A 2009 study found that almost 250,000 children worked in auto repair stores, brick klins, as domestic labourers, and as carpet weavers and sozni embroiderers in Jammu and Kashmir. Laureates and global human rights activists have renewed their call for world leaders to double their efforts in protecting children from child labour and child trafficking during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Sep 11 2020 (IPS)

Addressing delegates at the end of the virtual 3rd Fair Share for Children Summit, 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi told global citizens that “business as usual” in dealing with COVID-19 is not going to be tolerated.

“We’re not going to accept the miseries of child labour and trafficking to continue to be normal,” he said.

The two-day summit, which concluded yesterday Sep. 10, saw laureates and global human rights activists renew their call for world leaders to double their efforts in protecting children during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Several Nobel laureates and heads states and government as well as heads of United Nations agencies spoke, including the Dalai Lama, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Dr. Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, among others.

“My dear children, we’re here to tell you one thing; we’re not going to fail you,” Satyarthi said, assuring the children of the world of their commitment.

“We’re not going to leave you. We’ll stand by you and fight for you,” he said during his concluding remarks. He demanded that the fair share for children must become the new normal.

Satyarthi, who is the founder of Laureates and Leaders for Children which hosted the summit,  further demanded that governments should establish social safety nets for the poor because they are the ones most impacted by the pandemic and that, once the COVID-19 vaccine is available, it should be accessible to everyone in the world.

Satyarthi pinned his hope on the youth whom he applauded for showing leadership during the Summit through their participation and speaking in support of children’s rights.

“Your authority, energy, vision and leadership are definitely a ray of hope in these difficult times,” she said.

He further called on the youth to continue campaigning for children should because the world cannot afford to lose an entire generation.

“Protection of children is not only affordable, but it is also achievable,” concluded Satyarthi.

1996 Nobel Peace Laureate and former president of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta called on global leaders to “unite and act now” against child labour and slavery.

“If we fail, we’re accomplices, we’re guilty of betraying children,” he said.

Ramos-Horta said destitute children are the most impacted by COVID-19 because they do not have access to clean water, three meals a day and no longer go to school.

Rula Ghani, the First Lady of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, called upon adults to be responsible not only for their own children but for every child throughout the world. She said it is everyone’s responsibility to nurture every child they can reach because each one has a potential for greatness and distinction.

Ghani decried the fact that wars and conflicts are tearing apart the very fabric of society in such a way that the sense of security, the comfort of belonging to a caring group and certainty of a bright future are fast becoming a luxury of a few.

“In a world where the social compact between society and its members no longer carries any meaning, where even medical emergencies such as COVID-19 can wreak havoc because of the absence of thoughtful coordination and prevalence of political interest, it is high time to stop and reflect,” she said.

While the world is battling with the worst global crisis since World War II and the most significant economic challenge since the great depression, it is also facing the biggest political crisis where presidents do not know how to tell the truth, observed Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Professor at Columbia University. Sachs, who is also the director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, said the world is also dealing with the abuses by political leaders who do not care and are not transparent.

“The humanitarian crisis is deepening dramatically, and we don’t even know the extent of it because it is moving faster than our data can keep up,” he said. “We know that hunger is rising, destitution is rising, and desperation is rising.”

Sachs recommended turning to the multi-level institutions in the short term, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which he said has done an excellent job of providing emergency assistance.

He called on the IMF, World Bank and other international financial institutions to provide far more resources, without the usual conditionalities. This will help avert a hunger crisis, the massive rise of deaths because of the diversion of health and medical personnel and greater levels of deprivation.

“The IMF has emergency financing facilities that have provided more than US$ 80 billion since the start of the crisis, but we need vastly more than that,” said Sachs.

Peter Kwasi Kodjie, secretary-general of the All-Africa Students Union, also called for more financial resources to be directed to children. While pleading with leaders to accept the reality of COVID-19 as the new normal, he said it cannot be the new normal for the many children who go to bed hungry because they no longer go to school. He noted that many children face the risk of not returning to school.

“Young people of the world are asking for a fair share of the money to be allocated to children who are marginalised to avoid disaster,” said Kodjie.

José Ángel Gurría, secretary-general of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), also called on countries to ensure that children get a fair share of the global response to the pandemic.

“You can count on the OECD to help countries to put children at the centre of their social policies,” said Gurria. 

This was the first Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit to be held virtually owing to the pandemic.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2018, 400 million primary school-age children were already facing poor access to quality education leading to a lack of basic reading skills. Young people have added their voice in calling on world leaders to allocate at least 20 percent of the COVID-19 stimulus package to the marginalised children and youth. Credit: Naresh Newar/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Sep 10 2020 (IPS)

Young people have added their voice in calling on world leaders to allocate at least 20 percent of the COVID-19 stimulus package to the marginalised children and youth.

Addressing delegates at the on the final day of the third Fair Share for Children Summit chairperson of the Commonwealth Students’ Association, Dr. Maisha Reza said if 20 percent of the $5 trillion announced by G20 countries in March were allocated to children, it would fully fund the United Nation COVID-19 appeals and save over 70 million lives.

“How humanity responds collectively to the crisis today will determine the future that we build for our children and the future of our people and planet,” said Reza.

The summit, facilitated by the Laureates for Leaders and Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation – both of which were founded by 2014 Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi – brought together several laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Tawakkol Karman, Professor Jody Williams, international leaders and heads of United Nations agencies.

Reza challenged world leaders to take responsibility for their actions. They should not blame the pandemic for the global challenges of unemployment, hunger, crime and violence, among others. Instead, she said, COVID-19 amplified the already existing gaps and cracks that were already unresolved and overlooked.

Quoting from recently released A Fair Share for Children Report, Reza said before the pandemic in 2018, 400 million primary school-age children were already facing poor access to quality education leading to a lack of basic reading skills. Moreover, 258 children out-of-school in 2018.

