World Economic News
UNICEF Sounds Alarm on State of World's Children
More than half the world's children are suffering extreme effects from poverty, war, and HIV/AIDS, denying these children a healthy and safe childhood, according to the annual UNICEF (United National Children's Fund) report on the state of the world's children, released Dec. 9.
This year's report found more than 1 billion children were growing up hungry and unhealthy, with schools that may be subject to attack by warring parties, and subject to entire villages being wiped out by AIDS.
The report points to a failure of governments to live up to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has led to permanent damage to children, and blocked progress to human rights and economic development.
"Too many governments are making informed, deliberate choices that actually hurt childhood," said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF'S Executive Director. "Poverty doesn't come from nowhere. When half the world's children have become targets and whole villages emptied by AIDS, we've failed to deliver on the promise of childhood."
Key conclusions include: Out of 2.1 billion children in the world, 1.9 billion live in developing countries. Some 640 million children do not have adequate shelter and 140 million, the majority of them girls, had never been to school. One in six children in the world is severely hungry; one in seven had no access to health care; one in five had no safe water; and one in three had no toilet or sanitation facilities at home.
The report was compiled by UNICEF and researchers at the London School of Economics and Bristol University.
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