Human Trafficking in [Honduras] [other countries]Street Children in [Honduras Child Prostitution in [Honduras] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first
ten years of the 21st Century
- 2000 to 2009
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** Honduran Government Complicit In The Murder Of Street Children As their moniker suggests, street children
have few options but to live or work on the streets for survival. They are
among the most impoverished and marginalized within society. Murdering street children in Honduras is
considered part of an unofficial "social cleansing" program. Viewed as "vermin" by security forces and business leaders, the national media has also played a role in branding street children as "troublemakers," blaming them for everything from violent crime to driving away foreign investment and tourism. The consequence has been that these deaths have caused little reaction among the public who consider street children as undesirable, despite the fact that the portrait of them painted by the media and government is inaccurate. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF - The Big Picture Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 ARBITRARY OR UNLAWFUL DEPRIVATION
OF LIFE -
The media reported that based on information from government sources,
vigilante activities allegedly led to more than 970 killings in the last 7
years of known and suspected criminals, as well as gang members, street children, and youth not known
to be involved in criminal activity (see section 5). Approximately 80 persons
have been arrested over the past 7 years in connection with such killings,
with 9 of those convicted by year's end. CHILDREN - The government was unable to
improve the living conditions or reduce the numbers of street children and youth. The
government and children's rights organizations estimated that during the year
there were 20 thousand street
children, half of whom had shelter. Many street children were sexually
molested or exploited. The Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1999 [33] The Committee also expresses its
concern about the situation of children who, because of serious situations of
extreme poverty as well as of situations of abandonment or violence within
the family, are forced to live in and/or work on the streets and are
therefore vulnerable to different forms of exploitation and abuse, including
sale, trafficking and abduction. The rising number of youth gangs (known in Long helps needy
children in Honduras www.theprogressnews.com/default.asp?read=16446 Despite that, the country is
seething with street children turned out by parents who could not afford, or
didn't want, to take care of them. The majority are uneducated, dirty and
addicted to huffing glue. "It's
cheaper than food," Ms. Long said, "and it takes away their
hunger." "Most came from
abusive homes," she recalled. "Their families just didn't want
them. They're such amazing kids; they're all really bright. It'd be sad to
think your mom didn't care about you."
Hondurans see the street kids as a nuisance, Ms. Long said, and many
become desensitized to them after seeing them day after day. Those who do
want to help can't because they lack the capacity to handle the kids' drug
addictions. Narconon Trains Foreign Addiction Counselor The orphanage in Honduras took
many street children in, only to find that they would run away, back to the
streets, to feed their addiction. The safety and comfort of the
orphanage were not stronger than the addiction to the glue and the orphanage
personnel searched for solutions. [scroll down to Monday, July 14, 1997 Online
Edition 62] CHEMISTRY
OF PROMISCUITY - According to Casa del Niño,
there are about 50 homeless children in La Ceiba, an overly conservative estimate by their own
accounting. "We've really no way of knowing. Most are between 10 and 16.
Most are boys. Illiteracy, irresponsible paternity are
all at work. Some families have not a gram of conscience when it comes to
procreation. Use of Resistol among them is
universal. It's sold freely in the Centro Commercial. Pimps and sex tourists
often pay the children with cans of the deadly shoe glue. It's a case of
turpitude further debased by criminal indifference...." - sccp Commentary by Willy E. Gutman www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=48327&format=html An estimated 100 million children
now live and often die on city streets around the world - about one tenth in
Central America. Heir to political chaos, social turmoil and bankrupt
economies, street children are the first to suffer the penalties of a world
family in disarray. The price they pay is
incalculable. By far the most horrendous fate these children must endure is
the violence that permeates their existence. They live in constant fear.
