Social economic information
Even though Peru is considered as a middle income country and its economy continues to grow steadily each year, large groups are still excluded from the supposed wealth. In the province Cusco still 75,3% of the people still live in poverty and 51,3% in extreme poverty.
In the region of Cusco 38,6% of the kids in the ages 6 and 18 years old work next to attending school; 4,7% of the kids only works and does not attend school and 2,8% does not work nor goes to school. A mere 53,8% of the kids in Cusco goes to school without having to work. In the city of Cusco 22,2% of the kids in the ages 12 to 18 works. (Source: INEI, OIT, Visión del Trabajo Infantil y Adolecente en el Peru 2001).
The quality of education in Peru is very low and a large number of kids leave school early or finish at a much later age. In the city of Cusco on average more than 13% of kids in the ages 3 to 16 do not attend school; that percentage increases to 30% with kids in the ages 12 and 16 years old.
Also, Cusco is number 2 on the list of cities in the world with the highest percentage of domestic violence. Many kids are daily victim of physical and psychological abuse by their parents, stepparents and/or teachers
. Physical punishment is still an acceptable mean to solve conflicts and is even seen as necessary.
Research from 2004 performed by the ´Ministerio de la Mujer y Desarrollo Social´ showed that in Cusco 2 out of 10 kids in high school are victim of sexual abuse. The number of girls/women is twice as high as the number of male victims. According to the victims uncles are identified the foremost offenders, in second place cousins, in third place stepfathers and in fourth place grandfathers and brothers. This research also showed that an astounding 92% of all kids say they are victim of domestic violence. Also, 2 out of 10 kids are victim to violence in school. And 4 out of 10 kids say that their parents or tutors use violence on each other. According to research performed by Unicef (source: las cifras del castigo, 2006) 71% of all kids in Peru under the age of 18 are victim of physical violence, that is expressed in insults, yelling, rejection or even in threats of murder or other physical violence.
