Street Children

THE UNITED NATIONS defines a street child as any girl or boy for whom the street (in the widest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings and wastelands, etc.) has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults.

Further, street children are categorized by the United Nations in four different ways: 1) those who spend part of the day on the street working to earn money for their family, 2) those who return home following a number of days on the street, 3) those who return home only on the weekends, and 4) those who spend their entire lives on the streets and who may travel home on occasion. Studies of street children indicate that once children spend time on the street, they tend to stay longer in that environment despite its general harshness. In addition, if there is no attempt on the part of their family to retrieve street children, they may separate themselves from their parents and become even more remote from their original home and community.

The general impression of street children is that they are criminals and represent a menace to society. Street children are in many ways feared by society simply because they are impoverished and disconnected from their homes. The organization Human Rights Watch has researched and published extensively on the theme of street children. It points out in its documents that governments worldwide subject street children to physical abuse and even murder by police. Ironically, they are considered to be a danger to society rather than children needing protection.

Common social ills associated with street children include poverty, HIV/AIDS, lack of education or interrupted schooling, disintegrated families, and substance abuse. Children living on their own without help are particularly prone to abuse and have little if any opportunity to claim their rights.

A United Nations UNICEF estimate in 2002 of the number of street children worldwide was 100 million. Not surprisingly, the majority of them reside in countries in the developing world. Latin America was the leading region in that year, with 40 million street children. Asia and Africa followed, with 30 million and 10 million respectively.

Perhaps the only bright spot in this dire scenario is the work of a number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including some religious groups that are actively try to help these children. Their ability to assist [Page 1030]in remedying the conditions in which street children exist is limited by finances and, in many instances, by the opposition of the very governments that should be helping the children. Governmental oppression of street children is common, and either outright neglect or stern institutionalization of the children seems to be the most common governmental response to the social problem.

The plight of street children worldwide is in stark contrast to the pronouncements of the Convention on Human Rights of the Child, published in 1990. The 1990 Declaration of the Rights of Children, an expansive and comprehensive document, provided detailed information in 54 articles to legally assist governmental organizations in the improvement of living conditions for children and to ensure that their rights were recognized and protected.

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