Safe and sound in 2018
A shiny new year brings new opportunities for self-reflection. At ChildFund, the exit of 2017 — a year the UN is calling a “nightmare” of human rights violations against children — has marked a sobering need for us to reflect on how we can better serve the world’s youngest citizens.
When we think of children’s needs, we often think first of the necessities of life: adequate food, clean water, clothing and shelter from the elements. Next, we often think about children’s natural hunger to learn, explore and play. We talk about their right to an education. But of all the things children need to grow up healthy, one of the most urgent and consistent is safety from harm.
It may seem like a no-brainer, and yet millions of children the world over still experience violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation that hinder their development. These harms are physical, mental, emotional and sexual, perpetrated by anyone from warlords to human traffickers to their own parents.
To complicate matters, the forces that threaten children’s safety aren’t always malicious. They can be as unintentional as the first-time mother who doesn’t know that her 2-year-old should be walking by now, or the working father who doesn’t realize the danger of leaving his 7-year-old by herself for an hour. Other times, the culprit is indifference at its most cruel: militias training children as soldiers, terror groups tying bombs to their backs. Whatever shape it takes, harm to children worldwide is monstrous in nature and proportion, the equivalent of a global bogeyman who doesn’t disappear when you turn the lights on.
Robbed of a basic sense of trust in the world, a child who grows up in fear for his or her safety grows up too quickly. The other ingredients for a healthy childhood become less effective or meaningful. Nutritious food can only go so far in a stomach twisted by terror at the gunfire outside. A child might have a roof over his head, but if his caregivers neglect or abuse him, is it a home? How can a teenage girl even think about getting an education when she’s afraid boys might take advantage of her in the unisex bathrooms?
When a child’s need for protection isn’t met, everything else is at stake.
In 2017, the number of children and families fleeing conflict in their home countries rose dramatically, contributing to the worst refugee crisis the world has seen since World War II. Ethnic-minority Rohingya children in Myanmar witnessed shocking levels of violence at the hands of government security forces. In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s warring Kasai region, violence drove 850,000 children from their homes. And in Yemen, where at least 5,000 children have died in a brutal civil war, more than 11 million are now facing malnutrition and starvation.
2017 was also a year of natural disasters that killed and displaced thousands of young people: earthquakes in Mexico and Guatemala, a mudslide in Sierra Leone, hurricanes Harvey and Maria, the continuing drought in East Africa. The ensuing stress and chaos put children at even greater risk of exploitation, especially if they lost parents or other family members in the disaster.
But the year wasn’t all darkness. In many ways and places, the world made progress in its efforts to protect children, especially in the realm of policy. In India, where 47 percent of girls are married before age 18, the Supreme Court ruled that sex with a child bride is always rape. Zanzibar’s Children’s Act, passed in 2011, garnered international applause for the sweeping positive changes it has brought to children’s lives in just six short years. And in Uganda, government support for the Children’s Parliament has gained momentum this year, giving young people more opportunities to raise their voices on issues that matter to them.
At ChildFund, we made progress in our own efforts to keep children safe. Our emergency response after the mudslide in Sierra Leone and Hurricane Maria in Dominica helped reunite families and establish Child-Centered Spaces to keep children out of harm’s way. In November and December, colleagues throughout our program countries spent 16 activism-filled days raising awareness about gender-based violence against children. We helped communities worldwide establish Child Protection Committees to safeguard their youngest citizens from violence.
Our continuing anti-trafficking program in Indonesia helped young mothers create the financial stability necessary to resist human traffickers — crooks who fool desperate parents into believing that they will provide a better life for their children, only to sell them in illegal adoptions. To date, the program has provided hundreds of young women with vocational training to lift their families out of poverty and keep their children safe at home. And in India, ChildFund-supported children’s clubs are gaining traction in their communities in the fight to end child labor, including in the notorious bangle-making industry.
As ChildFund continues to deepen its focus on child protection, we’re committed to transforming our heartbreak for the world’s children into more fuel for our mission, which is far more than just supplying food, water or other basic needs — or even saving lives. It’s about helping kids actually live in such a way that they are free to be themselves and achieve their awesome potential.
To really thrive, children need a world that makes their safety and human dignity top priority. A new year means new opportunities to address that need right where they are — in their own homes, schools and communities. Will you make a resolution to join us?
