Human Trafficking in [Philippines] [other countries]Street Children in [Philippines Child Prostitution in [Philippines] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children Republic of the Philippines [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Republic of the |
|
CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** VICTIMS OF POVERTY - The boys who are staying at
Stairway are between 13 and 18 years old and from Manila. They have been
living on the street either because they do not have a family or have run
away from home. “Most of the children
are victims of poverty and the consequences of poverty which are broken
families, violence, drugs, alcoholism, and in many cases sexual abuse,” Lars
explains. “It is a great decision for a child at the age of 10 to decide to
run away from home. They will take a lot of beating before that. I think the
sexual abuse is what really makes then run away,” he says. Death
squads roam Davao–UN, monitors All the young Davao
victims lived on the street, had joined gangs, and many had police records
for petty crime or were drug couriers, local rights monitors say. “The death squads are actually
copying Brazil,” he said, referring to the wave of vigilante killings of
street children in the South American country in the 1990s. “They said that this is a good
thing for Davao. This is good for business because
people feel safe, that the DDS [Davao death squads]
is doing a service to the community—that they’re trying to get rid of the
garbage,” he said. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF - The Big Picture U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children living on the streets engage in informal labor activities
such as scavenging or begging. Children are also engaged in domestic
service and are involved in the commercial sex industry, including the use of
children in the production of pornography and the exploitation of children by
sex tourists. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - The government estimated that
there were at least 22 thousand street children nationwide. UNICEF estimated
that there were approximately 250 thousand street children. Welfare officials
believed that the number increased as a result of widespread unemployment in
rural areas. Many street children appeared to be abandoned and engaged in
scavenging or begging. Concluding Observations
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005 [82] The Committee reiterates its
grave concern at the high number of children living in the streets and their
special vulnerability to various forms of violence and abuse, including sexual
abuse and exploitation, economic exploitation and substance abuse. The
Committee notes the lack of a systematic and comprehensive strategy to
address the situation and protect children living in the streets. The
Committee emphasizes that unlawful arrests and detentions of street children
are serious violations of the provisions and principles of the Convention.
Notwithstanding the efforts taken by the State party and, in particular many
non-governmental organizations working with and for street children, e.g. ChildHope Asia Philippines, the Committee is concerned
about street children’s limited access to adequate nutrition, clothing,
housing, social and health services and education. Furthermore, the Committee
is concerned about health risks faced by street children, including
environmental health risks, such as toxic and hazardous wastes and air
pollution. Suspected
pickpockets, 10 of them youngsters, nabbed “We believe those children were
members of a syndicate whose modus is to get the attention of their would-be
victims by mobbing them while pretending to be vendors selling different items,”
Trago told the Inquirer. Unfortunately, he said, some parents of
street children were the ones “encouraging” them to engage in criminal acts. According to Trago,
the victim, his Filipina wife Wilma and two other companions had just stepped
out of the Zirkoh Comedy Bar in Timog
Avenue, in the village of South Triangle at around 2:45 a.m. when more than
12 street kids suddenly mobbed them. Wilma
said some of the children begged for money from her husband while others
asked them to buy sampaguita flowers. “My husband got irked when some of the kids
put their hands inside the side pockets of his pants,” Wilma narrated. She said her husband only noticed that his
wallet was missing when they boarded their vehicle. Death
squads roam Davao–UN, monitors All the young Davao
victims lived on the street, had joined gangs, and many had police records
for petty crime or were drug couriers, local rights monitors say. “The death squads are actually
copying Brazil,” he said, referring to the wave of vigilante killings of
street children in the South American country in the 1990s. “They said that this is a good
thing for Davao. This is good for business because
people feel safe, that the DDS [Davao death squads]
is doing a service to the community—that they’re trying to get rid of the
garbage,” he said. VICTIMS OF POVERTY - The boys who are staying at
Stairway are between 13 and 18 years old and from Manila. They have been living
on the street either because they do not have a family or have run away from
home. “Most of the children are
victims of poverty and the consequences of poverty which are broken families,
violence, drugs, alcoholism, and in many cases sexual abuse,” Lars explains.
