Human Trafficking in [Iraq] [other countries]Street Children in [Iraq Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years of the 21st Century
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and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Grim
Time for Iraq's Street Children Charles A. Radin,
The www.iraqfoundation.org/news/2003/fjun/4_children.html [accessed 31 May 2011] Iraqi society
attaches a heavy stigma to street children, whether they are orphans or war
victims. These days, most orphanages are accepting only the children they
cared for before the war who scattered during the conflict. The newly
orphaned and deserted children on the streets, said to number at least a few
thousand, are objects of scorn. Children lured into drugs and prostitution UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=70094 [accessed 31 May 2011] GLUE SNIFFING - Sami Rubaie, 12, lives on the streets of "I cry every
time a man has sex with me and they usually hit me because I am crying. After
I do it, my boss gives me a good quantity of glue and around US $3 dollars
for food. I know what I'm doing is wrong but it's better than living with
daily beatings from my father for not bringing him enough money," Sami
said. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF
– www.unicef.org/infobycountry/iraq.html [accessed 31 May 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/iraq.htm [accessed 13 February 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Recent information
indicates that in urban areas, children are employed in merchant shops, as
ticket collectors on buses, and are found washing cars, shining shoes, and
cleaning litter from streets. Children work as vendors of cigarettes, gum,
candy, food, soft drinks, pornographic videos, fruit, fuel, used clothes, and
junk. Children also dig through
rubbish, drive donkey carts and work in brick factories in Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61689.htm [accessed 13 February 2011] CHILDREN
-
MOLSA operated a total of 22 orphanages for older children in In an effort to
address juvenile delinquency, the MOI, in cooperation with MOLSA, initiated
on March 20 a campaign to respond to the growing problem of street children.
MOLSA officials estimated that approximately 480 homeless children in Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 9
October 1998 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/iraq1998.html [accessed 13 February 2011] [27] The Committee
notes with concern the situation of children living and/or working on the
streets, particularly as it relates to economic and sexual exploitation. In
this regard, the Committee encourages the State party to increase preventive
measures and its efforts to ensure the rehabilitation and reintegration of
these children. Iraqi Women Demand Humanitarian Attention
for Iraqi Children Iraqi Women's League, June 4 2008 www.politicalaffairs.net/iraqi-women-demand-humanitarian-attention-for-iraqi-children/ [accessed 31 May 2011] The number of those
who have not attended school is close to one million because of deteriorating
security conditions in most regions of In the midst of the
despair that hangs over people's lives, and the magnitude of disaster
suffered by the society and children in particular, thousands of them have
turned into street children and become addicts of drugs that have become
widely smuggled or cultivated since the occupation of our country. The overall tragic situation of children in
Iraq makes them among the most miserable children in the world. Despite this,
they have not yet found their place on the agenda and priorities of the Iraqi
government. The Children of Jasim Dakhil,
Asharq Al-Awsat, www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=3&id=11264 [accessed 31 May 2011] Anyone passing
through the popular districts in Ahmed Salem, six
years old, tried to persuade people at Basra’s al Ashar
market to buy his nylon bags so that he can, “earn some money to provide food
for his mother and younger sister,” he said. Ahmed is one of dozens of
children who stand in traffic intersections trying to sell their wares of
tissue boxes, bananas, soft drinks, and chocolate. Halima Abdul Hussein,
8 years old, speaks in a manner that does not belie the fact that she is an
orphan so that she would not evoke sympathy; she said that, “I live with my
three cousins and we go to the traffic intersection of al Tarbia
Street from early in the morning until the evening so we can earn our
livelihood,” and confirmed that she really wanted to go to school. Poverty Wages War on Iraqi Children Amit Pyakurel
(ammykumars), OhmyNews,
2007-03-15 english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=398032 [accessed 31 May 2011] The number of
street children has greatly risen in And, as many have
died since the start of the war, the significant increment of the number of
widows and orphans has also largely resulted in children who have to beg and
try to sustain their lives on the streets across the country. The NCCI reported
that the families facing fragile economic conditions (especially if their
male member/s, who are mostly synonymous to the major or sole breadwinner of
the family, are killed in the conflict) often send their children to beg on
streets as a mean of supplementing their income. Whereas, Cedric Turlan, the information officer of the NCCI, said that
some families also send their children to work, and this also to sustain
their livelihood or at least to feed themselves. Children lured into drugs and prostitution UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=70094 [accessed 31 May 2011] GLUE SNIFFING - Sami Rubaie, 12, lives on the streets of "I cry every
time a man has sex with me and they usually hit me because I am crying. After
I do it, my boss gives me a good quantity of glue and around US $3 dollars
for food. I know what I'm doing is wrong but it's better than living with
daily beatings from my father for not bringing him enough money," Sami
said. Child beggars proliferate in Baghdad UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70089 [accessed 31 May 2011] His father fell ill
and could not work so he sent his children out to beg. If they did not come
home with enough money, he would beat them, Ahmed said. His father died of
kidney failure in April 2005.
