Human Trafficking in [Rwanda] [other countries]Street Children in [Rwanda Child Prostitution in [Rwanda] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the
early years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/streetchildren/Rwanda.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Street Children, A Waiting Disaster Richard Oundo, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Ambrose Gahene, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Many factors contribute to the
emergence of street children. The major factor is that these are children
born as a result of prostitution, where the mother does not know the
legitimate father of the child. When
the child grows to about five years and fails to be provided with the necessary
love from parents, the kid will resort to living on street verandas or under
sewage trenches. Other children find their way into the streets as a result
of mistreatment from parents. These types are always furious and merciless to
other street kids because they have been subjected to a brutal life. To them,
everybody they meet is likened to their harsh parents. Some other children are sent to the streets
to beg for money by their parents. The Question of Street Kids in The International Child and Youth Care Network CYC-NET, 26
April 2005 www.cyc-net.org/features/ft-streetkids2.html [accessed 15 July 2011] PERCEPTION VERSUS FACTS - The typical depiction of street
children by the media invariably connects them with physical deprivation,
inadequate nutrition and hygiene and, the skirting of the law. It also
portrays children as being vulnerable to adult (particularly male)
exploitation and to environmental hazards. These and other negative traits are
supposedly evidenced by the street child's poor health, inadequate clothing
and alienation that percolates down to feelings of personal insecurity,
resulting to emotional disabilities and destructive behaviour.
All this reflects the fact that these children spend much of their time away
from adult support. Yet, empirical evidence is quite different. Any street
child earns, on average, as much as the adults in their vicinity and often up
to one and a half times the minimum wage of most of these adults. For
example, in Gaborone, Botswana, where a maid
usually earns $20 for eight hours of work, few street children would spend 15
minutes to clean a car for less than $5. Their income, therefore, is
generally sufficient to meet the cost of decent and nutrition meals. Indeed, for many, food is far less
plentiful at home, if available at all. For this reason, too, a good outfit
is usually not beyond their means, although they often ignore middle-class
views of decency in preference for worn-out clothes, or, if engaged in
begging, then they wear tattered clothing and wash only weekly, to increase
their earning potential. In the same vein, research
regularly shows that most street children are predominantly healthy and that
when they are ill, they are usually looked after by a relative. Thus, many of
them resort to self medication purchased from traditional drug sellers or
over-the counter, which is a phenomenon common in the under developed world.
. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF -
Rwanda www.unicef.org/infobycountry/rwanda.html [accessed 15 July 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/rwanda.htm [accessed 20 December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are an estimated 7,000 street children in Human
Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61587.htm [accessed 20 December 2010] CHILDREN – According to the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), the net primary school enrolment/attendance ratio was 75 percent.
Of the children who entered the first grade, 47 percent reached the fifth
grade, and the secondary school attendance ratio was 5 percent There were approximately six
thousand street children throughout the country. Local authorities rounded up
street children and placed them in foster homes or government-run facilities.
The Number of Street Children in Kayonza
On the Decline Stephen Rwembeho, The New Times,
allafrica.com/stories/201009280170.html [partially accessed 15 July 2011 - access restricted] Talking to The New Times,
yesterday, the coordinator of SACCA, Valentine Mukamuyenzi,
explained that the NGO has developed a successful programme
of rehabilitating and taking the children back to school. She disclosed that over 200 former street
children have so far been rehabilitated. "We prepare them to pass the
entrance exams for various grades. We help pay their registration fees,
uniforms, scholastic materials, feed them and accommodate them," she
said. "Of course some children
still reappear on the streets, but on average the challenge was reduced. "I lived like an animal. Ate
in rubbish pits and slept in the open. I was in a state of hopelessness I
never thought of the future for I never had the present. But now the sky will
be the limit on my way to being a doctor," he said Residents Decry Increased Theft at Lillian Nakayima, The New Times,
allafrica.com/stories/200903160495.html [partially accessed 15 July 2011 - access restricted] "They start with pick
pocketing after which they resort to off loading cars" Gakuba narrates.
He adds that women have been robbed of money, jewellery,
mobile phones and other things. At times it turns into a battle when people try
to resist being robbed. "This
gang is well equipped with razor blades and knives. People no longer resist
because they prefer their lives to material things," he says. Nyabugogo
dwellers report seeing these street children with drugs, this has alarmed the
residents' security. According to them, these thugs are between the ages of
thirteen and twenty. Tougher Approach Needed for The New Times, allafrica.com/stories/200806120250.html [partially accessed 15 July 2011 - access restricted] Understandably, the challenges the
school is faced with in just a space of two weeks are related to
indiscipline. It is not even a month after starting and the adapted kids are
capable of finding their way out to look for drugs. A journalist who caught up with the lads
and inquired into their short experience was largely greeted by lamentation.
They complained bitterly of being underfed, confessing their wish to return
to the foster homes. The school administration
refutes the children's allegations of inadequate food, pointing to their
complicated past life as a gripping negative influence they will take time to
be separated from. The director of the
school also observed that with the children still able to access drugs,
crying for more food is expected. Sealing the entrances and exits to
control unwanted movement of children and commodities is a thing the
administration may want to consider. The school may also take a less
defensive position and delve into the alleged matters of insufficient food
quantities. Godfrey Ntagungira, The New
Times, allafrica.com/stories/200805120709.html [partially accessed 15 July 2011 - access restricted] The Ministry of Gender and Family
Promotion in the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday picked up 330 kids from
"At the end of the solidarity
camp, the ministry will identify those who can be taken back to primary or
technical schools and others will get the opportunity join catch-up classes
for a while before sitting for primary leaving examinations," she noted. James Buyinza, The New Times, Kacyiru, 12 November 2007 This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Mujawamariya said that the ministry plans to
put up many computer kiosks in all primary schools located in The computer packages for these
children will include personal hygiene, sensitisation
of masses about the dangers of HIV/Aids and prevention, ways of controlling
malaria and games. This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU ENDED UP ON
THE STREET? - I left
home in 1993, I was 12-years-old, in primary 5. I
left with my brother who was ten. We stayed on the street for 4 years. What
drove us to the street was mistreatment at home. Things were ok for us before, our
stepmother treated us well, but then things suddenly changed negatively. She
started denying us food, falsely accusing us of doing bad things, and we
could be beaten without reason. In the
morning, we could have breakfast when dad was there, but at lunch time not
eating was a sure deal because in most cases, dad was not there. Supper
depended on the presence of dad. For a
while we could only eat if our dad was there. In most cases dad did not know
what was happening to us Dad was also a church person, thus absent most of
the time. We suffered a lot. I could
not cope with my mum, as a result I sought somewhere I could find love and
peace, and the only option was the street, where I could stay with fellow
children. My brother and I made a decision at once and left home to live on
the street. Edwin Musoni, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Deputy Commissioner General of
Police Mary Gahonzire called for help for street
children, saying; "We have a second generation on the streets; street
children have given birth to other children who are also on the streets now
and are giving birth at a tender age. We need to protect these children. Local photographer returning to Rwanda Audrey Stanton, The Register Herald, March 24, 2007 www.register-herald.com/local/x519078333/Local-photographer-returning-to-Rwanda [accessed 15 July 2011] The pictures he has taken during
his last two visits to Help Widows As You Discourage Begging Immaculate Chaka, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Most of the widows in Mukandahiro Anastasia told The New times that
some time back she was depending to the pottery, were she could get some
little money to feed the family but since the buying of the swamps were they
used to collect clay from, buying soap and other basic needs became a great
deal to handle. Street Children, A Waiting Disaster Richard Oundo, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Ambrose Gahene, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Many factors contribute to the
emergence of street children. The major factor is that these are children
born as a result of prostitution, where the mother does not know the
legitimate father of the child. When
the child grows to about five years and fails to be provided with the
necessary love from parents, the kid will resort to living on street verandas
or under sewage trenches. Other children find their way into the streets as a
result of mistreatment from parents. These types are always furious and
merciless to other street kids because they have been subjected to a brutal
life. To them, everybody they meet is likened to their harsh parents. Some other children are sent to the streets
to beg for money by their parents. Street Children - Turn Not a Blind Eye Stephen Buckingham, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] James Tasamba, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] About forty former street children
picked from Ruhengeri town received certificates
and tools on Wednesday October 18, after completing training in different
technical activities. The children
completed training in tailoring, carpentry, welding, and motor mechanics
courtesy of caritas Ruhengeri dioceses. Street Children to Get Training Centre Paul Ntambara, The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 July 2011] Street children will soon have an opportunity
to gain vital training skills to enable them earn a living once a school
called ‘Centre for Champions’ is completed. ‘We decided to call this centre
one for champions because we are positive thinkers. We want it to be a centre
for excellence. We want these street children to discover their purpose in
life through this centre, pursue it, achieve it and excel in it,’ Rutayisire said. Kids detained illegally Reuters, www.news24.com/Africa/News/Kids-detained-illegally-HRW-20060515 [accessed 16 July 2011] The HRW said that since 2005, city
officials in Swept away: street children illegally detained in Human Rights Watch, May 2006 -- This 13-page background
briefing paper documents life at a detention center in hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/rwanda0506/rwanda0506.pdf [accessed 16 July 2011] SUMMARY - The authorities of Held at the Gikondo
center in overcrowded buildings, the hundreds of detainees suffer from lack
of adequate food, water, and medical care. Children are subject to abuse from
adults detained in the same buildings. Police officers claimed that detainees
should spend no more than three days at the center, but some, including
children, have been held there for weeks or months. One thirteen-year-old boy
died there on April 16, 2006, suffering from severe malnutrition; on the same
day a young woman detainee, also reportedly malnourished, suffered a
