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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/SaudiArabia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Child beggars thrive on Muslim holy season
in Gulf states Agence France-Presse AFP, afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hFh6zrO4h7AAb3jdLXcaQJTHbBWg [accessed 17 July 2011] According to a
study by the Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University in ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF
– www.unicef.org/infobycountry/saudiarabia.html [accessed 17 July 2011] Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61698.htm [accessed 21 December 2010] CHILDREN
-
Abuse of children was a problem, although it was difficult to gauge the
prevalence of child abuse, since the government kept no national statistics
on such cases. Although in general the culture greatly prizes children,
studies by citizen female doctors indicated that severe abuse and neglect of
children appeared to be more widespread than previously reported. At least
two NGOs, one in In 2003, the MOI's
center for crime prevention and research reported that 21 percent of male children
suffered from some form of abuse. The report stated that 34 percent of the
abused suffered from some sort of psychological abuse, and 25 percent
suffered physical abuse. The figures excluded female children and accusations
of sexual abuse, as the ministry stated that the issues were too sensitive
for public discussion. 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/saudiarabia2001.html [accessed 21 December 2010] [7] The Committee
is concerned that the broad and imprecise nature of the State party's general
reservation potentially negates many of the Convention's provisions and
raises concern as to its compatibility with the object and purpose of the
Convention, as well as the overall implementation of the Convention. Street life hits the most vulnerable Abdulrahman Khataresh,
Hassan Qurbi, and Hussain
Hazazi, The Saudi Gazette, Jeddah, Oct 17, 2008 www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2008101719396 [accessed 17 July 2011] A recently
published study from the research center at Although a
relatively recent phenomenon in the Kingdom, the presence of children living
and working on the street has increased noticeably with the huge influx of
illegally smuggled children from Asia and Africa, mostly through the southern
border with Yemen. Neglected by families,
often deployed by gangs, organized groups of children aged between 6 and 15
group and train before being let loose to roam the streets and earn a crust
through anything from pickpocketing to armed robbery. Away from the battlefield, the gang leaders
give orders from dilapidated houses in the most rundown neighborhoods in
town. For months boys are
manipulated and trained before they head for the street for illegal beggary,
and sometimes violence, to fatten the bank account of their master, and
sometimes even the biological father.
The remit of such a child may include daily begging with no days off,
distributing contraband material, and robbing shops, with some possible drug
use to numb the pain and deal with the hardships of street life. Jeddah is
recorded as the most popular place for children to beg in,
followed by Makkah and Riyadh. Street children under 20 years old also
commonly fall victim to sexual abuse and exploitation, says Mani Al-Dajani, a sociologist at 38,000 ‘street’ children in Kingdom, says
study Hussien Hazazi,
The Saudi Gazette, Jeddah, Oct 10, 2008 www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2008101018802 [accessed 17 July 2011] There are nearly
38,000 children on the Kingdom’s streets, according to a recent study
published in the Security Research Journal.
Some 68 percent of these children are foreign vendors and beggars.
Most of these were found to have entered the Kingdom on Umrah
or Haj visa but never left Makkah. The study found that the families of these
children could not afford their education, compelling them to drop out of
school and have a second home in the street.
The study found that living on the street would lead them to child
labor, beggary, crime, and drug addiction. Child beggars thrive on Muslim holy season
in Agence France-Presse AFP, afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hFh6zrO4h7AAb3jdLXcaQJTHbBWg [accessed 17 July 2011] According to a
study by the Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University in 83,000 homeless children roam Saudi streets
- study Mariam Al Hakeem, Gulf News, gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/83-000-homeless-children-roam-saudi-streets-study-1.171725 [accessed 17 July 2011] Around 83,000
homeless children are roaming the streets of Rude awakening Peter At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 July 2011] UNICEF discovered
child trafficking in Parents, children complicit in human
trafficking - Report Mohammed At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 July 2011] The report found
that most children started the journey accompanied by a direct relation,
although some children traveled with other children instead. According to the study, just over 50% fell
within the age range 13-16 years old, and of the 59 cases, only two were
girls. On arrival in Improving
Living Environments for the Low-Income Households MOST Clearing House Best Practices www.unesco.org/most/mideast3.htm [accessed 17 July 2011] NARRATIVE - For the urban
poor, mainly the low-income people, the government launched a serviced land
plots program aimed at providing them free land plots so that they could
build their own dwellings with interest-free loans from the Real Estate
Development Fund. In Illegal EXPATS remain on streets despite
order saudielection.com/news_body.php?id=250 [Last access date unavailable] Many of the
homeless arrived in The homeless often
sleep in makeshift shelters and wait for daily food to be delivered by
charities. Many have lived in the district for about one year after failing
to use their round trip airline tickets in a timely manner. Conference May Break Taboo On Sexual Abuse
In Arab Countries Dima Hamdan,
At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 July 2011] All experts on the 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,
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