After seven weeks and 7,470 miles (12,000 km), Ewan and Charley reached Mongolia. Sadly, since the fall of communism in the 1990s, the number of street children has increased dramatically, unemployment has soared and welfare services have declined.
The Long Way Round team spent part of their last Unicef visit beneath the streets of Ulaanbaatar in the pipe maintenance caverns. It is here that some of the thousands of children living on the streets go in search of warmth and shelter from the harsh Mongolian winters. These children, some as young as five, are lost or abandoned by families who have migrated to the city in search of jobs.
Children living on the streets without protection from parents or a family are incredibly vulnerable to abuse, violence and sexual exploitation. For girls as young as 11, prostitution is often the only option for them to make enough money to survive.
Clearly moved by what he had seen, Ewan said, "It disturbed me so much because there are few things worse than a child having no real start to their life".
The Long Way Round funds have helped Unicef support the Government of Mongolia's juvenile justice system reform. It has been essential to get children's rights recognised in the justice system, to increase awareness of child protection issues in law enforcement agencies and within communities, and to provide alternatives to custodial sentences.
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