miscarriage and was hospitalized. Authorities hold the detainees as
“vagrants” under colonial-era regulations but rarely charge them formally,
bring them to court, or afford them the due process rights guaranteed under
the Rwandan constitution and international conventions by which The detention in particular of
children in miserable conditions violates provisions of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights
and the Welfare of the Child, to which Sexual Harassment: A young woman s tale Nasra Bishumba,
News from www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_2615.html [accessed 16 July 2011] Sometimes they (other street kids)
force us to do dirty sexual things that they have watched in blue movies. And
because they are stronger, there is nothing that you can do. It s hard to
tell anybody. It s shaming and after all, nobody will believe you she said Somebody can easily surface from
nowhere and rape you or beat you up and carry away your blanket. Even those
we help in their daily chores like sweeping their shops sometimes refuse to
pay us because they know nobody will believe us when we report the cases, she
said sadly. Peace Body Supports 1,160 Street Kids Eleneus Akanga,
The New Times, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 July 2011] The Foundation for Peace, Sports
and Culture (SCPF) that operates in the The Question of Street Kids in The International Child and Youth Care Network CYC-NET, 26
April 2005 www.cyc-net.org/features/ft-streetkids2.html [accessed 15 July 2011] PERCEPTION VERSUS FACTS - The typical depiction of street
children by the media invariably connects them with physical deprivation,
inadequate nutrition and hygiene and, the skirting of the law. It also
portrays children as being vulnerable to adult (particularly male)
exploitation and to environmental hazards. These and other negative traits
are supposedly evidenced by the street child's poor health, inadequate
clothing and alienation that percolates down to feelings of personal
insecurity, resulting to emotional disabilities and destructive behaviour. All this reflects the fact that these children
spend much of their time away from adult support. Yet, empirical evidence is
quite different. Any street child earns, on average, as much as the adults in
their vicinity and often up to one and a half times the minimum wage of most
of these adults. For example, in Gaborone,
Botswana, where a maid usually earns $20 for eight hours of work, few street
children would spend 15 minutes to clean a car for less than $5. Their
income, therefore, is generally sufficient to meet the cost of decent and
nutrition meals. Indeed, for many, food is far less
plentiful at home, if available at all. For this reason, too, a good outfit
is usually not beyond their means, although they often ignore middle-class
views of decency in preference for worn-out clothes, or, if engaged in
begging, then they wear tattered clothing and wash only weekly, to increase
their earning potential. In the same vein, research
regularly shows that most street children are predominantly healthy and that
when they are ill, they are usually looked after by a relative. Thus, many of
them resort to self medication purchased from traditional drug sellers or
over-the counter, which is a phenomenon common in the under developed world.
. Orphans of the Genocide Albert P'Rayan, Worldpress.org, www.worldpress.org/Africa/355.cfm [accessed 16 July 2011] "I'm quite used to my street
life. During the daytime I spend my time in the market. I help people carry
their vegetable bags and get some money and at nights I sleep in front of any
shop on the street. It is hard. The street is not a secure place for girls
like me. We're hungry, we have no shelter, anybody can abuse us however they
like. Nobody says anything." Lasting Wounds: Consequences of Genocide and War for Human Rights Watch Report, March 2003 -- Vol. 15, No. 5
(A) www.hrw.org/reports/2003/rwanda0403/rwanda0403-07.htm [accessed 16 July 2011] VII. CHILDREN ON THE STREETS - SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST STREET
GIRLS - While less
numerous than street boys, girls living on the streets experience most of the
same problems as boys and, in addition, are frequently subjected to sexual
violence. A local NGO recently reported that 80 percent of street girls have
been victims of rape, while another study puts the figure as high as 93
percent. One study found that girls who turn to the streets are generally
younger than street boys. Street girls are often invisible because they do
not travel around in gangs as boys do, staying generally on their own or in
small groups. Information about Street Children - 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 16 July 2011] A study by UNICEF Kigali in 2002
suggested that there were around 7,000 street children in UNICEF, UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=28064 [accessed 16 July 2011] The UN agency reported in a document
on the sensitization program, that authorities and the public consider street
children as "delinquents, thieves, deviants, and evil people who must be
fought by all means and not protected". Mindful of their social
marginalisation, UNICEF added, the children Are
"distrustful of people and are not always easy to approach". Rwanda to Set up Vocational
Training Project for Street Children Xinhua News Agency, news.xinhuanet.com/english/20010727/434251.htm [accessed 16 July 2011] Children will be taught
handcrafts, like construction, woodwork, catering, plumbing and so on. She said the already trained children will be
sent back to their localities to provide useful services to the people. Street Children Youth With a Mission YWAM www.ywamconnect.com/sites/ywamrwanda/street [accessed 16 July 2011] Although no official statistics
have been collated, it is estimated by various NGO’s that there are between
5,000 and 10,000 children who live on the streets in Murambi Centre For Street Children – Ginkongoro War Child At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 July 2011] Forty street children from
Ginkongoro district, Street children rounded up in
Rwanda BBC World Service, 17 January 1998 pangaea.org/street_children/africa/rwanda.htm [accessed 16 July 2011] Authorities in the southern
Rwandan town of Robert Walker, BBC, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3452881.stm [accessed 16 July 2011] Rwandan authorities have come under
fire for forcibly rounding up hundreds of street children in the capital,
Kigali, ahead of an African leaders summit. 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 - |
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