Street children are children who experience poverty, homelessness, or both, living on city, city, or village streets. Homeless teenagers are often called street children or street youth ; the definition of street children is contradicted, but many practitioners and policy makers use the UNICEF concept of boys and girls, who are under the age of 18, for whom "streets" (including unoccupied residential and vacant land) have become home and/or their source of livelihood, and which are not adequately protected or supervised.
Street girls are sometimes called gamines , a term that is also used for Colombian street children of both sexes.
Some street children, especially in more developed countries, are part of a subcategory called abandoned children who are children who are forced to leave home. Disposable children are much more likely to come from a single parent's home. Street children are often subjected to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or, in extreme cases, murder by "cleaning squads" who have been employed by local businesses or police.
Video Street children
Definition
Street children are used as a term to capture all, but illustrate children in various circumstances and with various characteristics. Policy makers and service providers are struggling to portray and assist such subpopulations. Each boy and girl of all ages are found living and working in a public space, and seen in most of the world's urban centers.
Maps Street children
Statistics and distribution
Street children can be found in most cities in the world, with more general phenomenon in densely populated urban centers or economically unstable regions, such as countries in Africa, South America, Eastern Europe and Asia Southeast.
According to a report from the Consortium for Street Children, a UK-based consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UNICEF estimates that 100 million children grow on urban streets around the world. Fourteen years later, in 2002, UNICEF also reported, "Recent estimates say the number of these children is as high as a hundred million". The organization recently added, "The exact number of street children is impossible to count, but that number is almost certainly tens of millions around the world. A hundred million numbers are still often quoted for street children, but have no basis in fact. Similarly, it remains debatable whether the number of street children grows globally, or whether awareness of street children in a community has grown.
History
The phenomenon of street children has been documented since 1848. Alan Ball, in the introduction to his book on the history of abandoned children, And Now My Soul Heated: Neglected Children in Soviet Russia, 1918-1930 , states:
Orphans and abandoned children have been a source of misery from the beginning. They apparently donated most of the male prostitutes in Augustan Rome and, a few centuries later, moved the church council from 442 in southern Gaul to declare: "Regarding abandoned children: there is a common complaint that they are now more affected by dogs than good. " In the Russian Tsar, seventeenth-century sources illustrate poor young people roaming the streets, and the phenomenon endures every attempt to exterminate afterwards.
In 1848, Lord Ashley called over 30,000 "naked, filthy, unlawful, and lonely children" in and around London, England. Among the many English novels that featured them as a humanitarian issue were Jessica's First Prayer by Sarah Smith (1867) and Georgina Castle Smith Nothing to Nobody (1872).
In 1922, there were at least seven million homeless children in Russia because of the devastation of World War I and the Russian Civil War. Abandoned children form gangs, create their own argot, and engage in petty theft and prostitution.
Cause
The causes of this phenomenon vary, but are often associated with domestic, economic, or social disturbances including, but not limited to: poverty; damage to the home and/or family; political unrest; acculturation; sexual, physical or emotional abuse; domestic violence; lured by pimps, Internet predators, or a pleading syndicate; mental health problems; substance abuse; and sexual orientation or gender identity issues. Children may end up in the streets due to cultural factors. For example, some children in parts of Congo and Uganda are forced to leave their families; because, they are suspected as a magician who brings bad luck to their families. In Afghanistan, young girls who commit "honorific crimes" that embarrass their family and/or cultural practices - such as adultery (which may include rape or sexual harassment) or who deny matchmaking - may be forced to leave their homes.
Children may also end up in the streets due to religious factors. For example, some children in northern Nigeria (referred to as almajiris ) are forced to leave their homes to place them under mallam (Islamic teachers), for them to understand the teachings of Islam.
By country
Africa
Congo
Egypt
UNICEF works with CARITAS and other non-governmental organizations in Egypt to handle street children. The increasing number of NGOs targeting this issue has expanded the scale of the intervention to reach more street children and their families.
