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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children The |
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** From
the streets to the stage, a young woman plots her path in life Lika grew up with a mother and six brothers,
five of whom left the family home and never looked back. She lived with her
mother and youngest brother in a Lotkini district
apartment; the family's only income was what they could get begging on Rustaveli Avenue.
The fall from poverty to homeless was sudden. When Lika
was seven, her small family lost what little they had in a house fire. With
nowhere to go, they slept in the streets. Within a year, her mother was able
to rent a small room for the three of them. But Lika
was accustomed to street life, and left their new home when she was eight.
She didn't have a bad relationship with her mother, she said, but felt at
home on the street-and craved inhalants. She and her friends would beg for
money to buy food and glue. They slept nights under balconies and in cars. ***
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Gender, Country ( UNICEF - The Big Picture U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are reports of significant numbers of children, some as young
as 5 years old, engaged in begging or working on the streets. Children
as young as 9 years old are found working in markets, sometimes at night, and
involved in carrying or loading wares. Children also work in cafes,
bistros, gas stations, and for street photographers. According to the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child, police violence against street children is a problem. In
general, there is a lack of social safety services for children living on the
street. Trafficking of children
occurs, and thousands of children living in the streets and in orphanages are
vulnerable to trafficking. Some
families experiencing economic hardship have separated, which has increased
the number of children living on the street. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - Difficult economic conditions
broke up some families and increased the number of street children. NGOs estimated that there
were approximately 1,500 street children
between 3 and 15 years old in the country, with 1,200 concentrated in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2003 [64] The Committee shares the
concern expressed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
and the findings of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography regarding the high number of street
children who are often victims of trafficking networks and various other
forms of exploitation, indicating that the number of children living on the
streets is increasing and that families are allowing children as young as 7
to make a living on the streets.
Furthermore, the Committee is deeply concerned by allegedly widespread
police brutality towards street children. From
the streets to the stage, a young woman plots her path in life Lika grew up with a mother and six
brothers, five of whom left the family home and never looked back. She lived
with her mother and youngest brother in a Lotkini
district apartment; the family's only income was what they could get begging
on Rustaveli Avenue. The fall from poverty to homeless was
sudden. When Lika was seven, her small family lost
what little they had in a house fire. With nowhere to go, they slept in the
streets. Within a year, her mother was able
to rent a small room for the three of them. But Lika
was accustomed to street life, and left their new home when she was eight.
She didn't have a bad relationship with her mother, she said, but felt at
home on the street-and craved inhalants. She and her friends would beg for money
to buy food and glue. They slept nights under balconies and in cars. Many street children work in
markets and in other busy areas. Some are employed in small enterprises.
Saying the children are “employed” is perhaps misleading. They do not sign
any type of work agreement, so employers can treat them as they see fit. Many
of these children are homeless and addicted to drugs. They spend nights in
underground stations, which costs them some money,
often 5 GEL or more. To whom do they pay? To the police and to the
underground administration. New haven for
street children in Georgia About 2,500 children in Dishing
Out Food And Hope To Georgia's Street Children "There are 1,500 street
children in Street Wise Project Reaches Out To Georgia’s Forgotten Youth Georgian, Russian, Armenian,
Kurdish and Roma, these young people, aged 10 to 20 comprise the forgotten
youth of this former Soviet-bloc country.
They either live on the streets of its capital, Tbilisi, or are at
risk of becoming homeless as they ‘graduate’ from Georgia’s children’s
institutions with no welcoming family to turn to and no skills to support
themselves. Their lack of choices and
protection mean that they are vulnerable to traffickers, drug abuse and
sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. They are easy prey for
criminal rings. Georgia - OCHA Situation Report: 10-Nov-04 Starting from September 2004, with
financial support from USAID, Save the Children is
implementing a new project Rebuilding Lives Street Children (RLSC). The goal of the RLSC
project is to strengthen and expand local capacities to promote the physical,
cognitive, emotional and psychosocial well being of street children in INTERNEWS Georgia Premieres Two Documentary Films "Children of the Street"
is a 56-minute film documenting the lives of Tbilisi's street children, with
footage showing these children living in the subway tunnels and parks of the
city as well as alternatives to street life that exist for some of these
children. The film was directed by Rusiko Tchkunia and was premiered at the Free Theatre at SOUTH CAUCASUS - Conditions in Georgia's state
orphanages are so harsh that many youngsters prefer to take their chances on
the streets. Just 40 miles from The combination of high
unemployment, and the arrival of refugees from the civil war in Abkhazia, led
to many children going out into the street to sell things to help feed their families. They are not getting educated because these
same families cannot afford to buy the clothes and notebooks their children
need to attend school. Project Title: Medical Examination And Treatment Of Street Children In Tbilisi OBJECTIVES
OF THE PROJECT - Most of them
spend the night in the street, railway stations, abandoned basements, half
destroyed houses and lavatories. Under such conditions it is impossible to
observe even elementary hygiene. Obviously their health requires immediate
attention and improvement. Medical examinations, disease prevention and
special treatment should be carried out for each of these children. Committee On The Rights Of The Child (CRC) - Consideration of Reports - 1997 196. The average age is 13.
Eighty-seven per cent of the children completely or partially give their
income to their families. Out of these children 54 per cent are of school age
but cannot read or write; 22 per cent do not study, but rather work; 42 per
cent have health difficulties, 24 per cent smoke, 2 per cent are prone to
alcoholism, 2 per cent have inclinations towards narcotics. In general, 234
children are beggars. The average age is 10; 140 are boys and 94 are girls. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Georgia] [other countries]Street Children in [Georgia Child Prostitution in [Georgia] [other countries]