Human Trafficking in [Iraq] [other countries]Street Children in [Iraq Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children Iraq [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] |
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CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in UNICEF - The
Big Picture Quick Search for Missing Children
- Select Gender, Country ( U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Recent information indicates that in urban areas,
children are employed in merchant shops, as ticket collectors on buses, and
are found washing cars, shining shoes, and cleaning litter from streets.
Children work as vendors of cigarettes, gum, candy, food, soft drinks,
pornographic videos, fruit, fuel, used clothes, and junk. Children also dig through rubbish, drive
donkey carts and work in brick factories in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - MOLSA operated a total of 22
orphanages for older children in In an effort to address juvenile
delinquency, the MOI, in cooperation with MOLSA, initiated on March 20 a
campaign to respond to the growing problem of street children. MOLSA officials
estimated that approximately 480 homeless children in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1998 [27] The Committee notes with
concern the situation of children living and/or working on the streets,
particularly as it relates to economic and sexual exploitation. In this
regard, the Committee encourages the State party to increase preventive
measures and its efforts to ensure the rehabilitation and reintegration of
these children. Poverty
Wages War on Iraqi Children The number of street children has
greatly risen in Iraq since the U.S.-led occupation began in 2003. The
foremost reason for this is the deteriorating economic condition of the
country, according to the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI). And, as many have died since the
start of the war, the significant increment of the number of widows and
orphans has also largely resulted in children who have to beg and try to
sustain their lives on the streets across the country. The NCCI
reported that the families facing fragile economic conditions (especially if
their male member/s, who are mostly synonymous to
the major or sole breadwinner of the family, are killed in the conflict)
often send their children to beg on streets as a mean of supplementing their
income. Whereas, Cedric Turlan, the information officer of the NCCI, said that some families also send their children to
work, and this also to sustain their livelihood or at least to feed
themselves. Children
lured into drugs and prostitution Sami Rubaie,
12, lives on the streets of Baghdad. He said he ran away from home because he
could not stand the beatings he got from his father for not bringing home
enough money from begging all day. He soon turned to glue sniffing. To
support his habit, he recently joined a gang and now men have sex with him in
exchange for glue and money. "I cry every time a man has
sex with me and they usually hit me because I am crying. After I do it, my
boss gives me a good quantity of glue and around US $3 dollars for food. I
know what I'm doing is wrong but it's better than living with daily beatings
from my father for not bringing him enough money," Sami
said. Child
beggars proliferate in Baghdad His father fell ill and could not
work so he sent his children out to beg. If they did not come home with
enough money, he would beat them, Ahmed said. His father died of kidney
failure in April 2005. "Now they
are dead but my brothers treat us well. We are happy even though we sleep in
the open, in a garden with only two blankets. I hope one day I will help all
child beggars in Iraq," Ahmed said, grinning from ear to ear before
excusing himself and running after an expensive-looking car. Ahmed is one of thousands of homeless
children throughout Iraq who survive by begging, stealing or scavenging in
garbage for food. Grim Time
for Iraq's Street Children Iraqi society attaches a heavy
stigma to street children, whether they are orphans or war victims. These
days, most orphanages are accepting only the children they cared for before
the war who scattered during the conflict. The newly orphaned and deserted
children on the streets, said to number at least a few thousand, are objects
of scorn. Iraq:
A Dangerous Environment for Children Although the war in Many orphans and other poor
children are forced into begging and prostitution. These children have joined the growing army
of street children who scrape and beg for a living in a city that is flooded
with weapons but has no government to impose law and order and deliver social
services. But in a city where few have
money, it is almost impossible to make a living on the street and most of the
children are barefoot, ragged and often appear to be starving. In Saadoun
neighborhood, we saw a real tragedy - children getting raped all the time,
girls and boys. There are organized gangs giving children drugs, tablets, alcohol to make them drunk and taking them to the hotels
where they will be raped as payment, if you want to have sex with a girl or a
boy. Glimmer Of Hope For
Iraqi Street Kids Since 1991 a great number have
been abandoned by parents too poor to feed them, and the numbers grew
dramatically during the conflict earlier this year, after looters attacked
orphanages following the fall of New
Premises For Homeless Children In Capital It seems like a happy scene, but
if you talk to the former street children, you will find that many of them
are disturbed and potentially violent.
Under the former regime, the issue of street-children was kept under
wraps. They appreciate the security, the
food and the activities we offer, but the settling in process is very
difficult especially if they are used to complete freedom. They are usually
illiterate and have little conception of accepted behavior. Our difficulty is
to know what to do with the older ones who are legally of age but who remain
vulnerable Iraq's Street
Children Who Face A Daily Struggle For Survival With support systems almost
non-existent, many children find themselves falling through the net
completely and end up living on the streets.
These kids - mostly boys, but girls too - come from homes broken by
the first Gulf War, or orphaned by the second, but these children have
survived to live a brutalized existence.
A day in a life on the streets offers a vicious reality - crime,
bloody violence, sexual abuse (and attendant diseases) and an ever-increasing
drug culture. Kevin and Helen went to New
NGO Helps Street Children In Baghdad "I am 14 years old. My mother
[left my father and started living with another man], and my father took us
away from our mother and then he started beating us. And then I ran
away." -- Kutaiba, a homeless Iraqi boy
Thousands of homeless children are living
on the streets of the Iraqi capital As Street Violence Flares In
Iraq, Lutheran World Relief Aids Street Children The project, which depends on
local organizations and staff, will repair a shelter that provides street
children in north 'All Our Children' Approves New Projects for Iraq's Youngest In one project, Church World Service (CWS) and its consortium partners approved repairs to the Bait al Tuful social institution, which provides shelter and care for street children. Working with Enfants du Monde and the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), the institution serves as a transitional place where children have access to education, hygiene and protection. |
Human Trafficking in [Iraq] [other countries]Street Children in [Iraq Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries]