their need for special care, the United Nations took several measures in order to give children the best possible start in life and to ensure their fundamental rights.

The first reference to these rights appeared in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924, followed by the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly on November 20, 1959, which is now observed as International Children's Day.

A further step was taken in 1989 with the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which marked the most significant recognition of children's right to a better life.

However, the culminating point was the World Summit for Children organised in 1990, during which world leaders agreed on a series of goals to be achieved by the year 2000 – the reduction of child mortality, the extension of immunisation programmes, improvement of sanitary conditions and guarantee of a wider access to basic education for all children, among others.

Yet, disparity in achieving these goals still exists between the different regions and countries.

In order to estimate the level of development and to determine children's well being in any society, the UN has adopted a series of indicators. These include the infant mortality rate, which represents the probability of dying between birth and one year of age.

A second indicator is the gross primary enrolment ratio that expresses the percentage of children enrolled in primary school to the total number of children of primary school age. The two other indicators that should be taken into consideration are the percentage of the population with access to safe water and a balanced nutritious diet.

A quick review of the last decade shows that progress has been tangible in many fields. For example, infant and under five mortality declined on a global level by 14 per cent, malnutrition declined by 17 per cent in developing countries, and net primary school enrolment has increased in all regions, reaching 82 per cent globally.

Nevertheless, these results aren't satisfactory as the problems facing children worldwide are so complicated and are so wide-ranging that they require solidarity and firm political actions to be completely eradicated.

Indeed, despite the progress achieved during the last few years, the world has failed in eliminating child labour.

According to a recent report published by the ILO, one out of every six children in the world today has to work. Most of these children live in the developing countries, 61 per cent of them are in Asia, 32 per cent in Africa, and seven per cent in Latin America. About 180 million are exposed to the most dangerous and hazardous jobs.

Another problematic issue is child trafficking and their unwitting involvement in the sex trade. In fact, every year, more than 700,000 children are victims of trafficking.

Children are also the first victims of wars and armed conflicts, with more than 300,000 of them recruited as soldiers during the last decade, more than two million killed in civil wars, and more than one million orphaned or separated from their families.

Infant mortality is also one of the burdens facing the international community. In fact, according to UN estimates, 11 million children under the age of five die each year, which represents 30,000 a day, or one every three seconds.

According to a report published by the Population Reference Bureau, children under the age of 15 represent 30 per cent of the world population.

In the UAE, children under the age of 15 represent 26 per cent of the population, which is a relatively reasonable proportion compared to other countries.

However, these trends are expected to change by 2050, according to UN estimates. Due to the ageing of the world population, the number of those over the age of 60 will start to outnumber that of children below the age of 15.

In essence, we can say that malnutrition, infant mortality, and child labour are all products of poverty and the excessive numbers of young people. In fact, the higher the number of children, the higher the expenses for education and health.