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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

In the first decade of the 21st Century                                                     gvnet.com/streetchildren/Lithuania.htm

Republic of Lithuania

Lithuania's economy grew on average 8% per year for the four years prior to 2008, driven by exports and domestic consumer demand. Unemployment stood at 4.8% in 2008, while wages grew at double digit rates. The current account deficit rose to roughly 15% of GDP in 2007-08. Lithuania has gained membership in the World Trade Organization and joined the EU in May 2004. Despite Lithuania's EU accession, Lithuania's trade with its Central and Eastern European neighbors, and Russia in particular, accounts for a growing percentage of total trade. Privatization of the large, state-owned utilities is nearly complete. Foreign government and business support have helped in the transition from the old command economy to a market economy.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Description: Description: Lithuania

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Lithuania.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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.

*** ARCHIVES ***

The Department of Labor’s 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2004

www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2003/lithuania.htm

[accessed 18 February 2011]

GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - In November 2001, an interdepartmental task force was established to develop a strategy to address the problem of neglected children and street children.

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Statistics on the number of working children under the age of 15 years in Lithuania are unavailable. Children are reported to beg on the streets or perform odd jobs, such as cleaning cars or selling newspapers.

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61660.htm

[accessed 9 February 2020]

CHILDREN - Several thousand children reportedly lived on the street. Sixty regional government children's rights protection agencies, other institutions, and numerous NGOs routinely assisted these children. Street children had full access to government sponsored free services. There were no reports of police abuse of street children.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 26 January 2001

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/lithuania2001.html

[accessed 18 February 2011]

[49] The Committee is concerned at the reported increasing use of drugs, including psychotropic substances, among children and adolescents in the State party, in particular those living in the street. Further it notes that the present welfare service system is unable to deal with the growing need for services.

[51] The Committee expresses its concern at the number of children living and working in the streets and notes that the programs and mechanisms established to assist them are not sufficient.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) Concluding Observations

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 29th meeting, 14-05-2004

sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/0/dc6f7a5b9f384505c1256e98004990ac?OpenDocument

[accessed 14 June 2011]

22. The Committee is concerned about the problem of street children in the State party as well as the lack of information about children placed in institutions.

44. The Committee urges the State party to combat the phenomenon of street children as a matter of priority. In this regard, the State party should take effective measures to address the root causes of neglect, abuse and abandonment, particularly through increased assistance to families with children. It also requests the State party to provide in its second periodic report detailed information and up-to-date comparative statistics on this issue.

ISHR Lithuania - Annual Report 2001

[access information unavailable]

THE MAIN ACTIVITIES[3] Children having problems in families or collected from the streets are provided with accommodation in a shelter, arranged with financial support of Swedish government, commodities and clothes comes from Wittlich IFGM charity.  Due to the efforts taken by the public offices, society and volunteers during a few years the number of homeless and the "street children" was significantly diminished.

Committee on the Rights of the Child - Reports by States – 2001

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 26th session (Geneva, 8 to 26 January 2001)

olddoc.ishr.ch/hrm/tmb/treaty/crc/reports/crc_23-41/CRC_26.htm

[accessed 14 June 2011]

[scroll down]

LITHUANIA (INITIAL REPORT) - Other areas of concern included the lack of sufficient mechanisms to assist street children, long periods of pre-trial detention for juvenile offenders, increases in alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse by children, and high rates of child morbidity and deaths due to trauma and accidents.

Street Children Football, Lithuania

Lithuanian Street Children Football Federation LSCFF, 14. March 2006

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 14 June 2011]

OBJECTIVES - To protect children’s rights To implement national crime prevention program To organize cultural, educational work To give an opportunity for children to spend free-time purposefully

The Gift to Lithuania Conference - An Overview

Jeanne Dorr, Lithuanian American News Journal Bridges, Volume 23, Issue 10, December 1999

lithuanian-american.org/bridges/iss1099/gift.html

[accessed 14 June 2011]

A CHILD’S GATE TO LEARNING - Child’s Gate to Learning supports efforts already under way in Lithuania that work with street children.  These projects encourage children to leave their street lives for more purposeful activities.  Various fun outings are organized for them; they learn crafts, they learn to play on a team through sports.  Most importantly, they have returned to school.  The support they receive, along with the activities, assure the children and adolescents that someone cares; it gives them a sense of purpose to outweigh the hard lives many of them have at home with alcoholic or otherwise troubled parents.  The underlying goal is to impress upon them that their future success is better ensured by continuing their education.

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 - Lithuania", http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Lithuania.htm, [accessed <date>]