World News & Stories

In many urban areas of India, families live in old, one-room houses. The houses do not have toilets, so everyone is forced to rely on public toilets that are shared by several families. The lack of dignity makes using these facilities a harrowing experience for young women.

I’m not afraid to admit that I’m in love; even though I’ve been playing for nearly two decades, soccer and I are still in the honeymoon phase. Sure, like every relationship, we’ve had our ups and downs. But there is something magical about soccer that brings people together. That’s what I can’t get enough of.

Young Sonia works long hours every day, hoping to make enough money for a few vegetables. She’s homeless and sleeps wherever she can, covered only in a thin sheet. Recently, she’s been unable to see at night – a symptom of malnutrition – and fears going blind altogether. Not to mention all the other reasons a girl on her own has to be afraid of.

Srey Neang packs 4000 heavy bricks onto a truck every single day. It’s backbreaking labour, work not meant for a 13-year-old girl. In fact, she spends more time working than she does in school, making her dream of becoming a teacher seem like an unlikely reality. 

In 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing more than 1,100 people. Many workers had received an ultimatum that day after complaining about dangerous cracks in the structure: go to work now or lose your pay. In the days that followed, Canadians watched in horror as information was released linking some of their favourite clothing brands with garments being sewn in that very building.

Children should be playing, learning to read and write and experiencing happy, healthy childhoods. But when there’s not enough money to put a meal on the table, children have no choice but to earn their keep. It’s a growing problem, particularly in countries that don’t have strong governments, laws and regulations to make sure children are going to school, not down mine shafts.

They may not share the same views when it comes to politics, but on the issue of child slavery, these five Canadian MPs all agree: it needs to stop. Wayne Easter, Russ Hiebert, Dean Allison, Wai Young and Isabelle Morin, took to the bustling streets of Phnom Penh and Bangkok, where they met slavery’s youngest victims.

Fourteen-year-old Haitian Sonite Edmond despondently recalls being forced to work as a restavek when she was just six years old. Meaning “to stay with” in Creole, restaveks are children working in domestic slavery, as Sonite was forced to when she went to “stay with” her godmother in Port-au-Prince.

For fifteen-year-old Mao, poverty turned an innocent sleepover at a friend’s house into a childhood trapped in Cambodia’s sex trade.

World Vision answers your frequently asked questions about Child-Friendly Spaces.

At its core, child marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights. Learn about how early marriage compromises a child’s development and opportunities in life.

Despite global achievements towards gender equality, girls continue to face barriers to full, equal participation both at home and in the world. Find out why we need Day of the Girl more than ever.

Hamdani, 22, is a young Muslim from a Maranao tribe in Marawi City, Philippines. When Hamdani was in school, he was known by his classmates for being rebellious, and a bad example for other students.