Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade
of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/UK.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in the UK. 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 *** His killers were
street children, fearless and brutal with no remorse Stewart Tendler, The Times, August 10, 2006 www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article604939.ece [accessed 4 August
2011] www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article1875973.ece [accessed 10 January
2017] Ricky and Danny Preddie were court veterans, loyal only to each other and
a gang of thugs. Danny Preddie had bullied Damilola
and is said to have coveted his silver jacket. Ricky is believed to be the
gang member who stabbed their victim with a broken beer bottle. “Juking” was
a punishment administered to anyone who showed the Young Peckham
Boys disrespect or resisted their demands for mobile phones, baseball caps,
trainers and cash. ***
ARCHIVES *** Runaways
- Where To Turn For Help Before You Are Homeless Rebeccas Community -- This
is for anyone aged up to 13 years old who is thinking about running away www.homeless.org.au/runaways.htm [accessed 4 August
2011] Here are the best
phone numbers to call …They are Confidential - which means they won't tell anyone
about your call unless you want them to talk to somebody for you, or you are
in danger. They are open 24 Hours - it
doesn't matter what time you call In
the UK, call 0800 1111 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/2005/61683.htm [accessed 11
February 2020] CHILDREN
- The
government provided free, universal, and compulsory education until age 16
and further free education until age 18. UN Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization statistics recorded 100 percent enrollment of children
of primary school age and over 90 percent for those of secondary school age. SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [d] There were reports that children were trafficked into the country and
forced to work as domestic servants, beggars, pickpockets, drug couriers, or
in sweatshops and restaurants. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 6 October 2000 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/uk2000b.html [accessed 2 January
2011] [43] While
recognizing the efforts made by the State party in the area of education, the
Committee remains concerned at the increasing incidence of truancy and the
number of drop-outs from school in some of the Territories, especially the
Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat. Helping children
turn life around Paul McMillan,
Evening Chronicle, Dec 10 2007 [accessed 3 January
2011] It follows research
by Barnardo’s in 2005 which revealed that 28
children and young people were being sexually exploited through prostitution
in Newcastle, with another 136 being at significant risk of being involved.
The Children’s Society also found that, on average, 436 under-16s in
Newcastle run away every year. Scarpa opened its doors
in October and hopes to have made contact with 40 young runaways and 15 young
people who have been sexually exploited in its first six months. Music saved the
street children of Venezuela – could it work for Scotland too? Ben Hoyle, Arts
Reporter, The Times, August 13, 2007 www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2246441.ece [accessed 4 August
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/p956/ [accessed 10 January
2017] In the violent
slums of Venezuela, free classical music lessons have transformed the lives
of hundreds of thousands of children and created an unlikely production line
of virtuosos. For 32 years El Sistema
(the System) has tackled the “spiritual poverty” among some of South America’s
poorest street children by teaching them to play Bach, Beethoven and Mahler
in orchestras. Now El Sistema is
coming to Britain, where project organisers hope
that it will rescue a generation of children on one of Scotland’s most
notorious housing estates. Street children
given a new life July 18, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/street-children-given-a-new-life/ [accessed 10 January
2017] ANTOINE’S STORY - Hardcore hoodie
Antoine is 19 and has spent most of his life on the streets. He has sold
drugs and worked as a male prostitute to survive. When you read what the
young Londoner – now studying to be a barrister – has endured, you may
understand why. … CHELSEA’S STORY - Chelsea, 17,
started selling crack when she was 11 but with the help of tuition from Kids
Co is now due to take her GCSEs. … London's 'white
slaves' Caroline Davies, The
Telegraph, 05 Apr 2007 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1547698/Londons-white-slaves.html [accessed 4 August
2011] A new book, White
Cargo, tells how children as young as 10 were swept off the city's streets and
sent with convicts to work in America several months before the first
shipment of African captives arrived in 1619. Authors Don Jordan and Michael
Walsh say hundreds of homeless children were rounded up and held in the Bridewell, a workhouse and prison near Blackfriars Bridge. But, to disguise
the fact these children were to be enslaved, officials sold it as giving the
underprivileged a new life. In truth, the City of London wanted to get rid of
their street children while the merchants behind the company colonising Virginia wanted slave labour. Call for action to
protect street children Jonathan Traynor, Media & Public Affairs Officer, Northern
Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People NICCY, 05 February 2007 www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=59014 [accessed 8 Aug 2013] The Northern
Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Patricia Lewsley, has today called for action to protect children
who are being used to beg for money on the streets of Belfast. Ms Lewsley said she was shocked by continuing reports of
children begging at the behest of what appears to be organised
gangs. Book Review: Street Kid: One child's desperate fight for survival - by Judy Westwater www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3409249&fSectionId=375&fSetId=251 [access date
unavailable] www.harpercollins.com.au/9780007279999/#sm.0000lxazomy2fcrrxpa13c6mj0fvj [accessed 10 January
2017] I am wary of trivialising her story by reducing it to a list of
horrors, but here's a short version as contained in the publicity blurb:
"Abducted by her psychotic spiritualist father as a child and kept like
a dog in his backyard, Judy Westwater suffered in a
Manchester orphanage run by nuns before being taken to South Africa, where
she ended up living wild on the streets of Hillbrow
and joining the circus. Determined that her
childhood experiences should in some way give meaning to her life, Judy has
in adulthood worked tirelessly to help homeless children in South Africa - in
the very places she herself suffered." The book ends when Westwater, aged 17, returned to the UK from South Africa,
to seek her mother and sisters. The reunion was anything but loving. It is
then noted that Westwater inherited a small legacy
and she used this to start projects with street children in South Africa,
Mexico and elsewhere. Child Trafficking
in the U.K. Ambrose Musiyiwa (amusiyiwa), OhmyNews, 2006-07-25 english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=5&no=293231&rel_no=6 [accessed 3 January
2011] She was a teenage
orphan living on the streets of Nairobi when a man approached her and
promised her work in the United Kingdom. He told her she would be working as
a house girl. True to his word,
her "savior" brought her into the U.K. -- but instead of placing
her with a family the man took her to a brothel, where she was systematically
raped, beaten, and forced to work as a prostitute. Three months later,
when the 16-year-old Kenyan girl became pregnant, she was forced to continue
sleeping with a succession of men until she was almost due to give birth. The
heavily pregnant teenager was then removed from the brothel, driven out of
the town where she had been held, and dumped many miles away on the streets
of Sheffield. Consortium for
Street Children: Briefing Paper [DOC] www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/CSC+Briefing+Paper+StreetChildren+in+the+UK+5.03+-FULL.doc [Last access date
unavailable] There are however three
main groups of young people in the United Kingdom who share many
characteristics of ‘street children’. These groups are: (1) Children who run
away, leave home or who are thrown out – commonly referred to as ‘Runaways’;
Homeless; Street homeless or rough sleepers. Street children and
crime in the UK: a case of abuse and neglect Browne, K. and Falshaw, L. (1998), Street children and crime in the UK:
a case of abuse and neglect. Child Abuse Review, 7: 241–253. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0852(199807/08)7:4<241::AID-CAR501>3.0.CO;2-0 [accessed 4 August
2011] Four street work
projects that provide information and support to young runaways in the UK are
described and their limitations discussed. It is proposed that counseling
should be a part of intervention with street children and that trained
counselors/psychotherapists should be available free to these young people
with social and emotional difficulties Children "COMPASS"
- A manual on human rights education with young people -- ISBN: 92-871-4880-5
© Council of Europe, May 2002 eycb.coe.int/compass/en/chapter_5/5_1.html [accessed 4 August
2011] www.eycb.coe.int/compass/en/chapter_5/5_1.html [accessed 10 January
2017] THE STATE OF CHILDREN:
FACTS AND FIGURES
- In the UK, research
indicates that there are many thousands of street children, primarily, though
not exclusively, in the major cities and towns. The population of street
children is split evenly between males and females. It is estimated that
approximately 40000 children run away from home every year. Book Review: Running the Risk Young People on the
Streets of Britain Today by Mike Stein, Gwyther
Rees and Nick Frost Amazon.com [accessed 4 August
2011] PRODUCT DESCRIPTION - Based on current
work with young runaways this survey looks, in particular, at the work of
four Children's Society projects in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Gwent.
The report examines the causes of running away and the problems face by those
who run - some of them as young as 11 years old. It has been revealed that
children run away for different reasons: abuse and neglect, changes in family
relationships, lack of support or parenting and economic stress - to name a
few - and each of these different circumstances may require a different
response. The book examines the complex issue from the perpectives
of three main groups involved - young people themselves, Children's Society
staff and professionals from a variety of agencies who have had contact with
young runaways. All aspects of running away are looked at, from identifying
those young people who are most likely to run away and discussing why they do
so, to evaluating the role of projects designed to help them. It appears that
a number of broader social policy issues are implicated, including education
and the lack of social status of under 16s living
away from home, with nowhere to live, no legitimate source of income and ano link inot state services.
