Africa’s ability to manage the protection and finance the development of her children has been compromised by debts, diseases, armed conflicts and bad governance. As a result, the situation of the African child is alarming. The following are some of the glaring and shameful statistics:
- There are 80 million child workers across Africa and the number is expected to rise to 100 million by the year 2015.
- 120,000 child soldiers (under 18 years of age) have been recruited into Africa’s armed conflicts.
- 300 million African children live on the very margin of survival as victims of abject poverty despite the global prosperity.
- Some 12,100,000 African children are HIV/AIDS orphans and 2.4 million children under the age of 15 years are HIV positive.
- Some 30 per cent of African children of school going age are not in school. Generally, the average government spending on education amounts to 15.2 per cent of the total national budgets.
SOURCE: (UNICEF, Africa Recovery, ILO)