Education: Strategic axis in poverty reduction and in fostering the country’s development; despite the nearly universal access to elementary learning, there are still thousands of children out of the school system. Moreover, among 7 to 14-year-old children and adolescents, 7.4% are illiterate (IBGE, 2008). In the child education, the condition is even more critical: only 45.8% of the children are being taken care of (IBGE, 2008). It is necessary to extend the education equipment for children 0 to 6 years old, as well as to ensure the basic quality education by means of initiatives, such as the teachers’ qualification.

Social protection: the problems are still numberless; among them, the lack of quantitative data, which makes difficult the identification of the problem dimension, as the child labor, the sexual abuse and the deaths due to external causes, which victimize more children and adolescents than many countries in war. In 2006, the deaths due to external causes victimized 12.4 children and adolescents from 0 to 9 years old (Datasus, 2006).

The social educational policies still show a deficit and the child labor still steals the childhood of millions of children and adolescents. It is necessary that there be, in this axis, the enhancement of the information systems, in order to ensure a better and qualified data registration. It is also necessary the strengthening of the Rights and Guardianship Councils activities, besides the destination of more financial resources for child labor eradication and prevention programs, combat to sexual exploitation and special handling to the urban violence theme, which has largely victimized the youngsters.

HIV/AIDS

The big problem relies on the high mother-to-child transmission, 328 cases registered in 2008 (Datasus, 2008). Therefore, our challenge to combat the epidemics is still big, both in education and prevention, in relation to the care of HIV-positive youngsters, and in the support for orphans of families victimized by AIDS.

We expect that the new Federal Administration is guided by strategies and resources that are proportional in size to those of the country, as to the current scenario, because this way, we will have a Brazil for children and adolescents.

Source: III Report, A Brazil for Children and Adolescents – The Brazilian Society and the objectives of the millennium for the childhood and adolescence.

Emergency situations and children

Our operations during emergencies started in January 2011 aiming at giving priority to protecting children and adolescents in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Our actions were based on Save the Children’s international methodologies and involved from the immediate care to the creation of Safe Spaces and the School Return Program. Altogether, nearly 9 thousand children have better-off lives thanks to the organization’s projects and we already total 9 Safe Spaces.

Child Labor

There are a number of factors that influence the premature entry of children and adolescents to the world of work. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), special mention is warranted for those related to the social-economic vulnerability of the families, as well as social aspects that lead families to think that children must take on responsibilities prematurely.

The damage caused by child labor is multiple, including the abandonment of education and deprivation of the right to family life and leisure. In 2004, Brazil had 5.3 million workers between 5 and 17 years of age; four years later, this number stood at 4.5 million; in 2009, the number dropped to 4.3 million, according to data from the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (Pnad); from these groups, 906 thousand are between the ages of 5 and 13 years. Despite this drop, the level of child labor remains high. The data means that 9.2% of children between 10 and 15 years of age were working. Despite a significant reduction of 33.8% in relation to 2001, the number still represents cause for concern.

The activity that mostly uses child laborers is agriculture (34.6%). One of the main difficulties in combating child labor in the rural zone is the lack of schools and the difficulty to access them. Subsistence activities – production for own consumption and use – occupy 9.4% of the child and adolescent workers. Other forms of child labor comprise this scenario, with the worst classifications, as follows: domestic child labor, farming, drug trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and informal urban labor.

Corporal Punishment and Harmful traditional practices

In 2010, the national Disque 100 Hotline dialling service, besides receiving reports of rights violations, provided guidance on care services and networks to protect citizens in the States and Municipal Districts. In the period from January to July 2010, the Disque 100 Hotline looked after 88,910 situations, having received and referred 16,348 reports from the whole country. Considering this period, in 2010, the average number of calls to the Disque 100 Hotline was 419 per day (Department of Human Rights). In numbers, the northeast is the region with more reported incidents. Next, it is the mid-west, south and southeast regions.

However, it is important to note that the cases denounced through the Disque 100 Hotline do not necessarily represent the reality of the total number of violence cases that occur in Brazil. A report may register more than one type of violence suffered by one or more victims and may present more than one suspect. The total number of denouncements is different from the total number of registrations for different types of violence.

In 2009, the Ministry of Social Development registered 60,270 children and adolescents cared for in the programs, victims of mistreatment, abandonment, exploitation and violence. However, there is no systematized and standardized information available to provide a reliable dimension of the problem in the country.

Deaths caused due to external causes or due to homicides in the age-group from 0 to 19 years, it is worth of special attention with regard to the Afro-Brazilian male population.