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Day
of the African Child: All together for urgent actions in favour
of children living and working on the streets
Legal
Resources Foundation (LRF)
June 20, 2011
As we commemorate
the Day of the African Child, Legal Resources Foundation calls for
concerted effort by government, civil society and other stakeholders
to tackle the issue of street children. The presence of children
on the streets is a matter of grave concern and has been left unattended
for a considerably long period.
Economic, socio-political
problems, compounded by hardships and the HIV and Aids scourge,
have exacerbated the flight of children from home. These children,
by virtue of being children, are entitled to the same rights as
those enjoyed by their counterparts in a normal home environment.
This is however impossible with an ill funded and collapsed social
security system. Due to their youth and vulnerability, street children
live a distressed life and are faced with multiple hardships, chief
among them:
- Lack of love,
affection and parental guidance.
- Health risks
through exposure to drugs, alcohol and other harmful substances
as well as lack of access to health facilities.
- Stigmatisation
since the term "street kid" is pregnant with perceptions
of social exclusion and delinquency.
- Exclusion
from access to education and subsequent failure to lead a productive
life as adults.
- Child labour,
whereby these children are used for paltry fees and in risky ventures
detrimental to their mental and physical wellbeing.
An appreciation
of these ills calls for the State in particular among other stakeholders
to take stern measures to put in place a framework that can address
the plight of these forgotten children to access their basic human
rights. To that end all national budgets should have specific allocations
for children's welfare so that children are adequately taken
care of within their families. With the Constitution-making process
under way the LRF continues to advocate for the inclusion of children's
rights in the new Constitution to safeguard all children's
rights, in particular of vulnerable street children. Existing laws
like the Children's
Act also need to be revised adequately to reflect the special
needs of children and to put in place more effective protection
mechanisms. It is only when such a framework is in place that we
can address vulnerability of children, including those on the streets
once and for all.
Visit the LRF
fact sheet
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