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16.5 million children will need humanitarian assistance in Latin America this year

2023-01-07T11:02:22.265Z


International organizations warn of the consequences of the pandemic, climate change and the growing migratory flows of children in the most unequal region in the world


A child shows a drawing he made in a migrant shelter in Panama, in October 2021.pich urdaneta (UNICEF)

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Being a child in Latin America is increasingly difficult.

Migration flows and the need to migrate, the consequences of climate change and the pandemic do not allow the little ones to enjoy their childhood.

In the most unequal region of the world, the gaps are getting deeper and the consequences are not encouraging.

Unicef ​​estimates that 16.5 million children and adolescents will need humanitarian aid in Latin America and the Caribbean in the newly launched 2023. "This generation will have 12% less income than expected before these very difficult years" , explains Sussana Urbano, senior adviser on Education in Emergencies for the continent at Save the Children.

“It is said a lot that children are the future, but not much is done for them in the present.”

The effects of migration is what worries experts the most.

This is the area of ​​the world that has suffered the most migratory pressure, with the exception of areas in conflict.

For Laurent Duvillier, Unicef's regional head of communication, the worst thing is that there are no elements that indicate that this year they will improve: "We are facing very different migratory flows from those of a decade ago, of people who had emigrated years ago and were stable, but it is coming out again now, from a much more dangerous mobility and with more children in charge... This shows the growing desperation of the people.

Although it is a personal decision, for most it is not an option.

They leave because staying is synonymous with death”.

During fiscal year 2022, US border agents encountered nearly 2.4 million migrants at the US-Mexico border, an increase of 37% compared to 1.7 million in 2021, according to data. of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

And at least 850 people died trying.

“We have to prepare for more migrations because their roots have not changed”, adds Duvillier.

Between January and October 2022, almost 32,000 boys and girls crossed the dangerous Darién jungle, between Colombia and Panama, where the challenges are innumerable.

Along the way, access to essential services such as education or health is often interrupted and they are often exposed to endless threats and discrimination.

The dependence of millions of minors on humanitarian aid perpetuates uncertainty and intermittency at a time in life in which security and stability are essential.

That is why Cecilia Llambi, an education expert at CAF-development bank of Latin America, also speaks of the psychological impact: "It will be more noticeable in a few years, but the mental health of these children is clearly being altered."

A child plays in a migrant shelter in Panama, in October 2021. pich urdaneta (UNICEF)

Here, in addition, the exposure to natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and droughts is much greater than in other corners of the planet.

Almost 1.5 million minors were directly affected by these emergencies in 2022.

Another of the enormous legs that inequality sustains is the pandemic, which no vulnerable family dares to conjugate yet in the past.

Latin America and the Caribbean was the region of the world that took the longest to return to schools.

And even today there are 743,000 children who continue to study from home.

According to Save the Children, only 29 of the 46 Latin countries have a 100% face-to-face system.

Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico are some of those that maintain a hybrid model, which harms the most vulnerable.

For children who live in rural areas where electricity does not reach or do not have electronic devices, blended attendance translates into fewer hours of class and of poorer quality.

For most, it is also the prelude to child labor.

Urbano, from Save the Children, refuses to use the term “dropout”.

“It is social exclusion, not desertion.

The children want to continue studying, but the States are not capable of keeping them there”.

Before covid, 8.2 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 worked.

It is estimated that at least 326,000 may have joined in the last two years.

The World Bank estimates that the regression in the precarious, intermittent or non-existent education of this generation is a step back in a decade.

This same body created the educational poverty balance meter in which it evaluates the reading comprehension of a simple text in 10-year-old children.

57% of those interviewed before the pandemic already had difficulties understanding it.

Just two years later, the percentage rose to 70%.

“Covid-19 exposed a reality that already came from before.

What he did was remove the curtain and deepen the inequalities”, explains Urbano.

Llambi, from CAF, talks about five fundamental measures to begin to reverse the situation, emphasizing that the results will not be immediate, but they will be "urgent."

It is necessary to create an early warning system to identify the most vulnerable children, greater inter-institutional coordination to work towards common objectives, invest in technology from a comprehensive approach, better school infrastructure and pay attention to socio-emotional demands.

“It is the only way to close the circles of poverty so present on the continent.

If no measures are taken, we will continue to condemn the usual to exclusion: rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant children and / or small ones with disabilities ”, she criticizes.

"Those who are left out are always the same."

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-01-07

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