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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children The |
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** Glue,
a Cheap Substitute for Intoxication Those who might think these street
kids are ignorant are wrong. They are actually inventors - innovators of a
cheap substitute for intoxication, which is easily available in the market,
sold in both drug stores and hardware stores. It is none other than a sticky
adhesive gluten substance commonly known as dendrite solution. If you happen to be in a car in Kathmandu waiting for a red light, don’t be amazed to
witness the street children congregating around your car begging for money
with a plastic bag in hand. These bags, usually filled with gluten, might
look like a harmless, playful thing to us - but it is cheap and extremely
harmful substitute for getting high and intoxicated. ***
ARCHIVES *** A Video Playlist for Nepal - There are an increasing number of street
children videos now available that constitute a supplementary source of
information for researchers, especially for those who may not have
experienced the reality of street children.
[Playlist developed by Brian Horne of almudo.com & streetkidnews.blogsome.com] UNICEF - The Big Picture U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There is anecdotal evidence that unaccompanied children are fleeing
areas of civil unrest and migrating to urban areas because of economic
hardship and to avoid recruitment by Maoist insurgents. There is
concern among government officials and NGOs that these children are much more
vulnerable to labor or sexual exploitation, or living on the streets. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - Internal displacement due to the
conflict, including of children, continued to be a problem, with estimates of
the number displaced ranging widely. The International Labor Organization
estimated that 10 to 15 thousand children were displaced during the year. As
IDPs, children faced inadequate access to food, shelter, and health care, and
had limited access to education. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005 [61] The Committee also notes with
concern that little has been done to address the particular health
vulnerabilities and needs of children at risk, including street children,
child laborers, child sex workers and Dalit children. [85] In view of the increasing
number of children living and working on the street and the State party’s
recognition that they are among the major victims of abuse, neglect and
exploitation, the Committee regrets the paucity of information about specific
programs and measures to address their situation. [95] The Committee notes with
grave concern that certain groups of children are at a particularly higher
risk of being sold and trafficked, including girls, internally displaced
children, street children, orphans, children from rural areas, refugee
children and children belonging to more vulnerable castes. Setting up an orphanage is a
popular activity in Nepal among Western NGOs. There are now over a thousand
orphanages in the country, and over 400 in the Kathmandu
Valley. If each of them houses 30-40 children then in the valley alone around
15,000 children must live in such institutions. Only a small portion of these
children are really orphans. A USAID study among
350 'orphanages' in Nepal showed that only 20 percent of the 8,821 children
surveyed had no parents while over 50 percent still had both parents. Many
apparent orphans live on the street because their parents cannot afford to
feed them properly, but NGOs should question if these homes really contribute
to reducing poverty. Glue,
a Cheap Substitute for Intoxication Those who might think these street
kids are ignorant are wrong. They are actually inventors - innovators of a
cheap substitute for intoxication, which is easily available in the market,
sold in both drug stores and hardware stores. It is none other than a sticky
adhesive gluten substance commonly known as dendrite solution. If you happen to be in a car in Kathmandu waiting for a red light, don’t be amazed to
witness the street children congregating around your car begging for money
with a plastic bag in hand. These bags, usually filled with gluten, might
look like a harmless, playful thing to us - but it is cheap and extremely
harmful substitute for getting high and intoxicated. NEPAL:
Street children sniff glue to beat hunger pangs The decade-long armed conflict
between the Nepali government and Maoist rebels that ended last year also
contributed to the rise in numbers, say activists. But despite the signing of
the peace treaty in November 2006, many children continue to live on the
streets, homeless, food-insecure and suffering from serious health problems,
according to CWIN.
CWIN found that almost all street
children were addicted to glue sniffing because of hunger and the influence
of friends. About 95 percent of street children were using glue, and it would
not take much to introduce the habit to the remaining 5 percent, it
said. It found that some children used
as many as 15 tubes a day (one tube of dendrite can be used four to five
times) and many used it as a substitute for regular meals. The cheapest of all dendrites is
Nepal-made, besides the imports from India and China. It is available in all
hardware shops and costs less than 40 US cents per 25mg tube. A Different View Concerning CA Polls http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=28138 There are about 12 million
under-18 years of age who are regarded as children,
having no right to cast their ballots in the upcoming CA polls. Due to
growing awareness, many children are aware about the condition of political
upheaval, human rights, social justice and democratic process of the country.
Many of them have participated in the people’s movement in one or the other.
Street children were the ones who actively participated in many of the
political protest programmes. Many of them were
injured but none of the organization, government or political parties came
forward to acknowledge their contribution, let alone taking care of them. Feeling Of Guilt http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=25646 On the matter, it is rather
unfortunate that the number of street children in the cities is increasing
especially in the Kathmandu metro. It is plain and
clear to any one who takes the round of the metro whether as a pedestrian,
public vehicle commuter or in your own private means of transportation.
