There is no greater crime on this earth than child abuse. Childhood is a time of innocence, discovery and growth. When we steal that we destroy a life and its potential before it begins. Across the globe - particularly in developing nations and in certain traditional Muslim countries and regions - there are two forms of child abuse that have become institutionalized through both culture and law; Child Brides and Child Soldiers.

CHILD BRIDES

In countries like India, China, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Pakistan, Afghanistan and more , it is common – percentages often run as high as 40-50% – for girls to be married at ages as young as 8 years old. Legend says that 1000 years ago, invaders raped unmarried Hindu girls or carried them off as booty, prompting Hindu communities to marry off their daughters almost from birth to protect them. Today, these invaders have been replaced by superstition: the local view that any girl reaching puberty without getting married will fall prey to sexual depredations, which ignores the fact that relations with young girls is depredation in itself. In Asian and African countries and India too, there is also the common belief that having sex with a "fresh" girl can cure syphilis, gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

Married girls are then generally separated from their immediate families, taken out of school to be "transferred" to her new-husband home, where they are expected to be used as free labor, sex objects and procreative machines. Their health is also put at risk. They are much more vulnerable than mature women when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases.

CHILD SOLDIERS

Each year, around $45-60 billion worth of arms sales are sold worldwide. Some two-thirds of sales are made to developing countries. The 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China), together with Germany and Italy account for over 80% of the arms sold between 2000 and 2007.

According to Human Rights Watch, in over twenty countries around the world, children are direct participants in war. Often subjected to horrific violence, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in current armed conflicts. These children are frequently killed or injured during combat or while carrying out other tasks. They are forced to engage in hazardous activities such as laying mines or explosives, as well as using weapons. Child soldiers live under harsh conditions with insufficient food and little or no access to healthcare. They are almost always treated brutally, subjected to beatings and humiliating treatment. Punishments for mistakes or desertion are often very severe. Girl soldiers are particularly at risk of rape, sexual harassment and abuse as well as being involved in combat and other tasks.

The use of children as soldiers has been universally condemned as abhorrent and unacceptable. Yet over the last ten years, governments have done little to enforce the law and hundreds of thousands of children have fought and died in conflicts around the world.