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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 (APP): Millions of children worldwide
are subject to trafficking, sexual abuse or child labour, lack parental
care or documents needed to access schools and health care, or face violence in
their homes, schools or communities, according to a new United Nations report.
“A society cannot thrive if its youngest members are forced into early marriage,
abused as sex workers or denied their basic rights,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said in Tokyo on the release of the report,
which calls for improving child protection systems and promoting social change.
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“Understanding the extent of abuses of children’s rights is
a first step to building an environment where children are protected and have
the opportunity to reach their full potential,” she added of the report which
covers issues ranging from sexual abuse and child marriage to physical
punishment and genital mutilation.
While progress is being made in reducing some violations of
children’s rights, not enough is yet known about the extent of abuses against
children and violence and exploitation remain a harsh reality, according to the
report, Progress for Children: A Report Card on Child Protection.
Some abuses, such as sexual exploitation and trafficking,
are usually committed in conditions of secrecy and illegality, which makes
collection of accurate data challenging. Child labour reaps a particularly heavy
toll with 150 million youngsters aged between five and 14 in the work force.
The report gathers together for the first time data on a
range of issues, including sexual abuse and trafficking, child marriage,
physical punishment of children, child labour, birth registration, the harmful
traditional practice of female genital cutting and attitudes toward violence
against women inside marriage. Where data are available, some progress is
evident.
For example, in Bangladesh, Guinea and Nepal, where child
marriage is prevalent, the median age of marriage is rising, although it is
still below 18. The report also cites a slow decline in female genital
mutilation in countries where such abuse is common.
It finds that more than half the children in detention
worldwide have not been tried or sentenced, while in some regions, the births of
two out of three children were not registered in 2007, with less than five
percent of births registered in Somalia and Liberia.
Without a birth certificate youngsters are more vulnerable
to sexual exploitation, trafficking and illegal adoption. Another finding shows
that more than half of women and girls in developing countries think that
wife-beating is acceptable and, younger women are as likely to justify
wife-beating as older women.
In most regions, neglecting the children is the most
commonly cited justification for wife-beating. “The evidence of continuing harm
and abuse must inspire the world to greater effort to guarantee the rights of
all children, everywhere,” Ms. Veneman said.
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