Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade
of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Vietnam.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** “Children of the
Dust” - Abuse of Hanoi Street Children in Detention Human Rights Watch,
November 12, 2006 -- ISBN: C1814 www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/11/12/children-dust [accessed 15 August
2011] SUMMARY - Between 2003 and
2006, Human Rights Watch received credible reports of serious abuses of
street children in ***
ARCHIVES *** Voice of english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/01/762771/ [accessed 15 August
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/hanoi-helps-underprivileged-children/ [accessed 15 January
2017] With the assistance
of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Hanoi Youth Union and the Hanoi
Women’s Union have set up healthy life clubs in two districts, drawing the
participation of many underprivileged children. In particular, the free hotline 18001567 has provided needed
consultancy to more than 2,100 street children. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61632.htm [accessed
11 February 2020] CHILDREN
-
According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA),
there were 21,869 street
children in the country as of February 2003. Street children were vulnerable to
abuse and sometimes were abused or harassed by police. International NGOs documented
numerous cases of Cambodian children trafficked to Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 31 January 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/vietnam2003.html [accessed
17 January 2011] [35] The Committee
notes with deep concern that, as recognized in the State party's report,
family disintegration, including divorce, is on the rise and contributes to
the increasing numbers of children in conflict with the law, and of those
living on the street and abusing drugs. The Committee is further concerned at
the growing gap between rich and poor families, and that poverty puts
children at greater risk of exploitation and abuse. [51] The Committee
welcomes the State party's ratification of ILO Convention No. 182, concerning
the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labor. However, it remains concerned that the incidence of the economic
exploitation of children remains widespread in the agricultural sector as
well as in gold mines, timber operations, the service sector and other
private sector enterprises. The Committee is also concerned at the high
number of children living and working on the street. Children found
tortured, abused vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Politics-Laws/Law-Justice/205583/Children-found-tortured-abused.html [accessed 13
November 2010] According to the
children's testimony, they were raised in a children's home in Life skills
education key for street kids english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2009/05/845870/ [accessed 15 August
2011] www.talkvietnam.com/2009/05/life-skills-education-key-for-street-kids/ [accessed 15 January
2017] More than 1,000
children had travelled to HCM City from the countryside with dreams of
finding jobs to earn money to support themselves. Popular jobs include shining shoes and
selling lottery tickets. "The
children aren’t aware that they’re vulnerable to the world of violence,
drugs, abuse and prostitution," Giang said. Armed with a
Paintbrush tyglobalist.org/index.php/20090115176/Features/Armed-with-a-Paintbrush.html [Last access date
unavailable] LURED TOWARD A TRAP - Before joining
AWAP, Thao roamed the streets from six a.m. to 11 p.m., marketing lottery
tickets, postcards, candies, and other goods to tourists, who chuckled at her
insistent smile and broken English. Vi, another young
artist, was lured into an adult begging ring at the age of eight. An older
woman used Vi as bait to gain sympathy from foreigners, pretending to be her
mother and promising to split the profits. When a local policeman caught Vi
stealing a tourist’s wallet, he beat her to the ground. “My real mother needed the money,” Vi
explained, rolling up the sleeves of her pajama top to expose the bruises. “I
had no other choice.” Many street children end up back on the streets as
adult beggars, drug dealers, or prostitutes. The cycle repeats itself. Mother courage Tuoi Tre News, May 2,
2008 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 August
2011] At a rented house
in a suburb of HCMC, 53-year-old Truong Hong Tam serves as a surrogate mother
for these abandoned youths, carrying out a mission to provide to others a
foundation of support she never had. When Tam was young,
her father left with another lover and her mom remarried, leaving four
orphaned children to fend for themselves. Seven-year-old Tam often stole rice to feed
her three younger sisters and many times she was beaten as a result. The children slept on sidewalk pavements
and the oldest sister was prone to molestation by men who scoured the streets
at late hours preying on vulnerable youth. But the challenges
of homelessness ravaged the young girl as she became a drug addict at the age
of 14 and a petty street criminal who had to commit illegal acts to survive. Man on a mission Tuoi Tre News, April 7,
2008 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 August
2011] From early in the
morning until late at night, Viet would go out on the streets and research
the lives of the street merchants. He
would approach men, women and children selling goods on the city sidewalks
and interview them, aspiring to bring about better circumstances for the
workers and their families. If a child
selling goods on the streets expressed an interest in education, Viet would
take him or her to join a charity class.