Kenya
There are about 250,000 street children in Kenya and more than 60,000 in the capital Nairobi. Rapid and unsustainable urbanization in the post-colonial period, causing urbanizing poverty in cities like Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa are the underlying causes of child homelessness. Rural-urban migration splits big families that previously acted as support networks, taking care of children in cases of abuse, neglect, and neglect.
The UN Office for Drugs and Crime has reported that glue sniffs are at the core of Nairobi's "street culture", and that the majority of street children in the city are habitual solvents users. A study by Cottrell-Boyce for the African Journal of Drugs and Alcohol Studies found that glue sniffs amongst Kenyan street children are particularly functional - dulling the senses of life on the streets - but also providing links to the support structure of 'street families' as symbols strong shared experience.
South Africa
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is considered the world's poorest country, according to the UN World Poverty Index 2008. While the current picture is more optimistic - World Bank projections for 2013/14 put Sierra Leone as the second fastest growing country in the world - the lack of children's rights and poverty extreme widespread. There are nearly 50,000 children hanging on the road for their survival, some of them live full-time on the streets. There are also about 300,000 children in Sierra Leone without access to education. Often, neglected rural areas - where there are many - offer little or no opportunity for children to break out of the existing poverty cycle.
Asia
Bangladesh
There are no statistics of street children in Bangladesh today. UNICEF puts the figure above 670,000 referring to a study conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, "Estimates of the Size of Street Children and Their Projection for the Large Urban Area of ​​Bangladesh, 2005". About 36% of these children are in the capital Dhaka according to the same study. Although Bangladesh increased the Human Capital Index for decades, (HDI is 0.558 according to HDR 2014 from UNDP and Bangladesh in 142 among 187 countries and regions), these children still represent the absolute lowest level in the social hierarchy. The same study projects the number of street children to 1.14 million by 2014.
India
India has one million or more street children in each of the following cities: New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. When considering India as a whole, there are more than eleven million children who earn a living on the streets in towns and rural areas. It is more common for street children to be male and the average age is fourteen. Although adolescent girls are more protected by families than boys, when girls break their bonds worse than boys, because they are attracted to prostitution. The Republic of India is the seventh largest and second most populous country in the world. Due to the acceleration of economic growth, economic rifts have emerged, with more than thirty-two percent of the population living below the poverty line. Due to unemployment, rising rural-urban migration, urban liveliness appeal, and lack of political will, India has developed one of the world's largest child labor.
Indonesia
According to a 2007 study, there are more than 170,000 street children living in Indonesia. In 2000, about 1,600 children lived on the streets of Yogyakarta. About five hundred of these children are girls from the age of four-sixteen. Many children began living on the streets after the 1997 financial crisis in Indonesia. The girls who live on the streets face more difficulties than the boys who live on the streets of Indonesia. Girls on the street are often abused by street children because of the nature of cultural patriarchy. "They abused girls, refused to recognize them as street children but likened them to prostitutes". Many girls become dependent on boyfriends; they receive material support in exchange for sex.
Street children in Indonesia are seen as a public disorder. "They were arrested, subjected to verbal and physical abuse, their means of livelihood (guitar for singing, goods for sale) were confiscated, and some had been shot trying to escape from the police".
Iran
There are about 60,000 and 200,000 street children in Iran (2016).
Pakistan
The number of street children in Pakistan is estimated at between 1.2 million and 1.5 million. Although, this number remains anecdotal because it was mentioned more than ten years ago. There has been no head-count or mapping study of street children in Pakistan except for several major metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Lahore. These studies are also geographically and scope limited. These studies show that the numbers may be much higher now after increasing poverty, the migration of people after natural disasters and the fight against terrorism in Pakistan. Recently, the Sindh Social Welfare Department has conducted a mapping study of street children throughout Karachi alone. Past efforts have been initiated by UNICEF and other NGOs to help needy children through various programs and rehabilitation centers; However, the situation remains a prominent socio-economic issue in Pakistan during the 21st century.
Philippines
According to a 1998 report titled "Youth Situation in the Philippines", there are about 1.5 million street children in the Philippines, 70% of whom are men. Ten-year-old street children can be imprisoned with adults under the Vagrancy Act in that country; in previous cases, physical and sexual abuse has occurred as a result of this law.
