Human Trafficking in [Thailand] [other countries]Street Children in [Thailand Child Prostitution in [Thailand] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first
ten years of the 21st Century
- 2000 to 2009
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** A portion of the estimated 200,000
to 300,000 sex workers in Thailand are either underage or in involuntary
servitude or debt bondage, according to a U.S. State Department report.
Homeless street children are the most vulnerable, Capaldi
said. At an underpass in central
Bangkok, a group of children waited for a red light to stop traffic. Rats the
size of cats scuttled from the bushes, and the boys
in tattered shorts and sandals bolted into the street when the cars stopped.
They donned sad expressions and pressed their faces on the car windows,
seeking change. One boy, 10-year-old
"Ice," said three times a month someone offers to pay him for sex.
He always declines. But social workers fear the lure of money will someday
change his mind. Ice and his brother sleep on the floor in his grandmother's
one-room shack in a shantytown. She makes money by scavenging for scraps of
metal while he begs. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF - The Big Picture U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The government maintains a child labor reporting
hotline, facilitates the participation of communities in anti-child labor
activities, and has initiated a public awareness campaign that includes
information about child labor laws.
The Department of Social Development and Welfare (DSDW) has
established shelters for street children and provides child victims legal
assistance, including counseling and rehabilitation services. The Department also provides vocational
training to improve children’s skills and prevent them from entering work prematurely. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - There were believed to be
approximately 20 thousand street children
in major urban centers. The government implemented new guidelines to improve
the processing of child trafficking victims from Street children were often left out
of national reports on child labor issues and national statistics on street children often included only
citizens, although the majority were non-citizens. Street children were often exploited
by organized gangs as beggars or to sell flowers or other items. Many of
these children were forced to turn over their daily earnings to the gang and
were paid less than a dollar a day. There were reports of street children who were bought,
rented, or forcibly "borrowed" from their parents or guardians in
order to beg alongside women on sidewalks and overpasses. This was
particularly true in areas of the capital frequented by tourists. Working
conditions for these children were poor, leaving them exposed to the elements
for long periods of time and open to further exploitation Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1998 [22] The Committee notes the
establishment by the State party of a program to encourage the reinforcement
of the family environment and to strengthen parenting skills among both
parents. The Committee remains concerned, however, at the high rate of
abandonment of children, especially children born out of wedlock and children
of poor families. In this regard, the Committee also expresses concern at the
lack of adequate alternative care facilities and qualified personnel in this
field. [27] While the Committee notes the
high rate of school enrolment, particularly at the primary level, and the
recent initiative to establish additional schools in rural communities, it is
still concerned that some children, particularly those living in poverty and
in nomadic and hill tribe communities, do not have access to education. In the
light of the recent economic constraints, the Committee is also concerned at
the number of children, particularly girls, leaving school prematurely to
engage in labor. [29] While welcoming the recent adoption
of the Labor Protection Act of 1998, in which the minimum legal age for
access to work has been increased from 13 to 15 years, the Committee remains
concerned at the high rate of economic exploitation, as well as at the
increasing number of children leaving school, sometimes at an early age, to
work to support themselves and their families. THE
FORGOTTEN CLASS - Makeshift weekend schools in Bangkok's slums give hope to
children who need it www.bangkokpost.com/190808_Outlook/19Aug2008_out50.php
The problems of the students often
stem from their own parents. "Many of the parents are homeless and do
not think about the future of their kids," said Naphat.
"Some children are called by their mothers to leave class and go
begging." The children are eager to have an
education, however. According to Naphat, there are
20 children from the Sanam Luang
area and more than 10 others under the Arun Amarin Bridge who attend the group's weekend classes
voluntarily. Canada's high
level of health care hard to find in developing nations MASSIVE BIRTHDAY PARTY - Kielburger
learned that street children who didn't know their
parents, let alone their ages or birth dates, pooled their meagre resources and held one massive birthday party
every year. Kielburger cancelled his plans to
return to Canada and stayed for the party.
