Unequal Access: Not All Children can Get to School

September often brings newness to children (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). It is the start of a new term and a new school year. This often comes with new school items, and new uniforms. And how will children get to school on the first day of the new term, and throughout the year? They may be able to walk or cycle, or if they live further away, use public transport, or get a lift from a parent or carer. They may have a school bus. In all honesty, this was not a topic I gave much thought to until recently. A South African organisation, that I do legal research for, asked me to look into transport as part of the child's right to education.

New things for school: Last month, my charity, Children's Helpers Worldwide supported a local organisation, Refugiu, 

so it could provide school items for some Roma children, living in a poor village. 

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally binding international treaty, ratified by nearly all the countries in the world, states that all children have a right to primary education and that this should be free. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to achieve universal primary education. How are we going to achieve this if there are children who are unable to safely go to and from school, due to a lack of transport? This seriously interferes with their right to an education.

Some courts have recognised transport as being being a necessary part of realising a child's right to education. The Right to Education Project reported that a Brazilian court decided that free and compulsory education as an individual public right has been interpreted to include free transport if children cannot otherwise attend school.

In a Colombian case, a girl of five had been placed in a school in another neighbourhood, due to a school quota system. The Court ordered the Government to relocate the girl to a closer school and said that, in acknowledging the transport costs in getting the child to school, the system had not taken into account the mother's lack of income and the time required to bring her daughter to the assigned school.

Image courtesy of Rawich at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sometimes schools or charitable organisations will try to help with transport. My charity, Children's Helpers Worldwide, works with an organisation in Ghana, called New Life. New Life runs a children's home and school. Children from the surrounding villages attend the school, alongside the children who live in the home. The director of New Life wants to fundraise to buy a minibus. New Life could then provide safe transport for children who live far away. This would help children who currently have to walk a very long way to attend the school and would also reach children who do not go to school at all, as the distance to travel is too far.

School Assembly at New Life, Ghana.

It may be that children and teenagers take it upon themselves to find ways to get to and from school, or to get money for transport, as shown by this disturbing article from South Africa, entitled "Dressing "sexy" to get a lift to school". Ground Up News spoke with schoolgirls in the township of Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, who were trying to get back to their homes in Mfuleni. They explained that, by dressing sexily, they can either get a lift, or get money for transport, from passing drivers. One explained that this was better than the alternative:

"When we [hitchhike] and the driver talks about sex or touches you and you get uncomfortable, you have a choice to react in a certain way. But when you are walking and someone strangles you, there is little you can do, especially when you are in an open field like the one near Mfuleni."

It is unbelievably sad that adults would take advantage of children who are just trying to get to and from school.

Children's access to education is  greatly affected by their access to transport. Children should not be prevented from getting an education because the nearest school is too far away. They should not be harassed and abused whilst simply trying to travel to and from school. If we want to achieve the Millennium Development Goal, to ensure all children have access to primary education (at least!), then we must ensure that children can actually get to school, and obtain an education. This is their right.


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This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, taking place on 16 October 2014. The theme is inequality. Use the twitter hashtags #BAD2014 and #BlogAction14 to follow all the action and to find more bloggers posting about inequality!

Some Reflections on #DGD2014: Digital Media and Children's Rights

It has been interesting following today's Day of General Discussion (DGD) held by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, on the topic of "Digital Media and Children's Rights". You can follow the discussion which took place on twitter, by using the hashtag #DGD2014.

The discussion has just drawn to a close and here are a few, brief reflections.

The UNCRC in the Digital Age

This morning, I wrote a post and asked this question: Created in a world without social media and selfies, can the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child keep up with digital and technological issues faced by today's children?

This great tweet from EU Kids Online, of a slide from speaker, Sonia Livingstone, shows how various articles of the Convention can be effectively used to protect children and their rights with respect to digital media:

What are children's rights in the digital age? see my slide - happy to add/amend. http://t.co/jADSwBFee5 #DGD2014 pic.twitter.com/HTqLgcWw7d
— EUKIDSONLINE (@EUKIDSONLINE) September 12, 2014

The Digital Divide 

I referred to the digital divide in my post this morning. John Carr of EPCAT spoke about this issue, saying that it is common to think about the digital divide being between the Global North and Global South, but that internet access is not equal across the North. There is less access in poorer parts of the North and there are disparities within the same country. For example, poorer people in the USA have less access to digital technologies.