The report further states that as a direct consequence of national lockdowns, school closures were implemented in more than 190 countries.

To date, more than 160 countries have continued to lock children out of school. At the peak of the pandemic 1.6 billion – about 91.3 percent of all enrolled students – were out of school or university, with the vast majority being under 18.

“It is not just COVID-19 that is exacerbated global inequality, but the world’s unjust response to COVID-19 will deepen inequality for a generation,” she said.

Dr. Maisha Reza said if 20 percent of the $5 trillion announced by G20 countries in March were allocated to children, it would fully fund the United Nations COVID-19 appeals and save over 70 million lives.

Reza criticised leaders for focusing more on multinational companies while leaving the marginalised and vulnerable to fend for themselves, adding that millions of children will pay the price with their lives unless action is taken.

She said the youth and students have to choose between fulfilling their economic potential and between contributing to their families’ sustenance.

“This is an extremely unfair choice that they have to make for the poor decisions of world leaders,” she said.

She further invited the youth to make use of alliances through student organisations, NGOs and international platforms such as the summit while using social media to hold their leaders accountable.

While urging governments to invest in education and children, Ulrich Knudsen, Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), warned that it would be a mistake not to give companies life support during the pandemic.

“It’s in the interest of everyone in society that we also give life support to companies,” he said in response to a question that governments seem to be prioritising corporates over marginalised citizens.

“If we don’t do that, the economy will break, and we’ll have even more inequality that hurts the vulnerable, be they youth, children women.”

He said after this crisis, there would be competing pressures on government budgets. Because they are spending so much now and that the funds have to be paid back governments will be faced with competing priorities such as the elderly, climate change and paying back loans.

“But there are unquestionable benefits of keeping schools open,” he said.

While applauding the youth in taking the lead to ensure that their voices are heard, Knudsen urged governments to create a conducive political environment for these issues.

“At OECD, we have youth- and child-sensitive policymaking. We need governments’ approach to issues that affect children and youth differently than others. We cannot expect that policies made for adults will not have adverse side effects for children and youth,” he said. 

The digital divide and economic inequalities came under sharp focus during the discussion. Knudsen said the significant disparities when it comes to access to technology had resulted in the vulnerable being left behind when doing e-learning or remote learning.

“If you don’t have access to a computer, you’re completely lost during a crisis like this one. There’s the economic inequality, and then there’s the digital divide, we need to address both,” he said.

Adding his voice about the digital divide was Edvardas Vabuolas from the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU). He said it is a well-established fact that many children are not accessing education during the pandemic because of lack of access to the internet and gadgets such as computers.

Dr Rigoberta Menchú Tum, 1992 Nobel Peace Laureate agreed, adding that it was time to talk about technology because, during the pandemic, fewer children had access to education. She further called for an education system that is multi- and bilingual.

“Budgets have to be devoted to education,” she said, through an interpreter.

She noted that some countries used the curfews as an excuse to become dictatorial states. 

Tum further called people in public office to use the lens of diversity during the post-COVID era so not to leave anyone behind in the future.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) says 99 percent of the 4.8 million victims of commercial sexual exploitation in 2016 were women and girls, with one in five being children. This young girl pictured here from Nigeria has never been to school and has marks from flogging over her hand. She lives with the person for whom she sells rice for and does not know her age. Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi said today that considering that most of the $ 8 trillion raised for the COVID-19 Response Fund went to bail out big companies, governments should seize the opportunity to hold them accountable and make sure that no child labour is involved in the supply chain. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Sep 9 2020 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic should give governments across the world an opportunity to hold corporates accountable against child labour. Kailash Satyarthi, the 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate, made this submission at the virtual 3rd Fair Share for Children Summit.

The two-day summit which started today and was facilitated by the Laureates for Leaders and Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation – both of which were founded by Satyarthi – brought together several laureates and child rights leaders.

Satyarthi said considering that most of the $ 8 trillion raised for the COVID-19 Response Fund went to bail out big companies, governments should seize the opportunity to hold them accountable and make sure that no child labour is involved in the supply chain.

“That should be the responsibility of the governments who have put a lot of money in bailing out those companies,” said Satyarthi, adding that 20 percent of the COVID-19 funds should go to the marginalised. Earlier in the day, he said it was unacceptable that a mere 0.013 percent of COVID response money had been allocated to the most vulnerable.

He said it is also the responsibility of the companies to ensure that no child labour is involved in the supply chain. As a result, he called for laws at national and international levels to ensure that due diligence is made in the supply chain by the companies.

Satyarthi further urged the youth to take the lead in championing the eradication of child labour in the world.

“I’m happy that in many places in the world through the 100 Million Campaign, young people are raising their voices and ready to fight the menace of child labour, illiteracy and poverty of children,” he said.

Kailash Satyarthi, the 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate, said that 20 percent of the COVID-19 funds should go to the marginalised. Earlier in the day, he said it was unacceptable that a mere 0.013 percent of COVID response money had been allocated to the most vulnerable. Courtesy: Laureates for Leaders

One such young person is Lalita, a youth parliamentarian and former child labourer from India, who demonstrated how she and her friends have been leading the way in convincing parents to withdraw their children from work. Through their door-to-door activism in her community, the youth was also spreading awareness about the importance of education.

“A lot has changed since then in the village,” the teenager told delegates through an interpreter.

She said authorities supported all out-of-school children and those withdrawn from work to return to school. As representatives of the youth in her village, she said they raised their concerns about child labour and discrimination against poor children to authorities. 

“We fought against this, and we won,” she told delegates.

During the pandemic, Lalita and her peers wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal seeking support to mount a big TV screen for underprivileged children who had no access to online learning. They also made and distributed masks to children and adults of her village while creating awareness about COVID-19 to protect them from the virus.

