Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: The problem of street children is well
documented in Latin America and South East
Asia. However, in Africa and the Arab countries
it is a comparatively new phenomenon. Sub
Saharan Africa is currently the least urbanised
region of developing world, with about 30% of
the population living in cities. Catching up fast,
Africa is currently experiencing the highest
urban growth rates. In Somalia, local authorities are increasingly confronted with rising
numbers of street children due to a lack of central government. Somalia is
one of two countries not to have signed the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (CRC). It has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the
world, and some of poorest educational opportunities. Thousands of
children are living in destitution in displaced camps or on the streets,
especially in Mogadishu and Hagaiza. Hundreds of children living in
orphanages are deprived of a normal family environment. In addition many
children have been conscripted into militias. Prior to the war, exploitation,
sexual exploitation, child labour were common in plantation and large scale
agricultural projects, and there is no evidence that such practices have
ended.
Poverty and displacement constitute the major reasons that cause children
to live and/or work on the street. Children working on the streets,
orphans, child drug abusers, children in IDP camps, disabled children,
children victim of prostitution, of child labour, and of sexual exploitation all
need special protection. Unfortunately, the number of these children has
been increasing since the downfall of the former government. Children
belonging to ethnic minority groups and children fleeing the worsening
situation in IDP camps are especially at risk and the majority of street
children are in this situation. UNICEF Somalia carried out a study on child
protection in Somalia in 2003. The report estimated that 1500 children live
and work in the streets of Mogadishu. These children have their rights
violated every day.
With all these facts on the ground, the Somali Child Protection and
Development (SOCPD) established schools and equipped them with
educational materials. It enrolled 100 street children and provided a
literacy and numeric educational programme. There are hundreds of
thousands of children in the streets of Somalia's towns, cities and villages.
They are victims of Somalia's civil war. They are displaced children. If
something is not done in a wider national scale, we can not expect to
rebuild Somalia. These children, if not given a safe environment to live in,
shall bring horrible tragedies to themselves, to Somalia and to the entire
world.