Children suffer despite growing humanitarian efforts - UNICEF

Most of the world's children are falling through the cracks in schooling and healthcare programmes, even as global efforts became more focused on improving their lives, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a new report on Wednesday.

In its 'State of the World's Children 2006' the agency charged that "virtually invisible" boys and girls were still the victims of a plethora of abuses, including sexual exploitation, trafficking and treatable diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

UNICEF estimated that millions of children were trafficked every year into the commercial sex industry and debt bondage, where they were exploited in slave-like conditions to pay off a debt.

"These children are excluded from school, healthcare and their right to have a childhood. Millions of them are living a nightmare, suffering not only from neglect but from outright abuse," said Nigel Fisher, director of UNICEF in Canada, during the launch of the document.

The report warned that these factors also threatened the world's ability to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals of halting the spread of the HIV/AIDS and improving access to education.

Access the full report: www.unicef.org