MUMBAI, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The anti-globalization movement has made child abuse the centerpiece of its public relations strategy in its massive meeting in Mumbai, India.
Some 78,000 participants in the World Social Forum are focused on child abuse as the inevitable result of free trade policies, reported the Economic Times.
Speakers and meetings of the forum discussed sexual abuse, forced labour and exploitation and their link with globalization.
Some, like the Campaign Against Child Labor, argue that severe budget cutbacks by governments have led to a lack of investment in child education, protection and care.
"It is very evident that the target set by the United Nations in the millennium declaration -- to eradicate poverty, achieve universal education and promote gender equality and improve health -- would not be achieved by 2015," said a joint statement issued by the activists.
In the run-up to the Forum, called the world's biggest anti-globalization meeting, progressive church groups and youth bodies took volunteers to Mumbai's red-light district to show them the problem of child sexual abuse.
