This article identifies risks and vulnerabilities that child monks can face, including sexual abuse. It reflects on how aspects of entrusting young children to live as child monks do not necessarily fit with principles articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNGA, 1989) and the United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (UNGA, 2009).

This article from BBC News described how the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated families across India, orphaning many children.

Join this United Nations Forum session to discuss and ask questions about child labour in Asia-Pacific in the digital area.

"The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has directed States and union territories to submit data of all children, who have been orphaned or have lost one of their parents to Covid-19," says this article from Big News Network.

"North Korean state media has claimed that orphans are volunteering to work in state-run mines and farms," according to this article from BBC News.

This report examines the rise in child labor and poverty during the Covid-19 pandemic in three countries: Ghana, Nepal, and Uganda, the impact on children’s rights, and government responses.

According to this article from Bloomberg, "authorities [in India] are scrambling to get a count of how many children have been abandoned, either because their parents have been hospitalized or died or because the surviving parent isn’t able to care for them." Government officials and NGOs are concerned about trafficking risks for these children. 

"China plans to restructure its child welfare services and complete the reform process by 2025, shifting the focus of the service system to the protection of minors, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said at a press conference on Tuesday," says this article from Xinhua Net.

Richard Daschbach, a now-defrocked 84-year-old US priest has been charged with sexual abuse of 14 girls in the shelter he ran in Timor-Leste. This article tells the story of one of the young women who spoke out about the abuse she experienced.

Hope and Homes for Children is looking for an independent evaluator or team with a strong record in conducting evaluations as well as direct programme interventions to conduct an evaluation of a pilot project initiated to support catalytic change in care reform in Nepal.