ReliefWeb

Introduction

Highlighting the reality of children and adolescents in Peru’s Amazon regions for the rest of the country, the authorities of the central government, the business sector, and international cooperation is a first step to equality.

The dispersion of the population in the extensive Amazonian territory, the geographical barriers to accessing the areas where people live, the vast diversity of indigenous languages spoken, and its absence from the official history of Peru – expressed in many ways including the absence of current and disaggregated data particularly at the provincial and district levels - have resulted in Amazonian communities being invisible in the collective imagination. As a result, the situation of this population has seldom been seen as a national priority that affects other citizens and hinders national development.
This historic neglect has created adverse circumstances for development in the Amazon, most especially for children. Even though in recent decades there has been an increasing concern for improving the living conditions in these communities, and despite the important advances made, it is still important to acknowledge that children and adolescents living in the Amazon are the most excluded among the excluded.

This document outlines just some of the region’s many challenges related to health, access to education and protection against violence. Though not represented in national statistics, other challenges are well known at the community level. Climate change, among these challenges, has begun to have an impact on everyday life of Amazonian children. Intense rains, which have caused the overflow of rivers and consequent flooding of houses and schools, are phenomena that have been unknown to the population until recent years.

UNICEF supports the efforts of the State to guarantee that children and adolescents in the Amazon have all of the opportunities required for their development. We work so that children can be born into healthy conditions, have their right to an identity fulfill, grow up well-nourished and healthy, attend schools that are culturally relevant and support them in reaching their full potential. We do this with the certainty that only in this way will they build their own futures and support the development of their communities and the country. We hope that you will also take up this important work with us.

Maria Luisa Fornara
Representative of UNICEF in Peru