“I’m a 16-year-old from an underprivileged community, and I’ve been working relentlessly towards the protection of children towards the pandemic,” she told delegates, adding: “But despite being a part of the government and the private sector, you’re all not using your privilege and power to the advantage of marginalised children.” 

Lalita, a youth parliamentarian and former child labourer from India, demonstrated how she and her friends have been leading the way in convincing parents to withdraw their children from work. Courtesy: Laureates for Leaders

Lalita was not only speaking on behalf of the children in her village, but she was raising her voice in support of the 152 million child labourers, of which 73 million are in the worst forms of child labour, across the world. In fact, with COVID-19, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) projects that the situation will worsen although child labour has been reduced by a third since the beginning of the century.

According to ILO director-general Guy Ryder, COVID-19 will, in all likelihood, lead to an increase in the numbers of child labour in the world 

“It’s not difficult to understand why this is happening,” said Ryder. “We know that with the loss of jobs and livelihoods, extreme poverty is spreading around different parts of the world.”

He said with 2 billion workers in the informal economy and 1.6 billion of them facing a destruction of their livelihoods, inadequate social protection and closing of schools, more children could be driven into child labour. 

“But this is not a situation that we should regard as a fatality; something that we can do nothing about,” he said, adding: “What we do now in rebuilding from COVID-19 will have a long-lasting effect on the future trajectory of child labour.”

This is a possibility because the private sector has also come to the party. Roberto Suarez Santos, the secretary-general of the International Organization of Employers, said, despite the devastating impact COVID-19 has had on the private sector, the people on the margins of society have suffered immensely.

While he said it is worrying that more children could be forced to labour as a result of the pandemic, he called on delegates to ensure that progress is not reversed.

“The ratification of the ILO Convention 182 is not a minor thing,” said Santos. “It’s a historic moment, but implementation is important despite the promise.”

He accepted that due diligence on supply chains should be strengthened, but he was quick to add that the focus should be on the entire economy because child labour also takes place in domestic contexts.

“The vast majority of child labour are not in the supply chain, which I want to insist are critical, but are also domestic. In North Africa, for instance, most of the child labour takes place in domestic contexts,” he said.

The Indian Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani, spoke about how her government provided a safety net for children and their families during the pandemic.

Martin Chungong, the secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), called on parliamentarians across the world to effectively play their role in ratifying international laws and robust budgetary functions.

Governments have been urged to take urgent action to prevent devastating nutrition and health outcomes for the 370 million children missing out on school meals amid COVID-19 school closures. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

By Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, Sep 9 2020 (IPS)

While COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire world, Nobel Laureates and world leaders have today expressed concern that ongoing crisis is far from being an equaliser. The pandemic has revealed that the most vulnerable and marginalised populations, including and especially children, remain largely unprotected against the virus and its impacts.

Kailash Satyarthi, 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate, opened the plenary of the Fair Share of Children Summit, an extraordinary virtual gathering of Nobel Laureates and world leaders, with a sobering statistic. Currently, he said only 0.013 percent of the COVID-19 response had been allocated to the most vulnerable. “How can we justify this?” he asked.

The global virtual conference, hosted by Laureates and Leaders for Children, which was founded by Satyarthi, takes place from Sept. 9-10, and has brought together Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Tawakkol Karman, Professor Jody Williams, and leading international figures and heads of United Nations agencies.

The summit seeks to galvanise global action to ensure that the world’s children are not left behind and that in the absence of targeting children in international responses to the pandemic, existing responses will have failed.

Speaking today, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson stated the most marginalised children and their families must receive their fair share of COVID-19 responses, which translates to 20 percent for the poorest 20 percent of humanity.

Kinsu Kumar, a Child Rights Activist who also works with Bachpan Bachao Andolan:Save The Childhood Movement and is based in India. Courtesy: Laureates and Leaders for Children

A former child labourer and child rights activist who also works with Bachpan Bachao Andolan:Save The Childhood Movement, Kinsu Kumar, brought home the reality of the millions of children exploited or at risk of being exploited as COVID-19 wreaks havoc to existing socio-economic structures.

Kumar, who lives in Jaipur, India, worked at the age of six at a car wash to provide for his family.

“It saddens me that instead of children being a priority during this pandemic, they (children) have instead been side-lined. My morale is crushed by the slow response to the needs of millions of children across the world. How many more children have to be abused, exploited or lost for government to take action?” he asked, admitting he was angry about the situation.

Nobel Laureate, the Dalai Lama, said that unfortunately, the poor and needy are so side-lined that they have turned to seek divine intervention as the only means of assistance.

Gordon Brown, U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, explained just how important it is for the world to come together to fight for the world’s children.

This is especially considering emerging data indicating that as many as 30 million children will not return to school post-COVID and emphasised that education is still the best cover for children from all forms of abuse and exploitation.

Speaking about standing with children as they face COVID-19, he said that all efforts must be made to ensure that children stay in school.

“Hope dies when young people cannot prepare, plan or dream of future because they cannot get an education,” said Brown.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation, spoke of the need to address the most pressing problems facing children during the pandemic. For instance, he indicated that child mortality is now on the rise as the pandemic has curtailed access to health services, and further added that up to 10,000 children across the world could die every month due to increased hunger.

Henrietta Fore, executive director of the U.N. Children’s Fund, says the COVID pandemic has exposed the fault lines of the pandemic in every country but has resulted in finding solutions to these problems, with children resorting to online learning during the lockdowns. Courtesy: Laureates and Leaders for Children

Henrietta Fore, executive director of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), warned that a lot of work lies ahead as “even before the pandemic hit, the world was already off track in meetings SDGs. The pandemic has exposed the fault lines of the pandemic in every country.”

“But the pandemic is also showing us solutions which includes providing online infrastructure to ensure that children learn online and working with vital partners such as the private sector to develop innovative solutions,” she explained.