The digital divide does not just occur along economic lines. Some speakers stated that certain groups are particularly excluded from access to the internet, such as girls, children with disabilities and children living in institutional care. In the closing session, it was said that digital resources should be available in all parts of the world and that universal access is a goal to work towards. States should be asked to ensure equal access to digital media, and provide free or low-cost access in all areas.


Negative Impacts of Using the Internet

Concerns were expressed by various speakers about children's privacy, their digital footprint and the fact that they may post things online during "experimental times of their lives" and that they do not realise the permanence of this, as these posts, picture and videos will then remain online.

Cyber-bullying and sexual exploitation are major issues. A moving account was given by one speaker of the terrible impact cyber bullying and harassment had on her life when she was a teenager.

Protection 

The above issues all illustrate the need for protection. John Carr stated that it is important that we do not think of all children as the same. Some groups are much more vulnerable than others online. Rabi Karmacharya of One Laptop per Child said that we cannot rely on parents to protect children online. Parents may be illiterate, or may simply be at work and so are not around when children are using the internet at home. I tweeted that last quote, and got this reply from Child to Child:

So true @_Catti: children must be actors in their own protection, be it online or #irl as it's their right to #participation
— Child to Child (@ChildtoChild) September 12, 2014

This tweet from Child to Child echoed the sentiments of some of the speakers during the day, who said that children should play a key role in protecting themselves and their peers against harm and that the empowerment of children in digital media is essential to "maximise beneficial effects and minimise harm". Education in digital literacy - of children, parents, teachers and others working with and for children - will help. 

Protection versus Control

Sonia Livingstone said that protection is key, but that this cannot be a priority which is used to reduce child participation online. Other speakers emphasised the fact that "we must not confuse protection with control". One speaker highlighted the issue that many see children as "becomings" - growing into future adults - but they are "beings" and active agents in this world right now, both online and offline, and they should be part of the solution in ensuring protection online. There must be a balance between protection and the child's right to participation.


Advertising

This was not an issue I had mentioned in my earlier post, but it is an important one. One speaker made the point that digital advertising has an impact on children's rights. For example, she spoke about the impact on babies' right to health in the context of online advertising and campaigns from companies selling breast milk substitutes. It would also be interesting to further explore what regulation there is, or could be, with regards to advertising aimed at under-18s using the internet.


Guide to Human Rights for Internet Users

This Guide, published by the Council of Europe was referred to by one of the speakers. It has a section dedicated to children and young people. You can find the Guide here.


All in all, it was a very interesting day, with much discussion around a very relevant topic in today's world. Many other great points were made, but those I have included above are the ones which stood out the most for me. Please do add to this, or let me know which points you felt were most interesting in the comments below. It would be great to hear your opinions!

Open Letter to South Africa's President from Equal Education Members

This Friday, South Africa's Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, is due to publish Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure. These will set out the most basic standards for infrastructure that schools in South Africa must meet. Today, the organisation Equal Education, shared the following video on youtube. It shows schoolchildren reading an open letter to President Zuma, on why he needs to ensure that Minister Motshekga goes ahead and publishes the Minimum Norms and Standards.

Earlier in the year, Minister Motshekga released a draft of the Minimum Norms and Standards. However, the draft was too vague, and did not give proper details of the standards schools would need to meet. To understand more about this, as well as to learn more about Equal Education's campaign, here is an earlier video:

To gain a further insight into the standards of some schools, it is worth watching Equal Education's video of a Solidarity Visit to schools in the Eastern Cape, lead by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba:

The standards between schools in South Africa varies greatly. I attended Public Hearings held by Equal Education in Cape Town, back in March. Teenagers from schools in Cape Town told everyone of how their schools lacked science labs, libraries and sometimes functioning toilets. However, there were gasps and exclamations of shock from them, when they were shown some photos of schools in the Eastern Cape.

There is a countdown to the publication of Minimum Norms and Standards on Equal Education's facebook page. I am waiting with anticipation to see what will happen on Friday!

If young people were actively engaged in all aspects of society...

If children and young people were really actively engaged in all aspects of society, how do you think the world would change?

Screenshot from a slide shown at Michael Furdyk's Taking IT Global session, during the
Global Education Conference.

