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KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – A new report has found that  problems plaguing Jamaica’s economy and persistent violence were among factors hampering the progress of children in the country.

The Office of the Children’s Advocate and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in the report titled “Twenty Years after the Convention on the Rights of the Child” pointed to several gaps that need to be filled and to the dangerous implications of the economic crisis.
According to UNICEF representative, Robert Fuderich, the strain caused by the economic crisis is hardest on children and women.
“…..one in four Jamaican children continues to live in poverty and major challenges prevent the fulfillment of some of their rights,” she said.

The report also notes that crime and violence were wreaking havoc on children with 230 children under the age of 17 murdered between 2006 and 2008.
Additionally, it said each day during the period, 17 children and adolescents were treated in emergency rooms for violence related injuries.

Jamaica is now negotiating a US$1.2 billion Stand By Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the murder toll so far this year has passed  the 1,000 mark.
However, the government has been commended for taking some positive steps, including the establishment of the Early Childhood Commission, Child Development Agency and the Office of the Children’s Advocate as well as the enactment of the Child Care and Protection Act.
The report also notes that children born in Jamaica now have more than a 97 per cent chance of surviving beyond age five and almost a 100 per cent chance of enrolling in school up to the secondary level.

It said those children would also go on to live, on average for 73 years.

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