Speakers at the summit further indicated that as COVID-19 escalates, numerous pre-existing inequalities faced by the vulnerable and marginalised populations and especially children in the poorest parts of the world, will be worsened by disparities of the world’s responses.

Nobel laureates have particularly raised the alarm that despite trillions being announced for the wealthiest parts of the world, only a fraction has been allocated to those whose lives are most at stake from the multidimensional impacts of the pandemic.

A most pressing problem emerging due to the ongoing crisis is food insecurity and fears are rife that additional millions of children will be plunged into hunger.

According to UNICEF, undernutrition accounts for almost half of all deaths of children under the age of five. This context underscores the need for governments to take urgent action to prevent devastating nutrition and health outcomes for the 370 million children missing out on school meals amid school closure.

Through a session dubbed “Food Insecurity During COVID-19: Ending Child Hunger and Stopping the Virus for Good” more world leaders and Nobel Laureates, including Ayoade Oluwafemi Fadoju and Prof. Muhammad Yunus, highlighted how strained health and social protection systems, and fractured responses by countries are escalating child hunger.

As the pandemic unfolds, the impact of the virus on global agricultural and food markets is becoming increasingly evident.

Session moderator Lorena Castillo Garcia, the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS special ambassador and global spokesperson for Zero Discrimination, emphasised the need to tailor responses to the crisis.

Garcia explained that current food insecurities are not necessarily driven by pre-existing food security threats such as erratic weather patterns, conflict, natural disasters and the locust invasion across East Africa but by COVID-19 driven disruptions to food production and supply.

Overall, people’s ability to purchase food has also been affected by current economic recession, and millions of children and their families could be plunged into poverty and extreme poverty.

Disruptions to the supply of agricultural inputs like fertilisers, seeds and a shortage of labour due to restricted movements as a responsive measure to curb the spread of the virus are likely to further reduce production incoming crop seasons. This, child rights experts say, spells doom for world children and more so, the vulnerable and marginalised.

“Nigeria has the second-highest number of child malnutrition in the world. More than 2.5 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe malnutrition. Undernutrition prevails among children in Africa. This is a disaster. We have to make every effort that hunger does not become deadlier than COVID-19 itself,” said Oluwafemi Fadoju.

Graca Machel, a member of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders, agrees.

“We are facing the horror of rising hunger. Globally, a child dies every three seconds due to hunger. In Africa, no country is untouched by hunger. These statistics shed light on the magnitude of child hunger. This is the sin of the collective failure of our times. Today, about 67,000 children are at risk of dying of hunger in sub-Saharan Africa alone before the end of this year,” she said today.

“Let us bring proven solutions to scale so that no child is left behind. It is in our power to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry. No child should die of hunger when there is enough food to feed us all. We have an opportunity now to fix a system that was already broken for millions of children. This pandemic is an opportunity to re-evaluate how we treat our children,” she advised.

As it is, pre-COVID-19 estimates by the World Bank show that more than 690 million people were affected by hunger and that these figures are up by 10 million people from the previous year. 

Children will be most affected as other statistics by the World Bank show that nearly one in every five children worldwide lives on less than two dollars a day. As a result of COVID-19, an estimated 6.5 million children under five worldwide are at risk of suffering stunted growth.

Summit speakers emphasised that post-COVID reconstruction efforts must build better by addressing inequalities facing the world’s most vulnerable children today. In the short term, it will involve identifying where the new hotspots of food insecurity are. This will help expand social protection programs to ensure that children and young people are adequately targeted.

Overall, summit speakers have emphasised that a failure to unite, innovate and develop new, transformative and sustainable solutions could lead to the loss of an entire generation of children.

Raju, a young child who was rescued from traffickers by women child rights' activists in in Andhra Pradesh, India. There is an urgent need for fund allocations to protect the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable children gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Stella Paul
HYDERABAD, India, Sep 8 2020 (IPS)

Kerry Kennedy has a clear mission – along with Nobel laureates and leading international figures – she wishes to ensure that hard-won gains in children’s rights are not destroyed by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kennedy is the president of Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Human Rights, a nonprofit human rights advocacy organisation.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, held on the eve of the Fair Share for Children Summit, Kennedy speaks of the urgent need for fund allocations to protect the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable children gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

She also explains why protecting children is crucial for the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Goals and why the world must also engage the private sector in the effort.

Kennedy warns that because children are increasingly completing their education online, there is a need for greater controls to ensure their safety.

Kennedy started working in the field of human rights in 1981 when she investigated abuses committed by United States immigration officials against refugees from El Salvador. Since then, her life has been devoted to the pursuit of justice, promotion and protection of fundamental rights, and preservation of the rule of law.

The Fair Share for Children Summit global virtual conference takes place from Sept. 9 to 10. It brings together Nobel laureates and leading international figures to demand a fair share for the world’s most marginalised children during and beyond COVID-19. Speakers include Kennedy, the Dalai Lama, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and chair of the Elders, 2014 Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, and Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein. 

Kerry Kennedy explains why protecting children is crucial for the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Goals and why the world must also engage the private sector in the effort. Courtesy: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

IPS: How long have you been associated with Kailash Satyarthi? Could you tell us about your experience of working on child rights? 

Kerry Kennedy (KK): Kailash received the RFK Human Rights Award in 1995 for his courageous work emancipating children from slavery and creating systemic change and legal reforms, which make him, arguably, the person who has freed more people from slavery than any person in history. He is not only my colleague, but I consider him one of my closest friends and an inspiration. Both his son and his daughter worked at RFK Human Rights, and my daughter Cara worked at Kailash’s ashram in India.

IPS: Do you think violations of child rights are taken as seriously as they should be?

KK: No. Worldwide there are 152 million children in slavery and other forms of exploitation. We know what the solutions are, we just need to implement them.

IPS: Sexual violence against children has been growing alarmingly. How can this be tackled, especially in a post-pandemic, economically weakened world?