“It is a great decision for a child at the age of 10 to decide to run away
from home. They will take a lot of beating before that. I think the sexual
abuse is what really makes then run away,” he says. No
Merry Christmas for street children While children of well-off
families enjoy suffering from Noche Buena
overindulgence, street children suffer from hunger or food shortage. For
Filipinos, Christmas is a season for family reunions and gatherings. Parents
have their children in tow and are confronted with a heavy plate of pasta,
ham, morcon, fruit salad. Street children are
forced to beg for alms while singing Christmas carols or scavenge for food just
to bring home something for the family to share on Christmas Eve. Some
are young criminals—with a gang boss. Instead of family reunions, these
children are reunited with their comrades in juvenile prison. SPO1 Alfred Tenorio of the Manila Police District said their records
show that the number of children put in jail increases as the holiday season
approaches. The most common offense committed by these children are
bag-snatching and pick pocketing, especially in the Divisoria,
Binondo and Quiapo districts
areas flooded with shoppers. SPO1 Tenorio
reveals that most children they take in for questioning say they really don’t
want to commit crimes. Most of them are forced by their parents,
bullied by older kids or instructed by syndicate bosses. Street
‘carolers’ will be rounded up--MMDA The Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority (MMDA) said it will be
rounding up street children caught caroling on busy streets beginning next
week. The idea is not a kill-joy move
but intended to keep the children out of the way of speeding cars and trucks,
said general manager Robert Nacianceno. "Kids who want to have fun
can still sing songs from house to house in their neighborhoods, in front of
houses where there are no speeding cars. They can still go caroling,"
the MMDA official explained. But children who dart to and from across
major roads like EDSA, knocking on windshields and
car windows for alms will definitely be taken into custody, Nacianceno added. Fr.
Shay Cullen » Why Children Die In the Philippines elementary and
high school education is supposed to be provided free to the students by the
government as their human right. But it’s not free. The children can’t enroll
and that’s why there are hundreds of thousands of street children, working
children and abused children begging on the streets and living in slums and
unbelievable poverty surrounded by the sumptuous wealth of the few rich that
have it all. That’s the reason they unknowingly take food from pimps and
pedophiles and are trafficked with promises of food and money into the sex
business. Manila
gov’t rescues children addicted to solvents It has become a common sight in
Manila: street urchins with dingy eyes, inhaling compact solvents in plastic
bags, even near the city’s police stations. On Monday night, Manila Mayor
Alfredo Lim ordered massive rescue operations for these children addicted to
inhalants. Temporary
home provides shelter to street children Karen never knew the meaning of
home until she set foot in the Open Day Center (ODC)
run by the Virlanie Foundation. Having known only life in the streets and
under the bridges of Manila, the strong willed 5-year-old girl was unprepared
for this welcome environment in the heart of Quiapo
and unwilling to leave the sanctuary it suddenly offered her. But the center is open only from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m., after which the center’s staff of six retires from the task
of providing street children like Karen a place to eat, bathe, and perhaps
escape momentarily, the scary world outside.
Thus when the clock struck five, Karen would not budge from her
seat. She shook her head twice and
squared her shoulders, determined not to leave what had served as her home
for eight hours that day. “Can I stay?” she asked, leaving the social worker
on duty not a little heartbroken.
Finally, her big brother grabbed Karen’s arm and together, as the sun set,
they strolled toward whatever nook or cranny of Quezon
Bridge was available to spend the night. We can always come back tomorrow, he
told her. When justice begins the pain ends The story of Jose began when he
was hungry and he fell into temptation. He stole a cheap necklace not worth
three dollars. But the owner, a street seller, was an unforgiving person. He
had no understanding and he insisted on calling the police and having young
Jose arrested and brought to the police station. Jose’s mother is a vegetable
seller, his father is dead and he has three brothers and two sisters. Jose is small for his age and
underweight and has large appealing eyes. The necklace seller was shouting
and cursing Jose. He was shamed and humiliated. The police brought him inside
the jail and roughly pushed and shoved him, they twisted his arms behind his
back to hurt him and he was bashed on the back of his head with a gun. It
raised a huge lump and intense pain. The police shouted at him and began to
beat him. He could not hold back the tears
as the pain pierced his head and brain. He cried held his head and slumped on
the floor of a tiny cell packed with a dozen other street kids in ragged
dirty T-shirts and shorts emaciated and starving. Their hunger and thirst was
intense in the overpowering heat of the jail cell. There was no food for Jose or the
street kids because the police holding station does not feed the prisoners
that is the responsibility of their family, if they have any. They didn't
send for Jose's parents either although that's the law but the law also says
they kids must not be put in jail. But the police do it anyway. The
Filipino kids still behind bars There has been progress in saving
and releasing hundreds of small children and youth from the stench filled
cells across the Philippines. President Macapagal-Arroyo
ordered last 16 July 2007 that all children be released from the prisons,
police jails and so-called reception centers, a euphemism for child prisons.
