A/67/230 often struggle to survive in unhealthy, hazardous and violent public spaces where crime is rampant and protection hardly available, and who are at risk of enduring illtreatment by the authorities or being criminalized for survival behaviour, including truancy and begging. 15 86. Children with disabilities are also at heightened risk of abuse, neglect, stigma and exploitation. In their lives, disability, poverty, poor health care and nutrition, and social exclusion often go hand in hand. The incidence of disability is higher among children belonging to poorer households, where they lack access to basic social services of quality, thus compromising opportunities for early detection, treatment and recovery, and for meaningful participation in social life. As families of children with disabilities face extra medical, housing and transport costs, they miss employment opportunities and face marginalization and aggravated vulnerability to violence. When placed in institutions, where they have limited ability to disclose situations of abuse and seek redress, children’s vulnerability to violence is further exacerbated. 87. Poverty and violence also shape the life of the majority of children affected by HIV and AIDS. The pandemic has stripped away traditional social support networks and is associated with a higher risk of social exclusion, stigma and discrimination, school dropout and limited access to information and treatment, while paving the way to enhanced risks of violence. In turn, rape, intimate partner violence and sexual abuse, as well as harmful practices, including child and forced marriage, increase the risk of exposure to HIV infection. 16 88. As the current economic downturn confirms, in times of economic crisis the impact of those multiple factors increases. Although initially buffered from the financial crisis, low-income countries soon felt its impact, with a slowdown in international trade, severely stretched Government budgets and uncertainty concerning foreign aid. According to some studies, additional numbers of people trapped in poverty in 2009 ranged from 50 million to 90 million. 17 Vulnerable children are particularly affected, with estimates that, in sub-Saharan Africa, as many as 50,000 infant deaths in 2009 were linked to the global financial crisis. 18 At the household level, insecurity in employment and pressure on resources, including as a result of rises in food and fuel prices, have increased the vulnerability of families with a growing risk of tension and violence. 89. Economically advanced countries are also implementing severe cutbacks in social spending and are promoting budgetary austerity measures to reduce national debt and boost their economies. In some cases, cuts in child benefits in the area of education have hampered families’ ability to buy schoolbooks and cover the cost of their children’s meals and transportation, while child labour in the informal sector and in agriculture may be on the rise as a result of shrinking family income. As recently highlighted by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, increasingly difficult socioeconomic situations for families and high levels of stress and pressure can result in serious risks of domestic violence towards children and need to be carefully monitored. 19 __________________ 15 16 17 18 19 12-45164 OHCHR, Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Children Working and/or Living on the Street (2012), p. 13. UNAIDS, Together we will end AIDS (2012), p. 70. “The economic crisis and the Millennium Development Goals”, World Bank, 2012. “Economic crises taking a toll on children”, World Bank, 2011. Council of Europe, CommDH (2012)22, 10 July 2012, para. 22. 21