The research identifies the need to cater for young people's short-, medium-,
and long-term needs through a combination of prevention and mediation work,
via facilities such as school and youth clubs, and by providing contact,
refuge, advice and counselling to young people. Shelter www.donation4charity.org/charities/shelter [accessed 4 August
2011] Shelter is a
national organisation with local solutions working
to improve the lives of homeless and badly housed people. There has been a
200,000 rise in UK children living in poverty last year. Every Year, Shelter
charity campaigners are helping over 100,000 people who are homeless or
living in bad housing conditions. Dying for change The Big Issue in the
North At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4 August
2011] WHY ARE WE STILL
HEARING ABOUT HOMELESS PEOPLE DYING ON OUR STREETS? VIEW FROM THE EDGE - Once a young
person is homeless, things can rapidly deteriorate. Many homeless people
suffer from mental health problems and are not receiving help. Hartshorn believes this is a particular problem for
younger men who tend to bottle their problems up. Homelessness and
Education: Research from Britain and America Comparative
Education Research Centre CERC, University of Hong Kong, CIES96: 40th Annual
Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Williamsburg,
Virginia, March 6- 10, 1996 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4 August
2011] PANEL ABSTRACT - The last fifteen
years have seen an unprecedented increase in homelessness in both Britain and
the United States. While young single people sleeping on the city streets is
often the most visible form of homelessness, the number of homeless
households with young children is growing substantially. The relationship
between homelessness and education has received relatively little attention
on either side of the Atlantic. Habitat UK national
report 2001 Office of the Deputy
Prime Minister, Creating Sustainable Communities At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4 August
2011] UK CONTEXT - Homelessness:
105,000 households were legally defined as homeless in 1999. The UK
definition means having no permanent home. Councils must give priority to
groups such as families with children and vulnerable groups such those with
disability. There are also small numbers with literally no roof, known as
rough sleepers. The number of rough sleepers has reduced by over one third,
from 1850 to 1180 in two years. === Centrepoint Reveals
Exploitation Of Homeless Young People European Federation
of National Organizations working with the Homeless, 4/21/2005 feantsa.horus.be/code/EN/pg.asp?Page=473 [accessed 8 Aug 2013] [accessed 10 January
2017] [scroll down] “Nearly a third of
homeless young people surveyed admit to suffering from stress, illness and
depression due to their debts, many believe they are prevented from a better
future because they owe money they cannot repay. Rough Sleepers Unit Parliament home page
> Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard >
Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous
sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Written Answers www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo011218/text/11218w14.htm#11218w14.html_spnew4 [accessed 4 August
2011] The RSU has already
invested over £2 million from its Special Innovation Fund to put in place
education, training and employment schemes around the country that have
helped over 2,500 former rough sleepers to make the move to independent
living. The children and
young people we work with [access information unavailable] The city street is
a place of refuge and a place of danger. It is an alternative to rural
poverty and to family violence, but it is home too to those who would take advantage
of vulnerable children, perhaps to exploit them financially, or sexually.
Some children live there - eat, play, work and sleep. New Government
drive to help young runaways Tony Blair, New Government drive to help young
runaways, 22 March 2001 www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page2669.asp [Last access date
unavailable] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/category/1/europe-streetkid-news/united-kingdom-streetkid-news/ [accessed 10 January
2017] A quarter of those
who run away will sleep on the streets, and some will survive through
begging, stealing drug dealing and prostitution. As many as 10,000 runaways
suffer physical or sexual abuse while they are away from home. Runaway Children To
Get Help BBC News, 22 March,
2001 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1235441.stm [accessed 4 August
2011] Every year 77,000
British children under 16 run away from home for at least one night. Many flee physical or mental abuse at home,
and a quarter end up sleeping on the streets with
some surviving through begging, stealing, drug dealing and prostitution. The consultation
report was launched on Thursday by Tony Blair, who said it was important to
find out why so many children run away and why so many are reluctant to
return home again. 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 – United Kingdom UK",
http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/UK.htm, [accessed <date>] |
