Human Trafficking in [Honduras] [other countries]Street Children in [Honduras Child Prostitution in [Honduras] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early
years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/streetchildren/Honduras.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 *** Honduran Government Complicit In The Murder Of Street
Children Shravanti Reddy, Digital Freedom Network,
December 17, 2002 www.hrea.org/lists/child-rights/markup/msg00138.html [accessed 23 May 2011] As their moniker suggests, street
children have few options but to live or work on the streets for survival.
They are among the most impoverished and marginalized within society. Murdering street children in Honduras is
considered part of an unofficial "social cleansing" program. Viewed as "vermin" by
security forces and business leaders, the national media has also played a
role in branding street children as "troublemakers," blaming them
for everything from violent crime to driving away foreign investment and
tourism. The consequence has been that these deaths have caused little
reaction among the public who consider street children as undesirable,
despite the fact that the portrait of them painted by the media and
government is inaccurate. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF – www.unicef.org/infobycountry/honduras.html [accessed 23 May 2011] Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61732.htm [accessed 8 February 2011] ARBITRARY OR UNLAWFUL DEPRIVATION
OF LIFE -
The media reported that based on information from government sources,
vigilante activities allegedly led to more than 970 killings in the last 7
years of known and suspected criminals, as well as gang members, street children, and youth not known
to be involved in criminal activity (see section 5). Approximately 80 persons
have been arrested over the past 7 years in connection with such killings,
with 9 of those convicted by year's end. CHILDREN - The government was unable to
improve the living conditions or reduce the numbers of street children and youth. The
government and children's rights organizations estimated that during the year
there were 20 thousand street
children, half of whom had shelter. Many street children were sexually
molested or exploited. The Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 4 June 1999 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/honduras1999.html [accessed 28 February 2011] [33] The Committee also expresses
its concern about the situation of children who, because of serious
situations of extreme poverty as well as of situations of abandonment or
violence within the family, are forced to live in and/or work on the streets
and are therefore vulnerable to different forms of exploitation and abuse,
including sale, trafficking and abduction. The rising number of youth gangs
(known in Long helps needy children in Honduras Liza Matia,
The Progress, February 21, 2009 www.theprogressnews.com/default.asp?read=16446 [accessed 23 May 2011] Despite that, the country is
seething with street children turned out by parents who could not afford, or
didn't want, to take care of them. The majority are uneducated, dirty and
addicted to huffing glue. "It's
cheaper than food," Ms. Long said, "and it takes away their
hunger." "Most came from
abusive homes," she recalled. "Their families just didn't want
them. They're such amazing kids; they're all really bright. It'd be sad to
think your mom didn't care about you."
Hondurans see the street kids as a nuisance, Ms. Long said, and many
become desensitized to them after seeing them day after day. Those who do
want to help can't because they lack the capacity to handle the kids' drug
addictions. Narconon Trains Foreign Addiction
Counselor TransWorldNews, 12/21/2007 www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=31126&cat=10 [accessed 23 May 2011] The orphanage in Catch a falling star W. E. www.marrder.com/htw/jul97/editorial.htm [accessed 23 May 2011] [scroll down to Monday, July 14, 1997 Online
Edition 62] CHEMISTRY
OF PROMISCUITY - According to Casa del Niño,
there are about 50 homeless children in La Ceiba, an overly conservative estimate by their own
accounting. "We've really no way of knowing. Most are between 10 and 16.
Most are boys. Illiteracy, irresponsible paternity are
all at work. Some families have not a gram of conscience when it comes to
procreation. Use of Resistol among them is
universal. It's sold freely in the Centro Commercial. Pimps and sex tourists
often pay the children with cans of the deadly shoe glue. It's a case of
turpitude further debased by criminal indifference...." – sccp Commentary by Willy E. Gutman www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=48327&format=html [Last access date unavailable] An estimated 100 million children
now live and often die on city streets around the world - about one tenth in The price they pay is
incalculable. By far the most horrendous fate these children must endure is
the violence that permeates their existence. They live in constant fear.
