On September 13, the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Organizations examined the hardships faced by children who are forced to live on the streets.
Stating that the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported in the 1990s that there are 100 million children living on the streets worldwide, Chair Christopher Smith (R-NJ) explained that the number could be much higher today: “Civil wars and the HIV/AIDS epidemic continually swell the numbers of street children, particularly in Africa. In the past the typical street children were boys 10-14 years old. Now the age ranges are drifting downward, and more and more girls are being found on the streets. Female street children face particular problems. They are more likely to be domestically and sexually abused, and they are more likely to become prostitutes increasing their health risks including that of HIV/AIDS.”
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor David Denehy said that the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices include information on discrimination and persecution against children, adding, “A survey of the Country Reports suggests that children end up on the streets for a variety of reasons, including conflict, poverty, and HIV/AIDS. Some are exploited in prostitution or are subjected to other forms of human trafficking, and others face abuse by security forces and citizens. Too many children’s stories are never told, and too many continue to face the streets alone.” Mr. Denehy detailed the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan, the Philippines, Brazil, and Uganda, and noted that civil wars in Africa have contributed to a large number of children living on the streets. He also highlighted conditions in Peru where “because of widespread poverty, approximately one-third of all school-age children and adolescents work rather than attend school.” Mr. Denehy described Peru’s new “commitment to children’s well-being,” stating, “The government provides free compulsory education through secondary schools; new laws closely define trafficking in persons, criminalize Internet child pornography and sexual tourism involving children, and provide punishments for those who derive financial benefit from these activities. Penalties for pimps and clients of underage prostitutes range from 4 to 8 years in prison. In March, the Government formed a permanent, ministerial-level Multi-Sectoral Committee (MSC) to work on the issue of trafficking in persons.”
Lloyd Feinberg, manager of the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said that the DCOF “provides financial as well as technical support in over 19 countries. We have programmed more than $160 million since the Fund’s inception in 1989. In FY2005, we have obligated approximately $14 million. In 15 of these countries, DCOF supports activities that address issues related to street children.” Explaining that most of these programs target street children in the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola, he also noted that USAID “currently supports significant NGO-supported activities that help street children in such countries as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Liberia, Indonesia, Uganda, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Zambia.” In directing funds, Mr. Feinberg said that USAID aims to support programs that ensure every child has access to a caring and responsible adult; prioritize early intervention based on the child’s age and length of time on the street; discourage family dissolution; strengthen state child care and child protection agencies; and involve the inclusion of civil society, including local NGOs, faith-based organizations, and professional and business communities.
The subcommittee also heard testimony from Shay Cullen, president of the People’s Recovery Empowerment Development Assistance (PREDA) Foundation, Inc. He discussed the situation in the Philippines where it is estimated that 1.2 million children live on the streets, including 70,000 in the capital of Manila. Mr. Cullen explained that many of the children were fathered by American servicemen, then abandoned when the United States closed its military bases in 1992. He said that his organization filed a class action suit in the International Court of Complaints to establish the children’s right to assistance, but “the court ruled that the children were the products of unmarried women who provided sexual services to U.S. service personnel in Olongapo, Subic Bay and Angeles City, and were therefore engaged in illicit acts of prostitution. Such illegal activity could not be the basis for any legal claim.” Noting that many street children are detained by local police and mistreated in state prisons, Mr. Cullen put forth his solutions: “By providing direct service homes, feeding programs, street education and advocacy to change the system, our work for children has continued unabated and we have been able to save many from the streets, bring them to a residential home, give values formation and formal and non-formal education.” In addition, he stated that foreign aid should “be focused, directed and used to bring change in protecting the rights of street children, that World Bank and ADB [Asian Development Bank] loans be more closely monitored for waste and abuse and that child support programs be a component of every aid package.”
Teresa Santos described her work as the network coordinator for a number of Christian organizations working with at-risk children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She explained that in 1990, Brazil enacted the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA) Law to codify the duty of family, society, and the state in assuring the rights of children and adolescents. Calling the ECA “efficient legislation,” Ms. Santos added, “It has served as a model for more than ten different countries, but 15 years after the law was put in place, most of it is still merely words on paper; it needs to be put into practice. UNICEF says that the Brazilian statute is one of the most advanced in the world. But it will become reality only when remaining disparities are overcome and each of the 61 million boys and girls in the country has an equal opportunity.” She offered a number of suggestions on how Brazil can better protect street children, including more support for families. She pointed out that thousands of single-parent families would benefit from child care assistance, but noted that many day care centers were forced to close when their government funding was delayed. Ms. Santos also noted that street children need better protection against sexual violence, stating, “We need to conduct research on the situation in the whole country that will allow the actors to set up goals and indicators. There is also a need for defense centers specifically to deal with children who have suffered abuse. Raising awareness that the abuse needs to be denounced is a long process and a big challenge, but it needs to be addressed, along with ways to protect both the victim and the denouncer.” She added, “Another specific area needs more investment, as well as more articulation among the governmental and nongovernmental spheres at both the national and international levels: to seek solutions to the problem of sexual tourism and child trafficking.”
