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UNICEF報告發現嶄新指標量度貧困對兒童的影響 東亞及太平洋地區兒童生活飽受多重剝削

2011-11-22

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曼谷/香港,2011年11月22日——联合国儿童基金会(UNICEF)最新发表的《东亚及太平洋地区贫困儿童:生活匮乏与发展差距》(Child Poverty in East Asia and the Pacific: Deprivations and Disparities)研究报告,内容阐述贫困对成年人与儿童所造成的影响大相径庭,藉以唿吁决策者在评估贫困对儿童的影响时,不应单从家庭入息水平作考量,必须以多角度全面了解儿童所面对的贫困问题,及他们生活条件匮乏的情况。
研究指出,家境贫困直接影响儿童获取居所、食水、公共衞生设施、教育、医疗保健服务和资讯的机会,而当儿童在上述的生活必需条件中,有一项甚至多于一项被剥夺时,他们的贫困情况肯定更为严峻。
报告审视了在2007至2010年间,于柬埔寨、老挝、蒙古、菲律宾、泰国、瓦努阿图和越南就贫困对当地儿童影响所进行的研究,分析了在这7个国家超过9,300万名儿童的生活状况。报告发现逾3,000万名儿童至少严重缺乏一项基本生活条件,例如:接受教育、基本医疗保健服务、安全食水、衞生厕所、足够营养摄取等,当中逾1,300万名儿童更缺乏两项或以上的生活条件。
「研究显示,即使在中等收入的经济体系国家,儿童並未能受惠于国家整体收入增加,从而改善儿童的生活条件。」UNICEF东亚及太平洋区域办事处社会政策顾问Mahesh Patel先生直言:「国家若要均衡发展,收窄贫富差距,就必先从纾缓儿童贫困问题着手。」
Literature showing the impact of AIDS lying on their desks, adolescent girls and boys listen to a presentation on AIDS awareness and prevention, part of a student-to-student education exchange initiative supported by UNICEF, in a village in the south-eastern province of Svay Rieng. In 2000 in Cambodia, after more than a decade of intermittent peace, the country is continuing its recovery from 30 years of conflict, including genocide. Despite progress in health and nutrition, maternal and infant mortality rates are the highest in south-east Asia, most of the predominantly rural population still lacks access to essential services, and problems of ongoing violence, displacement and landmines continue to take their toll. HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly, accelerated by a growing commercial sex industry, with an estimated 35 per cent of sex workers under 18 years of age, almost half of whom are presumed to be HIV positive. With half of the country's population under 18 years of age, these indicators represent a major threat to their future, including increased rates of mother-to-child transmission. UNICEF programmes to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS include support for prevention and awareness programmes to all social sectors, including student-to-student education exchanges, the provision of testing and counselling services, and improved access to recovery and care for affected children and families.
Accompanied by a toddler, a woman stokes a cooking fire in a village in the south-eastern province of Svay Rieng. In 2000 in Cambodia, after more than a decade of intermittent peace, the country is continuing its recovery from 30 years of conflict, including genocide. Despite progress in health and nutrition, maternal and infant mortality rates are the highest in south-east Asia, most of the predominantly rural population still lacks access to essential services, and problems of ongoing violence, displacement and landmines continue to take their toll. HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly, accelerated by a growing commercial sex industry, with an estimated 35 per cent of sex workers under 18 years of age, almost half of whom are presumed to be HIV positive. With half of the country's population under 18 years of age, these indicators represent a major threat to their future, including increased rates of mother-to-child transmission. UNICEF programmes to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS include support for prevention and awareness programmes to all social sectors, including student-to-student education exchanges, the provision of testing and counselling services, and improved access to recovery and care for affected children and families.

UNICEF东亚及太平洋区域办事处主任Anupama Rao Singh女士表示:「此报告全面剖析了相关国家的国内贫穷情况,有助各国制订项目及政策,更有效分配资源,改善国内最弱势社群的生活。」
计及是次研究中的7个亚太区国家,全球至今已有53个国家参与了UNICEF全球儿童贫穷状况与发展差距研究,並成功引起国际间关注儿童日常生活条件匮乏情况,及此对国家发展所构成的负面影响。

举例说,在老挝,倘仅以收入的角度来看,当地贫困儿童约佔38%,但若以上文提及较全面的指标进行量度,则发现该国多达75%儿童正承受贫困所带来的负面结果。而这套量度贫困的指标的认受性亦愈来愈高。

