Children are the worlds most valuable resource and they are also our most vulnerable. Children are left at the mercy of those who are designed to protect and guide them, however their exploitation plagues our global community in the form of pedophilia, child labor, child soldiers, sex trafficking, etc. Weather for desperation or greed, there is no excuses for the exploitation and harm of our children, their lost innocence is a loss for our futures peace and prosperity.
The exploitation of children must no longer be seen as inevitable aspect of poverty and globalization, children and adolescents must also be brought into the framework of education and prevention, as they are not only those must susceptible to exploitation, they are also key actors in seeing its eradication. Thus while the eradication of child exploitation in all forms requires action from all sides and a lengthy time frame to achieve all of the goals set forth, it is only plausible if we make a global shift in our views, social attitudes and perceptions towards the exploitation of children.
The biggest global shift that must be made is in the area of gender discrimination and gender based violence, which allows practices such as child marriage to continue unabated and rape as a weapon of war to continue with international impunity. Impunity and unrelenting social views, leave an inconsistency in the international legal framework, which thus allows for exploiters and predators to find loopholes which allow them to to continue unpunished. In addition more funding for services and support which provides assistance for recovery and reintegration, in some areas it is almost invisible, only increases a child’s vulnerability and allows the cycle of exploitation and abuse to continue with no end in sight.
It is not just a right to protect our children, but what they deserve, for the sins of our elders truly fall upon that of the child.