Children in especially difficult circumstances

Many children and youth in the Third World live in circumstances that would generally be considered ‘difficult’ in the West. Numerous children suffer periodic or chronic ill health; many do not attend school; and a sizeable proportion are working at an age when children in the West enjoy plentiful leisure time. A minority of children, however, experience circumstances that are more extreme, and more difficult (Table 7.1). In the 1980s, UNICEF began to focus on the needs of children in situations of warfare; those with disabilities; children exploited for their labour and for commercial sexual gratification (UNICEF 1996). For these it coined the term ‘children in especially difficult circumstances’ (CEDC). The purpose was to provide children in pre-defined circumstances assistance appropriate to their situations, largely in relation to assuring their survival, health and education (Majekodunmi 1999).