Report: Millions of Children Exploited

[Thom Little]

Hundreds of millions of children suffer exploitation and discrimination but are virtually invisible to the eyes of the world, according to a UNICEF report published Wednesday. Millions of children who are trafficked -- often for sex -- or forced to work in domestic servitude "disappear" from sight every year into underground economies, the U.N. Children's Fund report said.

.......

The report says children at risk include:

* Children without a formal identity. Over half of all births in the developing world -- excluding China -- go unregistered, denying more than 50 million children recognition as citizens. Without a registered identity, children are not guaranteed an education, good health care and other basic services.

* Children without parental care. An estimated 143 million children in the developing world have suffered the death of at least one parent. Around the world, tens of millions of children spend a large portion of their lives on the streets and more than 1 million live in detention, most awaiting trial for minor offenses.

* Children in adult roles. Hundreds of thousands of children are caught up in armed conflict as combatants, messengers, porters, cooks and sex slaves. An estimated 171 million children work in hazardous conditions, including in factories, mines and agriculture.

* Children who are exploited. Some 8.4 million children work in the worst forms of child labor, including prostitution and debt bondage. Nearly 2 million children are employed in the commercial sex trade. A large but unknown number of children are exploited as domestic servants in private homes.



http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-un-exploiting-children,0,7761414.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Trillo]

1. And in the U.S., we have the lie of education which fails

in its basic premise to keep kids out of labor, while telling them the other lie that they're in school to learn how to make a living when they're older.

I'm so friggin sick of all the lies, and that the children are the prey of adults of various kinds all over the world, tells us a lot about the honor of our own species.

[Porcupine]

10. Do they have any oil? Gold? Uranium? Cobalt? No? too bad.....n/t

.

[mzmolly]

2. Difficult to accept this kind of information.

:(

[rpannier]

7. Unfortunately

I lived in eastern Europe (Czech Rep) for three years and have been living in Asia for 10 years. It is quite prominent in many parts of the world. In Uzbekistan, child brides are still common. Child prostitution goes on throughout SE Asia. It's somewhat visible if you visit Vietnam and is very obvious in Thailand, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, et al.

[saigon68]

15. THEY CAN SEW SHIRTS FOR WALMART

</SARCASM>

[Kurovski]

3. K&R. That's HUNDREDS of millions.

Where's a right-wingers untiring devotion to the protection of the innocent when you fucking need it?

Not that anyone in the freaking world is doing much better. This is literally the shame of the entire world.

--and most of all of the most powerful among us.

[Evergreen Emerald]

4. I don't think I can stand it anymore

This is horrific. I feel like there is nothing we can do.

[lovuian]

5. We are going back in the Dark Ages...

these abuses are getting worse all over...

[Kurovski]

6. Kick.

[gorbal]

8. I'm starting to realize whay we have the "Santa Claus" lie

It's probably much more comfortable for parents to tell their kids their toys come from "Happy Little Elves" rather than "oppressed little children working 80 hours a week" . Makes me wonder if they did "factory tours" during the industrial revolution.

[Kurovski]

9. Kick.

[SoCalDem]

11. Children have been little more than a consequence

of adults' copulation , until the victorian age (or thereabouts). Children were useful as household helpers, and the ones who survived to adulthood were useful to care for elderly family members as they aged. Property passed to families through the oldest son (in many cultures), leaving the other surviving children to fend for themselves or to depend on the largesse of the inheriting son.

The image we have of the "family" and "children" is a relatively new model, historically speaking..
Children have not always been educated, pampered, adored...even in America. People who have passed through our own lives had some pretty bleak childhoods. My own grandfather (born 1888) had a SECOND GRADE education..He worked from the time he was 8 yrs old, until he died at 71. This is not ancient history..

Madison avenue (1940's-50's) pretty much invented the image of childhood that persists today. Norman Rockwell & advertisers created the myth of carefree living, enveloped in the bosom of the loving family. Public education is a recent arrival on the world stage too. Kids used to have to work as soon as they were tall enough, strong enough.

The wealthy, ruling classes may have taken better physical care of their offspring, but even then it was probably due to the fact that they had money to hire governesses, nurses, teachers. I have a sneaky feeling that a lot of this was because they wanted to make sure their money was safe in the future, as much as it was for the "love of the child".

Poor people have always "used" their children as workers. It should not surprise people, that in extremely poor parts of the world, that children are still just another commodity..

[Strawman]

14. that's right

My paternal grandfather, born in 1903, spent his "childhood" working in a coal mine in Wales. And I'm a Gen X'er born in the 1970's.

[gorbal]

20. Protectiveness toward children is universal.

Many animals will risk their lives for the well-being of their offspring, not to mention many people.

I think the "surprise" is that people from the west are aiding and abetting such repugnant activities by merely purchasing items from countries that use child labor. It is like we are keeping slaves for our pleasure, but we don't have to look at them or know they are there.

[gorbal]

21. Protectiveness toward children is universal.

Many animals will risk their lives for the well-being of their offspring, not to mention many people.

I think the "surprise" is that people from the west are aiding and abetting such repugnant activities by merely purchasing items from countries that use child labor. It is like we are keeping slaves for our pleasure, but we don't have to look at them or know they are there.

[Kurovski]

12. Kick.

[brentspeak]

13. The world is probably only fractionally better off than

it was in the Dark Ages.

x(

[Kurovski]

16. Kick (nt)

[zann725]

17. So that could include many missing Tsunami children,& even Katrina?

n/t

[Megahurtz]

18. And the R.W.ers could give a shit less

about them once they are out of the womb.:grr:

[Megahurtz]

19. Oh so THAT'S why the R.W.ers are anti-abortion!

So that they can exploit these children once they are out of the womb!:think:

:sarcasm:

[Kurovski]

22. Kick. (nt)