Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Niger.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Information about
Street Children - Niger [DOC] This report is taken
from “A Civil Society Forum for Francophone Africa on Promoting and
Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 2-5 June 2004, At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 June
2011] The fundamental cause
of the street child phenomenon is poverty, although this acts in combination
with a number of other factors such as the exclusive and inappropriate
education system (30% of school drop outs end up on the streets),
intra-familial conflict and parental neglect/abuse, population pressure and
the practice of using very young children as beggars to supplement income. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/niger.htm [accessed 12
December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children also shine shoes; guard cars; work as
apprentices for artisans, tailors, and mechanics; perform domestic work; and
work as porters and street beggars.
Some Koranic teachers indenture young boys and send them to beg in the
streets. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61585.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] CHILDREN
-
Although the law provides that the government promote children's welfare,
financial resources for this purpose were extremely limited. Education was
compulsory and free for a minimum period of six years; however, according to
the Ministry of Basic Education, only approximately 50 percent of children of
primary school age attended school. There were many
displaced children, mostly boys, begging on the streets of the larger cities.
Most of these boys came from rural areas and were indentured to Koranic
schools by their parents due to economic hardship. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 7 June 2002 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/niger2002.html [accessed 4 March
2011] [66] The Committee
is concerned at the number of children who are begging in the streets. The
Committee notes that part of these child beggars are scholars under the
guardianship of Islamic religious education teachers. The Committee is
concerned at their vulnerability to all forms of exploitation. [68] The Committee
is concerned at the increasing number of child victims of sexual exploitation,
including for prostitution and pornography, especially among child laborers
and street children. Concern is also expressed at the insufficient programs
for the physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of child
victims of such abuse and exploitation. Committee on the
Rights to the Child (CRC) - Reports to Treaty Bodies For the Record 2002:
The United Nations Human Rights System -- Publication produced by Human
Rights Internet (HRI) in partnership with the Canadian Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 June 2011] Noted with concern
were ... the existence of slavery in some parts of the country; the number of
children who are begging in the streets and their vulnerability to all forms
of exploitation; the increasing number of child victims of sexual exploitation,
including for prostitution and pornography, especially among child laborers
and street children; the absence of juvenile courts, and the limited number
of juvenile judges, social workers and teachers working in this field. Children Rights ECPAT: CSEC Country Report nigergroup.pbworks.com/w/page/23964283/Nina [accessed 27 June
2011] [scroll down to CHILDREN RIGHTS] The prostitution of
boys is another emerging phenomenon in the country, involving in most cases
street children and children in conflict with the law. Reports have indicated
that boys as young as 12 were involved in this form of exploitation. Taking action for
girls' education [PDF] A. Kyrillou, Links
- A newsletter on gender for Oxfam Great Britain (GB) staff and partners, 6-7
October 2003 www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/learning/gender/links/downloads/links1003.pdf [accessed 27 June
2011] www.popline.org/node/251733 [accessed 26 December
2016] [page 4] RECORD BREAKERS - An amazing 1.8
million children from Plan
Plan International www.plan-uk.org/wherewework/westafrica/niger/ [Last access date to
the following posting on the Plan website is unavailable] plan-international.org/niger [accessed 26 December
2016] Niger remains one
of the world’s poorest countries with 63% of the population living on less
than $1 a day. Slavery was only banned in 2003 and it is estimated that
thousands of people still live in subjugation. With only one third of primary
school-age children receiving education, Niger has one of the lowest literacy
rates in the world. Likewise, its health system is rudimentary and disease is
widespread SOME OF THE REASONS
PLAN WORKS IN Eugene Richards -
Seeing-Eye Children Themes (a bimonthly
documentary photography magazine) -- edited by John Vink,
associated at Magnum photo www.magic.be/themes3/Theme3bis.html [accessed 27 June 2011] EUGENE RICHARDS -
SEEING-EYE CHILDREN
- In Niger many children are compelled to act as guides for their parents who
suffer from onchocerciasis, or river blindness. There is the story of Boube, 9 years old,
who walks his father when he goes panhandling on the streets of “Send my friend
to school” plead the children Plan International At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 June
2011] Plan 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,
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