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

Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

Kingdom of Spain [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Kingdom of Spain is a constitutional monarchy that occupies the major part of the Iberian Peninsula of SW Europe [map]; of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea; and of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Madrid is the nation's capital and largest city. Unemployment fell steadily under the AZNAR administration but remains high at 10.4%. Adjusting to the monetary and other economic policies of an integrated Europe, reducing unemployment, and absorbing widespread social changes will pose challenges to Spain over the next few years.

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

CHILDREN - Law enforcement and social service agencies reported an increasing number of undocumented immigrant children living on the streets. These children cannot legally work; as a result, many survived through petty crime. From January to August, nearly three thousand teenagers who engaged in a variety of activities were rescued from the streets.

Concluding Observations Of The Committee On The Rights Of The Child (CRC) - 2002

[27] The Committee is concerned that the principle of non-discrimination (art. 2 of the Convention) is not fully implemented for children of Roma origin, children of migrant workers, particularly when they are not legal, and unaccompanied foreign children, especially with regard to their access to adequate health care and educational facilities.

[42] The Committee notes with concern: (a) the high rate of truancy and school drop out and the difficult school integration especially among Roma children, children belonging to migrant families or living in socio-economically deprived areas; (b) that some children belonging to migrant families, particularly girls, do not complete their compulsory education or have great difficulties in attending school;

Spain: Street children have rights too

AI concerned at reports that the authorities in Ceuta and Melilla plan to resume their practice of systematically expelling unaccompanied and undocumented children -- mostly of Moroccan origin -- living on the streets or in reception centers for foreign children.

Spain and Morocco Abuse Child Migrants

"No one is caring for these children. Spanish officials violate these migrant children's human rights in an effort to drive them back to Morocco, and Moroccan officials punish them for having left.

Nowhere To Turn: State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco

III. RESIDENTIAL CENTERS - POLICE ABUSE DURING APPREHENSION - I was in the port intending to cross to Spain. A [Spanish] policeman saw me and tried to catch me, but three times I escaped. Then the police caught me, six of them, and put me in a car. [In the car] the police beat me on my arms and legs and head. Then another police officer took me to the station and hit me there with a club (porra) and with his feet.

Nowhere To Turn: State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco [PDF]

I. SUMMARY - In July, October, and November 2001 Human Rights Watch researchers traveled to Spain and Morocco to investigate the treatment of unaccompanied children in Ceuta and Melilla and found a consistent pattern of police abuse in both cities. Unaccompanied children in Melilla were beaten, clubbed, and kicked by Spanish police during forced expulsions to Morocco, and then beaten, detained in unsafe conditions, and then released onto the streets by the Moroccan police who received them at the border. Children in Ceuta faced fewer expulsions, but still suffered from brutal beatings if they fled when Spanish police tried to apprehend them.

Homelessness in Spain

The average age is 42, but there are now more younger homeless people - many of them drug addicts, especially in the capital Madrid, where 26 per cent are under 30. They are mainly Spanish, although more and more immigrants arrive from North Africa. Twenty-four per cent have been homeless for over 10 years, 35 per cent from one to five years, and 20 per cent for a year or less. Their health is weak: only 16 per cent are free from physical or mental illness.

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