The Mediterranean route: A dream for a better life destroyed by human trafficking

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Freedom, Human Rights, Migration, refugees

Children represent 27% of global human trafficking victims. This issue particularly affects girls, who account for two-thirds of the victims of this serious crime, which has a drastic impact on the lives of thousands of children (Save the Children, 2021). Trafficking rings have easily spotted the opportunities for bringing in new victims that migration routes […]

Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls and women by WHO employees

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Health

During a World Health Organization (WHO) mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight Ebola between 2018 and 2020, 83 girls and women were victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. Out of the alleged perpetrators, 21 are WHO employees. The tenth Ebola outbreak in the DRC and WHO’s mission In August 2018, […]

An alarming rise in child marriage among Syrian refugees in Lebanon

Posted on Posted in Child Marriage, Children's Rights, Exploitation, Freedom, Human Rights, Migration, Poverty, refugees

The Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the refugee and economic crisis in Lebanon has led to a staggering increase in child marriages amongst Syrian refugees in the country, where the rate of child marriage has increased four folds since the Syrian conflict began (Monla-Hassan & Yacoubian, 2020). While child marriage is a global issue, there are various country-specific […]

The detrimental effects of fast-fashion on children’s rights

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Environment, Exploitation, Labour, Poverty

At first glance, one might struggle to see the link between fast-fashion and children’s rights. However, the fashion industry is not ‘just’ about clothes. On the one hand, it heavily relies on child labor, violating children’s right to education, freedom and protection. On the other, it bears the human, health and social cost of being […]

Afghan children’s rights under serious threat under the Taliban regime

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Freedom, Human Rights, Poverty, refugees, violence

With the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban launched an offensive on multiple fronts to reconquer territory across the country. The Afghan army was overrun, continually losing ground, until on 15 August 2021, the Taliban conquered Kabul without significant effort. The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, formerly given military support from the United […]

Protecting children’s rights in global supply chains

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Labour

“From pesticide poisoning in Brazil to child exploitation in Tanzania’s gold mines, children’s rights are violated at the bottom of global supply chains” Maike Röttger, National Director of Plan International Germany – Maike Röttger, National Director of Plan International While globalization has brought new opportunities and benefits to economies and people around the globe, it […]

Global rise in child labor – a continuing threat to children’s rights

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Labour

The pandemic has had awful economical and health consequences throughout the world. But for those living in lower-income countries, the rise of child labor has become a pertinent issue. Child labor is rampant, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Children’s Fund (UNICEF) tell us. In a June 2021 report, ILO and UNICEF published […]

COVID-19 and conflict-related sexual violence against children

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, violence

In occasion of the 7th official observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba addressed the issue of conflict-related sexual violence against children within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the worrisome situation of children born of […]

Hungary’s new anti-LGBTQI+ law: deterioration of the spirit of understanding, peace and tolerance

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Freedom, Human Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights

On 15 June 2021, the Hungarian government passed a new law that was quickly followed by international outrage. The law, originally drafted to further criminalise paedophilia, could have severe consequences on the rights of LGBTQI+ children. However, the Hungarian government has insisted that the law was passed to protect the children and their rights. What […]

UNCRC landmark adoption of the General Comment on children’s rights in the digital environment

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Empowerment, Exploitation

On 24 March 2021, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child officially launched their new General Comment No. 25 on Children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. The adoption of this General Comment signals the first time that children’s digital experiences are mentioned within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) […]