Too many girls denied childhoods

THE Save the Children report released recently reveals that conflict, widespread poverty and discrimination against girls are grave threats to childhood.

It also found that half of all children in East and Southern Africa (120 million) are at high or extremely high risk of missing out on childhood.

Launched ahead of International Children’s Day on June 1, the annual global index examined the events that rob children of their childhoods and prevent them from reaching their full potential.

This year’s report, The Many Faces of Exclusion, reveals how poverty, conflict and discrimination against girls are putting more than 1.2 billion children – over half of children worldwide – at risk of an early end to their childhood.

In its second year, the report also includes a ranking of 175 countries where childhood is most and least threatened as a result of poor health, malnutrition, exclusion from education, child labour, child marriage, early pregnancy and extreme violence.

South Africa sits at 111th on the list while India sits at 116th. Singapore, Slovenia and Norway are the top three.

IANS reported this was an improvement for India but is still poor. South Africa now sits in their previous position.

The report commends India’s achievements in reducing the rate of child marriages which it said was a major factor contributing to an improved score in the index.

However, it said nutrition, infant mortality and child labour remained issues of grave concern in the country where under five child mortality is 39 per 1 000 live births for 2016, as per Census of India.

These “childhood enders” are most prevalent where the three risks – poverty, conflict and gender bias – overlap to create toxic environments for children. A total of 153 million children are at extreme risk of missing out on childhood because they live in countries characterised by all three risks. South Sudanese and Somali girls are an example of such children facing this triple threat.

The report also found that: 13% of children in Somalia do not live to see their fifth birthday. This is the highest rate in the world.

South Sudan is fifth worst performing country, meaning most children are missing out on childhood.

In East and Southern Africa, one-fifth of girls aged 15 to 19 are currently married or in union. The lowest rates of child marriage are in Rwanda (3.1%) and South Africa (3.3%) – lower even than those found in Denmark, Spain and the US.

David Wright, Save the Children’s Regional Director, said that while progress is being made in many parts of the world – including in East and Southern Africa – it is not happening quickly enough.

“More than half the world’s children start their lives held back because they are a girl, because they are poor or because they are growing up in a war-zone. Early marriage, child labour and malnutrition are just some of the lifechanging events that can rob children of their childhood.

“Without urgent action, we’ll never meet the promises made three years ago by every country at the UN in 2015 to ensure that by 2030 every child survives, learns and is protected.

“Governments can and must do more to give every child the best possible start in life.

The fact that countries with similar levels of income deliver such different outcomes for children shows that policy, funding and political commitment make a critical difference.”

While the situation has improved in the past year in 95 of the countries ranked, alarmingly, conditions worsened in about 40 countries, according to the End of Childhood Index.