Because most turn to petty crime to survive, and often use inhalants to
soften the harsh reality of their hostile environment, they are viewed as
"vermin." This perception, ignored - or bolstered - by indifferent
or openly belligerent governments, has helped unleash a tide of violence
against the world's fastest growing minority, its most vulnerable denizens:
street children. Violence against street children -
always condoned, often decreed - has returned to Guatemala and Honduras with a vengeance. Reports
of torture, unquestionably the worst human rights violation, and the
deprivation of life by extrajudicial execution - its most extreme form - are
now being filed with alarming regularity. In Solvent Abuse,
Certain Death for Street Children Market Children vs Street Children Because of the great poverty of Mission Awareness Team Report www.jerichotv.org/report_hn-2.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] The job that Oscar and Amy have taken
on is enormous when you consider the sheer number of children that live on
the streets of the major cities of Most street children are boys and
leave their homes around the age of 12. Market children are in general
younger and the gender distribution is more equal. Overall, street
children face more and more severe risks than do market children. They
suffer from physical violence and arrests. The number involved in prostitution
is increasing and is estimated that up to 90% of the street children sniff
glue. Illiteracy is widespread and only around 8% of the street
children of Honduras attend school. The lack of education among street
and market children prevents them from earning a steady income in the future
and hence they are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty. Child Exploitation.org – South America childexploitation.org/samerica.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
STREET KIDS’ LOCKED UP - Street children in Getting Free of Gangs in Honduras www.mygiftcounts.org/shop/house-construction At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
To shake up the gang mentality he
has set up a fútbol (soccer) league which has blossomed
into 11 teams five boys' teams, four girls' teams
and two mara units. "My short-term goal is to
stop them from shooting each other. When I arrived in Chamelecón
I literally was burying a kid a week. Caminando por la paz is an integrated, educational training program that helps street kids
turn their lives around. For five years Father Tom has used the program to
build homes, provide schooling and job training, and help the people take
back their streets from criminal gangs. "When I first arrived here,"
says Father Tom, "the pressure was to be in the gang. It was the 'in
thing'. Now, it's the 'in thing' to be in school. We've had a whole change in
street culture." Honduran Government
Complicit In The Murder Of Street Children As their moniker suggests, street
children have few options but to live or work on the streets for survival.
They are among the most impoverished and marginalized within society. Murdering street children in Honduras is
considered part of an unofficial "social cleansing" program. Viewed as "vermin" by security forces and business leaders, the national media has also played a role in branding street children as "troublemakers," blaming them for everything from violent crime to driving away foreign investment and tourism. The consequence has been that these deaths have caused little reaction among the public who consider street children as undesirable, despite the fact that the portrait of them painted by the media and government is inaccurate. Honduras: Thousands of Street Children www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=780&pst=266283 www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BC082CDB5-EBF1-40DA-A641-C3CDB095C117%7D&language=EN The non governmental organization
Casa Alianza calculates in 10,000 the street
children in Honduras who are exposed th numerous
risks. The NGO says the children
survive begging at traffic lights, are disconnected from education,
undernourished, vulnerable to numerous diseases, homeless and are daily
victims of violence. Casa Alianza Director Jose Manuel Capellin, said they work
with neglected children, adding that the murder of 1,000 of these children in
the past four years remain unpunished. Death Stalks Street Children - Police, agents blamed for Honduras killings www.freep.com/news/nw/hond17_20010817.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Casa Alianza
has reported that 843 children were killed between January 1998 and June
2001. It attributed 7 percent of those slayings to police, 1 percent to
security agents, 19 percent to individuals and 13 percent to juvenile gangs.
The cause of others was uncertain. New Report
Calls For Action On Killings Of Street Children Most of the victims come from the
most marginalised sectors of society, among them
the so-called "street children" and gang members. The perpetrators
are, in most cases, unidentified persons, although testimonies from survivors
and witnesses indicate that they could be police officers or civilians acting
with the implicit consent of the authorities. Report
on the Torture of Street Children in Guatemala and Honduras 1990 - 1997 www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=1174&flag=report 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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