Human Trafficking in [Papua New Guinea] [other countries]Street Children in [Papua New Guinea Child Prostitution in [Papua New Guinea] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the
early years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/streetchildren/PapuaNewGuinea.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in Papua New Guinea. 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. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** The long road toward juvenile justice in Papua New Guinea United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, WEWAK www.unicef.org/infobycountry/papuang_30356.html [accessed 3 July 2011] During his arrest for shoplifting
Michael was shot in the leg by a police officer. “On the way to the police
station, while I lay wounded from the gunshot, they beat me with their weapons
and with broken bottles,” says Michael, who points to a scar on his face,
near his eye. “They cut me here. I thought they were going to kill me.” He was held in detention for three
months and never received any medical attention. “The other boys held in the
cells helped me,” he says. “I was bleeding a lot. They cleaned my wounds.
Then two strong boys held me down. They used a knife and fork to take out the
bullet from my leg while I screamed.” Making Their Own Rules - Police Beatings, Rape, and
Torture of Children in Human Rights Watch,
September 2005 -- Vol. 17, No. 8 (C) At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 July 2011] [p.6] SUMMARY - According to victims and eyewitnesses, police typically beat individuals at the moment of arrest, during the time they are transported to the station, and often at the station itself. Beatings are so routine that police make little or no attempt to hide them, beating children in front of the general public and international observers. A man who said police beat him and forced him to fight naked with other detainees in a police station when he was sixteen or seventeen years old noted: “We thought it was their job and we just had to accept it.” Although police violence is endemic and adults described similar experiences, children’s particular vulnerability and the assumption that boys and young men are “raskols”—members of criminal gangs—make children especially easy targets. [p.47] POLICE ABUSE OF ESPECIALLY
VULNERABLE PERSONS -
Although anyone arrested is at risk of violence, police appear to target
those who are the least powerful and most stigmatized, including sex workers,
boys and men who engage in homosexual conduct, and street vendors. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2005 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2005/tda2005.pdf [accessed 15 December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Education is not compulsory or free in CHILD LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - Any work by children between
the ages of 11 and 16 must not interfere with school attendance. Children perceived as gang members, street
vendors, child sex workers and boys engaged in homosexual conduct are
subjected to police violence. Human Rights Reports » 2006
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78787.htm [accessed 15 December 2010] SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
Work by children between the ages of 11 and 16 must not interfere with school
attendance. Priest wants more care given to needy children www.thenational.com.pg/041708/nation40.htm [Last access date unavailable] A Catholic priest in Lae has called for more attention and care to be given to
orphans and street kids. Fr Arnold
Smith said many of these children do not know where to seek help and was most
vulnerable to all forms of ills in society today. “The number of children out there
on the streets is increasing, and it is now time to do something,” Fr Arnold
said. Many of these children can be
seen collecting empty bottles or doing other odd jobs to earn a living. They
end up sleeping in front of shops or on the pavements. Past and recent surveys have shown that
many of these children were either from poor families or have been abandoned
by parents who had either moved away or have died from AIDS. Speaking on behalf of We Care, the
foundation for Women and Children at Risk, Fr John Glynn pointed out that
children were “always hungry for affection” because they had been denied
family support. Slavos set up street kids project www.thenational.com.pg/010908/Nation%2026.htm [accessed 3 July 2011] The escalating number of street
children under the age of 15 in Lae means there
will be more children not attending school when the academic year begins at
the end of the month. Major Sere Kala of Salvation Army of North Coastal Division
headquarters said there was a growing number of street
children from the settlements outside the city begging for a living in
the city’s main business areas. He
said in the last three years, the Salvation Army in Lae
had been rehabilitating the unfortunate youths, but this year there would be
an inclusion of children from 8-15 years in their Street Level Ministry. Asia-Pacific Programme of
Education for All - UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO, www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=3377 [accessed 3 July 2011] The population is very young, with
50 per cent under the age of 18. The major factors contributing to the
increase in street children are domestic violence, family breakdown, parental
unemployment, urban migration, political and economic instability of the
government, and peer influences. Moreover, natural disasters causing large
losses of lives, displacement of families, and the destruction of crops and
property, has also led to an increase in the number of children living and
working on the streets in Papua New Guinea. A major challenge in Papua New
Guinea is that there are no government policies directly addressing the
situation of street children. Other major challenges include the lack of
government support, lack of resources, and a lack of effective coordination
and support between NGOs and government agencies. Consortium for Street Children - Consortium for Street Children cfsc.trunky.net/content.asp?pageID=29®ionID=3&countryID=26 [accessed 3 July 2011] Street children in Information about Street Children – This report is taken from “A Civil Society Forum for East
and South East Asia on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children”,
12-14 March 2003 – Bangkok, Thailand At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 July 2011] CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES - Street children are a recently
emerging phenomenon. There are no government policies that directly address
the situ The long road toward juvenile justice in Papua New Guinea United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, WEWAK www.unicef.org/infobycountry/papuang_30356.html [accessed 3 July 2011] During his arrest for shoplifting
Michael was shot in the leg by a police officer. “On the way to the police
station, while I lay wounded from the gunshot, they beat me with their
weapons and with broken bottles,” says Michael, who points to a scar on his
face, near his eye. “They cut me here. I thought they were going to kill me.” He was held in detention for three
months and never received any medical attention. “The other boys held in the
cells helped me,” he says. “I was bleeding a lot. They cleaned my wounds.
Then two strong boys held me down. They used a knife and fork to take out the
bullet from my leg while I screamed.” Police Violence, Including Rape and Sexual Assault Human Rights Watch Report: Violence Against Girls in Conflict with the Law www.hrw.org/legacy/english/docs/2007/02/20/global15345.htm#1 [accessed 3 July 2011] The cops came and got the girls
one by one. There were five guys. There were five girls so they each had one
for themselves. One came to me. I was crying and said, “You guys hit me
already.” . . . The same guy who hit me wanted to take me out. I said, “You
have already belted me around so how can I go?” He booted me on the ass and
slapped me. He pushed me. I had a lump on my back and bruises on my bum. After that, they took the other
four out. They did whatever they wanted to do with them. . . There was
moonlight. It was on the dirt. It was right in front of me. I could see
through the window. It was forcible. The others had
injuries from where they were belted—they had bruises on their bums and where
they were forced to have sex. Making Their Own Rules - Police Beatings, Rape, and
Torture of Children in Human Rights Watch,
September 2005 -- Vol. 17, No. 8 (C) At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 July 2011] [p.6] SUMMARY -
According to victims and eyewitnesses, police typically beat individuals at
the moment of arrest, during the time they are transported to the station,
and often at the station itself.
Beatings are so routine that police make little or no attempt to hide
them, beating children in front of the general public and international
observers. A man who said police beat him and forced him to fight naked with
other detainees in a police station when he was sixteen or seventeen years
old noted: “We thought it was their job and we just had to accept it.”
Although police violence is endemic and adults described similar experiences,
children’s particular vulnerability and the assumption that boys and young
men are “raskols”—members of criminal gangs—make
children especially easy targets. [p.47] POLICE ABUSE OF ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE PERSONS - Although anyone arrested is at
risk of violence, police appear to target those who are the least powerful
and most stigmatized, including sex workers, boys and men who engage in
homosexual conduct, and street vendors. 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, "Street Children – |
Human Trafficking in [Papua New Guinea] [other countries]Street Children in [Papua New Guinea Child Prostitution in [Papua New Guinea] [other countries]