Poisoning the Fountain of Youth

Part III

Children born to Rohingya refugees in Malaysia are frequently refused entrance to primary schools when they cannot prove legal residency. Even though the Malaysian constitution guarantees citizenship to those born on its soil, the Rohingya children are denied this right. Children of longtime Bidun residents of Kuwait face similar discrimination because their parents are considered stateless disregarding the fact that the parents may have resided in Kuwait for decades.

As we see these injustices done to children around the world, we should be grateful that these problems do not affect our children. Governments around the world abuse youths during arrest and interrogation and hold them in overcrowded, unsafe conditions. Juvenile detention facilities often fail to provide youth with adequate educational, medical, mental health, or rehabilitative services.

The United States is one of the leading offenders in its treatment of children in conflict with the law. It executed in the first half of this year four juvenile offenders under the age of eighteen. To the credit of China, it banned the execution of juvenile offenders in 1997. Abuses in South Dakota’s juvenile detention facilities came to light after Gina Score, fourteen, collapsed and died during a forced run at the state’s boot camp for girls in July, 1999. Little has been done to correct the inhumane treatment still being practiced there.

While in police custody many youths are abused. In many parts of the world, police routinely beat street youth. In many cases, they die while in custody under strange circumstances with little or no investigation into the causes. The Human Rights Watch has seen and documented many of these cases and is pleading to the world for help for these unfortunate children.

In Pakistan, a fifteen year boy was whipped with a rubber strap. In Jamaica, youth are beaten with batons, sticks, and electrical cords during and shortly after arrest. In Bolivia, a sixteen year boy was beaten with hoses and chains and had his nose broken. Palestinian youths are regularly rounded up and beaten even though only suspected of taking part in demonstrations.

In Guatemala, a thirteen year old was killed when two individuals handed him a bag of food containing explosives. Police shot and killed four youths in the head and the fifth in the back. The officers than abandoned the bodies in Guatemala City’s Bosque de Dan Nicolas. These were all street children. To many police, killing street children is like killing rodents that roam the streets.

One of the most common forms of child labor in both industrialized and developing countries is the use of children in agriculture. In the United States, over 300,000 children work as hired labors on commercial farms often under hazardous exposure to dangerous pesticides that cause cancer and brain damage. Children working on U.S. farms often worked twelve-hour days, sometimes beginning at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. An estimated 100,000 children suffered agriculture-related injuries during the year. How do we account this cost for the fruit and vegetables we eat?

How about the estimated 100,000 young female prostitutes in Thailand and the Philippines? We could continue for hours describing incidents such as I have briefly described above, but what is the use? Who will speak up for these miserable and forgotten children of the world? Why are we poisoning the fountain of youth?

As I finished writing these thoughts, I went over to my two boys who were sleeping and quietly bent down and kissed them. I whispered words of gratitude for the wonderful life my boys have been given. Silently I prayed: “There, but for the grace of God, go my children!”

Strictly a personal view. Anthony Pellegrino writes every Monday and Tuesday. Mr. Pellegrino can be reached at tonypell@saipan.com