A major barrier preventing children and young people becoming actively engaged in all aspects of society, is that adults may not see their input and participation as valuable. Their engagement will then not be encouraged. In this sort of atmosphere, it is unlikely that children and young people will see themselves as being "community leaders, problem-solvers, role models, mentors and key "stake-holders"." Society is missing out on a great opportunity when it excludes young people. As one teenager said, at the Annual EuroChild Conference last week, older people have more experience, but younger people can contribute fresh ideas. This seems like a great combination! 

Excluding young people means that they may be denied a sense of belonging. The implications of this can cause issues impacting the whole of society. If a group of people gets the feeling that nobody wants to listen to them, then dangerous, or anti-social behaviour may become appealing - because these excluded people might not feel a sense of responsibility to a society that does not respect them, or maybe they want to try to make a statement, in an attempt to be heard by everyone else!

A group of young people giving a presentation on youth participation at the Annual Eurochild Conference, November 2013.

Another issue is that governance systems across the world are structured in a way that constrains youth participation and leadership. Whilst addressing young people at a youth leadership forum, called Youth 21, former South African President, Thabo Mbeki said:

"It would obviously be unnatural that I, a member of the older generation, would easily and willingly accept that younger people, my own children, should, at best, sit side-by-side with me as co-leaders, fully empowered to help determine the future of our people."

However, he encouraged young people to organise and ready themselves, to take up leadership roles and to overcome the attitude of older generations. 

I think the world would be a better place if we made the effort to enable children and young people to participate, and to become actively engaged in all aspects of society. How do you think the world would change if we did this?

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The picture of the quote above, was taken from a session at the Global Education Conference. This conference is online and is free to attend. Live sessions are taking place until the end of tomorrow (22 November) and there are recordings from earlier session this week. If you are interested in education issues, I definitely recommend taking a look at the conference site.

Sad Statistics on Sanitation, released on UN World Toilet Day

Today has been declared World Toilet Day by the UN. The aim is to highlight the lack of access to proper sanitation faced by many around the world. As the UN's website states:

"While a vast majority of the world's population has access to mobile phones, one third of humanity (2.5 billion people) do not have access to proper sanitation, including toilets or latrines... The lack of improved sanitation largely contributes to the fact that almost 2,000 children die every day from preventable diarrhoeal diseases...Lack of private toilets in schools is a major reason why girls do not continue their education once they enter puberty." 

The South African organisation, Equal Education, today released the results of their audit of sanitation at secondary schools in Tembisa, in Gauteng. Here are some of their findings:

• At over half of the schools surveyed, it is commonplace for more than 100 boys or 100 girls to have to share a single working toilet.
• In some schools, there are days where there are no functioning toilets for students to use.
• No students reported having regular access to toilet paper or soap.
• Many schools have broken or non-functioning taps; sometimes there is no water supply.  
• Long lines at bathrooms keep students from class and bad smells from nearby toilets distract them in class.
• One student said, “My dignity is not there anymore because of the dirty toilet I have to go to every day.”  

Equal Education has presented the findings of their audit to the education authorities in the area and has asked them to release a timeline for developing a plan to address the crisis. You can read Equal Education's full press release, with more details about both the findings, and ideas of what the plan should include, here, and also more about their sanitation campaign in general, here.

Equal Education has also produced infographics, based on their findings, which I have downloaded them from their facebook page to share them with you:

 
I would definitely recommend following Equal Education, either on facebook or twitter to keep up with their news. I had the opportunity to attend Public Hearings, held by Equal Education, in Cape Town, earlier this year. I wish there could be more organisations like this, advocating for quality, and equality, in education systems for children.

Thank you, Equal Education, for drawing our attention to this sad, and pressing issue on UN World Toilet Day. Wishing you much success in achieving improved access to sanitation for these students.

Why Children Need the Internet!

Given that you are reading this post, I can safely assume that you have a computer, laptop, tablet, smart phone, or some other device for accessing the internet. This means you are one of the 2.7 billion people who are online. Just under 60% of the world's population, however, does not have access to the internet!

I actually got the idea for this post because I am taking part in the NaBloPoMo challenge, to write a blog post each day in November. I read this post, on the yeah write site, about computers and technology, by another blogger Cynk, who is also taking part in NaBloPoMo. It made me think about how accustomed I am to using the internet. It is a part of my everyday life. For many others around the world, this is not so. Children who are not taught how to use computers, and the internet, will find it harder to get decent jobs as adults, in an increasingly interconnected, digital world. They cannot experience the benefits of having access to the internet.