KK: Sexual violence against children is a hidden pandemic we must confront, and we all must play a role in the coming months. This includes paying greater attention to warning signs that children in our communities may have been abused and strengthening reporting mechanisms. We should also help ensure that online protections are in place to keep children safer than ever, especially as their school days are increasingly virtual.

IPS: Why are the protection of child rights crucial for achieving the SDGs?

KK: None of the Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved in isolation. They are all part of the ecosystem of humanity and the protection of the earth. And they all have to be achieved together. Child rights are particularly important because the cycle of violence and exploitation against a child follows that child throughout life and creates a system in which everyone on the supply chain is harmed and lives in fear. We have the expertise and the knowledge to stop that, and we need to do so.

IPS: You have been working a lot with corporations to promote human rights in the private sector. Do you think the corporations can also be roped in to promote child rights?

KK: Of course, our work has primarily been focused on investors in major corporations. Those investors are often pension funds for union labourers or sovereign wealth funds for countries which have an inherent interest in protecting workers and promoting child rights.

Kailash has repeatedly said that child slavery is as much an economic issue as a human rights’ one. We must go further than simply having government regulations in place to eradicate the practice. As Dartmouth Professor Vijay Govindarajan notes, the rug industry has led by example here, with GoodWeave, a non-profit founded by Kailash in 1994, granting licenses to rug importers and exporters who have signed a contract agreeing to adhere to no-child-labour standards.

IPS: The theme of the summit is #FairShare4Children. What would be considered a fair share of the estimated $9 trillion set aside globally to mitigate the effects of the pandemic? Where are the most critical areas? And how should it be managed? 

KK: There are an estimated 1.9 billion children worldwide – composing roughly 27 percent of the world’s population. By setting aside a proportional share to address child-specific needs: among them, educational equity; eradicating slavery and sexual violence; ensuring adequate nutrition; medical care and the distribution of vaccines to the poorest and most underserved children is a vital component of creating a better world.

Excerpt:

By Stella Paul
HYDERABAD, India, Sep 8 2020 (IPS)

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi says that $1 trillion can solve many of the problems the world’s most marginalised communities are facing.

Satyarthi spoke to IPS in an exclusive interview on the eve of Fair Share for Children Summit, a global virtual conference, hosted by Laureates and Leaders for Children, which is founded by Satyarthi. The summit, which takes place from Sept. 9-10, brings together Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Tawakkol Karman, Professor Jody Williams and leading international figures and heads of United Nations agencies to demand a fair share for the world’s most marginalised children during and beyond COVID-19.

This fair share, the Laureates and Leaders for Children say, translates to 20 percent of the COVID-19 response for the poorest 20 percent of humanity and amounts to $1 trillion.

Watch as Satyarthi outlines just what the money will be spent on.

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi said that without prioritising children we could lose an entire generation as evidence mounts that the number of child labourers, child marriages, school dropouts and child slaves has increased as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe. Courtesy: Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation

By Stella Paul
HYDERABAD, India, Sep 8 2020 (IPS)

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi warns of the danger that over one million children could die, not because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but because of the economic crisis facing their families.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, Satyarthi said that without prioritising children we could lose an entire generation as evidence mounts that the number of child labourers, child marriages, school dropouts and child slaves has increased as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe.

He candidly noted that the most marginalised and vulnerable children in the world are still not prioritised by governments and policies and that the political will and urgency of action was simply not there to offer them protection.

Satyarthi is undoubtedly one of the greatest child rights’ crusaders of our time. Founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement) – India’s largest movement for the protection of children and centred around ending bonded and labour and human trafficking, Satyarthi has been relentlessly working to protect the rights of children for over four decades. Save Childhood Movement has rescued almost 100,000 children from servitude and bonded labour, re-integrating them into society and aiding them in resuming their education.

IPS interviews Satyarthi on the eve of Fair Share for Children Summit, a global virtual conference, hosted by Laureates and Leaders for Children – also founded by Satyarthi. The summit, which takes place from Sept. 9-10, brings together Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Tawakkol Karman, Professor Jody Williams and leading international figures and heads of United Nations agencies to demand a fair share for the world’s most marginalised children during and beyond COVID-19.

The pandemic has gravely endangered millions of children around the globe, and it is not just a moral obligation but also a practical step to protect these children, Satyarthi says.

He also elaborates what could be a fair share of the global pandemic recovery package for the children and how this could be managed. Excerpts follow:

IPS: Where does the world stand today in ensuring child rights? Which are the areas where we have clear progress, and where are we still failing?

Kailash Satyarthi (KS): I would be very blunt to say that the most marginalised and vulnerable children in the world are still not prioritised in the policies and fund allocations and spending on them. Protection of children needs a lot of political will and a lot of urgency and action which was not there. But I would agree that we have been making progress, slowly but surely, we are trying to protect our children in different areas. There is clear evidence that the number of child labourers has decreased over the last 20 years or so, the number of out-of-school children has also dropped considerably. Similarly, we made progress in the field of malnutrition. So, there were many areas we made progress. But as I said before, we require a tremendous amount of political will and action to protect our children.

IPS: How has the COVID pandemic endangered lives of children across the world?

KS: Well, before the pandemic, we had several problems in relation to safety, education, health and freedom of children. And since these children belong to the most marginalised sector of society – they are children of unorganised workers, peasants, farmers, they are children of indigenous peoples and children belonging to refugee communities. So, they were already suffering, injustice was there, inequality was there, but COVID-19 has exacerbated that inequality and injustice, and we see the worst effect is on children.

Though there is no direct infection or disease, the indirect effect is alarming, and that has to be addressed now. It is very clear that if we do not take urgent action now, then we risk losing the entire generation. It is evident and eminent from all sources that the number of child labourers, the number of child marriages, school dropouts, the number of child slaves, even children engaged in petty crimes – these will increase.