If another had run away from their family, Viet would collect money to
help the child return home or would write to the child’s family to come and
pick them up. All the while, Viet was
compiling a wealth of information on local charity classes, housing options,
and organizations that could offer help to the underprivileged children
living on Greater commitment
to AsiaNews, www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11722&size=A [accessed 15 August
2011] In Thua Thien-Hue launches project to support street children Thuy Trang, Thanhnien News, March 3, 2008 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 August
2011] Under the project
titled “Eliminating beggars to enable a healthy town for tourism,” street
children will be recruited to live and study at five orphanages in the
town. Nearly 300 local children live
on the street, according to statistics reported by the town’s Committee of
Population, Family and Children. Children’s tears www.loveofvietnamexpressed.org/childrenstears.html [accessed 15 January
2017] Every morning, when
restaurants and cafes around the Thanh Cong apartments in Hanoi open their
doors, Tham is there. Carrying a bag as big as her body, which
contains shoe polish, a brush, some pieces of cloth, and several old sandals,
Tham goes through all restaurants and cafes to ask
customers if they want their shoes shined.
At the age of 14, Tham does not have a
chance to go to school. She has to work to seek three meals a day. Her day
begins at 5 in the morning and goes till 9 or 10 in the evening. Tham is the youngest of
three siblings. Her family is very poor. Her father was a drunk who died
three years ago. One year later, Tham’s eldest
brother died of drugs. Her mother married again, leaving Tham
and her brother to a relative. Tham had to go to Man builds hope for
street children english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/10/751056/ [accessed 15 August
2011] vietnamnews.vn/society/owners-of-the-future/170026/man-builds-hope-for-street-children.html#WYKq80shuTAMlZCd.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] Before 1975, Ran
was recognised as a beggar blowing his harmonica
for money. Wherever he went he was surrounded by a group of ragged children
who came to the city to make a living.
Ran was an uninvited guest to almost all the big parties in town,
hoping to take left over food for the hungry kids waiting outside. After the city was liberated in 1975,
together with a group of kind-hearted people, Ran gathered the street
children in one place to provide food, shelter and teach them how to read,
write and do simple math. He also taught them to be good citizens. Ran’s dream was to open a home for street
children. FRENCH FIRST LADY
HELPS
- One day he wrote a letter to the French First Lady, Danielle Mitterrand
asking for her support. Any street children
in future? Voice of english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/08/726447/ [accessed 15 August
2011] english.vov.vn/society/any-street-children-in-future-24660.vov [accessed 15 January
2017] The EC
has committed more than 6.8 million euros to help Vietnam achieve the goal of
having no street children roaming on the roads. Since its launch three years ago, the
project has been implemented in 10 precincts of the three major cities of One Man and His
Dream - Giving hope to disadvantaged youths in Vietnam Judy Yates, Epoch
Times, Jul 23, 2007 en.epochtimes.com/news/7-7-23/57942.html [accessed 15 August
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/one-man-and-his-dream/ [accessed 15 January
2017] The legacy of the
war in Vietnam is that the country's population is young and poor. Sixty per
cent are under the age of 25. Many who travel from the countryside to the
cities with dreams of finding jobs and making enough money to support
themselves fail to find the life they were searching for. They end up living
on the streets, selling postcards, shining shoes and are horribly vulnerable
to a world of drugs, exploitation and prostitution. Former street kid
becomes chef at five-star hotel english.vietnamnet.vn/lifevn/2007/07/719457/ [accessed 15 August
2011] Former street kid
Mai Manh Cong never hoped to earn a decent living
but with every hand turned against him, another has helped him up and now
he’s a top chef in a five star hotel. One day due to
hunger he collapsed by Go Vap war memorial. A
passer-by took pity on him and took him to Sai Gon
Railway Station’s Club for street children.
