Submitted by crinadmin on
HRW's summary of the publication
In addition to the hazards of living on the streets, street children
in Kenya are subject to frequent beatings, extortion, and sexual
abuse by police.In violation of international law, they are rounded
up and held for days or weeks in police lockups under deplorable
physical conditions, commingled with adults and often beaten.
Those who are brought to court are usually charged with
vagrancy or are classified as being "in need of protection or
discipline." Pending adjudication of their cases, they are
committed by courts to crowded remand institutions where they
languish until their cases are decided. Without legal
representation, these children may be finally committed by courts
to correctional institutions called approved schools and
borstalinstitutions, and prisons. Based on interviews with sixty
children, this report documents the treatment of street children
by police and in the juvenile justice system as a whole. Upwards
of 40,000 street children live in Kenya. With their numbers on the
rise, they are likely to continue to suffer violations of their rights,
unless measures are taken to ensure better training and strict
accountability of police, the judiciary, and staff of remand and
correctional institutions.