Computers for the Children!

Yesterday, I blogged about a Homework Centre in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. They have a couple of computers there, and really want to teach the children how to use them, because they can see how useful such skills and knowledge will be for the children's future. They would like more computers. I am hoping that my charity, CHW, will be able to help with this in the future, or that I might be able to find someone else (either an individual or an organisation) who can help with donating computers to the Centre. This would not be the first time we, at CHW, have helped children's projects with computers. We raised funds to repair the computers at an education centre, run by the Atelier Sacelean Association, in Romania, and also raised the funds for a new classroom to be built for a school run by New Life Orphanage in Ghana. The new classroom became a computer lab. (The computers were donated by another organisation, but the room had to be built for the new lab!)

Computer Lab at New Life, in Ghana

The 'Digital Divide' and Children
 
The 'digital divide', ie the gap between those who have access to the internet and those who do not, is  a huge issue and one that will greatly impact a child's future opportunities in life. Often the 'digital divide' is looked at in international terms. Of all the people in the world who are not connected to the internet, 90% are in developing countries. Expense is a big problem. The founder of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has said:

"...the majority of the world's people are still not online, usually because they can't afford to be... In Mozambique, for example, a recent study showed that using just one gigabyte of data can cost well over two months' wages for the average citizen. The result of high prices is a widening digital divide that slows progress in vital areas such as health, education and science..."

The problem is not just an international one though. Access to computers and the internet varies within parts of the same country, meaning some children will have access and some will not. The quality of their resources will vary too.

This article by Laura Dimon, brings up the point that New York's digital divide is holding young New Yorkers back. She shares a quote from Manhattan's Borough President, which states that over 75% of school facilities have a maximum download speed which is 100 times slower than the target speed in the National Broadband Plan. These students will not have a fast enough connection speed to have access to all the educational resources they need.

Crowding around the computers at the Atelier Sacelean Association, Romania

What can be done?

Whilst organisations such as A4AI and Internet.org are looking to get more people connected to the internet, there are things which everyone can do to help. If you have any computers or laptops that you no longer use, or if your office or college will be getting new equipment, it is possible to donate the old computers to certain charities.  These charities can refurbish the old computers, if necessary, and will then distribute them to schools, education centres or other children's projects. It would be best to try to look this up, to find a charity close to you where you could donate electronic equipment (see how useful the internet is!). As well as helping children, this is also an environmentally-friendly way to get rid of old equipment.

Here is a useful list of ten tips of things to do before donating an old computer.

Also, if anyone has any ideas on getting some computers or laptops to the Homework Centre in South Africa,  please let me know. I would really appreciate it!

Children at the Homework Centre, South Africa

Thank you for taking the time to read this post... I am grateful that I have a laptop and access to the internet and can do things like take part in NaBloPoMo! I just hope I can use all the resources I am lucky enough to have, to help children around the world to get online too, and to open up more opportunities for their futures.

Chance to change the law to support Care-Leavers

Today, there is a chance that a change to the law on children leaving care could be discussed and accepted in Parliament. Currently, children in foster care must leave on or before their eighteenth birthday. Support for care-leavers depends on the local authority, and varies greatly from one area to another. 

The Children and Families Bill has been making its way through Parliament, and has reached its Report Stage today. It will be discussed later this morning. MP Paul Goggins has tabled an amendment which would allow young people in foster care to stay with their foster carers until their twenty-first birthday (as long as both parties agree). This amendment could be considered today, if the Speaker selects if for debate. A number of MPs have signed up in support of the amendment. You can see more about this on the website of the Don't Move Me Campaign.

The Who Cares? Trust has produced a briefing for the Report Stage of the Children and Families Bill. It highlights the fact that those leaving care are some of the most vulnerable people in society and states that:

"Many children who have been in the care system have had a childhood full of instability and trauma, with over 62 per cent of looked after children being taken into care due to abuse or neglect."

Yet despite this reality, young people in care are expected to be able to fend for themselves at an early age. The Fostering Network states that the average age for leaving home in the UK is twenty-four, but those who have been in care are expected to leave much earlier on. 

Image courtesy of marin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Fostering Network also produced a briefing (which you can download from this page), that states:

"Many young adults who have left the care system struggle to reach the same levels of educational attainment as their peers. They are over represented in prison populations, and are more likely to be unemployed, single parents, mental health service users and homeless than those who grew up within their own families...