"Now they are dead but my brothers treat us well. We are happy
even though we sleep in the open, in a garden with only two blankets. I hope
one day I will help all child beggars in Iraq," Ahmed said, grinning
from ear to ear before excusing himself and running after an
expensive-looking car. Ahmed is one of
thousands of homeless children throughout Iraq who survive by begging,
stealing or scavenging in garbage for food. Grim
Time for Charles A. Radin,
The www.iraqfoundation.org/news/2003/fjun/4_children.html [accessed 31 May 2011] Iraqi society attaches
a heavy stigma to street children, whether they are orphans or war victims.
These days, most orphanages are accepting only the children they cared for
before the war who scattered during the conflict. The newly orphaned and
deserted children on the streets, said to number at least a few thousand, are
objects of scorn. Refugees International, 07/01/2003 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May 2011] Although the war in
Institute for War & Peace Reporting iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=167824&apc_state=heniicr2003 [Last access date unavailable] Many orphans and
other poor children are forced into begging and prostitution. These children have joined the growing army
of street children who scrape and beg for a living in a city that is flooded
with weapons but has no government to impose law and order and deliver social
services. But in a city where few have
money, it is almost impossible to make a living on the street and most of the
children are barefoot, ragged and often appear to be starving. Dale Gavlak, Voice
of www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/07/mil-030729-22e54398.htm [accessed 31 May 2011] In Saadoun neighborhood, we saw a real tragedy - children
getting raped all the time, girls and boys. There are organized gangs giving
children drugs, tablets, alcohol to make them drunk and taking them to the
hotels where they will be raped as payment, if you want to have sex with a
girl or a boy. Glimmer Of Hope For
BBC News, 20 May, 2003 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3043241.stm [accessed 31 May 2011] Since 1991 a great number
have been abandoned by parents too poor to feed them, and the numbers grew
dramatically during the conflict earlier this year, after looters attacked
orphanages following the fall of New Premises For
Homeless Children In Capital UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=22448 [accessed 31 May 2011] It seems like a
happy scene, but if you talk to the former street children, you will find
that many of them are disturbed and potentially violent. Under the former regime, the issue of
street-children was kept under wraps. Street Whys? Catherine Arnold, www.baghdadbulletin.com/pageArticle.php?article_id=152&cat_id=2 [accessed 31 May 2011] They appreciate the
security, the food and the activities we offer, but the settling in process
is very difficult especially if they are used to complete freedom. They are
usually illiterate and have little conception of accepted behavior. Our
difficulty is to know what to do with the older ones who are legally of age
but who remain vulnerable War Child At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly also be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May 2011] With support systems
almost non-existent, many children find themselves falling through the net
completely and end up living on the streets.
These kids - mostly boys, but girls too - come from homes broken by
the first Gulf War, or orphaned by the second, but these children have
survived to live a brutalized existence.
A day in a life on the streets offers a vicious reality - crime,
bloody violence, sexual abuse (and attendant diseases) and an ever-increasing
drug culture. Lives Less Ordinary Track track.cf.ac.uk/iraq.html [accessed 31 May 2011] Kevin and Helen
went to UNICEF wary of post-war child trafficking in
Iraq UNICEF Press Centre, www.unicef.org/newsline/2003/03nn50iraqtrafficking.htm [accessed 13 February 2011] Noting a flurry of
news reports indicating an increase in the number of children on the streets
in UNICEF warns that
while street children are a concern in Iraq, there is no overnight solution.
The issue of street children is a very recent phenomenon in Iraq. Prior to
the 1991 Gulf War, the problem simply did not exist, and it will take time to
reverse this trend. –
htsc New NGO Helps
Street Children In Valentinas Mite, Radio Free
Europe/Radio www.rferl.org/content/article/1053439.html [accessed 31 May 2011] "I am 14 years
old. My mother [left my father and started living with another man], and my father
took us away from our mother and then he started beating us. And then I ran
away." -- Kutaiba, a homeless Iraqi boy
Thousands of homeless children are living
on the streets of the Iraqi capital As Street Violence Flares In Lutheran World Relief, At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly also be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May 2011] The project, which
depends on local organizations and staff, will repair a shelter that provides
street children in north 'All Our Children' Approves New Projects
for Church World Service/National Council of
Churches CWS/NCC, www.ncccusa.org/news/0404allourchildren.html [accessed 31 May 2011] In one project,
Church World Service (CWS) and its consortium partners approved repairs to
the Bait al Tuful social institution, which provides
shelter and care for street children. Working with Enfants
du Monde and the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), the
institution serves as a transitional place where children have access to
education, hygiene and protection. 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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