Vietnamese
According to The Street Educators' Club, the number of street children in Vietnam has shrunk from 21,000 in 2003 to 8,000 in 2007. That number dropped from 1.507 to 113 in Hanoi and from 8,507 to 794 in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently there are nearly four hundred humanitarian organizations and international non-governmental organizations that provide assistance to about 15,000 Vietnamese children.
Europe
Greek
The activities of Greek street children are strongly linked to trafficking, especially with immigrants from Albania. In 2003, street children located in state-run facilities have disappeared. The loss is thought to be linked to trafficking. The number has decreased in recent years, and Greece has taken "legislative action to criminalize human trafficking and related crimes", although Amnesty International reports that the problem still exists, and there is a failure of government protection and the justice of trafficked children.
Begging and other street activities have been banned in Greece since 2003, but recent unemployment increases have increased this level of action.
There are several programs for refugee children in Greece, which created the problem of street children in the early 2000s. Giving foster parents to special needs children is not something done by the Greek government, which causes more street children who are physically and mentally handicapped. There are also deterrents for working and poor parents in Greece making them more willing to force their children onto the streets. For example, orphans are financially rewarded, but if they live in state-run facilities they can not receive these benefits. For parents who work to get government subsidies, they often need to have more than one child.
Romanian
The phenomenon of street children in Romania must be understood in the local historical context. In 1966, in communist Romania, the ruler of Nicolae Ceau? Escu prohibits contraception and abortion, enforcing an aggressive natalist policy, in an effort to increase the population. Because families can not cope, thousands of unwanted children are placed in state orphanages where they face terrible conditions. Under communism, the family struggle became worse in the 1980s, under the austerity policy of the 1980s in Romania, when living standards dropped dramatically, and food was rationed; and the fall of communism in December 1989 initially meant economic and social insecurity. Under such conditions, in the 1990s, many children moved into the streets, with some coming from orphanages, while others escaping from poor families. During the transition from communism to the market economy in the 1990s, social issues such as children's problems were low on the government agenda. Nevertheless, at the turn of the century things got better. The 2000 report of the Council of Europe estimates that there are about 1,000 street children in the city of Bucharest. The prevalence of street children has led to the development of sex tourism business in Romania; though, efforts have been made to reduce the number of street children in the country. The 2001 documentary Children Underground documents the fate of Romanian street children, especially their struggle with malnutrition, sexual exploitation, and substance abuse. In the 1990s, street children were often seen begging, inhaling 'aurolac' from breathing bags, and wandering around Metro Bucharest. In the 21st century, the number of children who live permanently on the road decreases significantly, although more children work on the streets throughout the day, but return home for their parents at night. In 2004, it was estimated that fewer than 500 children lived permanently on the streets of Bucharest, while less than 1,500 worked on the streets during the day, returning home for their families at night. By 2014, street children in the 1990s were adults, and many were reported to live 'underground' in tunnels and gullies beneath the streets of Bucharest, with some having their own children.
Russian
In 2001, it was estimated that Russia had about one million street children, and one in four crimes involving minors. Officially, the number of unsupervised children is over 700,000.
According to UNICEF, there were 64,000 homeless street children brought to the hospital by various government services (eg police) in 2005. In 2008, the number was 60,000.
The total number of Russian children who lost parental support by the end of 2011 was 654,355. This number includes 522,802 children lifted or adopted, and 105,688 at the orphanage.
Swedish
In 2012, unaccompanied boys from Morocco start demanding asylum in Sweden. In 2014, 384 claimed asylum. Knowing that their chances of receiving refugee status are slim, they often escape from refugee homes to live on the streets.
In 2016, out of about 800 street children in Sweden, Morocco is the most common country of origin. In 2016, the governments of Sweden and Morocco signed an agreement to facilitate their repatriation to Morocco. Efforts by authorities to help youths are rejected by youth who prefer to live on the streets and support themselves with crime. Morocco initially reluctantly accepted repatriates, but because they could be identified using Moroccan fingerprint databases, repatriation could occur after Moroccan citizenship has been proven. Of the 77 Moroccan men received, 65 have expressed a false identity when claiming asylum to Sweden.