This act of kindness marked the turning point for the youngster. Cong caught a whiff
that a cooking class was to start and he started saving all his money to pay
for the fees. Far from being put off
by being the only boy in a class full of women, Cong quickly discovered he
had a special talent. After two years of studying, he was awarded a certificate
of merit and when From then on,
Cong’s lucky star hasn’t stopped shining. As soon as he completed his
internship, he was invited to become a chef at the hotel. Reuters, Jun. 19,
2007 www.reuters.com/video/2007/06/19/hanoi-restaurant-aids-the-poor?videoId=57343 [accessed 15 August
2011] Street children and
other disadvantaged kids learn to cook delicious Vietnamese and Western
dishes, tend bar, wait tables and speak ''hospitality English'' at Koto
before they go on to work at some of the finest hotels and restaurants in Measures to help
street children 02/06/2007 --
Source: ND english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/06/701896/ [accessed 15 August
2011] DISADVANTAGED STREET
CHILDREN
- At noon on a hot day, near the wall of the Hang Day stadium, on Phan Phu Tien street, Nguyen Van Vy,
12, and his elder brother Nguyen Van Duc, 15, are
seen working hard, shining shoes and sandals. "In summer, fewer
people wear shoes, so we earn a few tens of thousands of dong. In winter, we
earn double." Vy
went on to say: "We work here on Saturdays and Sundays. On other days,
we work in the morning and in the afternoon we go to school." A “support network”
for 22 thousand street children english.vietnamnet.vn/lifevn/2007/07/719457/ [accessed 15 August
2011] [accessed 15 January
2017] 65 Drop in centres and hospices in Ho Chi Minh City not only offer
new hope to the small abandoned children, they also give fresh opportunities
for work experience to students who want to work in the field of social
welfare. Street Children at
Risk Before APEC Summit Human Rights Watch
News, [accessed 15 August
2011] Government roundup
campaigns to clear Xinhua News Agency, news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-11/14/content_5327964.htm [accessed 15 August
2011] Citibank-funded
vocational training course for street children opens www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/260906/life_c.htm [accessed 15 August
2011] A vocational
training course for 50 street children in During the
three-month course, the children will receive training in hotel services,
refrigeration equipment repairs and welding. Self-sacrificing xe om drivers ride to the rescue vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=04SUN130806 [Last access date
unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/sunday/features/156315/self-sacrificing-xe-om-drivers-ride-to-the-rescue.html#tb9gmOl0YVhOXv1R.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] HELPING
UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS
- "Some of the children don’t seem to trust us or believe that we only
want to help them, so we have to ask them again and again to go to
class," Luc said. "But the biggest hurdle is keeping the children
practicing reading and writing because they say it is too difficult for them,
since they’ve been living freely on the street for long." City tackles issue
of homeless children english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2006/08/597297/ [accessed 16 August
2011] vietnamnews.vn/society/owners-of-the-future/155929/city-tackles-issue-of-homeless-children.html#AtisIvGPrHt2B4Ge.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] According to
estimates by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and
Social Affairs (MOLISA), the number of street children in Vietnam is
estimated to be around 23,000, including 1,500 in Hanoi and nearly 9,000 in
HCM City. Helpline assists
children and parents vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01OWN250706 [Last access date
unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/society/owners-of-the-future/155698/helpline-assists-children-and-parents.html#roVVh2JzeWXx9m8w.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] As a joint effort
by PLAN International and the National Committee for Population, Family and
Children, the pilot project Helpline provides advice and assistance for
social issues concerning children, and after two years of service, has many
success stories about assisting children in need. The Helpline, 18001567 has become familiar to both
children and their caregivers with 93,860 calls, which exceeded the
expectation of project organisers. Among child callers
were students, street-children, child labourers and
