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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** An
Increasing Number Of Young People, Aged 15 To 24, Live On The Margins Of
Society Sarah Tanou, ospiti.peacelink.it/anb-bia/nr435/e02.html [accessed 11 April 2011] In Burkina, street
children plunge some areas of towns into zones where there is a great deal of
aggression. They are generally
organized in gangs. They threaten with
flick-knives, their favorite victims being pedestrians. Some of these youth restrict their
activities to having a «fix». Many of them meet almost every night in front
of bars to smoke hash or traffic in drugs.
They become precocious delinquents and have very disturbing records.
Theft seems to be their principal activity, specializing in picking pockets,
stealing mobile phones, and stealing parts of cars or motorbikes, with the
complicity of adults. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF
– www.unicef.org/infobycountry/burkinafaso.html [accessed 11 April 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/burkina-faso.htm [accessed 24 January 2011] CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The Government of
Burkina Faso is implementing a 10-Year Basic Education Development Plan
(2001-2010) as part of its Poverty Reduction Strategy supported by the World
Bank. The plan focuses on improving
primary school enrollment, literacy, and school attendance rates. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61556.htm [accessed 24 January 2011] CHILDREN
- The
government allotted approximately 25 percent of the national budget to
education, and the law provides for free compulsory primary education until
the age of 16; however, the government lacked the means to provide universal,
free primary education. If a child qualified on the basis of grades and
social condition (that is, the family was "poor"), tuition-free
education could continue through junior high and high school. Children still
were responsible for paying for school supplies, which often cost
significantly more than tuition. Many parents could not afford to lose a
child's labor in the fields or at other remunerative jobs; as a result,
overall school enrollment was approximately 57 percent (51 percent for
girls). Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2002 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 4
October 2002 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/burkinofaso2002.html [accessed 24 January 2011] [56] The Committee
notes the pilot project involving UNICEF and non-governmental organizations
to deal with the issue of street children, but expresses its concern at the
increasing number of street children and at the lack of a systematic and
comprehensive strategy to address this situation and to provide these
children with adequate assistance UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78112 [accessed 11 April 2011] Thousands of
children, some as young as seven years old, come to the country's cities from
rural areas and end up living on the streets. An increasing
number the street children are girls, said Joel Kargougou,
a former street child who now runs a local NGO for orphaned children called
AMPO. "Girls are most vulnerable
and some of them may be HIV positive or pregnant and so they are not accepted
in their home villages." Many
children end up on the streets when their parents migrate to find work or
they are pushed by their families because of poverty. An
Increasing Number Of Young People, Aged 15 To 24, Live On The Margins Of
Society Sarah Tanou, ospiti.peacelink.it/anb-bia/nr435/e02.html [accessed 11 April 2011] In Burkina, street
children plunge some areas of towns into zones where there is a great deal of
aggression. They are generally
organized in gangs. They threaten with
flick-knives, their favorite victims being pedestrians. Some of these youth restrict their
activities to having a «fix». Many of them meet almost every night in front
of bars to smoke hash or traffic in drugs.
They become precocious delinquents and have very disturbing records.
Theft seems to be their principal activity, specializing in picking pockets,
stealing mobile phones, and stealing parts of cars or motorbikes, with the
complicity of adults. Information about Street Children [DOC] based on a paper submitted by Tissons, ANERSER (Association Nationale
pour l’Education et la Réinsertion
des Enfants des Rues), CREDO (Christian Relief and
Development Organisation), OMEEB (Organisation Musulmane pour l’Epanouissement des Enfants au
Burkina), Solidarité Jeunes
IAEMO and MAEJT – Burkina Faso and is taken from “A Civil Society Forum for
Francophone Africa on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street
Children”, 2-5 June 2004, Senegal At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21 September 2011] In 2002, a survey
found 2,000 children living on the streets between the ages of 7-21, of which
62% were between the ages of 13 and 18 and 24% between 7 and 12. The older street population exerts a great
deal of influence over young arrivals, and the latter tend to depend on them
for much of their protection. Factors
pushing children onto the streets:
poverty, population explosion, rural migration, enrolment in Koranic
schools, increasing abuse and neglect within the family, and the consequences
of HIV/AIDS. Reports to Treaty Bodies - Committee on the
Rights of the Child Produced by Human Rights Internet, FOR THE
RECORD 2002 - THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM, Volume 2: At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21 September 2011] The Committee also
noted with concern: the increasing number of street children and the lack of
a systematic and comprehensive strategy to address this situation and to
provide these children with adequate assistance; the increasing number of
child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and
pornography; the insufficient programs for the physical and psychological
recovery and social reintegration of child victims of such abuse and
exploitation; the absence of juvenile courts and juvenile judges, and the
limited number of social workers and teachers working in this field Save the Children Save the Children www.savethechildren.ca/documents/SCC%20Annual%20Report%202005-2006_EN_Final.pdf [accessed 11 April 2011] [page 15] WEST & EAST AFRICA - UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, 6 April 2004 www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=49418 [accessed 24 January 2011] According to
government statistics, there were 2.1 million orphans and abandoned children
in Burkina Faso last year. They accounted for nearly 18 percent of the country's 11.8 million population. The perils
for orphaned and unprotected children are numerous. Thousands each year
end up as street children who beg to survive. – htsc BURKINA
FASO: Project to help street children - OCHA IRIN UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=32086 [accessed 11 April 2011] United Nations
Volunteers (UNV) has announced that it will run a five-year project aimed at
transforming the lives of some 1,200 disadvantaged children in two of Helping Street Children + Providing Care Médecins Sans Frontières At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21 September 2011] Médecins Sans Frontières is helping children and youngsters living
on the streets of the capital, Ouagadoughou. Instead of operating from a center, the
team works on the streets in close proximity to these children. Today, the program reaches 700 children and
80 teenage girls. Low-profile
Japanese volunteers reap high praise in Boureima Hama, Agence France-Presse AFP, www.aegis.com/news/afp/2003/AF0309E7.html [accessed 11 April 2011] Fujimoto Naohiro roams the town in search of the street urchins
who typically hang about outside restaurants, movie theatres or bakers'
shops. He tries to persuade those more
involved in petty crime to give up on drugs and robbery and he tries to raise
their awareness of HIV-AIDS. His
colleague Kazuhiro Akashi helps the children step closer to leaving the
streets. In an effort to raise their
self-awareness and stimulate positive attitudes, he enrolls them in his
amateur theatrical company. Beyond the
short term, Vocational Training for Young Women, Kombissiri [PDF] Terre des Hommes At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21 September 2011] To avoid the
economic and social marginalisation of young girls
who have never been to school or who had to drop out early, our Partner, The
Song Taaba Association has opened a The success of this
Project lies equally with the involvement of the parents, aware of the
necessity of further education to ensure the integration of their daughters
into Burkinabe society. All material
used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for
noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children – |
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