When talking about why she chose to run from marriage, Nada said “I didn’t run away just because of the (intention) to marry me off, but because of the ignorance and because I wanted to study…They told me (marriage) was a game, but it isn’t. It turns you into a servant, and places a burden that is greater than you can bear on your shoulders.”

Nada’s family promised her in marriage to a 26 year old man she did not know after the man paid a $2,000 bride price. Likewise, her 14-year old sister was married and her 12-year old sister engaged. Like many child brides, Nada comes from an impoverished family that could greatly benefit from the money they receive for their daughters’ hands in marriage and from the reduced financial burden of having to provide food, clothing and education to so many children.

Nada and other girls who have spoken out against child marriage express concerns about the physical risks of early marriage and about being forced to leave school.  Additional risks come when some child brides later face divorce or abandonment by their husbands, leaving them without an education or any means of support for themselves or their children.

The Muslim cleric speaking opposite Nada insisted that a father has the right to arrange a contractual marriage for his  daughter from the time she is born. He stated that “there is consensus about this in the Muslim world…this is an accepted custom.” He differentiated between contractual marriage and the actual consummation of that marriage. When questioned about when he thinks a girl is old enough to consummate a marriage, he stated that there is no specific age because only the girl and her female relatives can decide if she will be physically harmed by intercourse.

In September, the international spotlight focused upon Yemen after an 8-year old child bride reportedly died from internal bleeding due to genital tearing just days after consummating her marriage to a 40-year old man. This event drew attention to the extremely high rates of child marriage seen in Yemen, with girls commonly being married to men several times their ages. As of 2006, 52% of Yemeni girls were married before they turned 18 and 14% before they turned 15-years old.

Despite attempts by activists and politicians to create a legal restriction on the minimum age for marriage, no legislation currently exists in Yemen and religious clerics continue to oppose such a restriction, calling it “un-Islamic.” Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director for Human Rights Watch stated “thousands of Yememi girls have their childhood stolen and their futures destroyed because they are forced to marry too young.”

Creative Commons Love: Julien Harneis on Flickr.com

In these countries, poverty significantly contributes to child labor rates because families need the income children provide in order to survive. Other contributing factors include recent or ongoing experiences of conflict, a lack of adequate legislation and government enforcement, along with prevalent attitudes and beliefs that encourage and support child labor.

Eritrea and Somalia tied for the number one ranking with both countries experiencing high rates of poverty and insufficient legal structures to adequately support efforts to combat child labor. In Eritrea the government supports several child labor practices; not only are children younger than 18 enrolled in compulsory military programs, but a national program also requires ninth through eleventh grade children to work in either agricultural or service jobs during their school breaks. In Somalia, the Somalia National Army and other non-government militias throughout the country contribute to the problem by recruiting, abducting and using children as soldiers.

“Violence and child labour go hand in hand, and they keep the child hostage in a dramatic vicious cycle. Both compromise children’s development and education, as well as their adequate standard of living; they hamper children’s health, rest and play; and at times lead to the prosecution and deprivation of liberty of child victims…But beyond the serious and long lasting impact on individual children, child labor and violence have a high social cost, holding back human development and preventing progress in the promotion of equity and social inclusion.” said Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

Over the past decade, the world has made significant progress towards eradicating child labor with numbers dropping one-third, from 246 million to 168 million child laborers worldwide. Although an improvement, this decline is not enough and 11% of the world’s children remain out of school and working under conditions that are frequently hazardous to their safety, health and development.

The Third Global Conference on Child Labour was held from October 8th through the 10th in Brasilia, Brasil to discuss what progress has been made worldwide over the past few years. Representatives from non-governmental organizations, national governments, and organizations for both employers and workers met to discuss how to overcome existing barriers and eliminate child labor on a global scale. They concluded that countries and organizations must cooperate to work on changing existing attitudes and practices that continue to enable child labor practices worldwide.

Creative Commons Love: Alex Gaylon on Flickr.com

Although the Trique team provided the players with shoes, most were more comfortable playing barefoot after having grown up unable to afford footwear. These children have overcome significant hardships to get to this point, surviving poverty, hunger, and the absence of parents who have migrated out of Mexico in search of work.