"It was the most remarkable birthday party I'd ever been
to," he told the meeting. "This birthday party didn't have a lots of presents, it didn't have a lot of games but it
really had a lot of love and compassion and people who cared." After the party he postponed his
trip back to Canada indefinitely and lived in the slums of Klong Toey for almost a year,
teaching English to school children and logging many more heart-wrenching
days in the AIDS ward, watching many people die. "This was a remarkable experience
because I got to understand what service is all about and what living a life
in faith is really all about," he said. Kielburger
returned home and went to Harvard University. But as he told the meeting, the
slums of Thailand changed his life. "I learned more about compassion,
about leadership and faith from those street kids in the slums of Thailand
than I did from any of my professors at Harvard." Begging some
difficult questions Cambodians make up the largest
group of non-Thai beggars in Bangkok. While earlier studies on begging
in Bangkok focused on the fact that many child beggars are forced to beg, a
survey published in October last year by the NGO Friends International and
the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater
Mekong Sub-region, entitled The Nature and Scope of the Foreign Child Beggar
Issue in Bangkok, suggests that most Cambodian child beggars come voluntarily
with their mothers or relatives. According to Friends International,
which works with street children in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Indonesia,
Honduras and now also in Thailand, child beggars rely on informal networks of
friends and family to facilitate their journey to and stay in Bangkok. A birthday
party for kids who don't know their age Many of the street children at the
centre had never met their parents because they were left at the door as
babies. So once a year, one lucky kid picks a day for "everybody's
birthday," which they all celebrate together. We were honoured to attend this party for all the children. It was organized by the kids
themselves – kids who couldn't afford shoes of their own but shined shoes for
mere pennies. They saved those pennies one by one to buy simple things, like
watermelon, for their celebration. Academic says ‘open houses’ needed to
help street children Thailand needs to set
up ‘’open houses'’ in border areas to assist street children who have entered
Thailand from neighbouring countries, an academic
said yesterday. Sompong Chitradub,
an education lecturer at A portion of the estimated 200,000
to 300,000 sex workers in Thailand are either underage or in involuntary
servitude or debt bondage, according to a U.S. State Department report.
Homeless street children are the most vulnerable, Capaldi
said. At an underpass in central
Bangkok, a group of children waited for a red light to stop traffic. Rats the
size of cats scuttled from the bushes, and the boys
in tattered shorts and sandals bolted into the street when the cars stopped.
They donned sad expressions and pressed their faces on the car windows,
seeking change. One boy, 10-year-old
"Ice," said three times a month someone offers to pay him for sex.
He always declines. But social workers fear the lure of money will someday
change his mind. Ice and his brother sleep on the floor in his grandmother's
one-room shack in a shantytown. She makes money by scavenging for scraps of
metal while he begs. Tourism enterprises bring hope to the street children of Phuket streetkidnews.blogsome.com/2006/07/27/tourism-enterprises-bring-hope-to-the-street-children-of-phuket/www.traveldailynews.com/new.asp?newid=31339&subcategory_id=98 A new shelter for homeless children
was officially opened in Patong, Phuket district. The aim of the new shelter is to
provide a safe environment for homeless children as they commence a new life
away from the streets. It houses up to 30 street children between the ages of
11 – 16 in dormitory style accommodation as well as housing the staff on
site. The Home is accessible 24 hours a day to innocent victims of abuse,
neglect, abandonment and homelessness, as well as runaways and those facing
family crisis. Equipped with modern facilities and run by staff trained in
the rehabilitation and counseling of street children, the home will offer a
happy environment for children to play, learn and relax in safety. From thief to “foster father of 50,000 street children” www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3990 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
Dr Amporn
Wathanavongs, “the foster father of 50,000 children” is one of Migrant Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances [DOC] www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/Thailand/migrant_children_in_especially_difficult_circumstances_in_th.doc At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
CHAPTER FOUR: MEANS OF ENTERING Stories
From The Field Many street children live in the
area around Information about Street Children - www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/Thailand%20Child.doc At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
Key push factors: family economic
pressures / income instability impacting on increasingly fragmented family
support structures; inability to support basic needs and education; conflict and
violence; children’s search for independence, Personal characteristics /
psychology of adolescence,- vulnerability of
children aged 12-18 to influences in the environment such as video games and
night life; attempted runaway behavior at the age of 13-15 may lead to
permanent separation at a later stage.
Education - inappropriate discipline, especially involving
humiliation, and lack of understanding by teachers along with lack of family
support contributes to dropout. Youth Camp Hopes To
Help Street Children Move Away From The Streets The idea of the camp is to give
the children enough time to look at themselves, what they want to do in the
future and then guide them with a road map to get there. Facts and Statistics www.ffc.or.th/htmleng/factspage/page.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] HOMELESS CHILDREN - A survey of Childlife-A
Future For Street Children The purpose of Childlife is to
provide the street children in Mae Sai with a safe refuge, shelter and home,
food, health and non-formal education. 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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