Ground Reality

South Asia turning into an unsafe place for children

South Asia, including Nepal seems to be turning into an unsafe place for children. There are around 614 million children in South Asia, and experts say about 75 percent of them suffer from one or other kind of violence, such as child labour, sexual abuse and exploitation, trafficking, corporal punishment and early child marriage. The problem is further compounded by the fact that not enough research has been conducted in this regard. As a result, there is not enough data on the violence committed against the children, which hampers the formulation of proper policies. Besides domestic abuse against children, conflict-related violence affects great many children. And this is reflected in the most visible form in the use of child soldiers. The Maoists in Nepal have been accused of employing child soldiers. According to the UNMIN, of the total assessed combatants, 2973 were found to be under the age of 18.