By M. Belén Arce Terceros
UNICEF Argentina yesterday launched a campaign to raise awareness on the situation of the country’s indigenous children and adolescents, who are deprived from education and health care, among other rights.
The United Nations Children’s Fund asked the government to address the demands from the northern and southern native communities, who live in impoverished conditions, a situation which specially affects their children and teenagers.
During a press conference held in Buenos Aires City to present the media campaign, Elena Duro, UNICEF’s education specialist, said that the illiteracy rate among indigenous children under 10 is three times higher than the national rate (2.6%). In some communities, such as the Wichi (Formosa) or the Mbyá-Guaraní (Misiones), more than 50 percent of youths between 15 and 19 have not finished high school, Duro added.
“This issue was never a priority in the provincial or national governments’ agendas,” she said.
Indigenous children do not have access to healthcare either, said Gimol Pinto, UNICEF’s rights’ protection specialist, mainly because of cultural, geographic and economic barriers.
“Indigenous children and adolescents are one of the most vulnerable groups of society. Discrimination, indifference, and ignorance make this situation worse and deepens the exclusion that these youths suffer,” reads a communiqué released by the UN agency.
The campaign, which includes TV and radio spots as well as newspaper ads, was put together by UNICEF and leaders and teachers from several indigenous communities from the north and south of the country.