Because most turn to petty crime to survive, and often use inhalants to
soften the harsh reality of their hostile environment, they are viewed as
"vermin." This perception, ignored - or bolstered - by indifferent
or openly belligerent governments, has helped unleash a tide of violence
against the world's fastest growing minority, its most vulnerable denizens:
street children. Violence against street children -
always condoned, often decreed - has returned to Guatemala and Honduras with a vengeance. Reports
of torture, unquestionably the worst human rights violation, and the
deprivation of life by extrajudicial execution - its most extreme form - are
now being filed with alarming regularity. Street
children in Honduras The Friends of El Hogar www.foeh.org.uk/street_children_in_honduras.php [accessed 23 May 2011] In Solvent
Abuse, Certain Death for Street Children Thelma Mejia, Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, pangaea.org/street_children/latin/hondsolv.htm [accessed 23 May 2011] Market
Children vs Street Children Chrystelle Zweidler,
Jeremy Hall, and Michael Lewis, Students at www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids02/hond1.html [accessed 23 May 2011] Because of the great poverty of At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 May 2011] The job that Oscar and Amy have
taken on is enormous when you consider the sheer number of children that live
on the streets of the major cities of Most street children are boys and
leave their homes around the age of 12. Market children are in general younger
and the gender distribution is more equal. Overall, street children
face more and more severe risks than do market children. They suffer
from physical violence and arrests. The number involved in prostitution
is increasing and is estimated that up to 90% of the street children sniff
glue. Illiteracy is widespread and only around 8% of the street
children of Honduras attend school. The lack of education among street
and market children prevents them from earning a steady income in the future
and hence they are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty. Child Exploitation.org – Child Exploitation.org At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 May 2011] STREET KIDS’ LOCKED UP - Street children in Getting Free of Gangs in Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 May 2011] To shake up the gang mentality he
has set up a fútbol (soccer) league which has
blossomed into 11 teams five boys' teams, four
girls' teams and two mara units. "My
short-term goal is to stop them from shooting each other. When I arrived in Chamelecón I literally was burying a kid a week. Caminando por la paz is an integrated, educational training program that helps street kids
turn their lives around. For five years Father Tom has used the program to
build homes, provide schooling and job training, and help the people take
back their streets from criminal gangs. "When I first arrived
here," says Father Tom, "the pressure was to be in the gang. It was
the 'in thing'. Now, it's the 'in thing' to be in school. We've had a whole
change in street culture." Honduran Government Complicit In The Murder Of Street
Children Shravanti Reddy, Digital Freedom Network,
December 17, 2002 www.hrea.org/lists/child-rights/markup/msg00138.html [accessed 23 May 2011] As their moniker suggests, street
children have few options but to live or work on the streets for survival.
They are among the most impoverished and marginalized within society. Murdering street children in Honduras is
considered part of an unofficial "social cleansing" program. Viewed as "vermin" by
security forces and business leaders, the national media has also played a
role in branding street children as "troublemakers," blaming them
for everything from violent crime to driving away foreign investment and
tourism. The consequence has been that these deaths have caused little
reaction among the public who consider street children as undesirable,
despite the fact that the portrait of them painted by the media and
government is inaccurate. Prensa Latina, Feb 7, 2006 www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=780&pst=266283 [accessed 23 May 2011] The non governmental organization
Casa Alianza calculates in 10,000 the street
children in Death Freddy Cuevas, The Associated Press AP, At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 May 2011] Casa Alianza
has reported that 843 children were killed between January 1998 and June
2001. It attributed 7 percent of those slayings to police, 1 percent to
security agents, 19 percent to individuals and 13 percent to juvenile gangs.
The cause of others was uncertain. New
Report Calls For Action On Killings Of Street Children Amnesty International, 25 February 2003 www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=14365 [accessed 23 May 2011] Most of the victims come from the
most marginalised sectors of society, among them
the so-called "street children" and gang members. The perpetrators
are, in most cases, unidentified persons, although testimonies from survivors
and witnesses indicate that they could be police officers or civilians acting
with the implicit consent of the authorities. Report on the Torture of Street Children in Casa Alianza - Covenant House www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=1174&flag=report [accessed 23 May 2011] [report content not found] 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.
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Human Trafficking in [Honduras] [other countries]Street Children in [Honduras Child Prostitution in [Honduras] [other countries]