MUSINA BORDER, South Africa, 5 January 2008 – Women and children sit on a patch of grass under one of a few leafy trees that lessens the heat from the harsh midday sun. They are among the most recent asylum-seekers who are flooding across the border from Zimbabwe.

BOUAKE, Côte d'Ivoire, 2 January 2008 – 12-year-old Emily lives a fragile existence. AIDS took the lives of both her parents and she herself is living with HIV. An estimated 74,000 children age 14 and under are living with HIV in the country.

MBABANE, Swaziland,30 December 2008 – In response to concern about the alarming rates of violence against children documented in a 2007 national study conducted by UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control, Swaziland has established its first Sexual Offenses Unit for children and young people.