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Human Rights
Children's Rights Archive
UNICEF HUMANITARIAN ACTION REPORT 2009. UNICEF, United Nations. January 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 232 pages]
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launches an annual humanitarian funding appeal for children and women affected by protracted emergencies. In 2009, the appeal covers 36 countries. The report includes regional and country chapters, outlines the funding requirements for 2009 in each of the countries and provides an overview of 2008 emergency funding.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2009: MATERNAL AND NEWBORN HEALTH. UNICEF, United Nations. Web posted January 16, 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 168 pages]
The report addresses maternal mortality, one of the most intractable problems for development work. It calls attention to the fact that women in the world’s least developed countries are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in developed countries. The health of these mothers is inextricably linked to the health of their babies, the report points out.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
YES WE CAN…COVER MORE THAN 4 MILLION UNINSURED CHILDREN. Families USA. January 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 8 pages]
The study shows how many children would gain coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia under the CHIP reauthorization bill passed by the House (H.R. 2)
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
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Bahree, Megha CHILD LABOR: WHY WE CAN'T KICK OUR ADDICTION (Forbes, February 25, 2008, pp. 72-79)
Full Text
Although there are national and international laws against it, child labor remains a global phenomenon. Companies with stores in the U.S. such as GapKids and Macy’s, Ikea, Lowe’s and Home Depot all claim to have strict policies against selling products made by children, yet such products continue to appear on their shelves. As Bahree writes: “There are many links in the supply chain, and even a well-intentioned importer can’t police them all.” Middlemen find ways to duck responsibility by removing labels that identify a product’s country of origin. Moreover, there are few people to monitor overseas operations to insure that abuses do not occur. The UN International Labor Organization guesses that there are 218 million child laborers worldwide; most of them work in agriculture. The Asia-Pacific region claims the greatest share of underage workers (122 million) followed by sub-Saharan Africa (49 million). Notable offenders: Cambodia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Bolivia and Guatemala. Bahree writes that child labor is “a fact of a global economy, and will continue to be, as long as Americans (and Europeans) demand cheap goods — and incomes in emerging economies remain low.”
COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN: WHAT DO WE KNOW AND WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?
Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. Web posted December 8, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 20 pages]
This report discusses the current U.S. outreach programs aimed to prevent or intervene in the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The report provides an overview of federal laws including the law that requires internet service providers to report child pornography. It also includes U.S. participation in international programs through the World Congresses and the U.N. Lastly, the report describes what more can be done to protect children.
SOLD TO BE SOLDIERS: THE RECRUITMENT AND USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS IN BURMA.
Human Rights Watch. Web posted October 31, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 153 pages]
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
The Burmese government is forcibly recruiting children into its armed forces. Non-state armed groups, such as the ethnic-based insurgent groups, are also recruiting and using child soldiers. The UN has identified Burma as a consistent violator of international standards that prohibit the use of child soldiers. This report records Burma's use of child soldiers.
THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR’S 2006 FINDINGS ON THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR: REPORT REQUIRED BY THE TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2000. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor. Web posted September 4, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 706 pages]
The 2006 report on child labor from the International Labor Organization (ILO) found that the number of working children had dropped by approximately 10 percent since 2002; but, that still means there are millions of children being exploited by abusive employers and suffering maltreatment such as verbal abuse, physical punishment, psychological torture, and sexual harassment. This report provides new and updated information on the nature of child labor, relevant laws, enforcement procedures, programs, and polices that address child labor exploitation in 141 countries and territories.
CHILD SOLDIERS: NEW EVIDENCE, NEW ADVOCACY APPROACHES. Sarah Dye. USIPeace Briefing, U.S. Institute of Peace. Web posted August 31, 2007.
Full Text [html format, various pagings]
In over 30 conflicts around the world, more than 300,000 children are used in military activities. On June 1, 2007, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted a panel of experts working in the field who offered different perspectives on the child-soldier problems. Some of the problems discussed were how to curb the use of child soldiers, how to prevent their recruitment, and how to successfully reintegrate them into communities.
CHILDREN AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: ANNUAL REPORT 2006. UNICEF, United Nations. June 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 52 pages]
This paper presents the highlights of UNICEF’s achievements in 2006. UNICEF expanded and strengthened its partnerships, provided sustenance and basic health care to children and mothers, and worked with sports clubs and leagues to promote education and to fight AIDS. The report states that progress toward ending poverty can be measured by monitoring the status of children. Each year more than 10 million children under the age of five die, and two-thirds of these deaths are preventable. At the present rate, the world will not meet the Millennium Development Goals.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
PRIORITY OR AFTERTHOUGHT? CHILDREN AND THE FEDERAL BUDGET.
