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STREET children need greater protection and recognition if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved, say global children’s NGO Plan International.
A major joint report on Street Children commissioned by Plan International and the Consortium of Street Children (CSC) will be launched this Wednesday 9th March at the 16th session of The Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The report highlights the dangers and significant challenges street children face and how their rights have been ignored by governments and the international community.
At the event and report launch, a street involved child from Benin will share the stage with Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children, and call on governments to do more to protect rights for children like her.
“Countries have to take the problems of street children seriously. We need protection, care and to be able to go to school. Free education should be available for all children and more especially for girls”, says Severine (18) a child who was forced to live and work on the street in Benin.
“Street children are some of the most excluded in our societies. Often without carers, they can be more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse – such as rape, kidnap, or being used for illegal and hazardous work. But having a birth certificate means they have a legal identity, which makes them visible to the authorities who must take responsibility for providing education, health and protective services” says Nadya Kassam, Head of Global Advocacy with Plan International.
Plan and CSC are calling for governments and the international community to:
- Focus greater attention on marginalised children in order to achieve the MDG’s
- Put in place and adequately fund national child protection and child welfare systems that are sensitive to the rights of street children
- Recognise that the factors that lead to a children living or working on the street are complex and organisations working with street children need to tailor their responses
- Provide appropriate gender and child rights training for all those who work with street children
“We can’t just sit back and let the world ignore children who work on the streets and live in horrific situations. The rights of all children has to be a priority now”, says Severine.
Editor's notes:
- Plan’s Universal Birth Registration campaign calls for every child to be given a birth certificate so they can claim their rights as children and adults.
- Because I am a Girl is Plan's campaign to fight gender inequality, promote girls' rights and lift millions of girls out of poverty. Plan is producing one girl report each year in the run up to 2015, the target year for the Millennium Development Goals.
- To read the Digital and Urban Frontiers report, please visit: http://plan-international.org/girls/static/docs/BIAAG_2010_EN2.pdf
ENDS
For more information, pictures and case studies of children speaking at the event contact:
Louise Finan
Press Officer
Plan International HQ
louise.finan@plan-international
+44 (0) 7739325807
Skype:louisefinan
