KidsRights: The Corona pandemic has become a disaster threatening an entire generation
KidsRights Organization confirmed that the Corona pandemic has seriously affected children’s rights around the world, warning that the pandemic has become like a “disaster” threatening an entire generation unless governments act to address its effects on children.
This came in a report by the organization concerned with the rights of the child, which it published in parallel with the issuance of its annual index on government compliance with children’s rights stipulated in accordance with international laws.
The report highlights four main effects of the epidemic on children, namely, violence against children, lack of provision of corona vaccines to children, education, mental health and well-being.
“Schools closed their doors to 168 million children for almost a whole year,” the organization said, adding that at least one in three students could not access distance learning during school closures, especially that less than half of the population in 71 countries had access to the Internet.
According to the organization’s report, UNESCO recognized that “more than 100 million additional children will fall below the minimum proficiency level in reading as a result of the health crisis.”
The organization added that the pandemic has led to a staggering increase in domestic violence and abuse during periods of closure, with child victims, and evidence indicates that school closures have already led to an increase in cases of early marriage and sexual violence in some countries.
“With the ongoing global epidemic, we had to address the devastating effects of Corona, which unfortunately exceeded the expectations we set at its inception a year ago,” said WHO Director Mark Dellart.
“Children are the most affected, not directly by the virus, but because governments around the world have neglected them,” he added.
142 million children face material poverty and the absence of social protection, as well as the loss of access to school meals, with dire consequences for children’s physical development and mental health, with 370 million children missing out on these meals due to the pandemic.
