ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world, Unicef said on Wednesday in a report that explores the causes of exclusion and abuses.

The agency said millions of children disappeared from view when trafficked or forced to work in domestic servitude. Other children, such as street children, live in plain sight but are excluded from fundamental services and protections.

Not only do these children endure abuse, most are shut out from school, healthcare and other vital services they need to grow and thrive.

‘The State of the World’s Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible’ is a sweeping assessment of the world’s most vulnerable children whose rights to a safe and healthy childhood are exceptionally difficult to protect.

“Meeting the millennium development goals depends on reaching vulnerable children throughout the developing world,” Unicef Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, said while launching the report.

“There cannot be lasting progress if we continue to overlook the children most in need, the poorest and most vulnerable, the exploited and the abused.”

These children are growing up beyond the reach of development campaigns and are often invisible in everything from public debate and legislation, to statistics and news stories.

Without focused attention, millions of children will remain trapped and forgotten in childhoods of neglect and abuse, with devastating consequences for their long-term wellbeing and the development of nations.

The report argues that any society with an interest in the welfare of its children and its own future must not allow this to happen.

The report finds that children who lack vital services are more vulnerable to exploitation because they have less information on how to protect themselves and fewer economic alternatives.

Children who are caught in armed conflict, for example, are routinely subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence. It is these children, alone and defenceless, who are being ignored.

The report states that children in four circumstances — children without a formal identity; children without parental care; children in adult roles and children who are exploited are likely to become invisible and forgotten.

The report also asserts that children who live in fragile states and countries that are unable or unwilling to provide basic services for their children are virtually invisible. Discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity or disability are also factors in the exclusion of children.

The report finds that children who lack vital services are more vulnerable to exploitation because they have less information on how to protect themselves, and fewer economic alternatives.