Julia Isaacs and Phillip Lovell. First Focus and The Brookings Institution. March 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 12 pages]
“A country’s priorities are reflected in its budget.” The federal expenditures on children have not increased as rapidly as other major entitlements. Federal domestic expenditures on children have fallen from 20.1 percent to 15.4 percent between 1960 and 2006. During that same period, spending on children’s programs increased from 1.9 percent to 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), but the non-child portion of GDP went from 2.0 percent to 7.6 percent. “For spending on children to expand, Congress must make a conscious effort to either put new resources into existing programs, or create new programs altogether.”
REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS STUDY ON VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN.
United Nations General Assembly. August 2006; Web-posted October 11, 2006.
Full report [pdf format, 34 pages]
Violence against children includes physical violence, psychological violence, discrimination, neglect and maltreatment. It ranges from sexual abuse in the home to corporal and humiliating punishment at school; from the use of physical restraints in children's homes to brutality at the hands of law enforcement officers; from abuse and neglect in institutions to gang warfare on the streets where children play or work; from infanticide to so-called "honor" killing.
The report stresses that much violence remains hidden or unreported, and figures therefore often underestimate the scope of the problem. Nevertheless, the statistics cited in the study reveal a deplorable picture. For example:
- In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that some 53,000 children aged 0-17 died as a result of homicide;
- According to the International Labor Office's (ILO) latest estimates, 5.7 million children were in forced or bonded labor, 1.8 million in prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking in 2000.
- In 16 developing countries reviewed by a Global School-Based Health Survey, the percentage of school-aged children that reported having been verbally or physically bullied at school in the previous 30 days ranged from 20 per cent in some countries to as much as 65 per cent in others;
- Children in detention are frequently subjected to violence by staff, including as a form of control or punishment, often for minor infractions.
- In 77 countries, corporal and other violent punishments are accepted as legal disciplinary measures in penal institutions.
SAVING LIVES: CHILDREN'S RIGHT TO HIV AND AIDS TREATMENT. Global Movement for Children. May 26, 2006.
Download [pdf format, 20 pages]
Although the majority of people living with HIV are adults, HIV-positive children represent a disproportionate number of those needing immediate treatment. More than 90 percent of children with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. These children also have the least access to any treatment. But in the current profit-driven climate of drug development, they offer little financial incentive to the pharmaceutical industry, the report states. As a result, despite an urgent need for pediatric formulations of anti retroviral therapy (ART) in developing countries, child appropriate treatment is practically non-existent.
The authors of the report call for specific steps, including:
- Development and increased availability of simple and affordable diagnostic tests.
- Enhancement of research and development for child specific treatment.
- Improvement of health care systems of developing countries to improve drug delivery systems.
- Establishment of child-specific treatment targets.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
THE END OF CHILD LABOUR: WITHIN REACH. International Labour Organization (ILO). May 4, 2006.
Report [pdf format, 100 pages]
Child labor, especially in its worst forms, is in decline for the first time across the globe, according to this cautiously optimistic report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The new report says the actual number of child laborers worldwide fell by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2004, from 246 million to 218 million. Furthermore, the number of children and youth aged 5-17 trapped in hazardous work decreased by 26 per cent, from 171 million in the 2000 estimate to approximately 126 million in 2004. Among younger child laborers aged 5-14, this drop was even more pronounced at 33 per cent, says the report.
The ILO report attributes the reduction in child labor to increased political will and awareness and concrete action, particularly in the field of poverty reduction and mass education, a combination that has led to a worldwide movement against child labor.
Despite considerable progress in the fight against child labor, the report notes ongoing challenges, particularly in agriculture, where seven out of ten child laborers work. Other challenges include addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on child labor, and building stronger links between child labor and concerns regarding youth unemployment. The authors call for greater national efforts, involving organizations representing employers and workers, as well as governments. They add that meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015 would further help to eradicate child labor.
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Edmonds, Eric V.; Pavcnik, Nina CHILD LABOR IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 19, No. 1, Winter 2005, pp. 199-220)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
Edmond and Pavcnik, assistant professors of economics at Dartmouth College, say economic development that raises the incomes of the poor is the best way to reduce child labor and improve education around the world. The best evidence of this is the fact that child labor declines rapidly as families become richer, reduce their dependence on the income of children, and start sending them to school, they write. Bans on child labor are not particularly effective, they note, and can simply force children into worse, underground child labor abuses such as prostitution. Initiatives that improve school infrastructure and reduce the cost of schooling -- including incentive programs such as conditional cash transfers for households that send children to school -- provide a promising way to reduce child labor, say the authors. Formal evaluations of programs designed to reduce child labor are lacking, so long-term solutions to the widespread incidence of child labor remains an open question, they write.
CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT: REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL.
United Nations. Office of the Secretary-General. February 9, 2005.
