Statistics and distribution
Street children can be found in a large majority of the world's cities, with the phenomenon more prevalent in densely-populated urban hubs of developing or economically unstable countries, such as India,[5] China,[6] Russia, and countries in Africa.[7] According to a report from the Consortium for Street Children, a United Kingdom (UK)-based consortium of related NGOs, UNICEF estimated that 100 million children were growing up on urban streets around the world. Fourteen years later, UNICEF similarly reported, "The latest estimates put the numbers of these children as high as 100 million" (UNICEF, 2002: 37). More recently the organization added, "The exact number of street children is impossible to quantify, but the figure almost certainly runs into tens of millions across the world. It is likely that the numbers are increasing" (UNICEF, 2005: 40-41). The 100 million figure is still commonly cited, but has no basis in fact (see Ennew and Milne, 1989; Hecht, 1998; Green, 1998). Similarly, it is debatable whether numbers of street children are growing globally, or whether it is the awareness of street children within societies that has grown.[2]
[edit]History
The phenomenon of street children has been documented as far back as 1848. Alan Ball, in the introduction to his book on the history of abandoned children, And Now My Soul Is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918-1930, states:
Orphaned and abandoned children have been a source of misery from earliest times. They apparently accounted for most of the boy prostitutes in Augustan Rome and, a few centuries later, moved a church council of 442 in southern Gaul to declare: “Concerning abandoned children: there is general complaint that they are nowadays exposed more to dogs than to kindness.”[8] InTsarist Russia, seventeenth-century sources described destitute youths roaming the streets, and the phenomenon survived every attempt at eradication thereafter. Long before the Russian Revolution, the term besprizornye had gained wide currency.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]
In 1848, Lord Ashley referred to more than 30,000 "naked, filthy, roaming lawless and deserted children" in and around London, UK.[18]
By 1922 there were at least seven million homeless children in Russia due to the devastation from World War I and the Russian Civil War.[19] Abandoned children formed gangs, created their own argot, and engaged in petty theft and prostitution.[20]
[edit]Causes
The causes of this phenomenon are varied, but are often related to domestic, economic, or social disruption; including, but not limited to, poverty, breakdown of homes and/or families, political unrest, or acculturation.
[edit]By country
[edit]Russia
Russia consists of an estimated two million street children,[21] while one in four crimes involves underage individuals.[citation needed] Officially, the number of Russian children without supervision is more than 700,000. However, experts believe the real figure has since risen to between two and four million.[22][dead link]
[edit]China
The number of China's urban street children population continues to grow, with the Ministry of Civil Affairs estimating the number at 150,000.[citation needed]
[edit]India
Main article: Street children in India
India is home to 400,000 - 800,000 street children.[23] The Republic of India is the seventh largest and second-most populated country in the world. Due to the acceleration in economic growth, an economic rift has appeared, with twenty-three per cent of the population living below the poverty line.[citation needed] Owing to unemployment, increasing rural-urban migration, the attraction of city life, and a lack of political will, India has developed one of the largest child labor forces in the world.[citation needed]
[edit]Vietnam
According to data by the Street Educators’ Club, the number of street children in Vietnam has shrunk from 21,000 in 2003 to 8,000 in 2007. The number dropped from 1,507 to 113 in Hanoi and from 8,507 to 794 in Ho Chi Minh City.[citation needed] There are currently almost 400 humanitarian organizations and internationalnon-governmental organizations providing help to about 15,000 Vietnamese children.[24]
[edit]Pakistan
The number of street children in Pakistan is estimated to be between 1.2 million[25][26] and 1.5 million, meaning that the country has one of the world's largest street children populations. There is a wide gap in living standards between the upper and lower classes, giving rise to a large segment of the population, consisting of young children, that lives in poverty.[citation needed] Past efforts have been initiated by UNICEF and other NGOs to assist children in need through various programs and rehabilitation centers;[27] however, the situation remains as a prominent socio-economic issue in Pakistan in the 21st century.
[edit]Romania
A 2000 report from the Council of Europe estimated that there were approximately 1,000 street children in the city of Bucharest. The prevalence of street children has led to a burgeoning sex tourism business in Romania; although efforts have been made to decrease the number of street children in the country.[28]
[edit]Brazil
The Brazilian government estimates that the number of children and adolescents who work or sleep on the streets is approximately 23,973[citation needed], based on results from the national census mandated by the Human Rights Secretariat of the Presidency (SDH) and the Institute for Sustainable Development (Idesp).[29]
[edit]The Philippines
Main article: Street children in the Philippines
According to the 1998 report, "Situation of the Youth in the Philippines", there are about 1.5 million street children in the Philippines.[30] Street children as young as ten years old can be imprisoned alongside adults under the Vagrancy Act; in past cases, physical and sexual abuse have occurred as a result of this legislation.[31]
[edit]Latin America
Main article: Street Children in Latin America
According to some estimates, there are forty million street children in Latin America,[32] most of whom work on the streets. There are two categories of street children in Latin America: home-based and street-based. Home-based children have homes and families to return to, while street-based children do not. A majority of street children in Latin America are home-based.[33]
[edit]Turkey
Between 10,000 and 12,000 street children are estimated. Mainly in İstanbul,[34] with most present in the eastern part of the country. Diyarbakır is one of the eastern cities where most of Turkey's remaining street children live.
[edit]Government and non-government responses
[edit]Responses by governments
While some governments have implemented programs to deal with street children, the general solution involves placing the children into orphanages, juvenile homes, or correctional institutions.[35][36]Efforts have been made by various governments to support or partner with non-government organizations.[37]
[edit]NGO responses
Non-government organizations employ a wide variety of strategies to address the needs and rights of street children. Advocacy groups have campaigned for the rights of homeless children, as well as for amendments to be made to the institutional treatment of vulnerable children.[citation needed] An example of such campaign work is the "The Street Children‘s Day", launched by Jugend Eine Welt on January 31, 2009 to highlight the situation of street children. The "Street Children's Day" has been commemorated every year since its inception in 2009.[38]
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