The attainment gap between looked after children/care leavers and non-looked after children is wide.  In 2011, 40% of the general population was in higher education compared to only 7% of care leavers. The older an individual is when they leave care the more likely they are to remain in education."

Having to leave care before they are eighteen interrupts children's education. This article, in The Guardian, gives two examples of this. A girl, who was approaching her sixteenth birthday, and studying for her GCSEs, was told by the local authorities that her placement could no longer be funded, and was shown hostels where she could live. Another girl, who, in the run up to her eighteenth birthday, was studying for her A Levels, was told that her foster place could not be supported any longer. She would have had to leave college and go on income support. 

Whilst costs will be involved with extending payment to foster carers, the Guardian article points out that such a scheme would not be so expensive, based on the results of the Department for Education's pilot, called Staying Put. The Fostering Network's briefing also points out that costs to the public purse are incurred through supporting and treating young adults who have left care, and who are experiencing various problems, given in the quote above.

I hope that this amendment will be selected for debate and that it will be accepted. Much more needs to be done to support vulnerable children and young people leaving care.

5 Tweets for International Roma Day

Today is International Roma Day. Yesterday, I posted about Roma children's right to education, and joined the march in London today. Here are five tweets that people posted for International Roma Rights Day, which concern Roma children, or were written by young people themselves:


1. AidNews - @Aid News: International Roma Day: The situation seen by our delegates in Eastern Europe: dlvr.it/1Q38sb


2. Pip Borev - @pipogypopotamus: April 8th is International Roma Day: celebrations or tribulations? http://t.co/EW7GaDf8 #shamelessplugging


3. Damian Mac Con Uladh - @damomac: April 8 was International #Roma Day: about 200-300k Roma live in Greece, or 3% of population. Here are two of them. pic.twitter.com/DhHAEWCb 


4. Roma-Service - @dROMaBlog: #Amnesty Report: #Roma shown to be Europe's poorest and most reviled people. http://t.co/6C6SKXcP


5. UN Human Rights - @UNrightswire: "Let's not accept another lost generation of Roma," urge 7 UN #HumanRights experts ahead of Intl Roma Day 8/4: bit.ly/HQeQmv 


Taking a quote from the article tweeted by AidNews, here is a final thought for International Roma Day 2012:

"The International Roma Day is an occasion to remember that social inclusion of the present and future generations of Roma children, primarily through early childhood development and primary schools, is one of the most important things to do in Europe in the XXIst century."

Roma Children's Right to Education

Children of a Roma family in Romania

I watched as the girl squinted at her book, looking closely and trying to pronounce the letters. I encouraged her to continue. She finished reading the sentence and looked up triumphantly with a big grin. The girl was learning to read for the first time, aged fourteen. She and her sister had joined a programme for those who had not been to school, and were getting extra help at an education centre run by an organisation in Sacele, Romania. The education centre helps underprivileged children in the area, the majority of whom are Roma. Tomorrow, 8 April, is International Roma Day.


The UN Special Rapporteur on education, Kishore Singh, has said:

"Education can break the cycle of Roma exclusion, yet Roma children are frequently in segregated and poor quality schools, and failing in education compared to others."

There have been various cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights regarding the state of Roma children's education in different countries. One of the better known cases is D.H. and Others v Czech Republic  (2007), which was the first of the cases to challenge discrimination against the Roma in state education systems. A disproportionately high number of Roma children were placed in "special schools." These are schools intended for children with learning difficulties. The applicants were from the city of Ostrava. Evidence given in the Written Observations included research which stated more than half of all students in special schools in the municipality were Roma, even though Roma children represented less than five percent of primary school-age students. A Roma child was 27 times more likely to be assigned to a special school than a non-Roma child. It was submitted that this degree of racial over-representation was unprecedented. 


This meant that the Roma children were receiving a sub-standard education within a system that was resulting in segregation. Having an inferior education has a life-long impact, as it affects prospects for further study and employment opportunities. The segregation of pupils whilst at school, and the further inequality in later life, resulting from receiving a low quality education, can only further frustrate tensions between Roma and non-Roma members of society. Inclusive schools would hopefully result in acceptance between pupils of different backgrounds, which would carry on into adulthood. I have previously posted about how higher rates of crime and violence exist in more unequal societies, whilst looking at Cape Town in South Africa. Here too, if Roma children were given equal opportunities in education and beyond, it would benefit them and the rest of society as well. This is not just an aspiration - it is the children's right.


