Children's Day in Mexico - Don't Forget the Invisible Children

(ESPAÑOL) Today is Día del Niño or Children’s Day in Mexico. Around the city there will be parties, free rides at the fairs for children, even free McDonald’s hamburgers. I am sure that my daughter will come home from her school party with a large bag of candy to rival the Halloween spoils of children in the United States.

On this day of celebration of childhood in Mexico, let us know forget the 20 million children in poverty, the childvictims of trafficking, the malnourished, the illiterate and the under-educated children in Mexico. Let´s also not forget about the kids whose childhood is robed from them when they are recruited into drug gangs.

We should also recognized that all of these problems converge in Mexico’s juvenile prisons. The lack of food doesn't stop when children are arrested an imprisoned – as families that are able must bring food and basic supplies. The risk of trafficking only increases as children are released from prison with no re-entry or reintegration programs. Education is virtually non-existent in juvenile detention. These kids become perfect targets for gangs and organized crime recruitment both inside prison and after release from prison.

On this Children’s Day in Mexico, don’t forget about these children that are slipping through society’s cracks.  Consider contributing to UNICEF, Covenant House, Casa Alizanza Mexico, the Red Cross (Cruz Roja Mexicana, or the Children in Prison Project.