The Progress of Nations 2000

COMMENTARY: REACHING THE UNREACHED

for others. They are among the
least visil)le of all children exploited in this mannel, because
the domestic tasks performed b)y
girls and woinen are often not
even dignified with the label of
work'. The ob)scurity and low
status of their toil put girls at
further risk: Many are 1)oth11
physically and sexually abused.
Then, in one of the most brutal extremes b)efalling these lost
children, millions - primarily
girls are forced into the netherworld of coinmercial sexual traf-L
ficking and exploitation. Because
of the clandlestine and criminal
nature of these activities, statistics are imprecise. But it is estimated that trafficking in children and women for commercial
sexual purposes in Asia and the
Pacific alone has victimized over
30 million people during the last
three deca(les.
In Nepal, between 5,000 and
7,000 girls are believed to be trafficked every year across the border to neighbouring countries.

The abuse these children endure
has long-term, life-threatening
consequences, including psychological trauma, the risk of early
pregnancy and its attendant dangers, and HIV/AIDS and other
sexually transmitted infections.
Education is
every child's right;
nothing can compare
or compete with it,
and when it is of
good quality and
relevant to children's
lives, it truly can
fight poverty.
Another heinous form of exploitation that children are subjected to is conscription or coereion into armed conflict. An
estimated 300,000 childiren under
the age of 18 have been reported

as serving in governiient or opposition forces during the 1990s
in myriad countries.
In Liberia, where a vicious
seven-year-long civil war raged
until 1997, the conflict drove
750,000 Liberians from their
country, left more than 1 million
internally displaced and killed
more than 150,000 people. As
many as 15,000 chil(dren, some
as young as six, served as soldiers. Many of these boys were
considered 'hard-core combatants' youths who had been
forced to commit atrocities against
their own families or villages as a
show of loyalty to tIheir commanders. Another iruital side of
the conflict saw thousands of
girls forced into sexual slavery by
the warring factions.
Actions, not words
Many gains have been made in
the decade since the World Summit for Children and t lie adoption
of the Convention Osl tihe Rights of
the Child. To bring t his progress

to its full fruition, the world iimust
now force itself to colfrolt and
change the miiseralble fates of
those children who have gained
the least, or nothing at all.
A crucial step is to make the
tiie-hound eradication of the
w(orst forms of child labour a(nd
exploitationi a cause for all of us,
niot in words, but inll actionli; inot in
speeches, but iin policies andl resources. It is a glob)al cauise we all
share across regions, cultures,
sp)iritual traditions andl (levelop)nient levels. A cause to which we
all want to contribute in practical ternms.
During the last eight years,
some 90 countries have imade
progress on this implortaint froniit,
uniting lbehinld the Interniational
Labour rganizationi's (ILO)
International Prograiinine on the
Eliminiation of Child Lab)our
(IPEC) to foIrm a stroling alliance
that has turned this issue into a
global cause. Fromi just onie donor
country anid six particilpating
States in 1992, IPEC niow has
nearly 25 donors and more
than 65 participating countries.
In those countries, projects are
helping prevent childreni from
becoming involvei! in child
labour, remove them froiim suc(1
situations through rehabl)ilitation
and education and provi(le improved livelihoods for t heir fainilies through de(ent work.
In addlition, the iunlialilmous
adoption in June 1999 of a new
Convention (No. 182) on t he
Elimination of the Worst Forms
of Child Labour by the lnternational Labour Cofereice of the
ILO offers enorioiis leverage in
en(ling the worst foris of child
labour. These inclode such practices as child slavery, tIle forced
recruitment (if chil( soldiers,
forced labour, trafficking, delbt
blndage, serfdom, l)i')stitltion,
pornography and various fbrms
of hazardous and exloi tative
work.
Convention 182 retltiires rati
fying nations to take iniinediate

4 boy slpS o (1 )(1vetoeru/ in South /1/1ica. P rverty his consin(/fl millions of (iclt /(hidren globall to o hfi of sfbiriog ot
thi stre'e'ts, in bonded labour, in brothels, afctories atl/ fi(l'ds.

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