The court found in D.H. and Others v Czech Republic that there had been a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. There was a violation of Article 14, the prohibition of discrimination, in conjunction with Article 2 of Protocol 1, the right to education. Assigning a disproportionate amount of Roma children to special schools, without an objective and reasonable justification, amounted to unlawful discrimination. The Court noted that such discrimination was also a problem in other states, not just the Czech Republic. An article in the Michigan Law Review, by Dr O'Connell looks at this decision and at other cases concerning Roma children. The author notes that while some progress has been made, a disproportionate number of Roma children are still being sent to non-mainstream schools. This shows the problems arising with implementing the Court's decision. It is also pointed out that such decisions do nothing to help the large number of Roma children who will receive no formal education at all. 


Roma children face discrimination in so many areas, from education to healthcare. For example, the sister of the fourteen year old girl I mentioned above, was also enrolled on the programme for those who had not been to school. At the education centre run by the NGO, the staff noticed she was making slow progress with reading and then realised it was because she could not see very well. They then arranged for her to get glasses, and she is now making good progress. 


A group of UN experts made a statement in advance of International Roma Day, saying:

"The time for action is now. We should not accept yet another lost generation of Roma girls and boys whose only expectations are lives of poverty, discrimination and exclusion and whose futures are dictated by negative stereotypes which commonly go unchallenged."

It is unacceptable that such racial discrimination is taking place in the twenty first century. Two of the organisations that my foundation, CHW, supports in Romania are concerned with the plight of Roma children and families. They run a range of initiatives from educational projects to building better homes in the Roma community. You can visit their websites here and here. If you are interested in supporting or volunteering with them, please get in touch with me. Now is the time for action!

Cape Town: A City of Contrasts - Some Thoughts After Reading UNICEF's Report

Cape Town has been in my thoughts since UNICEF launched its report, The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World last week. (You can see my overview here.) The report examined the challenges faced by the urban poor. I have seen inequalities in a couple of cities. In Shanghai, the modern skyscrapers contrast dramatically with the older, and more run down areas. In my own city, London, people complain of the "Postcode Lottery" - where access to and quality of services, like education and health and social care, vary in different areas. However, I would like to look at the example of Cape Town here, as, given its history, its level of inequality is extreme. I have also learnt from some amazing people there, who are dedicating their lives to helping children living in urban poverty. 

The nature of my work in Cape Town exposed me to the many different "layers" of the city. For my work with my organisation, CHW, I went to the townships and Cape Flats - the most deprived areas. Adequate housing and sanitation systems are lacking. Parents of children who get sick may not be able to afford the bus fare to take their child to the hospital, so they do not benefit from living within close proximity to hospitals, or other services on offer in the city. Meanwhile, I was staying with a family in a quiet neighbourhood, in the suburb of Plumstead, and was also doing an internship at the South African Human Rights Commission in Cape Town's central business district. I later returned to do some research projects at the University of the Western Cape, in Bellville. This all felt worlds apart from the townships and Cape Flats.

Some of my photos from Cape Town:

 

  

Top left: a home in a township; Top right: the view from the end of my road in Plumstead; 

Bottom left: Children at the Cape Flats. This was in the middle of the day and they were not at school;

Bottom right: View of the centre of Cape Town from Table Mountain.

Violence is a major issue in Cape Town. The Mexican research group Seguridad, Justicia y Paz recently carried out a study based on murder rates in cities and named Cape Town as the most dangerous city outside the Americas.  (Latin America accounted for forty out of the fifty most dangerous cities in the world). The study and list can be downloaded in Spanish here, or see this English article from the Epoch Times. I always got the feeling, from my friends in Cape Town, that Johannesburg was the more dangerous city, although I have no firsthand experience of life there. The South African.com reported that some Cape Town authorities questioned the sources used for the report, and argued that other areas, such as Port Elizabeth and East London (in South Africa, not the UK!) were more violent than Cape Town. Chapter three of UNICEF's report discusses various urban challenges, including violence. It quotes a study which shows that in more unequal societies, people suffer from the experience of relative deprivation, which leads to high rates of crime and violence. 