So, we have to underline these factors which are impacting the lives of children and their families, of course. And we have to be extremely vigilant and active about it. So, that sense of moral responsibility and political responsibility should be generated and educated.

I also think that this crisis is the crisis of civilisations. We were thinking that since everybody is facing the same problem, the pandemic would be an equaliser. But instead of being an equaliser, it has become a divider. Divisive forces are quite active in society, and equality and injustice are growing in the children. So, first of all, as an individual and a concerned citizen, one should generate compassion.

Two Tamil refugee children play in Mannar in northern Sri Lanka. The COVID-19 pandemic has gravely endangered millions of children around the globe. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

IPS: The government stimulus package is expected to provide employment and help in economic recovery. Is it feasible to use this specifically for child development and child protection?

KS: It is not only feasible, it is necessary. We cannot protect humanity and ethos of equality and justice until and unless we address the problems of the most marginalised children and people of the world.

I am quite supportive of the government stimulus package, which is $9 trillion so far. I will give you an example – the stimulus is prioritised to bail out their own companies. Most of the developed countries are putting up stimulus to bail out their own economy, their banks, financial institutions and companies. In the United States, some companies have all-time high stock market situations.

On the other hand, we have a danger that over a million children will die – not because of COVID-19 pandemic, but because of the economic crisis, their parents are facing. So, this is injustice. How can you justify this? You need a stimulation package to bailout [the] economy, but you need a stimulation package to ensure that our children are protected. So, this is not just a moral question but also a very practical issue.

This is why in May earlier this year, I joined 88 Nobel Laureates and global leaders to sign a joint statement demanding that 20 percent of the COVID-19 response be allocated to the most marginalised children and their families. This is the minimum fair share for children.

IPS:  The theme of the summit is #FairShare4Children. What would be considered a fair share of the estimated $9 trillion set aside globally to mitigate the effects of the pandemic? Where are the most critical areas? And how should it be managed?

KS: Even if you only look at the $5 trillion packages announced in the first few weeks of the pandemic, 20 precent of that is $1 trillion – enough funding to fund all the COVID-19 U.N. appeals, cancel two years of debt for low-income countries, provide the external funding required for two years of the Sustainable Development Goals on Education and Water and Sanitation and a full ten years of the external funding for the health-related SDGs.

Within the estimated $9 trillion of governments’ aid, this would mean $1 trillion (for children). This funding would mitigate the increase child hunger and food insecurity, tackle the increase in child labour and slavery, the denial of education and the heightened vulnerability of children on the move such as child refugees and displaced children. These are the areas of immediate criticality. 

Some key demands to this end include – for one, the declaration of COVID vaccines as a global common good so that it is made available for free for the most marginalised communities. Secondly, the creation of a Global Social Protection Fund to provide a financial safety net to the poorest communities in lower and lower-middle income countries. Thirdly, all governments should cancel the debt of poor countries to allow them to redirect funds towards social protection. Lastly, governments should establish legislation to ensure due diligence and transparency for business and ensure its strict compliance to prevent the engagement of child labour and slavery in the global supply chains.

If we can prevent the devastating impact of COVID-19 on these areas in the present, if we can reduce the inequality in the world’s COVID-19 response, if we ensure the most vulnerable receive their Fair Share to we can then be in a position to salvage the future of our children.

Excerpt:

Kailash Satyarthi, founder of Laureates and Leaders for Children and 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate, says the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the deep inequalities faced by the poorest families. Courtesy: Marcel Crozet / ILO

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 7 2020 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of millions of people worldwide, accounted for over 869,000 deaths, destabilised the global economy and triggered a marked rise in poverty and hunger in the developing world.

But the fallout from one of the most devastating consequences of the spreading virus is on the lives of a growing new generation: children.

Kailash Satyarthi, founder of Laureates and Leaders for Children and 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate, rightly points out that the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the deep inequalities faced by the poorest families, who are the least equipped to protect themselves in times of global crisis.

“However, despite unprecedented government spending to protect national interests and the global economy,” he warns, “little has been allocated to protect the 1 in 5 children who live on $2 per day or less.”

Without urgent action now, he said, “we risk losing an entire generation”.

An upcoming summit – officially called the Nobel Peace Laureates and Leaders for Children at a Fair Share for Children Summit, scheduled to take place remotely on Sept. 9-10 – will focus on the plight of children, and more importantly, call for increased spending on marginalised families ravaged by the pandemic

Several Nobel laureates, along with world leaders and heads of UN agencies, are listed as speakers, including the Dalai Lama, Satyarthi, Dr. Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Leymah Gbowee, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, among others.

Kailash says if the world gave the most marginalised children and their families their fair share, which translates to 20 percent of the COVID-19 response for the poorest 20 percent of humanity, the results would be transformative.

Kul Gautam, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IPS the COVID-19 pandemic has commanded unprecedented attention and action throughout the world in recent months.

While some leaders have tried to capitalise it for their own political gain, there has also been an outpouring of support and solidarity for international cooperation to tackle it, he noted. 

Though subjected to unfair and unfounded criticism by leaders like United States President Donald Trump, he argued, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the U.N. system are playing a valuable coordinating role and providing much needed technical and material support, particularly for developing countries

“While the elderly and those with pre-existing health complications are the most susceptible to COVID-19, as always, women and children often become extra-vulnerable not only from the virus but also from their exposure to domestic abuse, gender-based violence and lack of effective social safety nets in most societies.”

“Millions of children being deprived of schooling and confined at home for a prolonged period threatens their future,” declared Gautam.

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders, points out the COVID-19 pandemic is leading to a global child rights crisis with increases in poverty and hunger, child labour and child marriage, child slavery, child trafficking and children on the move. 

“We must ensure that the most marginalised children and communities have their fair share of the relief funds and services.  We must unite in this effort to protect the most vulnerable among us,” she warns.