The Preda children's home in Olongapo
is almost full but ready to receive more children and is building a new home
for some of those to be released. Cradle a child prison in Metro Manila is to
be closed. The president heard the cries of the children echoed by the
charities helping them survive. There could yet be an estimated
20,000 waiting for freedom. The new Juvenile Justice and Welfare law says
they must be released, the presidential executive order 633 made only this
July, says it must be implemented without delay but bureaucracy is moribund
and there is no ready homes for the many children behind bars. GenSan's ex-rugby boys become bakers Former "rugby boys" in
General Santos City now have a bright future ahead of them after they were
taught to become bakers. Now, instead of sniffing bottles of the addictive
substance, the boys hone their skills in the art of making breads and
pastries. Aldrin Ano-os,
one of those trained to become a baker, said life is much better now compared
to two years ago when he struggled to survive in the streets. 25 - Iloilo street children receive additional housing The local government unit here has
turned over 20 housing units for street children and their families in the Gawad Kalinga (GK) Village in Barangay So-oc, Arevalo district here. To date, a total of 36 housing
units have been built within the GK Village. Turnover for the first 16 units
was done in November last year.
Livelihood programs have likewise been put in place, such as dress
making and terracota pottery for the women and
youth The GK Village in Iloilo is the
sixth that the PLDT group has adopted nationwide.
It serves the specific purpose of providing street children and their
families with permanent homes. FUTURE
FIRST: Investing in (street)children You see
them begging on the streets or rapping on car windows for alms. Their clothes
are dirty and smelly because they rummage trash bins for food scraps. Some
huddle in street corners, sniffing rugby. Children
sell cigarettes or sampaguita leis while others
resort to stealing, prostitution, and other petty crimes. According to the 1998 report,
entitled "Situation of the Youth in the Philippines," there are
about 1.5 milllion street children in the
Philippines, and 75,000 of them are found in Metro Manila alone. Children
in jail still need saving Bengie is a 14 year old, picked up by
police on the streets of Manila accused for stealing food from a vendor's
stall and held for weeks in local police station mixed in with thieves,
accused rapists and even child abusers. The Preda
social workers found Bengie and negotiated his
release and transfer to the Preda Boys Home under
the provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law (Republic Act 9344)
enacted in 2006. Unless the social workers go look in every police station
and neighborhood substation the children will not be helped by the law. The street offers skimpy income
for the family’s short rations.. It’s the only
alternative to a desolate crowded home, abuse or violence. They “leave home”
to escape from their families and ply sidewalks, hang around malls, begging,
selling cigarettes, “sometimes even their little bodies". Less visible,
street girls “are clearly an understudied reality. And they’re particularly
stigmatized as they are perceived to be prostitutes". They craft survival strategies to
meet daily needs, interviews reveal. They appropriate niches where they cadge
a few pesos, feel safe and find enjoyment. “They create alternative communities
which substitute for families they can not rely on," the study notes.
Their pride is “a defiant one born out of the lack of choice.” And all
disappear from welfare agendas when they are not children anymore. In Cebu,
a phletora of agencies of varying effectiveness
work for street kids, writes Judith Pomm of
Germany’s Rhur University Bochum.
But many citizens turn deaf ears to whimpers from the growing number of kids
who take to the streets to beat poverty and hunger. Indifference “appears the
most common reaction.” Officials milk the kids for
publicity, shove them into “houses of safety,” stressing their criminal
potential, e.g. “they scratch parked cars.” “Homelesness
gets confused with delinquency.” Two justifications are offered: vagrancy and
mendicancy. “We don’t arrest children. We protect them,” says an official. Home
for homeless kids in GenSan opens Homeless street children now have
their own place in the growing metropolis following the completion of an P8.3
million drop-in and social development training facility right at the heart
of the city. City
launches 'Oplan Kalayaan' Last Thursday, Barredo's
group rescued over a hundred beggars, mendicants, rugby-sniffing kids, and mentally
deranged individuals roaming the streets.
