MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WITHOUT ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL SERVICES

UNICEF have made official ​​the report “State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an urban world’ that places special emphasis on the process of urbanization is leaving hundreds of millions of children without access to essential services in cities and towns. The report stresses that in a few years most children will grow in big or small cities, but not in rural areas. In addition, children born in cities contribute to the urban population increase by 60%.
“Today, a growing number of children living in informal settlements and slums are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the world, deprived of basic services and without the right to prosper. The exclusion experienced by children in slums not only deprived of the opportunity to develop their full potential, but it robs societies of the economic benefits to a population healthy and well educated”, says Anthony Lake, Executive Director UNICEF.
Globally, UNICEF and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat have worked together 15 years with Friendly Cities Initiative for Children, building partnerships that place children at the center of the agenda in urban areas, and provide services and create protected areas for children to have a safe and healthier childhood.