Their coach, former professional Mexican-league player Sergio Zuñiga said “these kids are invisible in Mexico. They grow up eating one, maybe two meals a day…We are trying to bring them out of the shadows.”

These boys come from Oaxaca’s Academy of Indigenous Basketball where they take part in a program that began three years ago. In exchange for the valuable opportunities this program provides through basketball, the boys are expected to stay in school and maintain good grades, contribute to their family’s home by doing chores, and speak their native language.

Using the promise of participation in basketball, coach Zuñiga hopes to keep children attending school so that they may have the opportunity to finish high school and ideally go on to college. This combined with the skills gained through  the cooperative team environment of basketball helps prepare these children to do more than live dependent on government support and sharecropping.

These children come from Oaxaca, the second poorest state in all of Mexico with 76% of the population living in extreme poverty and lacking access to basic needs like water, food, healthcare and education. This region, home to 33% of Mexico’s indigenous population, has also experienced conflict for nearly a decade due to these difficult living conditions and the social inequalities they represent. Under such difficult circumstance, basketball offers these children more than just recreation, it gives them hope of a better future.

Creative Commons Love: Acid Pix on Flickr.com

In Honduras, the Department of Education joined with the International Committee of the Red Cross to create the program Creating Humanitarian Spaces, which teaches respect for human life, tolerance, and the value of education to students, teachers and the broader community.

The government of Belize introduced violence prevention programs that support positive development skills through role play and games. In El Salvador, the National Sports Institute trained police officers in the use of sports to teach similar values to school-age children. Similarly, soccer programs in Panama help keep children in school while teaching strategies for avoiding violence and drugs.

Earlier this year, UNICEF and the Central American organization CECC/SICA jointly released a report entitled Finishing School in Central America: The Pending Challenges, that highlighted the dropout and repeating problem in the region. Throughout Central America, 33% of primary school students and 69% of high school students either repeat a grade or drop out altogether. Nicaragua and Honduras have the worst retention rates of the countries surveyed with only 44% of primary school students completing their studies.

“Countries in the region will not achieve the full realization of the right to education for all children and adolescents if they don’t take consistent, coherent, and sustained measures to improve the quality of education, reduce repetition and drop out,” according to Bernt, Aasen, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Gang violence has increasingly become a part of many communities throughout Central America, introducing a culture of violence and fear that affects people of all ages. Students, teachers and bus drivers are often required to pay protection money to the gangs to ensure their safety. Those who do not pay may be killed. Children in these areas also grow up afraid to leave their homes, go to school or play outside. Others are recruited at young ages to become members of youth gangs. As a result, many children in these countries witness or become the victims of beatings, kidnappings and killings.

Creative Commons Love: David Dennis on Flickr.com

UNICEF’s Representative to Georgia, Sascha Graumann, stated that “Violence is everywhere. It happens in all countries, at all levels of society. But too often, violence against children is invisible because it occurs within homes and families or because people turn a blind eye to it.”

This is definitely the case in the Republic of Georgia where 60% of teachers, social workers and resource officers believe they should not interfere with a family’s private affairs. As a result, the country continues to experience severe under-reporting of both neglect and violence against children.

UNICEF carried out this research to evaluate progress made by the government of Georgia over the past few years. In 2010 the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Education and Science, and Labour, Health and Social Affairs coordinated to develop a national child protection referral system. Although the system is in place, many remain unaware of how and when to report cases of abuse.

Based upon the findings of these studies, UNICEF declared that several steps remain to be taken by the Georgian government. This includes the introduction of legislation to identify all forms of violence against children as being illegal. The government must also mandate the reporting of cases by institutions and professionals. Professionals in a position to help these children need training on their roles and responsibilities, and the procedures involved in reporting. Additionally, a campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the effects of violence should be initiated to educate the public and begin changing attitudes of tolerance towards violence.

