Children "forced on the streets" by Aids
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A report by Save the Children has said that of the 36.1 million people
worldwide living with HIV and Aids, 1.4 million are children under the
age of 15.
The report gives a chilling picture of child neglect. In India, it reports
that four million children live on the street, and that a quarter of these
had acquired a sexually transmitted infection within nine months of street
life.
Speaking to the sixth International Conference on Aids in Asia and the
Pacific in Melbourne, Douglas Webb of Save the Children said: "the
successful prevention of mother-to-infant HIV transmission means we are
likely to see a disproportionate rise in the number of Aids orphans in
this region."
Vinay Chandra told the conference that thousands of Indian boys are introduced
to the sex industry between the ages of 10 and 13 - largely by force.
Though some of the boys are aware of HIV and STI's, few use condoms.
Meanwhile in Cambodia, children as young as four have been trafficked
to Thailand and forced to work as prostitutes. Mao Lang, of the Meatho
Phum shelter in Phnom Penh, said children are often sold by desparate
parents, sometimes as repayment for debts, and are then taken to Thailand.
Martin Flynn
