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The Importance of child development
Why invest in children?
Status of children in the region
>>Especially vulnerable children
Partnerships for children
ADB support for children
ADB's challenges and directions
Special Theme: Develop a Child

Especially Vulnerable Children

All children are vulnerable, the poor especially so. Many poor children are exploited. In Asia, particularly South Asia, many millions of children toil as laborers, mostly in rural areas under bonded or other restrictive conditions. An estimated 3.8 million Asian children suffer work injuries a year, resulting in 1.5 million disabilities and 19,000 fatalities.

Several hundred thousand children simply live on Asia’s streets. The numbers increased in the late 1990s because of the financial crisis—fourfold in Indonesia, according to an ADB survey—and are still rising with increased urbanization. They are exposed to pollution and sexual exploitation (Box 6).

Box 6: Mariam Finds a Home

Mariam lives in Ghifari shelter in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She had been living on the streets for six years before she ended up here.

When Mariam was eight, someone poisoned her father. The shock caused her mother to die of heart attack. Mariam, orphaned, was then put in care of her uncle. She was raped at the age of 10. Mariam took to the streets, where she was subjected to more sexual abuse. A police officer took her to the Ghifari shelter in 1999.

There are 500 Mariams in Yogyakarta, each with a distressing story to tell. A 1999 ADB survey of 12 Indonesian cities found that girls make up 20 percent of Indonesia's estimated 170,000 street children, yet programs for street children have usually concentrated on boys. An ADB project is changing this. Girl street children who are victims of sexual abuse or prostitution are receiving counseling, vocational training, and health services through a 1$ million project financed by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (for more on the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction see page 140). Local nongovernment organizations are implementing the project.

Asia has a million orphans of AIDS victims. Many are ostracized, some are themselves HIV-positive.

Nongovernment organizations (NGOs) are among the strongest advocates of improved conditions for children. ADB is supporting a special program for Indonesia’s street children through a health, nutrition, and educational support initiative being implemented by the Government and NGOs.


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Partnerships for children

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