A/HRC/22/55 income nations soon felt its impact, with a slowdown in international trade, severely stretched Government budgets and uncertainty concerning foreign aid. 13 According to some studies, additional numbers of people trapped in poverty in 2009 ranged from 50 to 90 million.14 Vulnerable children are particularly affected, it being estimated that in subSaharan Africa as many as 50,000 infant deaths in 2009 were linked to the global financial crisis.15 For households, insecurity in employment and pressure on resources, including as a result of increases in food and fuel prices, have enhanced the vulnerability of families with a growing risk of tension and violence. 101. Economically advanced nations are also implementing severe cutbacks in social spending and promoting budgetary austerity measures to reduce national debt and strengthen 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 agriculture may be on the rise as a result of shrinking family income. As highlighted by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, increasingly difficult socioeconomic situations for families and high levels of stress and pressure can result in serious risks of domestic violence towards children and needs to be carefully monitored. 16 B. Climate change and natural disasters 102. Climate change and natural disasters have a serious impact on human development and economic progress, contributing to the fragility of communities, stretching social services and support systems and generating high levels of stress in communities and families. When associated with severe food insecurity or water scarcity, this situation may generate serious levels of social unrest, compromising children’s well-being and placing them at a heightened risk of neglect, injury and abuse. 103. Uncertainty associated with displacement, reduced options to escape hardship and pressing needs to secure survival and generate family income are some important factors behind violence, psychosocial distress, sexual abuse and the economic exploitation of children. Weakened protection in times of disaster, such as floods or earthquakes, may increase children’s vulnerability to abandonment, sale or trafficking and place adolescents at increased risk of recruitment into gang activity and urban violence. C. Armed and community violence 104. Over the recent past, the boundaries between political, criminal and intimate violence have become increasingly blurred, provoking fear, insecurity and harm in families and society at large. Children are particularly vulnerable to these intertwined forms of violence, both as victims and witnesses. 13 14 15 16 20 According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, major donors’ aid to developing countries fell by nearly 3 per cent in 2011. World Bank, “The Economic Crisis and the Millennium Development Goals”, 24 April 2009. Available from http://econ.worldbank.org. World Bank, “Economic Crises Taking a Toll on Children”, 7 April 2010. Available from http://web.worldbank.org/. Council of Europe, document CommDH (2012)22, para. 22.