| Azlan Othman |
BRUNEI Darussalam is ranked 68th in the recently-released Save the Children’s annual global index, which examined 175 countries on a range of indicators concerning factors that rob children of their childhood.
The international non-governmental organisation launched in June its ‘Many Faces of Exclusion: End of Childhood Report 2018’, its second annual End of Childhood Index which looks at indicators such as child marriage, teenage pregnancy and child mortality.
According to the report, Singapore ranks first on the list. Malaysia is ranked 67th followed by Thailand at 85th, Vietnam at 96th, the Philippines at 104th and Indonesia at 105th.
The countries in Southeast Asia that ranked after Indonesia are Myanmar (107th ), Cambodia (118th) and Timor-Leste (128th).
The report has found that approximately 19.7 per cent of all children under five in the Sultanate suffer from child stunting. Its data also shows that around 9.9 of 1,000 children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday.
Adolescent pregnancy rate in the Sultanate (births among 1,000 girls aged 15-19) stands at 20 per cent.
The percentage of out of schoolchildren of primary and secondary school age is around 9.5 per cent.
According to the report, many of the worst-ranked countries are located in central and western Africa. Niger ranked at the bottom of the list with Mali and the Central African Republic not far behind.
“Children in these countries are the least likely to fully experience childhood,” the report said, adding that “in these and many other countries around the world, children are robbed of significant portions of their childhoods”.
About 1.2 billion children face severe risks from conflict, poverty or sexual discrimination. The main threats to childhood are child labour, exclusion from education, early pregnancy and child marriage, with conflicts often inflating the risks.
“Around the world, conflicts deny children of their rights to health, education, protection and freedom from fear, leading to a sudden end of childhood,” the report said.
At the opposite end of the list, Singapore and Slovenia shared the top spot, followed by Norway, Sweden and Finland. Seven other Western European countries also rank in the top 10, attaining very high scores for children’s health, education and protection status,” the report said.
Out of the 175 countries ranked in the study, 95 of showed improvement in one of the risk areas. Meanwhile, in 20 countries, children are exposed to all three threats.
“Compared to last year, the index finds the overall situation for children appears more favourable in 95 out of 175 countries. This is good news where it shows that investments and policies are working to lift up many of our children,” Save the Children said.
But the index also shows progress is not happening fast enough, and conditions appear considerably worse in about 40 countries. Lost childhoods are increasingly concentrated among the poorest children and children affected by conflicts. These conditions tend to exacerbate gender bias and increase negative experiences that end childhood for girls, it noted.
Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organisation that promotes children’s rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries.