Peru: Specialized Group Warns of Children’s Grave Situation

On Sunday, a group of civil society organizations involved in children's issues, in a joint statement released today, expressed their concern about the precarious situation of important sectors of children in Peru.

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The declaration of the National Initiative Group for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (GIN), made up of dozens of civil society organizations, is addressed to President Dina Boluarte and her ministers and to the Legislative and Judicial branches and demands a policy of priority for minors.

"We demand political will to take the firm decision to invest more resources in this social sector in order to reduce the current gaps that put their development at risk," says the text.

It cites statistics such as the fact that monetary poverty affects 30.1 per cent of the population and 35.4 per cent of children and adolescents.

Furthermore, 38.8 percent of children aged six to 35 months suffer from anemia and the percentage of vaccinated children is well below 95 percent of the full range of immunizations necessary to avoid the risk of epidemic outbreaks and the return of diseases that have already been eliminated.

It also mentions the problem of premature pregnancy, whereby in 2021, 21,898 babies were born to girls and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, including 15 children under the age of 11 who were forced to become mothers.

Ninety percent of pregnant Peruvian minors drop out of school and thus enter the cycle of poverty and violence, adds the communiqué, according to which, according to official figures, 2.13 million children between the ages of five and 17 are forced to work, or 25.6 percent of this age group.

On the other hand, in 2022, the Women's Emergency Centers (CEM) for cases of domestic violence attended to 54,144 cases of children or adolescents, and 70 percent of sexual violence had minors as victims.

The GIN adds that 360,962 children and adolescents do not receive any kind of education and the school dropout rate is 6.3 per cent, due to poverty, and it is estimated that 98,975 children have been orphaned, of whom only 16,470 receive a monthly allowance of 200 soles (54 dollars).

Faced with this situation, the group of non-governmental organizations put forward a series of recommendations, such as avoiding tax exemptions for large companies for favors and political commitments, because they reduce investment in children and adolescents.