children with disabilities. Children
aged 11 to 18 accounted for 63 per cent of total callers. Centres care for
disadvantaged kids vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02OWN110706 [Last access date
unavailable] news.vietnamnews.vn/social-issues/owners-of-the-future/155279/centres-care-for-disadvantaged-kids.html [accessed 15 January
2017] "Who wants to
buy peanuts, sweets or cake?" one street child cries out cheerfully as
she advertises her wares to eager customers. Like her, street children in the
central HCM City gives
shelter to more homeless, disabled children vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01OWN040706 [Last access date
unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/society/owners-of-the-future/155069/hcm-city-gives-shelter-to-more-homeless-disabled-children.html#A1hjMEJu1eaZUFqO.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] Children who leave
their homes in rural areas to move to the city tend to gather in groups, staying
together in cramped boarding-houses. Street children from Street children who
come from Quang Ngai central province live in a
large group in the area of the two bridges of Nguyen Tri Phuong and Y. They
mainly sell noodles on the street. As a shoe-shiner, Cuong said "I earn from VND10,000 to VND15,000 each
day, but some days I have no food. Remembering
society’s forgotten kids vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01COM260506 [Last access date
unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/opinion/153903/remembering-societys-forgotten-kids.html#lORcUPPIkVMAzoPH.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] We have been
successful in bringing many street children back to their homes. In 2001,
there were approximately 28,000 street children in the whole country. In
August 2003, the number was 21,000. The number in 2004 was 16,000 and this
past year the number was only 7,699, as of December 31, 2005. Project gives aid
to street children vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01POP230506 [Last access date
unavailable] vietnamnews.vn/society/population-development/153801/project-gives-aid-to-street-children.html#dOolBzgCtmxlck57.97 [accessed 15 January
2017] Truong Tu Son, a 12-year-old homeless boy working as a
shoe-shiner in Ha Noi, lost his left leg in a
traffic accident last year. One of more than 2,000 children to receive help
from a State project on assisting street kids, Son was treated at a city
hospital and then went to Ha Nam Province’s Social Sponsoring Centre. Street Kids Wear
Scars Of Abuse At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 August
2011] Many children, girls
particularly, abandoned by their parents, or tricked into taking jobs under
false pretenses, end up abused, begging, and often forced into prostitution. Reaching out to
street and working children - Doan's Story Plan International At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] Doan’s world
changed when his parents divorced not long after his fifth birthday.
“Nobody took care of me, my father married a new wife, who did not want to
care for me and my mother went to The Growing Problem
Of Street Children In United Nations
Children's Fund UNICEF At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] Most street children
in The children United Nations
Children's Fund UNICEF www.unicef.org/vietnam/children_273.html [accessed 16 August
2011] ADOLESCENCE - HIV/AIDS is just
one of the many risks, which 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, At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] A 2001 survey on
10,351 children working on the streets of HCMC gave the following figures of
street children’s origins: approximately 9% are from the Street Children in Ms Duong Kim Hong, www.grips.ac.jp/vietnam/VDFTokyo/Doc/WSNovDKHongAbstract.htm [accessed 16 August
2011] The problem of
street children is one of the most pressing social problems in Street Children In Andrea Gallina & Pietro Masina,
Federico Caffè Centre, magenta.ruc.dk/upload/application/pdf/f51d6748/Gallina_and_Massina_3_2002.pdf [accessed 16 August
2011] www.streetchildrenresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/street-children-in-vietnam-survival-strategies.pdf [accessed 15 January
2017] The report is
divided in two main parts. The first provides an extensive review of the
literature on disadvantaged children in patrick.guenin2.free.fr/cantho/vnnews/poignant.htm [accessed 16 August
2011] Tran Dinh Phuoc was desperate to
change his life. No more stealing, no more telling lies and no more fighting.
