Human Trafficking in [Colombia] [other countries]Street Children in [Colombia Child Prostitution in [Colombia] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/streetchildren/Colombia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** True cost of The Scottish Daily Record, May 20 2008 [accessed 1 May 2011] ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF – www.unicef.org/infobycountry/colombia.html [accessed 1 May 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/colombia.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - In urban areas, children are found working as domestic servants,
and also in the retail and services sectors, and in activities such as street
vending and waiting tables. Children
are involved in commercial sexual exploitation either on the streets or in
private establishments such as bars, brothels, or massage parlors, and tend
to range in age from 13 to 17 years. Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61721.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] CHILDREN - Public schooling is provided up
to age 18, and is universal, compulsory, and free up to age 15. The National
Department of Statistics (DANE) estimated that more than 8 million children
between ages 6 and 15 attended school. The government covered the basic costs
of primary education, although many families struggled with additional
expenses such as matriculation fees after age 15, books, school supplies, and
transportation costs that often were prohibitive, particularly for the rural
poor. SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
The legal minimum age for work was inconsistent with completing a basic
education, and only 38 percent of working children attended school. 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/colombia2000.html [accessed 30 January 2011] [34] In the light of article 6 and
other related provisions of the Convention, the Committee is deeply concerned
at the threat posed by the armed conflict to children's lives, including instances
of extrajudicial killing, disappearance and torture committed by the police
and paramilitary groups; at the multiple instances of "social
cleansing" of street children; and at the persistent impunity of the
perpetrators of such crimes. [38] In the light of its
recommendation concerning the need to conduct special investigations in cases
of gross violations of human rights involving children, the Committee regrets
the lack of follow-up information on this issue and reiterates its concern
about alleged cases of street children tortured and ill-treated by members of
the police and/or paramilitary groups. [41] The Committee further
reiterates its concern that children deprived of their family environment may
increasingly travel to the main cities, where they may live on the streets
and be particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. [63] The Committee expresses most
particular concern for children who work or live in the street in order to
survive and who require special attention because of the risks to which they
are exposed. Hope for Rhodri Davies, Al Jazeera, 23
Dec 2008 english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/12/200812213421095100.html [accessed 1 May 2011] Stephania, 12, lives here with her mother,
a prostitute. Their home is a former brothel, their bedroom is one quarter of
an old bathroom, their bed takes the place of the ripped out bathtub. LITTLE HELP - There are few people willing to
help Stephania and the other children living on and
around the streets of Colombia - they are a social group typically stigmatised, marginalised and
at times persecuted. Maryibe Jalero
Cardona, a social worker at the centre, says that there are three main
dangers for Stephania. "The constant contact with
prostitutes and their world means that daughters can think that it is normal
and follow it," she says.
"The room Stephania and her mother live
in is rented by the night, so they could easily be chucked out if they don't
pay. Stephania may think that she could work as a
prostitute if they just need the money for one night's rent." The second danger is that drug use is
widespread in the area - whether cocaine, marijuana or ecstasy. The third is abuse by any of the
significant number of men trawling the streets for prostitutes day and night. INEQUALITY - It is estimated that about
60,000 children live on Colombia's streets - 37 per cent of them in Bogota. Furthermore,
those displaced are targeted by illegal armed groups operating in
cities. About 600 youngsters have
been murdered in the slum areas of Ciudad Boliviar
and Altos de Cazuca, on the fringes of Botoga, over the past five years. About one-quarter of street children are
assisted by public institutions or groups commissioned by the state. But those without assistance typically
steal, scavenge or deliver drugs for dealers to survive. Credit crunch has forced me to snub 200 kids who need aid,
admits Colombian charity priest Paul O'Hare, The Scottish Daily Record, July 14, 2008 [accessed 1 May 2011] Fr Walters added:
"Paradoxically, the fact the violence has diminished means that more
kids than ever are coming on to the streets because they are no longer
deterred by the fear of being killed.
"The sort of social problems and pressures that were forcing them
on to the streets in the first place have not diminished." Latin American countries call for end to child labor Xinhua News Agency, www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200806131123.htm [accessed 1 May 2011] In True cost of The Scottish Daily Record, May 20 2008 [accessed 1 May 2011] Making “Disposables” ‘Angels of the House’ canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/370 [accessed 1 May 2011] They come cautiously and
unbelieving, many in the most desperate of straits. The facial expressions of
the children when they spot the food keep the volunteers wanting to be there
to look after the cooking and clean-up, no matter how pressing their outside
commitments. Diana Sanchez could not
work in more desolate circumstances, but is mostly too busy to even
notice. Bogota’s
hungry children number in the tens of thousands. The stories of the children’s backgrounds
are always sad. No one wants them, for some not even their own families. At worst, they are `Los desachables’:
the disposables; at best, the “gamines”, in Espanola pronounced (gah MEE nays).
Sent out onto the streets to fend for themselves, they forage in the
garbage along with the city’s stray dogs. To be a poor child in Colombia is
as complex as the circumstances that made them. It is to be a runway, a
disposable, a child prostitute, or a child abandoned by a family coming into
the city from a war zone. In some
circumstances, a mother knowing her brood goes hungry sends one child out to
the streets in the hopes that even a few pesos will make the difference at
that night’s supper table. In other even crueler instances, a child is
thrown out onto the street because there will be one less mouth to feed. SOS
Children: Street Children in SOS Children’s Villages www.street-children.org.uk/samericanstreetchildren/colombia [accessed 1 May 2011] In "Social Cleansing" Of
Children Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Project, “Generation
Under Fire - Children and Violence in www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1994/colombia/gener1.htm#cleansing [accessed 1 May 2011] Frankie has been on the street
since he was eight years old. He has
survived three "social cleansing" attempts on his life. Let the Children Live – The Gamines NotreDameSixthForm sites.google.com/site/notredamesixthform/let-the-children-live [accessed 1 May 2011] [see left margin: the gamines] They are called 'the disposable
ones', the children who live - and sometimes die - in the streets and the
rubbish dumps of the cities of Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch pangaea.org/street_children/latin/colombia.htm [accessed 1 May 2011] Street children and other youths
in Marc Cooper, Spin, November 1993 pangaea.org/street_children/latin/spin1.htm [accessed 1 May 2011] In Youth Ambassadors for Peace – Youth Ambassadors for Peace At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 1 May 2011] Children are the victims of
"disappearances" and massacres and are currently dying at a rate of
12 each day as a direct result of violence. Children are forced to live as
refugees abroad or are displaced within their own country, and many take to
the streets as a means of survival. These children then confront the dangers
of hunger, harassment, sexual abuse and forced prostitution, death or even
murder. With the current atmosphere of violence and poverty, the majority of
children in Colombia go without an education. 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 - |
Human Trafficking in [Colombia] [other countries]Street Children in [Colombia Child Prostitution in [Colombia] [other countries]