UNICEF study
UNICEF study on children’s rights published
According to a study conducted by UNICEF, many million girls and boys worldwide are victims of violence, exploitation or human trafficking. In a recently published first comprehensive study on children’s right violations worldwide, the Children’s Fund wrote among others: “150 million children under 15 have to work hard and as a result are hardly ever or not all attending school.”
Children’s lives are particularly difficult in countries where wortundtat is active: in India - so the detailed result - about 29 million children between 5 and 14 years (about 12 percent) are working. In Tanzania, about 36 percent of this age group contribute to the survival of the family either by heavy housework or by gainful employment.
Due to the fact that working children cannot go to school they and their families are often stuck in a circle of poverty and a lack of future prospects. Therefore, wortundtat is particularly concerned with creating educational opportunities for the poorest. Such a project is the stone quarry school in Indian village of Yeleswaram.
What favours child labour
One of the reasons why children have to work is the fact that they were not registered after being born. Because anybody, who has not been registered does officially not exist and can therefore not be invited to attend school. Under this aspect too, India and Tanzania belong to the countries with relatively unfavourable conditions for children:
- India: in 2007, about 16 million of newborn children were not registered - in rural areas the rate of non-registered children lies at about 70, in urban areas at about 48 percent.
- Tanzania: only about 8 percent of children up to five years are registered - one of the worst registration rates worldwide.
The UNICEF Report on child protection (“Progress for Children”) collects data from almost all countries worldwide. It was published a few weeks prior to the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20th November 2009 and can be downloaded free of charge as a PDF file from the website of the organisation (press section).