OMEP’s Aims

To protect and promote the wellbeing, health, rights, opportunity for optimal development, happiness, peacefulness, and early education of the world’s young children, their families, their teachers, and the institutions that serve them.

Organisation Mondiale Pour L´Éducation PréscolaireOrganización Mundial Para La Educación PreescolarWorld Organization For Early Childhood Education

Stolen Childhoods:Migrant, Refugee, Displaced and Exploited

Children around the World

66th OMEP World Assembly and ConferenceCork IrelandJuly 5, 2014

A G E N D AState of the World’s Children – Judith Wagner

Life for Children in Refugee Situations – Amber Eriksson

ZIP and KIP: OMEP’s Refugee Camp Projects - Grace Jepkemboi

Discussion

State of the World’s Children

A story we must know by heart.A story we must share.

It would be easierto turn away.....

Their stories horrify us ...break our hearts

and can also motivate us to do something

in concert with our strengths,

our interests, and our abilities.

If children can LIVE IT,

we can learn about it.

What is the worst problem

the world’s children face?

POVERTY

#1

Every day poverty deprives

over 1 billion children

of their basic human rights.

1,000,000,0

00

22,000 children die every day

as a result of poverty.

Every 3.6 seconds a

person dies of

starvation.

Usually it is a child

under 5.

UNICEF 2013

The effects of poverty on young children (0 - 6) tend to be more profound and longer lasting than the effects upon older children and adults.

16% of children in the

developing world are

severely malnourished.

Low birth weight and lack of prenatal and postnatal care

A pen

Children experience poverty and deprivation with their bodies ... their minds ... their hearts ... and their futures.

Statistics based on averages do not reveal differential effects on children and adults ... or boys and girls. The effects of poverty are more severe for girls.

Poverty is highly

correlated with other

major problems children

face.

#2Lack of clean water and

sanitation

Source BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hipicture_gallery05africa_getting_water_in_africa/html/1.stm

Women and girls walk hours a day to fetch water -- often unclean.

Water-borne illnesses are the second leading cause of death for children under five.

Water-borne illnesses kill 1,400 children every day.

Over 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe

water.

Nomadic girls fill containers with waterfrom a puddle on the road in Somalia.

Photo from Tap Project: http://www.myspace.com/tapprojectsa/photos/521347#%7B%22ImageId%22%3A751747%7D

Even where school is available, girls often must do home duties

instead.

Children in Ghana fetching water

#3 Life as Refugees

Afghan refugee children in Jalozai, Pakistan wait for their transfer to a new refugee camp on the border.

More than 45 MILLION PEOPLE ARE REFUGEES OR DISPLACED

PERSONS.

20,700,000 children!

Of these 46% are children.

UNHCR, 2012

#4

War and violent conflictThe most common reason people become refugees

Source: UNICEF Progress for Children 2007

From 2002 -2005, 1.5 billion children

– 2/3 of the world’s child population- lived in the 42 countries

most affected by violent conflict.

These young sisters are among the "invisible refugees" in Pakistan.

Unaccompanied children often go uncounted among refugee

populations

Afghan refugee children work long hours to help their families survive.

Near Shamshatoo camp, this boy works in a brickyard.

#5

Child Labor

120 million of the world’s children are working full time to help support their impoverished families.

Source: International Labor Organization

#6

Trafficking and Slavery

Over 200,000 children work as slaves in West and Central Africa.

Source: UNICEF

Sex Trafficking, Child Prostitution, and Pornography

Taxi in Bulgaria openly advertises child

prostitutes.Source: http://www.gvnet.com/childprostitution/00-Graphics.htm

10-year-old girl sold by her parents into Phnom Penh’s underage sex

trade

Virgins bring a high price.

#7

Military Use of Children

Both military forces and armed opposition

forces recruit children as combatants --

often by kidnapping the children. Approximately 250,000 children are

thought to be fighting today.

Nothing

Child injured by a land mineexplosion in Jammu India

Information: Child Landmine Victims: http://eagleaid.org/europe/child_landmine_victims/

#8

Child Neglect

#9 LACK OF ACCESS TO

EDUCATION

Lack of education in one generation has serious consequences for the next generation..

and the next…

#10

Disasters

Rescue worker carries two-year-old Haitian boy after his home collapsed

Photo from London Evening Star

Women and children are disproportionately affected by disasters, whether natural or person-made.

#11

Indoctrination into violence

The world has promised them more.

WE have promised them more.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 6: Survival and Development

ALL children have the right to live and to develop to their full potential.

Each of us in our own way

can make the world a better place

for children.

All children...

EVERYWHERE

Children who have a house…

Children whose house fell down… (Haiti, 2010)

Children with big red hats…

Children who need new clothes…

Children with million dollar smiles…

Children with their own special smiles…

Children who can fly…

Children who can run…

Children who make music…

And children who fish naked…

WHAT CAN I DO?★ Something, anything, for any child.

★ What you are already doing ... and just a little more.

★ Inform college students and high school students....they are the next generation of child advocates.

★ Teach the children....build habits of caring, sharing, peace, and advocating for others.

nothing

Join hands with others who are looking for ways

to help the world’s children ...

look around this room ...

OMEP

Promoting the wellbeing, rights, happiness, and early

education of all the world’s children

Video by Judith T. Wagner, Ph.D.Deputy President, World OMEP

Vice President for North America and Caribbean