As part of the intensified campaign, the rescued street urchins
underwent a three-day seminar during which they were assessed to determine if
they should be sent to the Care centers, sent back to their places of origin,
or provided with livelihood opportunities and other interventions. Street
children get assistance Bacolod Mayor Evelio
Leonardia yesterday distributed cash assistance
amounting to P28,500 to 57 street children from the different barangays in Bacolod City. The children are part of the total 110
beneficiaries identified by the Department of Social Services and
Development. DSSD
head Sally Abelarde said a number of these street
children engage in mendicancy and one of the programs of the Leonardia administration is to provide them education
assistance of P500 each annually to augment their needs in school. From begging
to scrap collecting, street kids make modest living Street children here have shifted
and reinvented themselves to cope with the trying times from street begging
to scrap collecting, which officials described as gauge of a competing
economy even between the less privileged sector. At least 36 street children,
mostly vendors, were apprehended in Angeles City to prevent them from being
exploited by suspected pedophiles hounding the entertainment area, a police
official said. Angeles Police Chief
Sonny Cunanan also said the move was part of the
City Government's anti-vagrancy campaign. She said the children, aged six to
17 years old, were roaming the Fields Avenue area as flower vendors, beggars,
and scavengers. She said they called the attention of the children's parents
and educated them of the law about exploitation on children. "Once we see these children back on
the streets, we will file cases against their parents," she said. City
to round up children, stray dogs The task force will reorient the
children with the goal of sending them back to school, if their parents
cannot be located. Those whom we will
see in the streets, we will rescue them and try to identify them. If we find
out they have been neglected, then we will file a petition for involuntary
commitment so the City Government can take custody of these children. One day I am taken on a tour of a
cemetery where some of the street children live ? a place which appears not
so far from hell on earth ? drugged up nine year olds sniff brain-frying
glues, feverish dehydrated babies lie on concrete tombstones, adolescents
sleep in the unused grave chambers. The reasons why children end up on the
streets like this are varied, but very often they are running away from
families where they are horrendously neglected, abused, or plain abandoned. Street
Children of the Philippines Maritess, her older sister, says that Elsha May was barely two when she started begging money
from Jeepney passengers. The Jeepney is a
local means of transportation in the Philippines. As soon as the stoplight
turns red, Elsha may runs to the Jeepney, wipes the shoes of the passengers, and looks
into their eyes until she gets the equivalent of two cents. At night, Elsha
May is at the train station, begging once more for money and food. When the
train station closes at 10 in the evening, her oldest sister, Maricris, picks her up and brings her home. Elsha May gives
all her earnings to her family. After
a hard day's work, she shares with her siblings a plate of noodles that she
bought with her earnings. City
vying for ‘Most Child-Friendly’ title Abelarde said that solving the problem on
street children needs scientific approach.
This appoach, Abelarde
said is to first know the number of years these street children have lived on
the streets and multiply it to three years. The result is the minimum period
of successfully taking them from the streets. Parents'
non-cooperation hampers help for street kids: social welfare The reluctance of parents to
cooperate with agencies concerned in promoting children's welfare is one of
the reasons why the problem on street children could not fully be addressed,
a social welfare official said on Tuesday. He said some families refuse to
work with them, claiming they do not need the agency's intervention in
protecting the welfare of their children. He added that some parents believed
that their children stay on the streets to earn a living. UNICEF
impressed with projects for street children in Cebu
City The United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) has expressed satisfaction about the various measures taken up for
street children and minor offenders in Philippine metropolis Cebu City and has said that other countries and local
governments have a lot to learn from these projects. Authorities
round up street kids in Zamboanga City Police said the street children
are likely to be future criminals if this situation continues. Many street
children were hooked into illegal drugs and some had resorted to robbery and
snatching to sustain their vices. "That’s not true, maybe some
are into drugs, but not all of us are like that, said Orlando Santiago, 12, a
beggar. "We are forced into this kind of life because of poverty. We
don’t even have food on the table and my parents have no jobs. People should
understand our predicament and not readily condemn us." Mixed Media : A Begging Hand, Some Humble Pie1 Depending on who’s counting and why,
estimates of the total number of Filipino street children vary, even as they
continue to rise tsunami-like in the swelling tide of this country’s
seemingly endless political and economic crisis. The figures range from a low
100,000 to a high (but raw) figure of 250,000-300,000 nationwide. Uncertainty1 But I think the real reason we
want to leave is that we don’t want our two-year-old daughter to be exposed
to the kind of environment in which we are living now. We don’t want her to
