Impressive photos of children around the world

Some children are born with roses. But many others are not so lucky: they are born into situations over which they have no control. And when they do, their fate is shaped by memories deeply embedded in their childhood.

The prestigious 2017 Sony World Photography Awards celebrates the world's most beautiful images of children. From a homeless child playing in a dilapidated cemetery in the Philippines to a boy laughing with two guns in Honduras, the lives of children are truly different.

In Guizhou, China, this boy's parents were busy harvesting when his 90-year-old grandmother took a break from work to gently stroke his head.

This photo was taken at a cemetery in Manila, Philippines, where there is a homeless community. This boy found a balloon to play with next to the unclaimed bodies.

Little Li at a weight loss center in Changchun. He has been here since last year and has undergone traditional Chinese treatments including fire therapy.

Taha Sirhan (right), 11, carries an Iraqi flag past burned oil fields in the city of Qayyarah south of eastern Mosul, Iraq. His father was killed by ISIS during the ISIS occupation of the city.

Twin sisters Liu Bingqing and Liu Yujie during a rigorous sports training session at a Chinese sports school in Jining, Shandong province, where they have attended since they were children.

A young child in Togo, West Africa, with fresh wounds that turn into scars, a typical sign of the Soma tribe.

In Benin, West Africa, a 2-year-old member of the Betamarribe tribe underwent a painful traditional tattooing ceremony.

Polish photographer Kamila Staniszewska captured this photo of her six-year-old daughter in tears while doing her homework.

And here is photographer Tim Topple's 6-year-old daughter playing at her home in Cieszyn, southern Poland.

Nine-year-old Syuzanna sits in a car shell outside the abandoned building where she lives in Gymri, Armenia. The poverty rate there is 47 percent.

Pictured is fashion designer Nassiba and her son, who live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “This society is very restrictive towards divorce. You are under the control of others about what you can and cannot do. As a single mother, I have found a way to make peace with my sacrifices, but I am still able to find my own happiness,” she says.

In GouLingYu, Gansu province, this little girl is just one of 61 million children left in rural China. Her parents have moved to the city. She says her mother 'ran away' from her when she was six months old.

In the Sumatra Barat forest, Indonesia, children play with an elder of the Mentawai tribe on Mentawai Island.

A Bedouin boy in Oman holds his father's gun. "He was still too young to use the gun, but it was his job to keep it in a safe position while his father had guests," explains photographer Mark Languido Vicente.

Photographer Germano Miele writes about the small village in Benin in this photo: "This is a very common image when you leave the big cities to explore the small villages. People welcome you like an old relative returning home with wonderful and unforgettable smiles. And they call me "Yovo" (meaning "white man in Fon" - in the local language). This is the pure Africa that I love".

A boy holds two guns in the Honduran city of Rivera Hernandez, where, according to the photographer, five gangs fight each other and three people die every day.

A boy in Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand, strokes a buffalo in the early morning mist.

Photographer Jian Seng Soh, who captured this photo in Kyoto, Japan, wrote: "I gave up my seat to the elementary school girl with a heavy backpack, and she immediately fell asleep."

A tired student in a classroom at a school near Sidone in Lebanon, home to about a million Syrian refugees supported by international organizations.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, boys are smoking cigarettes in a deprived area with high unemployment, drug abuse and gang activity.

According to Dan Tri