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From lack of access to education to protection from harm to clean water and basic sanitation, millions of children face barriers that prevent them from realizing their full potential.

Over 190 countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) –  making it the most widely adopted human rights treaty in history. But just because this treaty exists doesn't mean that children's rights are always upheld. That's why Plan International is dedicated to advancing children's rights and equality for girls.

As an independent global charity organization, we have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years and are now active in more than 80 countries. Here are seven violations of children's rights.

1. Child and forced marriage

• Nearly every three seconds, a girl under 18 is married.
• Each year, 12 million girls are married by their 18th birthday.
• 40% of young women (20-24) in developing countries were married before the age of 18.

Child and forced marriage deny girls their rights, often forcing them to drop out of school, exposing them to violence (sexual, physical and emotional) and driving them into experiences that their young minds and bodies are not ready for, like motherhood. 

SEE ALSO: 5 ways to end child marriage

 

2. Child labour

In the world's poorest countries, millions of children (approximately 1 in 5) are engaged in hazardous and exploitative child labour that is harmful to their health and development. Child labour includes sex trafficking, domestic servitude, hard physical work such as farming or mining, and sweatshop labour.

Child labour violates children's rights to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with a child's education and overall development.

 

3. Lack of access to education

An estimated 250 million children and youth worldwide are currently out of school. This number has increased by 6 million since 2021 largely due to the mass exclusion of girls and young women from education in Afghanistan

Every child has the right to an education. Education is one of the most powerful tools in breaking the cycle of poverty and ensuring children are empowered to reach their full potential.

Girls especially face a unique set of barriers that prevent them from achieving an education, including gender norms that don't value girls' education, long distances to school, lack of safe washrooms, period poverty and early pregnancy.

In order to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 1.4 million children need to be enrolled in early childhood education every year​. In 2023, Plan International had 1,610 active projects in 83 countries – like helping 49,000 girls in Tanzania gain their secondary school diploma – and with it, the chance to earn up to 2x more income in future jobs. You can donate today and support our goal of improving the lives of 200 million girls worldwide in the next 3 years.

 

4. Child Soldiers

Thousands of children are involved in armed conflict around the world.

Between 2005 and 2022, more than 105,000 children were verified as recruited by warring parties. But the actual number of children exploited by armed forces is expected to be much higher, especially since not all children are used to fight. Children are often put in hazardous situations as scouts, cooks, messengers or subjected to gender-based violence.

Children are more likely to become child soldiers if they are separated from their families, displaced from their homes, or live in conflict areas. These children are forced to endure the horrors of warfare. This reality robs them of their childhoods and has serious long-term effects on their mental and emotional development.

 Nearly a quarter of the world’s children live in a conflict zone. And nearly 1 billion children live in parts of the world that are vulnerable to climate-change-related crises. Here’s what it’s like to experience a crisis through their eyes, from the first moments to years after the crisis begins.

 

5. Lack of access to clean water

Two billion people use contaminated drinking water, and nearly half of the world’s population lack access to safe sanitation such as toilets, handwashing facilities with soap. Without these basics, the lives of millions of children are at risk. 

Water- and sanitation-related diseases are one of the leading causes of death for children under five. Every day, over 700 children die from preventable diseases caused by unsafe water and a lack of sanitation and hygiene.

You can help more people access clean water with Plan International’s Water purification kits, it uses natural UV light to filter and disinfect water, producing 10 litres of clean drinking water in 4-6 hours. We also work with communities to provide long term water solutions, complemented by training on proper sanitation and hygiene.

 

6. Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is defined as "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

More than 230 million girls and women alive today have been through FGM. The average age for girls to undergo FGM is between 5 and 9 years old. Sometimes a girl will go through FGM days after they’re born. Female Genital Mutilation is a fundamental violation of girls' rights to health, to be free from violence, and to be free from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. The practice happens in many parts of the world and continues because of long-held customs.

Plan International works children and young people, with parents, community leaders, government authorities to raise awareness, challenge lawmakers, help transform behaviour and put an end to harmful traditional practices that violate girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, including FGM. A key aspect of our work centres on promoting gender equality as many harmful traditional practices, such as FGM, are often rooted in gender inequality.

Watch this quick overview of groups working to end FGM in Kenya, where the practice has been in steady decline since 1998. 

 

7. Lack of access to health care

Every child has the right to quality health care. Significant progress has been made since 1990, when the survival rates of children was 1 in 11. In 2022, it’s 1 in 27. However that still means 4.9 million children under the age of five died in 2022, with the leading causes being preventable causes such as preterm birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhea and malaria.

Lack of access to health care also contributes to girls dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death for girls 15 - 19 globally. Every day, over 800 women and girls die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. See how our Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Girls (SHOW) project impacted at least 2.37 million people, (including 1.5 million+ women and girls) to make sexual and reproductive health and rights education and services more accessible and helped women and girls make informed decisions about their bodies and the health of their children.

 

Other related content: Education in Emergencies, Why Education Can Not Wait.

 

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