至于在越南,相比其他儿童,少数族裔儿童缺乏生活必需条件的机会足可高出11倍,情况在其他国家亦非常普遍。另外,在瓦努阿图,每5名儿童,则差不多有1名儿童严重缺乏医疗保健服务。

研究亦指出,要收窄东亚及太平洋地区的贫富悬殊问题,改善现时大量儿童发展受阻的情况,各界需要付出更大努力。即使过去10年,上述7个国家的国内生产总值均见明显增长,但国内收入不均衡的情况却未有改善,部分国家的比率甚至不跌反升,不均衡问题持续蔓延。纾缓儿童基本生活条件匮乏与发展差距的问题,必须纳入国家整体发展及扶贫规划之中,政府亦应公开资源分配的情况。一套关注儿童的社会保障政策,回应最脆弱儿童的诉求,亦是改善儿童生活匮乏的必要条件。

Children wash their face and hands at an outdoor tap at Ban Pho Preschool in Bac Han District in remote Lao Cai Province. The UNICEF-supported school promotes hygiene education and other child-friendly activities in a safe learning environment and includes classes taught in the childrens indigenous language. In March 2009 in Viet Nam, UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) to provide bilingual education to ethnic minority children in Vietnamese and their indigenous language and to improve adolescent learning, especially among minority ethnic girls. The Norwegian Government and IKEA, the Swedish home-furnishings retailer, are major UNICEF funding partners. Norway has committed US $1.6 million, and IKEA has contributed more than US $1 million for these projects. Although 95 per cent of all eligible children attend primary school, an estimated 20 per cent of the children of the 11 million members of ethnic minorities do not have access to basic education. Additionally, drop-out rates among ethnic minorities are high due to the lack of trained bilingual teachers, limited bilingual texts and curricula and inadequate infrastructure. Adolescent girls are especially at risk because of poverty, cultural biases against gender equity in education and the lack of properly equipped child-friendly schools. UNICEF has worked with MOET since 2007 to research and implement educational models that support bilingual education for indigenous minorities, now benefiting some 5,000 students (including preschoolers) from the Hmong, Jrai and Khmer ethnic groups in the provinces of Lao Cai, Gia Lai and Tra Vinh. The programme to improve adolescent education, adding critical life skills, reaches an estimated 120,000 students and 3,000 out-of-school adolescents, in eight provinces. IKEA is UNICEFs largest corporate funding partner, supporting UNICEF education, child protection and health programmes for children in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Unnamed boy waks from a ramshackle shared latrine that is in poor condition. Not a UNICEF project. This is an area inhabited by Kazakh families that have a very different set of traditions to most Mongolians. UNICEF is working with local authoriities to expand itís presence in the are to assist remote communities as part of the CBSS programme, this includes increased access to better services and schools. Bayan Ulgii Aimag centre, western Mongolia, 2007.
儿童来自乡村或市区、不同学歷水平的家庭、不同的种族和不同的区份,是促成这7个地区的儿童生活质素与发展存在差异最明显的因素。

Anupama Rao Singh女士续指:「研究报告首次清楚揭示了东亚及太平洋地区贫困儿童最需要解决的问题,並明确指出一国的儿童贫穷问题,不但会窒碍,甚至拖累国家整体的经济增长。」
报告亦揭露了以下各范畴存在的儿童贫穷情况差异:

乡村和市区——各地乡村的儿童贫穷比率较市区的比率均要高,在柬埔寨、泰国、菲律宾和越南,所录得的比率分別高出30%、60%、130%和180%。

区域性差距——某些情况下,国内地区性的差距比中等与低收入国家之间的差距来得更要显着。例如,越南西北部地区生活条件严重不足的儿童数目比当地红河三角洲地区的数目高出6倍有多,而泰国南部比北部的就高出一半。

种族性差距——7个受访地区少数族裔儿童的贫困和生活条件不足的比率均异常地高。例如,在老挝和蒙古的少数族裔儿童严重缺乏基本生活条件的数目比一般儿童的高出60%,在菲律宾和泰国的比率分別更高出9倍和近15倍。

父母教育水平——父母只有小学或以下教育水平的家庭严重缺乏基本生活条件的比率,较父母受过中学或高等教育的家庭高出逾1倍。

家庭人数——在蒙古和越南,7人或以上家庭基本生活条件出现严重不足的机会,比4人以下的家庭高出近1倍。同样的比率在泰国高出2倍有多。