There, out in the street, are groups of the street children on their prowl.
They may be asking for donations or scavenging as the metro is a haven for
garbage piles at strategic points. Heckling the people is their
common behaviour. Can't fight back but listen to
them. One has the tendency to get humiliated but there's no way out but go through the experience. The street children are not to
be blamed as they are living a live deprivation and sees in you a person who
has enough of everything. One just can't face many of such children with
supposedly empty milk pouches. Probably they are sniffing glue. Well, it's a
percentage of a generation that is going to waste. That brings in us a
feeling of guilt. Nepal Street
Life: Adventure, Abuse & Addiction: Karen Choy Happy days. Countless hours spent
sniffing dendrite, smoking cigarettes, drinking "chyang",
watching movies, playing cards, marbles, and video games. This is the life of
a street child in Kathmandu. No responsibilities
and fun with friends. According to one child, "I
don't want to go home because I earn money here. I earn 100 to 150 rupees per
day by rag picking. I eat meat and rice and with the rest of the money, I buy
dendrite and drink alcohol. I'm the leader of my group." Comments such as this reinforce
the public perception of unruly, uncontrollable, and unreformable
children. Many children do not regret their decision to live on the street.
One child explains, "I like to stay on the street. Everyone loves me
here." Street kids, domestic hands seek voting rights http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=25205 Media persons and those working
for the child rights said that many street children were more aware about
politics than other children. They
said that more than 50 per cent street children participated in the people's
movement in one way or the other. In many protest programmes
these children were the ones who were at the front, they said. More than 50
per cent of the street children were also injured but nobody has cared for
them or has acknowledged their contribution. Glue is
sticking with Kathmandu kids WHAT IS BEING DONE? - Child welfare organization SAATHI is currently conducting exploratory research on
the needs of dendrite addicted street children. SAATHI
is gathering data from Kathmandu street children in
order to develop effective long term interventions for addicted children. CWIN has completed research on glue sniffing in the past
and currently engages in anti-drug campaigns targeting addicted street
children. "Most crucial is a rehabilitation center. Many of the street
children are aware of the harmful effects. There nees
to be long term support and strong government policies to address this
issue," said Suvekycha Rana,
Child Program Coordinator of SAATHI. Currently,
there are no long term drug rehabilitation facilities for children in Kathmandu. Such services are only available to youth and
adults. Furthermore, both CWIN and SAATHI emphasize the need for a comprehensive, long term
approach to addiction among street children. Support services, long term
rehabilitation centers for children, public awareness, and strong government
policies combating glue sniffing are key elements in a comprehensive
approach. Simply criminalizing inhalant abuse and penalizing dendrite
distributors will only drive glue sniffing underground. In this situation,
the more vulnerable street children would be subject to further exploitation. Nepal:
Street children given hope KHEMRAJ PURI - Most of the time we used to
collect plastic garbage in order to sell it. But the money we would get for a
whole day's work was not enough for one breakfast. So we used to steal fruit
and vegetables from the shops. We were
not allowed to sleep in front of the people's houses. So we used to sleep,
when there were no policemen, in the corner of the road cuddling with the
dogs to keep warm. GOPAL GURUNG - I slept on the side of the
road, in the park and in front of the shopping centres.
Early in the morning I would get a hard kick in my back to chase me
away. I saw kids going to school. I
was very jealous as I also wanted to study. I was seven years old and I had
not known what education was. I wanted to study and become a good human
being. Former
street child helps fight destitution When Saran Silwal
was a young child begging for food and rummaging through garbage on the
streets of Kathmandu, he could never have imagined
he would end up working for a five-star hotel in Dubai. He had fallen out with his family and ended
up homeless by the time he was just eight years old. "I was just wandering the streets and I
found other children sleeping in the street and joined them. "The worst part was the
hunger. I would see somebody eating something mouth-watering in a restaurant.
I just wanted to kill my hunger," he said. Many street youngsters in the capital of
Nepal, to cope with the hunger and the cold nights of sleeping in rags, fall
into the abyss of glue-sniffing. Street kids
to join Dashain celebrations Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has stopped dealing with the problems faced by
street children, according to Raju Shrestha, the program manager of Domestic Child Worker at
KMC. In the past, the unit was looking after the
problem under an International Labor Organization project. The project
is over now. Street
Kids Getting High With Adhesives "Almost 95 per cent of the
children below 14 years and living on the streets are addicted to adhesives.
They have plastic bags with glues in them all the time," he added. Various NGOs in Nepal are holding
a rally to raise awareness in every citizen of the problem of child labor.
Many street children will join the rally for a chance to get a full meal.