see poverty and what it does to families, and how it debases the children. We
dread hearing her ask us one day why street children have to knock on our car
windows begging for money. And we dread even more the chance that she would
hear the curses being thrown at us if we refuse to open a window and hand
over a peso or two. Teeners learn to hug, love street kids even if they smell “We did not know how they would react to us,
if they would welcome our friendship or not. We were afraid some of our
classmates would see us and wonder why we were mingling with dirty and smelly
children,” they recalled of their first “assignment” to “socialize” with
street children. Leyte shows genuine concern for the youth The genuine concern of the Tacloban City government on the plight of the street
children and the Tacloban youth in general, is
commendable. Last week, the City government through the City Social Welfare
and Development Office headed by Ms. Liliosa Baltazar inaugurated the Social Development Center for
street children of Tacloban City. Initially, 28 children, 5 of them
girls will inhabit the Center. As part of the program, they will be provided
with psychosocial and educational assistance to help them emerge as
productive and better citizens of the society. Indigent
kids dream of going back to school At the age of eight, Nul Jumadi is already working
to help the family, selling cigarettes and candies on dangerous streets and
sidewalks in Zamboanga City. Nul
says helping his family is the best thing he does. "I want to study of course,
but I need to help my poor family. I only finished second grade and I don't
know if I can go back to school again," he says, biting his lips and a
little shaken and nervous about the interview. We must stand
against the death squads Many business people and civic
leaders applaud the death squads. As many as 247 deaths by execution
were recorded up to December 2005, many of them youths and minors. Some were
as young as 15. UNICEF to make Cebu City streetkids’ program a model Impressed with Cebu
City’s initiatives for street children and minor offenders, the United
Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) wants to make the
City’s program for children a model not only for other provinces but for
other Asian countries as well. Unicef officials found remarkable the
coordination between the City Government and a network of nongovernment
organizations working together for the cause of children in the city. Colin Davis, Unicef
senior programme officer, said they are impressed
with the achievements of the Cebu City Task Force
on Street Children (CCTFSC), particularly its
non-formal education and health services for street kids. Information
about Street Children - Philippines – [DOC] Definition and statistics:
children who either live or work on the streets, spending a significant
amount of time engaged in different occupations, with or without the care and
protection of responsible adults. Age range 5-18. They come from families
with at least 6 to 7 members. Majority live with at least one parent. An
estimated 25% of these children live on the streets. Philippines:
street children, children at risk Almost 2 million of Jailed children are
the victims of world poverty The street children imprisoned
around the world are the most compelling evidence of the impact of poverty in
the lives of the most vulnerable and the failure of governments to protect
and help them. There are an estimate 20,000 children in prison in the The jailing of
children brings trauma and abuse Argie was a frightened 13 year old and
his and eyes filled with anxiety and longing when I arrived at he jail in
Metro Manila. Other stretched out their arms and begged me to take them out
of the hot poorly ventilated jail cell where they are overcrowded and only
see daylight when they are taken out to their court hearing. PREDA's
Campaign Against the Shooting of Streetchildren in Davao City “Dear supporters of children's
rights, I am appealing to you to support our protest against the murder of
street children in Street children are prone to
street fights and bullying from bigger youth, harassment from policemen,
suspicion and arrest for petty crimes, abuse and torture from misguided
authorities. The Bahay Tuluyan and Its Junior
Educators Program [DOC] The crowded streets of Metro
Manila are made more crowded with the presence of children who peddle
candies, flowers and newspapers, or who wipe car windshields and jeepney passengers' shoes at red traffic lights, or who
simply beg for alms. Medecines Sans Frontieres in
The Philippines: Assisting street children MSF operates a program targeting 200 out
of an estimated 200,000 children who live on the streets of the capital, Virlanie Foundation - Testimonies of Children JOSEPH’S TESTIMONY - In 2001, I found myself alone
on the streets of Manila after escaping from my home in Laguna. I was selling
mineral water on the street with some friends - we managed to scrape together
some money this way. I slept so badly at night, in any shelter I could find -
I would wake up often to make sure I wasn’t about to be robbed or hurt. This
period of my life on the street forced me to grow up and changed me
completely. Within the walls of an obscure
welfare center in Philippines to Rid
Metro Manila of Street Children The campaign, called "Zero
Street Children for Philippines 2000", targets 5,131 street kids and
their families, and will involve not only government agencies but
non-government organizations as well. 1. The linked article has been
taken down, moved or restricted All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Philippines] [other countries]Street Children in [Philippines Child Prostitution in [Philippines] [other countries]