Turkish
Of the 30,891 Turkish street children, 30,109 living in istanbul, research conducted by the Turkish Prime Minister's Human Rights Presidency (B? HB) has been demonstrated. Of the street children, 20 people were identified in Ankara, and the third largest city in Turkey, "zmir," did not have it. Kocaeli province reportedly has 687 street children while Eski? Ehir has 47. The study also revealed that 41,000 children were forced to beg on the streets, more than half found in istanbul. Other high-ranking cities include Ankara (6,700), Diyarbak? R (3,300), Mersin (637) and Van (640).
Based on unofficial estimates, 88,000 children in Turkey live on the streets, and the country has the fourth highest drug abuse rate in the world. 4 percent of all children in Turkey are victims of sexual harassment, with 70 percent of victims younger than 10. Contrary to popular belief, boys become victims of sexual abuse as often as girls. In cases of children reportedly experiencing commercial sexual exploitation, 77 percent of children come from damaged homes. Twenty-three percent live with their parents, but in homes the domestic violence is common. The greatest risk faced by children who run away and live on the streets is sexual exploitation. The kidnapped children from the southeast province are forced into prostitution here. Currently, it is not possible to say exactly how many children in Turkey are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation, but many say official information is at least 85 percent active.
North America
United States
The number of homeless children in the United States grew from 1.2 million in 2007 to 1.6 million in 2010. The United States defines homeless according to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The number of homeless children reached a record high in 2011, 2012, and 2013 at about three times their number in 1983. "It is estimated that two million [youth] escape or are forced out of their homes every year" in the United States. This difference in numbers can be attributed to the temporary nature of street children in the United States, unlike more permanent countries in developing countries.
Street children in the United States tend to live in the state, 83% do not leave their home country. If they go, street children tend to end up in big cities, especially New York City, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco. Street children are predominantly Caucasian and female in the United States, and 42% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT).
The United States Government has made efforts since the late 1970s to accommodate this part of the population. The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act of 1978 make funding available to shelters and fund National Runaway Switchboard. Other efforts include the Child Abuse and Treatment Act of 1974, the Child Abuse and Child Abuse System, and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. There was also a drop in arrest rates among street youth, which was reduced in 30,000 arrests from 1998 to 2007. Instead, authorities referred youth homeless to a state-run social service agency.
Youth Homeless Youth
Youth homeless college is responsible for over a million young homeless residents. According to the Federal Student Aid Free Application, also known as FAFSA, by 2013, over 58,000 students are identified as homeless on their app. "The federal government defines an unaccompanied, unaccompanied elderly (UHY) man as a" homeless, organized and adequate "homeowner and who is" not in physical custody of parents or adults. "The McKinney Vento Act is considered a key part of federal legislation relating to educational support for homeless and juvenile children. The causes of homelessness vary from student to student. There are two types of homeless college students: 1. students who become homeless after entering college and 2. students who become homeless during For teenagers who become homeless when entering college, this situation represents students who have difficulty maintaining housing because of the loss of their parent or guardian's job, the lack of a parent or guardian or because the youth has been asked to leave home or decide to escape The reason why a college youth to become homeless when attending college is as follows: unable to maintain the financial costs for housing and ood Secondly, with the financial support provided by the family is lifted.Fortunately, there are programs that available in state universities and universities that provide students with the necessary resources to gain financial and housing stability and sustainability. There are also organizations such as the National Association for Children and Youth Education (NAEHCY) who advocate higher education so that children and youth can fulfill their dreams.
Oceania
Australia
In 2006, some 22,000 young Australians were registered as homeless. The majority of homeless youth are in the State of New South Wales. Homeless youth have been subject to a number of independent studies, some calling on the Australian Human Rights Commission to investigate the issue.
South America
According to some estimates made in 1982 by UNICEF, there are 40 million street children in Latin America, mostly working on the streets, but they do not always live on the streets. The majority of street children in Latin America are men between the ages of 10 and 14. There are two categories of street children in Latin America: home and street based. Children who live in homes have homes and families to return, while street children do not. The majority of street children in Latin America are home based.