My organisation, CHW, works with a creche in the area of Retreat, run for children from the townships and Cape Flats. Its founder, Rita, told me that it is important that she provides this service as there are a lot of mothers who need to work, but have nowhere to leave their children. She also works hard to give the children the best start to life through education and providing food for them. When she has funds, she takes the children on trips. I joined her one day, when she was taking some of the children to eat at the chain restaurant, Spur. Rita explained that she wanted the children to have these experiences so that they would realise that there were better things beyond the immediate environment where they are living, so they could strive to reach them as they got older, instead of giving up and staying where they are. Rita has recently opened a second creche.

Some of our other partner organisations work to help the urban poor in other ways. The Future Factory runs sports programmes in schools and holds other sports events - as this can build the children's confidence and also keeps them off the streets and away from criminality and gangs. Its founder, Anne, works tirelessly everyday on these programmes and also supports feeding programmes in townships and helps creches and schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the city. We, at CHW, are also hoping to support the Sarah Fox Children's Convalescent Hospital in Athlone. Children who have had operations or suffered from serious illnesses go there to recover. The staff told me that the children would not be able to recover at home, as the conditions in which they lived were so bad, that it is likely the children would become more sick. The children stay at Sarah Fox until they are strong enough to return home.

Anne running a Future Factory sports event for teenagers who are living in townships and the Cape Flats.

CHW supports projects in Romania too, and the local organisations we work with, that help the Roma population, also have to respond to the challenges of inequality. Chapter three of UNICEF's report gives a case study about the isolation of Roma children in Romania, which illustrates further issues of marginalised children.

UNICEF's report said that statistics often compare children living in rural and urban areas. These figures hide the problems faced by those living in urban poverty, as they include data from richer areas of the same city too. However, for people like Rita, Anne and the staff at the Sarah Fox Hospital, these children are not some hidden statistic - they are the children they work with everyday, in the hope of providing them with more resources in the present, and more opportunities for a better future. We can all do something - whether it is raising awareness of the problems, or finding an initiative in our local cities to volunteer with, or help in other ways, or supporting a project in a city further away. UNICEF has brought the issue to our attention and now it is time to act, just like Rita, Anne and the Sarah Fox staff have been doing.

UNICEF's Report: "The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World" - an Overview

Picture from UNICEF's facebook page.

UNICEF launched its flagship report, The State of the World's Children: Children in an Urban World, in Mexico City on 28 February 2012. The focus on the Report was on urban areas because half of the world's population, including more than a billion children, now live in cities and towns. Reading it made me think of some of my own observations of a city of great contrasts: Cape Town. I will write a separate post about the children's projects I have worked with there. Here is a brief look at what the Report says:


The Growing Urban Population

In 2050, seven out of ten people will live in urban areas. The percentage of children living in urban areas has been steadily increasing over the past few decades, as you can see from these pie charts:

Pie Charts taken from page 2 of the Executive Summary of the Report.

Migration from the countryside was (and in some regions still is) the driving factor for urban growth but it is now estimated that children being born in cities and towns accounts for around 60% of urban growth. Most of this growth is occurring in low- and middle-income countries. One in three city dwellers are living in slum conditions. 

Ignoring the Urban Poor?

Comparisons are normally drawn between indicators of children's wellbeing in rural and urban areas (such as the proportion of children reaching their fifth birthday, or going to school, or gaining access to improved sanitation, etc). This hides the problems faced by the urban poor, as the statistics for urban children take into account the wealth of communities elsewhere in the same city. The truth is that there are wide disparities within urban areas, with marginalised children being excluded from essential services and social protection. 

City of Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China.

Picture from UNICEF's facebook page

The Rights of Children in Urban Settings

Of course children living in urban poverty have the same rights as children everywhere, but there are certain challenges which make it more difficult for their rights to be realised. Chapter two of the Report says that inadequate living conditions are among the most pervasive violations of children's rights. Evidence suggests that more children want for shelter and sanitation than are deprived of food.  

Research from different countries has shown that living in a disadvantaged urban area increases the mortality rate of children under five. The Report states:

"Poor water supply and sanitation, the use of hazardous cooking fuels in badly ventilated spaces, overcrowding and the need to pay for health services – which effectively puts them out of reach for the poor – are among the major underlying causes of these under-five deaths.