Mohammad Rafique, along with other refugee children, gathered at the Rohingya market of Kutupalong camp to sell vegetables he brought earlier from a local market in this photo dated Mar. 11, 2020. This was two weeks before Bangladesh went into a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus. the pandemic is leading to a global child rights crisis with increases in poverty and hunger, child labour and child marriage, child slavery, child trafficking and children on the move. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS

Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, says the pandemic’s public health emergency is set to exacerbate the abuse and exploitation of children, including those in detention.

Calling for government action, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, said: “We need the governments of the world to come together to announce a rescue package for the most marginalised children and their families.”

The ongoing crisis could increase the number of children living in monetary poor households by up to 117 million by the end of the 2020, according to the latest analysis from UNICEF and Save the Children. 

“Immediate loss of income often means families are less able to afford basics, including food and water, are less likely to access health care or education, and are more at risk of violence, exploitation and abuse”.

The children’s agency also pointed out that 188 countries have imposed countrywide school closures, affecting more than 1.6 billion children and youth. The potential losses that may accrue in learning for today’s young generation, and for the development of their human capital, are hard to fathom.

“More than two-thirds of countries have introduced a national distance learning platform, but among low-income countries the share is only 30 percent. Before this crisis, almost one third of the world’s young people were already digitally excluded”.

UNICEF also said the COVID-19 crisis could lead to the first rise in child labour after 20 years of progress. Child labour decreased by 94 million since 2000, but that gain is now at risk.

“Among other impacts, COVID-19 could result in a rise in poverty and therefore to an increase in child labour as households use every available means to survive. A one percentage point rise in poverty could lead to at least a 0.7 percent increase in child labour in certain countries.”

Gautam, who was Director of Planning and responsible for drafting the Plan of Action at the 1990 first-ever World Summit for Children, told IPS: “So far, the international response and focus of national action to combat COVID-19 has not given enough attention to the multi-dimensional plight of children, especially in poor countries and communities”.

He said there is also an imminent risk that “Vaccine nationalism” in the rich countries will lead to life-saving treatments being over-priced and hoarded by the rich leaving the world’s most vulnerable people, especially children, waiting in the cold.

In this context, the initiative by a group of Nobel Peace Laureates and Leaders for Children calling for a fair share of the resources mobilised for COVID-19 to be devoted to the wellbeing of children is most timely and welcome, he said. 

“Children have only one chance to grow, and if they do not get the priority for protection from this devastating pandemic, they will be doomed for life. This simple truth is often forgotten or neglected by political leaders and decision-makers driven by short-term political calculations.”

Hence the importance of the voice of Nobel Peace Prize laureates with their moral authority and non-partisan credibility, he added.

A joint statement released here by Nobel Laureates and world leaders, said: “ We, the Laureates and Leaders for Children, call upon the world’s Heads of Government to demonstrate wise leadership and to urgently care for the impoverished and the marginalised. Decisions made by our leaders, actions taken by us and the discourses that ensue in the next few weeks will be crucial.”

“They are going to shape the future of polity, economy, culture and morality. Development priorities will be recalibrated, individual freedom, privacy and human rights will be redefined. We must take this opportunity to transform traditional diplomacy and politics into compassionate politics. COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in our world.”

While this virus does not differentiate between nationalities, religions or cultures, said the statement, it is most adversely impacting those who are already marginalised – the poor, women and girls, daily wage earners, migrant labourers, indigenous peoples, victims of trafficking and slavery, child labourers, people on the move (refugees, internally displaced and others), the homeless, differently abled people, among others.

The virus, restrictions placed on the majority of the world’s population, and the aftermath will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable amongst us

Elaborating further on the potential dangers of “Vaccine nationalism,” Gautam singled out the  example of “Vaccine nationalism” — i.e the U.S. refusal to join the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (Covax) – an international effort to develop, manufacture and equitably distribute a COVID-19 vaccine.  

The result of this US boycott of a joint effort by 170 countries coordinated by WHO, Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is that it could potentially lead to hoarding of the vaccine and higher prices for doses, he said.

“The ultimate victims of such “vaccine nationalism” are likely to be children in poor countries – who might be the last on the line to get the vaccine, contrary to the call for vulnerable “Children First” priority that organizations like UNICEF, Save the Children and others have been promoting for decades.” 

“I hope that the  Nobel Peace Laureates and Leaders for Children at a Fair Share for Children Summit will raise their voice against the risk of any such “vaccine nationalism,” Gautam declared.

The Laureates and Leaders for Children, founded in 2016 by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, state that if the world gave the most marginalised children and their families their fair share, which translates to 20 percent of the COVID-19 response for the poorest 20 percent of humanity, the results would be transformative. According to the international Labour Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund, one in five children in Africa are involved in child labour. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

By Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, Sep 4 2020 (IPS)

Regina Njagi’s four children, aged between 11 and 17, have not benefitted from online learning since the COVID-19 led to the closure of all schools in Kenya, earlier in March. With the closure, Njagi lost her job as a teacher at a local private school.

“As a widow, these are desperate times for me. I exhausted my savings by paying school fees for my two children in high school, just three weeks before the closure. How many times can I borrow food from relatives and neighbours? Everyone I know is struggling so the children must work. Otherwise, they will starve,” Njagi tells IPS.

Nobel laureates galvanise action for world’s vulnerable children

Njagi is not alone in having to send her children to work for the families’ survival. The impact of the pandemic on children will be a focus of Nobel Peace Laureates and Leaders for Children at a Fair Share for Children Summit on Sept. 9 and 10. Several Nobel laureates and heads states and directors of United Nations agencies are listed as speakers, including Nobel laureates the Dalai Lama, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Dr. Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, among others.

To globalise compassion and galvanise action for the world’s most vulnerable children, the Laureates and Leaders for Children founded in 2016 by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, state that if the world gave the most marginalised children and their families their fair share, which translates to 20 percent of the COVID-19 response for the poorest 20 percent of humanity, the results would be transformative.

