EL ESPACIO PUBLICO

widely recognized as a major contributor to children living in poverty. How

resources are earned, valued and distrib- uted depend on power relationships between men and women within the household as well as within society10_(see Panel: Children’s welfare and mother’s property, page 24).

Child poverty and the breakdown

of protection for children

Poverty denies children safety, dignity and protection

Children living in poverty do not only experience material deprivation. Emotional and spiritual impoverishment are also abrogations of their rights. However, these dimensions of child poverty and their inter- action with material deprivation and lack of family and community resources are poor- ly researched and documented, and inter- nationally comparable data related to child protection is still sparse.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that it is the duty of govern- ments and parents to provide the protec- tive environmentrequired to ensure that all children experience childhood in safety and dignity. It is equally clear that millions of children worldwide are being denied this protection. These children are just as impoverished as those whose rights to survival, health and education are threat- ened by a lack of essential goods and services.

Each year, tens of millions of children are the victims of exploitation, violence and abuse. They are abducted from their homes and schools and recruited into armed conflicts. They are trafficked and forced to work in prostitution and sweat- shops. They are needlessly deprived of

Access can be strengthened in several ways: by increasing the rights of women to parental and marital property; by ensuring that all government transfers of property and land go equally to both men and women, either through joint or individual titles; and by promoting schemes that enable groups of women to jointly access land and housing. This list is not exhaustive and there are many other innovative ways in which governments and communities can increase women’s access to land and other property. Similarly, improving women’s and children’s access to community resources such as forests and water will require enhancing women’s participation in the management of these resources. Basically, increasing the mother’s access to land, housing and community resources will directly benefit children’s wel- fare and help create a more child-supportive environment, both at home and in the community.

Dr. Agarwalis Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, and author of the award-winning and widely influ- ential book A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia(Cambridge University Press, 1994). She has also written many papers on pover- ty, gender inequality, property rights and environ- mental management, among other subjects. She is currently President of the International Association for Feminist Economics and Vice-President of the International Economic Association.

Enabling

women

to access

private and

community

assets must

become a

primary

objective

of poverty-

reduction

strategies.

THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005

parental care and forced into early mar- riage. They are subjected to violence and abuse in the home, school and communi- ty. The effects of these abuses are far- reaching and enduring; they rob children of their childhood, preventing them from achieving anything close to their full potential.

Material deprivation exposes children to exploitation and abuse

Many child protection abuses are linked to deeply entrenched material deprivations. One of the most obvious ways in which material poverty facilitates exploitation and abuse is through child labour. It cre- ates economic need that can force vulner- able children – such as those caught up in armed conflict, or orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS – into hazardous labour, often at the expense of their education and recreation. Currently, 180 million children are thought to be engaged in the worst forms of child labour.11

Child protection abuses reinforce the generational cycle of poverty

Material deprivation makes children more vulnerable to trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. An estimated 1.2 mil- lion children are trafficked every year;12 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion-dollar commercial sex industry.13

While poverty exacerbates child protection abuses, it is equally true that abuse often forces children into material deprivation or exacerbates their existing poverty. Violence and abuse at home can force children onto the streets, where their poverty is likely to become entrenched. Discrimination can be an obstacle to learn- ing at school and can cause children to drop out. Exploitation generates poverty by keeping children out of school, in poor health and subject to further psychological and physical abuse.

Children in the criminal justice system face special risks

Poverty often leads children into contact with the law, and criminal justice systems that are not receptive to the rights of chil- dren accused of crimes can perpetuate poverty. When children are accused of crimes such as theft of food or detained for begging, poverty is frequently the underly- ing cause. And when the response to chil- dren accused of crimes is detention, they are separated at an early age from their families and the wider community, and are unlikely to learn the life skills necessary to function effectively in society and to escape poverty in adulthood. Even after their release, they are often stigmatized and may have difficulty reintegrating into the com- munity – conditions that contribute to their further marginalization and poverty later on. In all these cases, the legacy of poverty does not stop with one generation but may affect several generations to come.

Families provide the best protection

Families form the first line of defence for children; the further away children are from their families, the more vulnerable they are. Children separated from their families, both those living or working on the streets and those in institutions, are more likely to be marginalized, abused and live in poverty in adulthood. Those living on the streets are left unprotected against violence and exploitation. They are also at greater risk of contracting HIV. Children in institutional care, while osten- sibly protected from the most obvious protection abuses, are segregated from one another according to age and sex and from other people in their communities. This inhibits the development of vital social skills as well as community support and interaction.

The fight against poverty stands a good chance only when children are freed from exploitation, violence and abuse.

Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix solution: A child cannot be immunized

against abuse. But there is something that can be done. We can begin by ensuring that all children live in a strong protective environment.