Brazil
The Brazilian government estimates that the number of children and adolescents in 2012 who work or sleep on the streets is about 23,973, based on the results of a national census mandated by the Presidency Human Rights Secretariat and the Institute for Sustainable Development (Idesp).
Government and non-governmental responses
Government responses
While some governments have implemented programs to deal with street children, a common solution involves placing the children into orphanages, juvenile homes, or prisons. Efforts have been made by various governments to support or partner with non-governmental organizations. In Colombia, the government has tried to implement programs to place these children in state-run homes, but most efforts have failed, and street children have become victims of social cleansing by the National Police; because, they are assumed as drug users and criminals. In Australia, the main response to homeless is the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP). This program is limited in effectiveness. It is estimated that one in two young people seeking a bed from SAAP was refused because of full service.
Public approach for street children
There are four categories of how communities deal with street children: Prison models, Rehabilitation models, Outreach strategies, and Preventive approaches.
- The Penitentiary Model is mainly used by the government and police. They view children as a public disorder and at risk to the security of the general public. The purpose of this model is to protect people and help keep children away from crime life. The method used by this model to keep children away from crime life is the juvenile justice system and certain institutions.
- The Rehabilitative Model is supported by churches and NGOs. The view of this model is that street children are damaged and need help. The purpose of this model is to rehabilitate children into mainstream society. The methods used to prevent children from returning to the streets are education, drug detoxification programs, and giving children a safe environment like family.
- The Outreach Strategy is supported by street teachers, NGOs, and church organizations. This strategic view of street children as an oppressed individual needs support from their community. The goal of the Outreach strategy is to empower street children by providing education and outreach training to support children.
- The Preventive Approach is supported by NGOs, coalition of street children , and lobbying government. They see the bad situation of street children from negative social and economic forces. To help street children, this approach focuses on issues that cause children to leave their homes for the road by targeting parental unemployment, poor housing campaigns for children's rights.
NGO response
Non-governmental organizations use a variety of strategies to address the needs and rights of street children. One example of NGO efforts is "Street Children Day", launched by Jugend Eine Welt on January 31, 2009 to highlight the situation of street children. "Street Children Day" has been commemorated every year since its inception in 2009.
Street children are different in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, social class, and these children have different experiences throughout their lives. UNICEF distinguishes between the different types of children living on the streets in three different categories: road candidates (street children working and hanging out in the streets), children on the street (children working on the streets but having a house to go to the night day), and street children (children living on the streets without family support). [45]
Book Horatio Alger, Tattered Tom; or, The Story of a Arab Street (1871), is an early example of the appearance of street children in the literature. This book follows the story of a homeless girl living with her intelligence on the streets of New York, USA. Other examples of popular fiction include Kim, from Kipling's novel of the same name, which is a street child in colonial India. Gavroche, in Victor Hugo Les Misà © à © rables, Fagin's kidnap crew at Oliver Twist, a group of similar child thieves at Funke The Thief Lord, and Sherlock Holmes "Baker Street Irregulars" are another important example of street children present in popular literature.
During the mid-1970s in Australia, a number of youth refugees were established. The sanctuary was set up by local youth workers, providing crisis accommodation, soon starting to raise funds from the Australian government. In New South Wales, these early sanctuaries include Nursery Shelter, Youth Protection, Taldemunde, and others. Within a few years after their establishment, the shelter began receiving funding from the Department of Family and Community Services.
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
- Street Children: is a British charity, aimed at creating educational opportunities for some of the most vulnerable children in West Africa.
- The Hope Foundation: Offers protection, education and health care for street children in Kolkata, India
- Street Children in Gimbi, Ethiopia, including a documentary about a certain man
- Streetconnect.org: A clearing of information for and about homeless youth
- Hummingbird: a documentary about two NGOs in Brazil working with street children
- The Goodman Project: A foundation established to help street children in India and Asia
- Street Children: Articles in the Children's Rights Portal
- Street Children's Day - January 31 (In German): A day to highlight the situation of these children and adolescents.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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