The Nobel laureates fear that despite pledges of unprecedented sums of money to support world economies, this may not reach children.

“As a result, COVID-19 could turn the clock back a decade or more on progress made on child labour, education, and health for hundreds of millions of children,” the Laureates say in a joint statement.

Satyarthi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, has personally rescued tens of thousands of children from slavery and will be one of the speakers at the Fair Share for Children Summit.  

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and concerns escalate that even more children have been placed in harm’s way, the Laureates and Leaders for Children is calling upon the world’s heads of government to demonstrate wise leadership and urgently care for the impoverished and the marginalised with a special focus on children.

“One trillion dollars would fund all outstanding United Nations and charity COVID-19 appeals, cancel two years of all debt repayments from low-income countries, and fund two years of  the global gap to meet the SDGs on health, water and sanitation, and education,” Laureates and Leaders for Children says.

Education is a particularly vital step as quality education is the most powerful way to “end exclusion and change the future for marginalised children. There would still be enough left to fund social protection safety nets which are crucial in the fight against child labour. More than 10 million lives would be saved, a positive response by humanity to the tragedy of COVID-19,” Laureates and Leaders for Children says.

No school but work during the pandemic

But from May to July this year, all four of Njagi’s children were unable to attend school as they were employed on a daily wage to pick coffee at plantations in the Mbo-i-Kamiti area, Kiambu County, Central Kenya.

The children are currently engaged in this year’s second coffee picking season which has just begun and will last through October. Njagi says her children will then participate in the final and major coffee picking season from October through December.

Picking coffee is a difficult job, and her children must leave for the plantation, some two kilometres away from their home in Kagongo village, by six o’clock in the morning.

After harvesting the coffee, each worker, child or adult, is expected to load their harvest onto waiting trucks which transport the day’s pickings to the local coffee factory.

All workers must do everything possible to get onto the truck with their coffee or else they will walk to the factory, at least a kilometre away. 

“At the factory, each person places their coffee on a weighing scale, and each worker is paid their daily wage based on the weight. I advised my children to combine their harvest because if the weight is too low, they might not get paid,” she adds.

Children across the world at risk

The World Bank estimates that globally the pandemic will push 40 to 60 million people into extreme poverty in 2020.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), together with UNICEF, warns that a one percentage point rise in poverty leads to at least a 0.7 percent increase in child labour in certain countries. 

Child rights experts, such as Nairobi-based Juliah Omondi, are increasingly concerned that Njagi’s household is far from the exception. For millions of households across Africa, child labour is now a lifeline, and vulnerable children must adapt or starve.

Omondi is a member of the G10 (groups of 10 civil society organisations) local movement that agitates for the rights of women and children. She tells IPS that in “many African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, Eritrea and Nigeria, international labour standards on the minimum age protection are ignored in the informal sector”.

In Nigeria, for instance, the National Bureau of Statistics show that as of 2019, 50.8 percent of Nigeria’s children were working full time. Omondi adds that the situation is dire in Africa’s poorest countries, including Mali, Niger, Somalia and South Sudan.

COVID-19 likely to exacerbate the abuse and exploitation of children

Danson Mwangangi, a regional socio-economic expert and independent consultant based in Kigali, Rwanda, says that the pandemic has provoked economic severe and labour market shocks and that children are bearing the brunt.

While the number of working children has fallen by 94 million since the 2000s, the plight of Njagi’s children confirms fears by the ILO that the pandemic is likely to exacerbate the abuse and exploitation of children and roll back progress towards the eradication of child labour.  

“Ongoing crisis will make it exceptionally difficult for the United Nations to realise its commitment to end child labour in the next five years. For the first time in 20 years, we are going to see a spike in the number of child labourers,” Mwangangi warns.

The impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable children clearly visible

ILO pre-pandemic statistics indicate that approximately 152 million children between the ages of five and 17, or one in 10 children, worldwide work. Of these, 73 million are in hazardous work. Nearly half of all children in labour are from the African continent and are aged between five and 11 years. 

According to ILO, 85 percent of child labourers in Africa are in the agriculture sector; another 11 percent are in the services sector, with the remaining four percent in industry.

“We are beginning to see the fallout. More child marriages, more girls being employed as domestic workers and, unfortunately, domestic work for children in Africa has been normalised,” Omondi says.

Mwangangi agrees. He says that while statistics by child agencies, like the U.N. Children’s Fund, show that one in five children in Africa is in child labour, there is a general understanding that this does not include underage domestic workers such as house girls and farm boys.

Unfortunately, child labour is not the only problem facing marginalised and vulnerable children in Africa.  When Save the Children released a report in July entitled “Little Invisible Slaves”, it became apparent that COVID-19 has created more children vulnerable to trafficking and revealed that the world lacks much-needed child protection infrastructure.  

The report says that COVID-19 “changed the pattern of sexual exploitation, which is now operating less on the streets and more indoors or online”.

Omondi speaks of fears that millions of children are trapped in houses with their abusers and that it has becoming that much more difficult to reach them.

Save the Children estimates that of the 108,000 cases of human trafficking reported in 164 countries in 2019, at least 23 percent involved children.

Worse still, one in 20 child victims of sexual exploitation worldwide is under eight years old. Overall, Africa accounts for eight percent of child sex trafficking in the world.

According to the United States Department of State, 19 percent of world’s enslaved population is trafficked in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the same breath, nearly half of all countries in Africa including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Lesotho, Tunisia, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Botswana have been flagged as notable sources, transit points and destination for people subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. 

In Kenya, for instance, one of six such victims are children, this is according to the Trafficking Data Collaborative, a data hub on human trafficking. 

Meanwhile, Laureates and Leaders for Children caution that the inequalities the world’s children face, combined with the “impact of COVID-19 will reverberate for years to come”. But, they say,  “none will feel it as painfully as the world’s most marginalised children”.