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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

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

Republic of Tunisia

Tunisia has a diverse economy, with important agricultural, mining, tourism, and manufacturing sectors. Governmental control of economic affairs while still heavy has gradually lessened over the past decade with increasing privatization, simplification of the tax structure, and a prudent approach to debt. Progressive social policies also have helped raise living conditions in Tunisia relative to the region.

Tunisia will need to reach even higher growth levels to create sufficient employment opportunities for an already large number of unemployed as well as the growing population of university graduates. The challenges ahead include: privatizing industry, liberalizing the investment code to increase foreign investment, improving government efficiency, reducing the trade deficit, and reducing socioeconomic disparities in the impoverished south and west.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Tunisia

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Tunisia.  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.

*** FEATURED ARTICLE ***

Information about Street Children - Tunisia [DOC]

This report is taken from “A Civil Society Forum for North Africa and the Middle East on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 3-6 March 2004, Cairo, Egypt

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 1 August 2011]

Education is compulsory from ages 6-16 in Tunisia, and although practically all 6 year-olds (99%) are successfully enrolled in schools across the country, dropping out of school a few years later has become increasingly common. Many children drop out in search of freedom they are unable to find at home nor school, and they spend their time inhaling glue, smoking or simply playing with other children.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005

www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/tunisia.htm

[accessed 9 March 2011]

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Education is compulsory and free between the ages of 6 and 16.  As of 2001, 95.5 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade 5.

CURRENT GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The Government of Tunisia’s policies aim to protect children through enforcement of relevant laws and to create jobs for adults so that children can attend school.

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/2005/61700.htm

[accessed 11 February 2020]

CHILDREN - The government demonstrated a strong commitment to free and universal public education, which is compulsory from age 6 to 16 years. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), 95 percent of boys and 93 percent of girls were in primary school, and approximately 73 percent of boys and 76 percent of girls were in secondary school.

Convictions for abandonment and assault on minors carried severe penalties. There was no societal pattern of child abuse.

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

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 7 June 2002

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/tunisia2002.html

[accessed 9 March 2011]

[39] While welcoming the State party's commitment to making basic education a priority and achieving virtually universal access to education, the Committee remains concerned at the repetition and drop out rates, which, while decreasing, continue to pose a significant challenge to the educational system …

[43] While welcoming the State party's strict criminal legislation regarding sexual abuse and exploitation of children, the Committee is concerned at reports indicating its existence in the State party, both at home and in the street. The Committee is further concerned at the insufficient data on and awareness of the phenomenon of sexual abuse and exploitation of children in Tunisia

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