On October 2nd, the International Day of Non-Violence, UNICEF once again called attention to the effects of violence on children.  As part of the End Violence Against Children Initiative, UNICEF encourages a worldwide commitment to ending the violence through education to raise awareness and change how people perceive family violence.

Creative Commons Love: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Rachel Goodspeed on Flickr.com

In 2003, the Nigerian government established the Child Rights Act making eighteen the minimum age for marriage, yet over one third of the country’s thirty-six states have failed to implement and enforce this legislation. As a result, child marriage remains a significant problem with nearly 29% (2.5 million) of all Nigerian girls aged 15 to 19 being reported as already married.

“Here, you’re being programmed to think that the ultimate for a woman is marriage and nothing else…The government needs to do a better job with creating awareness about the importance of education for girls” said Amina Hanga, executive secretary at Nigeria’s Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative.

This and other non-profit organizations, like the global partnership Girls Not Brides,  struggle to improve these statistics by advocating for the empowerment of women and children through education. Education provides girls with new opportunities and skills that help delay marriage and empower them to make informed decisions about their lives.

Child marriage continues to persist in this region due to a combination of factors that include poverty and increased vulnerability due to crisis or conflict situations. When a family chooses to give a daughter into early marriage, they reduce the financial burden on the family because there will now be one less child in need of food, education and clothing. Many families also see marriage as providing young girls with security and safety in otherwise unstable conditions.

In reality, child marriage poses a grave threat. Girls under the age of 18 are neither emotionally nor physically ready for marriage or motherhood. As a result, child brides lack adequate access to healthcare and face disproportionately high rates of both sexually transmitted diseases and complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, these girls experience a high risk of social isolation, domestic abuse, lack of education, and poverty.

Understanding these risks, multiple international conventions have declared child marriage to be a violation of human rights because these girls  are unable to decide when and whom they will marry. According to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, all women have the right to consent to marriage. The problem with early marriage is that children under the age of 18 are not considered mature enough to either make an informed decision or give their consent freely.

Creative Commons Love: Joachim Huber on Flickr.com

These funds will subsidize four categories of educational improvement for all of Tajikistan. First, programs will work to improve access to early childhood education which is currently inadequate or completely lacking in many parts of the country. Second, efforts will be made to improve general education by funding teacher training, upgrading curricula, and providing updated teaching materials. Third, funds will go towards school construction, renovation and furnishing to improve students’ educational environment. Lastly, reforms will take place within the national educational system itself to build capacity and ensure these ongoing reform efforts receive the long-term governmental support they require.

According to World Bank Country Manager for Tajikistan, Marsha Olive, “this comprehensive project aims to ensure that the children of Tajikistan, especially the most marginalised including girls, ethnic minorities, rural children, and children with disabilities, are afforded the opportunity to achieve their education goals for future development and success.”

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tajikistan gained independence then quickly entered into a civil war that lasted from 1992 until 1997. These events destabilized the country and severely damaged the economy. As a result, the country continues to struggle and ranks as one of the poorest  countries in the region.

Tajikistan’s ongoing struggle to recover from these events has significantly impacted the educational system. In the National Strategy for Education Development (2006-2015), the Ministry of Education identified several conditions negatively impacting the country in its attempt to provide quality education to its citizens. These include: a high rate of population growth, insufficient public funding, an outdated educational system, as well as inadequate facilities, teachers and curricula. These conditions have resulted in declines in the quality of education offered and the quantity of students enrolling and attending schools.

Creative Commons Love: Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) on Flickr.com

Ahmed Gujunba who witnessed the massacre said “they came with guns around 1 a.m. and went directly to the male hostel and opened fire…the other students were running around helplessly as guns went off and some of them were shot down.” This is just the most recent of many attacks Boko Haram has led against the area’s educational system.

In total, since violence intensified in 2012, attacks on schools have resulted in the deaths of more than 100 students and 70 teachers. During this time, over 100 schools were also destroyed or forced to close. Those who have avoided violence often flee in fear, with more than 1,000 teachers having gone into hiding under threat of attack. Many of these teachers report being terrorized by members of Boko Haram who used intimidation tactics and death threats to stop them from teaching. Under these conditions, thousands of children in northeast Nigeria have been forced out of school and deprived of their right to education.