More than 500 children are expected to participate. But there are more than
5,000 street children in Nepal. Street
Children in Nepal Struggling with AIDS It is well documented that
street-based children share an environment and practices that make them
vulnerable to HIV infection. Furthermore, two independent tests conducted by
an NGO in Kathmandu in 2002 identified the
existence of HIV infection among this sub-population. In these tests, 25 out
of 80 (31 percent) street children were HIV positive, and 16 out of 32 (50
percent) "high-risk" street children were HIV positive. Street
Kids Lukewarm to Idea of Taking to Streets Although some children are being
seen during protest programmes in the capital, the
involvement of street children in the ongoing demonstrations and clashes is
minimal. The street children make their
livelihood from rag picking, so they are seen in the localities mostly after
the protest scenes are over to collect scarps, said Suchita
Shah, programme manager of Sath
Sath. Amrit Pariyar and his friends have been moving to the places
after the riots are over to collect wires from the remains of burnt tyres and aluminum of used tear gas shells. The
Pathetic Reality of Street Children in Nepal Over the past few decades, the standard
of living of many urban Nepalese has risen beyond measure, even in the midst
of political turmoil. But ironically, at the same time many poor children are
struggling for survival out in the streets, sleeping on makeshift cardboard
mattresses in main cities like SKiD Project - The Nepal Street Kids
Database Online Reports about Street Kids
in Selected
Links about Street Kids in NGO working
with Street Kids in According to ILO's
rapid assessment on rag-picking children, there are about 4,000 children
working in this sector, which is considered one of the worst forms of child
labor. Among the rag pickers, 88% are boys and 12% girls. In average, rag pickers work 6 hours a day
and earn NRs. 87 per day. They
concentrate in the areas like junkyards, temples, market centers, cinema
halls, airports, bus terminals, hardware shops, tourist centers, etc. while
they do their work. While on the
street they face problems of hunger, shelter, clothes, etc. Similarly, face problems from police,
"dada" (bullies), gang etc.
With all these problems and tensions, they lead their complex life. Street
Children, Big Problem in Nepal Most of the children living in the
streets right now left their homes at the age of eight because of various
problems that happened in their families.
These problems were mainly caused by stepmothers, family conflicts,
poverty, lack of awareness, and orphanages.
Some children left in search of better opportunities in the big
cities. Most of those children living
in the streets depend on begging from others, working as porters and
construction workers in the construction sites inside of the cities and their
neighboring villages. Information
about Street Children - Nepal [DOC] Constraints and challenges:
Dangerous and unhealthy living environments and the resulting untreated
illnesses and frequent injuries that entail. Lack of adequate emotional support,
food, shelter and safe places to sleep and store belongings, leading to
inability of street children to save money. Dependency of newcomers to the
street on more ‘experienced’ street children. Involvement of street children
in criminal activities. Child
Labour Is Cruel Alright, But Who Is To Take Care Of The Freed Children? ‘I left home thinking that the
carpet factory would hire me, but they told me the authorities did not want
people of my age to work. It might be
a good thing done by the government, but where does it leave people like me?’
asks a desperate Shivam. Indeed, where
did that leave him? On the Bank accounts
for Nepal's street kids About 600 children live and work
in the streets of A
Life Without Basic Service - Street Children Say In not recognizing the opportunities
as well as the problems of street life, organizations have been unsuccessful
in providing viable alternatives. The way we perceive street children
dictates our response to them. The aim
of this study has been to gain an understanding of street children's
perspectives of their own situation to encourage more appropriate and
effective interventions. Street children are a part of modern Nepalese society CWIN, originally part of a students'
democracy movement, aims at raising people's awareness of childhood as
something special and, most particularly, of the appalling conditions of
street children in Nepal. It also combats the use of child labor. CWIN does
not want to be an aid agency, but rather an active operator among the
children. Alcohol and Drug Use among Street Children in Nepal Sumnima Tuladhar
of CWIN presented the results of a study on alcohol and drug use among street
children in six urban centers in Alcohol
and Drug Use Among Street Children in Nepal; A study in six urban centres
[PDF] The current prevalence rate of
drugs is 20.6% and the overall prevalence of alcohol use among children aged
10-17 is 17.4% for current use, with 21.8% for boys and 11.2% for girls.
Exposure of drugs use largely depends on the company of children. The
socio-psychological circumstance is much more favorable for drug use for
children. More and more street children are exposed to intravenous drug use.
Among them about 10% are believed to be exposed to HIV infection. Glue Sniffing among Street Children in the Kathmandu Valley [PDF] More than 80% street children are addicted
to glue sniffing, which is the current trend among street children. The issue
of drug use and HIV among street children is utterly neglected by the
organizations working on the issues of HIV and drug abuse. NGO Initiatives
Addressing Glue-Sniffing Among Street Children In Nepal Glue sniffing which is a largely
urban phenomenon among street children in All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
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