The following issues were highlighted as violating children's rights, for example their rights to survival and development, to adequate health services, to an education, and so on:

• Improved drinking water sources have failed to keep up with the urban population growth and neither have improved urban sanitation facilities. Where such facilities exist, they are often shared by a large number of people and are poorly maintained. 
• High population density make it easier for disease to spread. 
• Some diseases are preventable through immunisations, but poor service delivery and lack of information and education for parents mean many children living in slums are not immunised against such diseases.
• One third of children living in urban areas were not registered at birth. Having no legal identity may mean they are unable to access health and other services and opportunities, like having an education.  
• The higher levels of air pollution in urban areas can cause respiratory infections in children, which when severe, like pneumonia, claim lives. 
• The traffic in cities is also dangerous. It is estimated that road traffic injuries is the second leading cause of death worldwide among people ages five to fourteen. 
• HIV and AIDS has been found to be more prevalent among the urban poor. The chart below shows data from six sub-saharan African countries. Poverty can drive girls and women to commercial sex, which exposes them to sexual exploitation and forced sex. Also, children and young people in urban areas are more likely to have access to drugs and will share needles. 
• Mental health problems among children and adolescents is also an issue - children living in urban poverty have been found to have higher levels of depression and distress than the overall urban average. An often cited factor of mental distress is the stigma of being perceived as a child of the underprivileged.
• School attendance is much lower among children of the urban poor. This can be because of the costs associated with schooling, or due to other challenges. Schooling may also be of a poor quality if schools are overcrowded or lack facilities.
• Child trafficking, child labour and children living and working on the streets expose children to danger and crime and very little is done to protect them. 

From chapter two of the Report

Chapter three looks at particular challenges in urban areas. It has sections on migrant children; economic shocks - and impacts on youth employment and how unemployment levels can lead to civil unrest, usually in cities, where the greatest numbers of people are; violence and crime - including that driven by inequality and the sense of deprivation and urban gangs; and natural disasters, where the urban poor are often inadequately served and ill-equipped to prepare and recover from extreme events. 

Children I met in Buenos Aires, Argentina - in traditional dress, playing music to get money.

Ways to Improve the Protection of Urban Children's Rights

The importance of collaboration between authorities and children's rights agencies is highlighted. Much emphasis is also put on the importance of child participation in urban planning and management. This may sound unusual, and is indeed not a common course of action. The Report gives examples where children have taken part in urban planning decisions, such as the mapping project in Rishi Aurobindo Colony, Kolkata, India, and also shows how children can participate in other aspects of the governance and development of their communities through the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative. 

In addition to the above, a variety of programmes which are vital to improving the protection of urban children's rights are discussed. These include programmes which : 

• ensure non-discrimination; 
• coordinate interventions relating to hunger and nutrition; 
• encourage growing of food in the city;  
• target urban health inequalities; 
• engage young people in an effort to prevent HIV; 
• improve water supply and sanitation and hygiene services; 
• increase access to education for poor and marginalised children; 
• increase child protection; 
• develop adequate housing and infrastructure; 
• carry out urban planning in the interest of child safety (for example, by segregating traffic and reducing driving speeds, as road traffic injuries claim a disproportionate amount of young lives); 
• make cities safe for girls, supporting girls and preventing and reducing sexual harassment and violence in public spaces; 
• provide safe and accessible public spaces for play; 
• promote access to nature; 
• enhance social cohesion and cultural inclusion and encourage cultural exchange; 
• use technology to empower young people. 

This is an impressive list! If you have time to read Chapter four of the Report, I would recommend it, as it gives examples of projects in different countries for each of the categories I have listed above. 

Uniting for Children in an Urban World

This is the title of the last chapter of the Report. It explores five key areas in which action is required to realise the rights of children living in urban areas. They form the basis of the recommendations given in the Report's Executive Summary: 

1. Better understand the scale and nature of poverty and exclusion affecting children in urban areas.
2. Identify and remove the barriers to inclusion.
3. Ensure that urban planning, infrastructure development, service delivery and broader efforts to reduce poverty and inequality meet the particular needs and priorities of children. 
4. Promote partnership between all levels of government and the urban poor - especially children and young people.
5. Pool the resources and energies of international, national, municipal and community actors in support of efforts to ensure that marginalised and impoverished children enjoy their full rights.

UNICEF's report has drawn attention to the difficulties faced by children living in urban poverty and has proposed various ways to help make their rights become a reality. Hopefully this will mobilise us all to take steps towards making cities child friendly, whether this is by raising awareness, or joining or supporting initiatives aimed at improving the lives of these children and protecting their rights.