Download the document [English-language, pdf format, 39 pages]
This report indicates that the efforts deployed over the last several years have yielded significant advances and created a strong momentum for the protection of children. Evidence of advances include:
- A greatly-increased global awareness of and advocacy for child protection;
- An impressive and comprehensive body of protection instruments and norms;
- The protection of war-affected children has been firmly placed on the international peace-and-security agenda;
- The protection and well-being of children is increasingly reflected in the mandates of peacekeeping missions and the deployment of Child Protection Advisers;
- Children's concerns are being incorporated in peace negotiations, peace accords, and in post-conflict programs for rehabilitation and rebuilding;
- The situation for children has improved considerably in several situations, including in Afghanistan, Angola, the Balkans, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Timor Leste.
Appendices to the report lists offending parties, both insurgents and governments, which are responsible for committing the following five grave violations: killing or maiming of children; recruiting or using child soldiers; attacks against schools or hospitals; rape and other grave sexual violence against children; abduction of children.
THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 2005: CHILDHOOD UNDER THREAT.
United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF). Web-posted December 9, 2004.
Download the document [pdf format, 164 pages]
This report makes clear that despite statements to the contrary, most governments are adopting policies that hurt the world's children rather than help them. This annual State of the World's Children (SOWC) report, "Childhood Under Threat", reveals that more than half the world's children are suffering extreme deprivations from poverty, war and HIV/AIDS, conditions that are effectively denying children a childhood and holding back the development of nations.
The report argues that children experience poverty differently from adults and that traditional income or consumption measurements do not capture how poverty actually affects childhood. It offers an analysis of the seven basic "deprivations" that children do feel and which have powerful impacts on their futures. Working with researchers at the London School of Economics and Bristol University, UNICEF concluded that more than half the children in the developing world are severely deprived of one or more of the following goods and services essential to childhood:
- 640 million children do not have adequate shelter;
- 500 million children have no access to sanitation;
- 400 million children do not have access to safe water;
- 300 million children lack access to information (TV, radio or newspapers);
- 270 million children have no access to health care services;
- 140 million children, the majority of them girls, have never been to school;
- 90 million children are severely food deprived.
Even more disturbing is the fact that at least 700 million children suffer from at least two or more of the deprivations, the report states.
CHILD SOLDIERS GLOBAL REPORT 2004.
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. November 17, 2004.
Full Report [pdf format, 362 pages]
Table of Contents [sections in pdf format, various pagings]
Note: The Coalition's International Steering Committee member organizations are: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Federation Terre des Hommes, International Save the Children Alliance, Jesuit Refugee Service, the Quaker United Nations Office-Geneva and World Vision International. It maintains active links with UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
This report reviews trends and developments since 2001 in 196 countries. Despite some improvements, says the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, the situation remained the same or deteriorated in many countries. Wars ending in Afghanistan, Angola and Sierra Leone led to the demobilization of 40,000 children, but over 25,000 were drawn into conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire and Sudan alone.
Armed groups, both government-backed paramilitaries and opposition forces, are the main culprits in recruitment and use of child soldiers. Dozens of groups in at least 21 conflicts have recruited tens of thousands of children since 2001, forcing them into combat, training them to use explosives and weapons, and subjecting them to rape, violence and hard labor. The Coalition criticizes governments for tolerating child soldiers and urges them to work for their demobilization: "Opportunities for progress, including the creation of and growing support for a UN child soldiers treaty, the creation of demobilization programs in some countries and momentum towards prosecutions of those recruiting children, have been undermined by governments actively breaking pledges or failing to show political leadership."
THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR'S 2003 FINDINGS ON THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR.
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs. May 11, 2004.
Full Report [pdf format, 502 pages]
The Department of Labor's 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor was prepared in response to a child labor reporting requirement under the Trade and Development Act of 2000. Under this act, trade beneficiary countries and territories are required to implement their international commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The report presents information on the nature and extent of the problem in 144 countries and territories and the efforts being made by their governments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs' International Child Labor Program (ICLP) collected data from a wide variety of sources, including the State Department, U.S. embassies and consulates, foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations and international agencies. In addition, bureau staff conducted field visits to many of the countries covered in the report.
Five years after the unanimous adoption of International Labor Organization Convention No. 182 by the 87th session of the International Labor Organization Conference, millions of children around the world continue to be the victims of poverty, armed conflict, lack of educational opportunities, and health pandemics such as HIV/AIDS. The most vulnerable members of society, they too often work in situations that are illegal, hazardous, exploitative, or forced-as miners, prostitutes, soldiers, drug smugglers, or bonded laborers. These forms of child labor are considered by the international community to be "worst forms," because they threaten the health, safety, and moral development of young people. The worst forms also interfere with children's intellectual development by preventing their attendance and effective participation in school. In addition, this type of labor perpetuates poverty, since children who work, rather than attend school, are more likely to earn a lower income in the future.
In Fiscal Year 2003 the U. S. Department of Labor provided 82 million dollars for technical assistance to eradicate the worst forms of child labor. With donor support and continuous innovation by governments, international organizations, and NGOS, countries are making progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labor, and providing children and their families with alternatives to exploitative work. The report illustrates some of these worst forms and the steps the international community is taking to eliminate them.