Human Trafficking in [Nicaragua] [other countries]
Street Children in [Nicaragua] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Nicaragua] [other countries]
 

Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

Republic of Nicaragua [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Republic of Nicaragua is located in Central America [map] and is bordered by Honduras (N & NW), by the Caribbean Sea (E), by Costa Rica (S), and by the Pacific Ocean (SW). Its capital and largest city is Managua. Nicaragua, one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, faces low per capita income, massive unemployment, and huge external debt. Distribution of income is one of the most unequal on the globe. While the country has made progress toward macroeconomic stability over the past few years, GDP annual growth has been far too low to meet the country's needs. Nicaragua has a population of over 5 million, 53% of which is under 18. Nicaragua's main challenge is to overcome inequity and poverty, which affect children and women most severely.

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Nicaragua. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

UNICEF - The Big Picture

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - In urban areas, children work in the streets selling merchandise, cleaning car windows, or begging. Some children are forced by their parents to beg, and some are “rented” out by their parents to organized groups of beggars.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

SECTION 6 WORKER RIGHTS – [d] The government reported that child labor occurred in both urban and rural areas, primarily in the informal sector, including family ventures. In Managua more than six thousand children worked on city streets, selling merchandise, cleaning automobile windows, or begging. The Ministry of Labor continued to report that some children were forced to beg by their parents, and that some parents rented their children to organizers of child beggars. Thousands of children scavenged in garbage dumps to salvage items to use and sell, and in rural areas children worked on farms and in abandoned mines. Tens of thousands of children also labored as domestic workers.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005

[66] The Committee is concerned at the growing number of street children living in the State party, especially in Managua, as well as at the increasing emergence of street youth gangs (pandillas) in the country, of which over 100 are believed to operate in the capital Managua.

[68] The Committee is concerned at the endemic abuse of substances among street children and members of youth gangs.

From streets of Nicaragua, tales of abuse, despair, rescue¹

Inhijambia was formed in 2000, amid a growing number of children from broken homes living in cardboard boxes, under bridges and under the remnants of earthquake-destroyed buildings, Aburto said. The youngsters are known as "huelepegas" -- "glue sniffers" -- because they are addicted to glue. They wear ripped clothes and walk barefoot, and may have been sexually or physically abused by relatives, Aburto said.

"If these children don't come home with money they are not treated well, and that makes them turn to the street, where they believe they will have a better life," Aburto explained. "But their reality is very different."

Extra-judicial Executions Of Street Children And Youth¹

According to the information collected by Casa Alianza Nicaragua, at least 97 (ninety-seven) children and young Nicaraguans less than 23 years of age met violent deaths during the last eight months of the year 2001. According to the reported information, 74% were young boys and youths, constituting the vast majority of the victims. 32% of the victims were less than 17 years of age

Street Children And Juvenile Justice In Nicaragua

This report provides a brief analysis of the situation of street children in Nicaragua, and the reasons for their arrival and prolonged existence on the streets. It examines the existing legal processes, terms and guarantees of national laws relating to juvenile justice in Nicaragua, primarily the Special Criminal Justice System for Adolescents, to identify the gaps and shortcomings that permit rights violations to occur. [Full Report – PDF]

Street Children And Juvenile Justice In Nicaragua – Recommendations [DOC]

Recommendations to the Government, the National Police, and the Judiciary, taken from Street Children and Juvenile Justice in Nicaragua, a report by Casa Alianza Nicaragua and Consortium for Street Children, Spring 2004]

Child Labor - Regional Activities : Latin America and the Caribbean

Given the economic growth in the Latin American and the Caribbean region as a whole over the last decade, it is frightening that 90 million children - or almost 50 percent of all children on the continent - live in poverty. UNICEF reports that there are 100 million street children in the world, half of which are found in Latin America. In Honduras and Nicaragua, it is estimated that between 8 and 12 percent of all children and youth below the age of 18 are working and/or living in the streets. Due to rapid urbanization, inequitable income distribution, economic crises, natural disasters and poverty, the number is likely to increase in the near future.

¡Sí a la Vida! - The Nicaragua Street Kids Project

Sí a la Vida has been able to rescue many youngsters from glue addiction and the dangers and hopelessness of life on the streets. Many of these young boys now attend school for the first time, and whenever possible they are being reunited with their own families.

The Children of Nicaragua - Smiles and Suffering

They have to spend 5 Córdobas for a tin of glue. They live on the streets of Managua together with some 15.000 children between 7 & 14 years of age. Ten times higher is the number of those who, although having a place to live, are living depending on survival strategies.

The Precarious Situation Of Nicaragua's Street Children

Pablo and Walter stand outside of the bakery behind the Supermarket La Fe, begging for money from the middle-class patrons who enter. Their clothes are torn and dirty, and the calluses on their feet testify that they have never owned a pair of shoes. Although they are both ten years old, neither one has ever attended school.

Nicaraguan Street Children Given Chance To Live Sober, Productive Life¹

Kids now feel they have a choice. If they want to detox and get a life and get an education, they can come here and have food, a place to eat and a place to learn a craft. It's their choice."

The Protection Project - Nicaragua [DOC]

NONGOVERNMENTAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION RESPONSES - TESIS, the Association for Workers for Education, Health and Social Integration, was founded in 1992. TESIS has assisted 350 street children through programs that try to reestablish contact with family members and provide alternatives to life on the streets. TESIS also educates the children on HIV/AIDS issues.

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Human Trafficking in [Nicaragua] [other countries]
Street Children in [Nicaragua] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Nicaragua] [other countries]