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The Issues

All children have rights which guarantee them what they need to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential. Yet every day these rights are denied. Millions of children are dying from preventable diseases. Millions more don't go to school, or don't have food, shelter and clean water. Children are suffering from violence, abuse and discrimination, and no-one is listening to them. This is wrong. Find out more about the issues facing the world's children.

    • Children scavenge through garbage in Nepal. More than half of the world's children live in poverty, on less than $1 a day. Photo: UNICEF/94-1393/Shehzad Noorani
    • About the Issues
    • There's a huge gap between the rights that children have been promised and the harsh reality faced every day by the world's children.
    • In 2001 in Sierra Leone, children act out a rebel attack for their classmates. They’re taking part in a school programme in the camp that uses games, role-playing, storytelling, and plays to help children cope with their feelings about the conflict. UNICEF/HQ01-0140/Roger Lemoyne
    • Conflict
    • War kills children not only through acts of violence but also if they are denied access to food, shelter, medical treatment, clean water and sanitation.
    • In Kenya, two girls complete a survey form from an interview with a child who does not attend school. They’re hoping to find out the reasons why some children in their area don’t get an education as part of the 'Let's Go to School' campaign. UNICEF/ HQ04-0338/Mariella Furrer
    • Education for all
    • Education is a right for all children - in fact the right to primary education has been made article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
    • Wilmot from Sierra Leone speaks out about the impact of war on children, at a United Nations Security Council Meeting on Children and Armed Conflict. The Security Council promised to increase its efforts to protect children affected by armed conflict. UNICEF/HQ02-0105/Susan Markisz
    • Participation
    • Children and young people should be able to have a say in decisions which affect the world they live in.
    • A woman bathes her girl toddler at an outdoor pump in a destroyed neighbourhood of Dili, the capital of East Timor. Around the world, 2.6 billion people still don’t have access to safe water and sanitation. UNICEF/HQ99-0958/JIM HOLMES
    • Food & water
    • Nutritious food, clean water and proper sanitation (toilets) are vital for keeping people healthy.
    • . In Tajikstan, 10-year-old Mehrdod is vaccinated as part of 2004’s first national immunization campaign against measles. The campaign aimed to reach almost 3 million children, some 50 per cent of the total population of the country. UNICEF/ HQ04-0650/Giacomo Pirozzi
    • Health Care
    • In the UK most children see a doctor when they need to and have a hospital fairly close by. However over 290 million children in the world still have no access to health care at all.
    • Sasha, 7, and Dima, 13 from the Russian Federation. Sasha's parents were both drug addicts and HIV positive. His father abandoned him, and his mother recently died of AIDS-related illness. They face one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. UNICEF/ HQ04-0680/Giacomo Pirozzi
    • HIV and AIDS
    • According to current estimates, some 17.5 million children have already been orphaned by HIV and AIDS. It is thought that young people aged 15 to 24 account for around 40% of new adult HIV infections.
    • In July and August 2005 in Niger, 800,000 children were affected by a malnutrition crisis, caused partly by locust swarms, poor rainfall and poverty. Some 64 per cent of the population lives on under US $1 a day. UNICEF/ HQ05-1044/Radhika Chalasani
    • Poverty
    • Poverty is one of the most important global issues in the world today. Currently, one in three people globally live on less than $1 a day – that's about 65p, and almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.
    • From age 11 to 15, 17 year old Brazilian Sonia (not her real name) was sexually abused by an older male cousin. At 15, she became pregnant and had an abortion, but while the abortion was reported to the police, the abuse was ignored. Photo: UNICEF/HQ01-0431/Claudio Versiani
    • Protection
    • Protecting children is crucial to their survival, health, and wellbeing. Despite this, every single day children are exploited, abused, or are victims of violence.
    • Tents serve as temporary shelters for families who lost homes in the earthquake in Kashmir. This photo was taken by Saad, 14. Photo: UNICEF/HQ06-1242/Saad Jahangir
    • Emergencies
    • Help UNICEF to be prepared when aid is urgently needed.
    • Young people enjoy a training day. The report ranked the UK as the worst of 21 rich countries for child well-being. Photo: UNICEF UK/2006/Heather Lewin
    • Child Well-being
    • A report from UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre in 2007 compared the lives and well-being of children in 21 of the world’s richest countries.
    • Children play with water dripping from a tanker truck during a distribution in a camp for people displaced by the drought, near the small village of Hartisheik in East Hararge State in Oromia Region. UNICEF is shuttling safe water into the camp daily. A week of heavy rains has flooded the camp without relieving the drought conditions. UNICEF/NYHQ2005-0691/Heger
    • Climate Change
    • Carbon emissions from industrialised countries are causing the planet to heat up. This is having a devastating effect on children living in developing countries who are most vulnerable to Climate Change.