But in his line of work it was pretty much against the odds. At 15, Phuoc was shining
shoes for little more than 35 cents a pair on the unforgiving streets of VN
To Buckle Down On Childcare And Protection english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2004/03/142733/ [accessed 16 August
2011] The Government has
approved a six-year program to reduce the number of street children, victims
of child sexual abuse and children working under harmful and dangerous conditions. The Real Situation
Of Street Children In The Director of Hoa Sua
Restaurant-Hotel-Tourism, Speech for the Street Children workshop, 2007-11-10 fss.mca.gov.cn/article/llyj/200711/20071100003566.shtml [accessed 16 August
2011] According to the statistics
of The Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs, The current number of
street children in the whole country is about 20,000 children, with the
largest concentration in Description of
street children in Low level of
education. Street life without
stability (eating, living, health care, education) Earning their living
from small occupations : selling newspapers, polishing shoes, selling
souvenirs, hired labour, begging for food In general these are
children from small and poor provinces coming to the city to earn their
living. Anh At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] Disadvantaged
children will be able to get free legal help from a new social services
center in Program Trains
Homeless Kids Anh At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] After 10 years of
homelessness, Toan, 21, works as a cook’s assistant
for Helping
street children learn and teach in Viet Nam Tin T. Nguyen, Our
World, September 3, 2004 ourworld.worldlearning.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr003=0dvbutfke1.app6b&page=NewsArticle&id=5171 [accessed 16 August
2011] My name is
Dat. I have dropped out of school; I
would have been in the fourth grade. I
had to quit school because my dad died, so my mom had no one to take care of
her. Therefore, I had to try because I
am the only son. At that time, I had
to sell every single one of my lottery tickets. The more I sold, the more I could help my
mother. Education
and housing for blind street-children UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO www.unesco.org/webworld/netaid/edu/vietnam.html [accessed 16 August
2011] Approximately 200 of
these blind children are living in the streets in Tay
Ninh. Economic hardship, mistreatment and family
problems forced the kids to live on the street. Educating
the Street Children of Chi Nguyen, Upfront
(The New York Times Newsmagazine for Teens) teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/voices/index.asp?article=voices0110 [accessed 16 August
2011] They are picked up
off the streets and brought to the shelter, where they're fed, clothed, and
sent to school or given vocational training. I was startled by their
transformations, and touched by how warm, bright, and optimistic they all
were. Education the key
to a better future for Foster Parents Plan,
Education project in At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] Foster Parents Plan
is working with the Hanoi Committee for Protection and Care of Children to
give the street children a better start in life. The project provides
counseling, education and vocational training and also supports children who
want to leave the city and return home. The committee has set up wards in
four districts of Welcome to
CHILDREN’S ART! Shoshana Lara Woo,
US Fulbright Scholar, Vietnam, 2004-05 and Children's Art Coordinator for
Rossignol Fine Arts At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 August
2011] Approximately 9,000
Vietnamese children spend their days roaming the city streets. Many of them
shine shoes. Many sell lottery tickets or chewing gum. Others simply beg.
They might sleep under bridges or on park benches. They must constantly
hide from aggressors and police. Though they've learned how to survive,
they still face terrible risks that no child should ever have to face. Sister's Love
Reaches Out To Street Children Of Catholic Leader,
Brisbane, issue of 4 Apr, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 August
2011] In Agence France-Presse AFP, hpn.asu.edu/archives/Oct98/0229.html [accessed 16 August
2011] Up to 16,000 children
are estimated by officials to live on the streets, mostly in the two cities,
although foreign social workers say the number is much higher. Most come from poor rural areas and are
exploited into accepting low pay or are forced to resort to prostitution,
begging or picking through garbage to support themselves in the cities. Street Children in Dylan Foley, The
Progressive, December 1996 dispatches.tripod.com/international/street.html [accessed 16 August
2011] After Luong’s
mother abandoned him in the center of 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 - |
