Human Trafficking in [Iraq] [other countries]Street Children in [Iraq Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the
first ten years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2009
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** 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. Children lured into drugs and prostitution bbsnews.net/article.php/20070212144349863 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Sami Rubaie,
12, lives on the streets of "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. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF - The
Big Picture 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. Iraqi
Women Demand Humanitarian Attention for Iraqi Children The number of those who have not
attended school is close to one million because of deteriorating security
conditions in most regions of Iraq, as well as the poverty experienced by
more social strata. Poverty has forced families to make their children leave
school and seek food in waste dumps, work as street vendors or turn into
beggars. Children toiling to earn a living has become a commonplace scene in
the streets of Iraq. Under these tragic conditions, children are subjected to
murder, kidnapping and rape, in addition to being exploited in acts of
terrorism. In the midst of the despair that
hangs over people's lives, and the magnitude of disaster suffered by the
society and children in particular, thousands of them have turned into street
children and become addicts of drugs that have become widely smuggled or
cultivated since the occupation of our country. The overall tragic situation of children in
Iraq makes them among the most miserable children in the world. Despite this,
they have not yet found their place on the agenda and priorities of the Iraqi
government. The Children
of Basra: New Year, Old Fears Anyone passing through the popular
districts in Basra, the second-largest province in Iraq, cannot fail to see
countless little children in the alleys. This is where they spend most of
their day, especially in the poorer areas where children abound since they
have nowhere else to go. Streak faced
and in dirty clothes, they play in the muddy streets while the older children
wander around the market places with the signs of hunger and depravation
clearly etched on their young faces. Some of these children have been forced
to find dangerous and difficult jobs so that they can provide for their
families, while others have devised new ways to beg and con on the streets. Ahmed Salem, six years old, tried
to persuade people at Basra’s al Ashar market to
buy his nylon bags so that he can, “earn some money to provide food for his
mother and younger sister,” he said. Ahmed is one of dozens of children who
stand in traffic intersections trying to sell their wares of tissue boxes,
bananas, soft drinks, and chocolate. Halima Abdul Hussein, 8 years old,
speaks in a manner that does not belie the fact that she is an orphan so that
she would not evoke sympathy; she said that, “I live with my three cousins
and we go to the traffic intersection of al Tarbia
Street from early in the morning until the evening so we can earn our
livelihood,” and confirmed that she really wanted to go to school. 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 bbsnews.net/article.php/20070212144349863 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Sami Rubaie,
12, lives on the streets of "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 www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70089 bbsnews.net/article.php/20070211190706972 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 www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/883/ At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] 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 warchildmusic.com/feature.asp?featureID=feat87 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] 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 UNICEF
wary of post-war child trafficking in Iraq Noting a flurry of news reports
indicating an increase in the number of children on the streets in Baghdad,
UNICEF says the situation is ripe for exploitation of children. UNICEF warns that while street
children are a concern in Iraq, there is no overnight solution. The issue of
street children is a very recent phenomenon in Iraq. Prior to the 1991 Gulf
War, the problem simply did not exist, and it will take time to reverse this
trend. - htsc 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 www.lwr.org/news/04/031804.asp At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] 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. 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,
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