Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade
of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/CentralAfricanRep.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in the HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** A Sad Show of Hands Posted August 1,
2007 by Richard Jacquot, Mercy Corps www.mercycorps.org/countries/centralafricanrepublic/11476 [accessed 28 April
2011] VISIBLE SIGNS OF
CRISIS
- The
HIV/AIDS epidemic is only worsening the country's already deep, endemic
poverty. Among the population, opportunities are rare due to the
disappearance of businesses that did not survive the last ten years of
instability and fighting. There are entire households of HIV/AIDS orphans
with no assistance of any kind, because they have been stigmatized and
rejected by their extended families. There is also a noticeable decline of
people between the ages of 30 and 45, who are dying from HIV/AIDS at an
alarming rate. Poor families -
including those living with HIV/AIDS - are unable to keep their children at
home and the number of street children is rising, particularly in Bangui. One
cannot walk even a short distance in town without being asked for some change
by children. There is only one center for street children in the whole
capital city; as a result, most children are left in the streets of Bangui to
the mercy of passersby. According to one
international organization there are 5,320 orphans in Bangui alone, and
recent media reports indicate more than 3,000 children sleeping on the
streets of Bangui each night. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/central-african-republic.htm [accessed 28 January
2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - In the capital of [891] In the weeks
preceding the 2003 coup, for example, many street children were enrolled in
security forces to repel the rebellion. Provided with only a few days of
training, many of these children were killed in battle. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61560.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] CHILDREN
- The government
spent little money on programs for children, and churches and NGOs had
relatively few programs for youths. Following the 2003 coup, approximately
three-quarters of the country's schools were destroyed, although UNICEF has
since assisted the government in rebuilding some primary schools in the
southwest region of the country. The failure of the education system, caused
by a meager budget and salary arrears, resulted in a shortage of teachers and
an increase in the number of street
children. There were
approximately 6 thousand street
children between the ages of 5 and 18 residing in the country, including 3
thousand in SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [d] Throughout the country, children as young as seven years old frequently
performed agricultural work, often with their parents, during the year. In
addition, children often worked as domestic workers, fishermen, and in mines
(often in dangerous conditions). An international agency reported that
children worked in the diamond fields alongside adult relatives. In Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 6 October 2000 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/centralafrica2000.html [accessed 28 January
2011] [74] The Committee
is concerned at the situation of some refugee children who are obliged to beg
for food and money on city streets. [75] Noting the
State party's considerable efforts to welcome refugees from neighboring
countries, the Committee recommends that the State party continue to assist
child refugees and their families and to maintain its cooperation with UNHCR,
making particular efforts to assist refugee children who are living or
working on the streets. Voix du Coeur Centre
provides a safe haven for Emily Bamford,
United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, www.unicef.org/infobycountry/car_41176.html [accessed 28 April
2011] Life on the street
is tough and forces children to grow up fast. Many youths support
dependents, in the form of either siblings or younger children. Food, medical
care and schooling are difficult to obtain, if not impossible. The poverty and stigma surrounding such
children means many are turned away from schools and hospitals. Deprived of
their right to health and education, these children face future prospects
that remain bleak. Central African
Republic: Teaching street children about HIV UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN PlusNews, www.irinnews.org/report/64377/central-african-republic-teaching-street-children-about-hiv [accessed 10 March
2015] "I saw many of
my friends die of AIDS - they did not know where to
go for treatment because they were street children," said Bienvenu Samba, 25, who has spent 11 years living on the
streets. "Many of them were HIV-positive or had sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs), like gonorrhoea or syphilis." The Central African
Republic, ravaged by years of civil conflict, is one of the poorest countries
in the world, and the United Nations has estimated that 10.7 percent of the
country's approximately four million inhabitants are HIV-infected. According to a 2005
survey by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), about 3,000 children
were living on the streets of Bangui, of whom half had lost a parent and more
than half were aged between 10 and 14. UNICEF Executive
Board President Andrei Dapkiunas visits the Central
African Republic Sabine Dolan, United
Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, www.unicef.org/infobycountry/car_31558.html [accessed 28 April
2011] POVERTY
AND CONFLICT -
Around 20 per cent of children die before the age of five. Only 30 to 35 per cent of girls attend
primary school. Less than 30 per cent
of children are immunized against vaccine-preventable diseases. The HIV prevalence rate is at 13.5 per
cent, the highest in the region, resulting in a rise in the number of orphans
and vulnerable children, including 6,000 street children. Building a future
for street children in the Central African Republic Yves Willemot, United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, www.unicef.org/infobycountry/car_34714.html [accessed 28 April
2011] "I want to be
teacher and help children so that they don't end up in the street like I
did," he said. Mr. Yoongo began living on the street when he was 14,
following the death of his father. The excitement of being free and able to
decide where to go to and what to do disappeared quickly as he faced hunger and
violence. UNICEF
Humanitarian Action: [accessed 28 April
2011] ISSUES
FOR CHILDREN
- HIV prevalence is estimated at more than 15 per cent, the highest in the
Central African region, resulting in an increasing number of orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC) affected by HIV/AIDS, including 110,000 AIDS
orphans and more than 6,000 OVC living in the streets. As a result of these
conditions, the population in CAR has lost 6 months of life expectancy every
year since 1988. Consortium
for Street Children Consortium for
Street Children, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 28 April
2011] They hang around in
small groups that, despite the tribal divisions of wider society, are
composed in relation to territory rather than ethnicity or religion. They
have their own jargon and values, and can mostly be found around car wash
stations, marketplaces and other public spaces. According to a study
conducted by UNICEF in 1999, the population of street children is
characterized by its youth – 43% are less than 15 years old, and one third of
these are orphans due to HIV/AIDS. Crime & Society
- Comparative Criminology tour of the World - Central African Republic Dr. Robert Winslow, www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/africa/central_african_republic.html [accessed 28 January
2011] CHILDREN
- Although
there is no official discrimination against children, the Government spends
little money on programs for them. Churches and NGO's have relatively few
programs for youths. The failure of the education system, caused by a meager
budget and salary arrears, has resulted in a shortage of teachers and an
increase in street children. Education is compulsory from ages 6 to 14;
however, parents rarely are prosecuted for their children's nonattendance. Excerpt from
Chapter 1 of The Heartless Stone by Tom Zoellner Tom Zoellner, The Heartless Stone Excerpt, 2008 www.tomzoellner.com/the-heartless-stone-excerpts.html [accessed 28 April
2011] Children drunk on
glue wander the filthy core of 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 – |