In July of this year, a series of brutal attacks led the governor of the northeast state of Yobe to close all schools. In response, UNICEF regional director Manuel Fontaine stated that “there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of children and those looking after them.”

Translated into English, the name Boko Haram  means “Western education is sin.” Founded in 2002 on the belief that Nigeria should live under strict Islamic law, the group has fought to establish an independent, Islamic state in the northeastern region of Nigeria since early 2012.

Creative Commons Love: Dolapo Dalola on Flickr.com

Children can be sold for adoption for between $5,000 and $13,000, making child abduction a profitable and growing business in China. Once kidnapped, children may be sold to adoption agencies or directly to other Chinese families interested in having a son. With the country’s one-child policy and the high value placed on male children, many families would rather purchase a son than risk having a daughter naturally.

Exact numbers on the percentage of kidnapped children being sold for adoption remain unavailable. While the Chinese government keeps these statistics out of the public eye, countries that adopt large numbers of Chinese children, like the United States, do not press either for answers or further investigation into this serious problem.

Despite the lack of available data, the extent of this issue became more widely publicized in August of this year when Charlie Custer and Leia Li released their documentary Living with Dead Hearts online. According to Mr. Custer, “the statistics are terrifying, but they’re just statistics, especially for people outside China.” To illustrate the devastating effects of child abduction, filmmakers followed three sets of Chinese parents as they searched for their missing children. The resulting imagery shows the anguish families suffer as well as the miserable conditions children face following abduction.

Several barriers make solving this problem difficult. To begin with, children are often abducted from families that are poor and have little education. As a result, they have no resources to look for their children and are unaware of their legal rights under Chinese law.

Finding a kidnapped child takes a large investment of time and requires the cooperation of authorities. Since the chances of successfully locating these children are extremely slim, police often consider it a waste of time and resources to look for them. Recovering these children is further hampered by police officers and family planning officials that are involved with kidnappers and facilitate their operations.

This epidemic was further investigated on Sept 27^th at the meeting of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. When Chinese delegates were asked if the government would legally prohibit all human trafficking including the sale of children, they responded by declining to answer.

This ongoing failure to make significant improvements was also noted by the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which placed China in the lowest ranking of countries worldwide.  According to the report, China was “deemed not to be making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards and is placed on Tier 3.”

Creative Commons Love: Ralph Rep on Flickr.com

Prior to the start of school, the largely Islamist group National Alliance for Defense of Legitimacy called upon Egyptian students to show their support for President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood through a week of protests and marches. In response, the Education Ministry of Egypt issued warnings of the potential consequences of civil disobedience and disrupting school hours with political activities.

Ignoring these warnings, university and high school students began their school year demonstrating their dissatisfaction with the current regime. Students in provinces throughout the country distributed flyers, carried signs, and marched to gain the support of other students in opposing Egypt’s police and military. Chanting slogans such as ”I am a student, not a terrorist, down with the coup-makers” and “down, down with military rule” these youth demonstrated their growing frustration with the current political situation.

Police and security troops responded to the disruptive activities with a series of arrests that led to several violent interactions and subsequent injuries. This is just the latest in many recent clashes that have occurred between Egyptian youth and and police. Following President Morsi’s removal from power, the government cracked down on Morsi’s supporters, so far resulting in the arrest thousands and the death of hundreds.

Egyptian youth have played a pivotal role in politics since the uprisings of 2011 removed President Hosni Mubarak from power. Many times since then, they have returned to the streets to protest what they consider to be political abuses of power, and to demand greater freedoms and an end to oppressive government actions.

These most recent protests coincide with the September 23 court ruling that outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood organization and all of its activities throughout Egypt. Since then,  protests have spread with thousands of Egyptians taking to the streets to oppose what they consider to be abuses of power by the government.

Creative Commons Love: Gigi Ibrahim on Flickr.com