Between now and 2050 the world will welcome 2.1 billion newborns. Many of these children are likely to be in 41 countries in Africa and the Middle East. In the rest of the 194 countries and territories, children born will be gradually replacing those who would make a one-way journey leaving the planet for good. This is our immediate future in the physical world.
The above sentiment, ‘children are our future’ is expressed more often by politicians than parents while participating in any local or national functions related to children. However, in reality, this sentiment has not been fully translated into actionable social policies in many countries. The policy decisions and budget allocations to social sectors have profound long-term impacts on children. The investments in areas related to children are not on the priority list in many countries, contrary to this popular sentiment.
Since the 1990 world summit for children, much progress has been made in all services related to children. Nevertheless, problems especially of street children and homeless children continue to persist. There are 61 countries engaged in some kind of internal conflict or conflict with a neighbour creating internal displacement and refugees. According to UNHCR, 13 million of the total refugees are children. Once displaced, the lives of children are disrupted and it is not easy for them to return to normal life.
There are other practices which are harmful to children such as child prostitution and recruitment of children into the army by the governments and by the militias. There are notable progresses in several countries, in rehabilitation of street children and in reducing recruitment of child soldiers but children continue to be on the streets and recruitment of children has yet to be stopped. Children under the age of 18 are not eligible to cast a ballot as they are considered immature, yet they are eligible to be recruited in the military (considered responsible and mature enough to carry a lethal weapon)?
In multi-ethnic countries, there are also discriminations against children of ethnic minorities. The budget required for minority populations to cover their education and protection is usually underfunded. There is equally troubling trade on child trafficking for sexual exploitation and labour. Children also continue to be recruited as drug peddlers, ‘mules’ and in the process many children become addicts themselves. This is just a snapshot of children’s situation in many countries as reported in various international media.
Between now and 2050 the world will welcome 2.1 billion newborns. Many of these children are likely to be in 41 countries in Africa and the Middle East. In the rest of the 194 countries and territories, children born will just be replacing those who would make a one-way journey leaving the planet for good, hence it may not be an addition to the existing burden and hopefully, these problems will continue to diminish and eventually be resolved.
Over the past decades, there have been some positive shifts in recognition of issues facing children but still not enough done for politicians to translate the concept of children are our future to reality through adequate investment in relevant sectors. There is no need for additional policies, strategies, laws and legislations. The governments simply have to put into practice what they have already committed to. For example, all countries have committed to free basic education. Indeed, basic education is free and even compulsory in many countries, but there is no mechanism to ensure that all children are actually in school! A responsible government will establish monitoring mechanisms to ensure that all children are actually in school and are learning, not just attending school.
Many international and local civil society organisations provide technical and financial assistance to the governments in low income countries to address children’s issues, including in the education sector. The basic responsibilities of governments cannot be substituted by any international organisations or civil society organisations. It is up to the governments to ensure that children’s rights are fully protected and promoted within the scope of the local judicial system. It could possibly translate the sentiment ‘children are our future’ into reality.
At the same time a recent NIH report projects that the world's senior (65+) population will grow from 8.5 % (617M) to 17% (1.6B) by 2050. This almost offsets the growth in children...it is also the fastest growing sector of the population. In the US alone the senior group will increase from 48 to 88 million by 2050. Life expectancy globally will go up another eight years from 68.6 to 76.2 . Interesting, the "oldest" old, (80+) will triple in number , from 126 to 446.6 million, while in some countries of Asia and Latin America these will quadruple by 2050. Causes of death are noncommunicable diseases in general, while in low income countries, especially in Africa, both communicable and noncommunicable diseases affect mortality. The main risk factors are tobacco and alcohol use, diet (low vegetable and fruit intake) and less physical activity.
ReplyDeleteThese facts present a special and new set of challenges to governments and to development agencies like UNICEF. The ongoing pandemic has clearly brought this reality to the forefront, as we saw the casualties from Covid-19 take place in most countries of the world todate. Clearly things will need to be done differently in the near future.
Yes, indeed, Fouad. The dependency burden will increase with continued improvement in life expectancy everywhere. It will have severe stress on health care budget, pension reserves and social security funds. The only solution is to redesign our economic model. But the big question is how? The plutocrats have become too powerful. Some of the so called philanthropist have become part of the problem rather than solution to our current economic doldrums.
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