AA CivilCivil SocietySociety ForumForum forfor SouthSouth AsiaAsia onon PromotingPromoting andand ProtectingProtecting thethe RightsRights ofof StreetStreet ChildrenChildren 12-1412-14 DecemberDecember 20012001 -- Colombo,Colombo, SriSri LankaLanka 0 Organised by Consortium for Street Children 0 In partnership with ChildHope and Protecting Environment And Children Everywhere (PEACE) Working collaboratively with its members, the Consortium for Street Children co-ordinates a network for distributing information and sharing expertise around the world. Representing the voice of many, we speak as one for the rights of street children wherever they may be. Formed in 1993, the Consortium for Street Children is a network of non-governmental organisations which work with street-living children, street-working children and children at risk of taking to life on the streets. The Consortium’s work is firmly rooted in the standards enshrined in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Its efforts are focused on building its member agencies’ capacity to work with street children and on advocacy in the areas of child rights, poverty alleviation and social exclusion. Acknowledgements The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) wishes to thank the partners: Commonwealth Foundation, UK Department for International Development (DFID), Misereor, World Vision UK, UNICEF country office Sri Lanka, ILO country office Sri Lanka, Plan International Sri Lanka, and the local offices of the Governments of Sweden (SIDA) and Canada (CIDA) for their generous support of the conference. We extend our appreciation to Save the Children UK, Hope for Children and Sri Lanka Interactive Media Group – Colombo (SLIMG-COLOMBO) for supporting and facilitating the input of street children into the opening ceremony of the forum on 12 December 2001. A special word of appreciation is also extended to Protecting Environment And Children Everywhere (PEACE / ECPAT Sri Lanka) the field partner of CSC for their hard work in making the forum possible. We wish to thank those who presented country and thematic papers that formed the basis for discussions on the issues affecting street children in the region. We thank all the participants, especially the children, for making the forum a success through their stimulating and informative contributions. Foreword Background Summary This conference is the first in a series of regional forums The official opening of the conference was addressed by organised by the Consortium for Street Children with the Surina Narula (Co-Chair, Consortium for Street Children), aim of bringing together key NGOs and government Dr Hiranthi Wijemanne, (Programme Officer, UNICEF Sri representatives from selected countries to exchange Lanka), Prof. Harendra de Silva (Chair, National Child experiences and formulate recommendations for the Protection Agency, Sri Lanka) and Sadia Mahmud-Marshall promotion and protection of the human rights of street (Director, Consortium for Street Children). children within each region. The second conference, for East and Southern Africa, was held in February 2002 in Nairobi, The forum for South Asia was attended by 42 delegates Kenya. Other forums are planned for South East Asia drawn from 5 SAARC countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, (Bangkok), West Africa (Ghana), Francophone Africa Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In addition there were 15 (Senegal) and North Africa and the Middle East participants from international organisations and the (Egypt/Morocco). international donor community. Objectives Thanks to the facilitation of Hope for Children and Sri The key objectives of the forums are: Lanka Interactive Media Group – Colombo (SLIMG- Ø to review the situation of street children in each region COLOMBO), a group of street girls and boys from through country presentations and situation analyses; Colombo performed a drama at the opening ceremony to Ø to provide opportunities for networking and sharing of illustrate the difficulties faced by street children with the experiences with a specific focus on strengthening police and judicial system in Sri Lanka. dialogue and partnerships between CSOs nationally and regionally and between CSOs and governments; During the forum delegates from each country presented Ø to identify specific human rights abuses of street children country reports outlining issues and initiatives of national through focused working group sessions on issues concern to street children. In addition, the forum addressed concerning and affecting the rights of street-living and specific themes affecting street children in the region through street-working children that are prevalent in each region group and plenary discussions based on key note and to exchange examples of good practice in order to presentations, namely: urban poverty and street address these violations; children/street families; street children and housing / Ø to formulate a joint statement of action-oriented homelessness; street children’s access to basic healthcare and recommendations providing practical strategies to education; child labour and street-working children; sexual promote and protect the rights of street children in each abuse, exploitation and trafficking of street-living and street- region with a focus on accelerated implementation of working children; juvenile justice and street children. social development and poverty alleviation programmes targeting the specific needs of street children. The results of these presentations and discussions, as summarised within this report, were fed into the joint statement of recommendations for the region. These recommendations will be used for lobbying and advocacy with governments, international organisations and other actors involved with street children. foreword 1 Table of Contents Page CSC MISSION STATEMENT & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS inside front cover FOREWORD 1 Background …………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Objectives …………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 ACRONYMS & INCIDENCE OF STREET CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA 3 OVERVIEW / SUMMARY OF THEMATIC ISSUES AFFECTING STREET CHILDREN IN THE REGION 4 URBAN POVERTY AND STREET CHILDREN 5 STRATEGIES ADOPTED TO ADDRESS THE RIGHTS OF STREET CHILDREN IN THE REGION 6 COUNTRY REPORTS 7 Bangladesh …………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 India ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 Nepal ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Pakistan ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Sri Lanka ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 10 KEY / THEMATIC ISSUES IN RELATION TO STREET CHILDREN 11 Cross-cutting interventions ……………………………………………………………………………111 Urban Poverty and Street Children / Street Families …………………………………………………… 11 Street Children and Housing / Homelessness ………………………………………………………… 12 Street Children’s Access to Basic Healthcare and Education …………………………………………… 12 Child Labour and Street-Working Children ………………………………………………………… 13 Sexual Abuse, Exploitation and Trafficking of Street-Living and Street-Working Children …………… 13 Juvenile Justice and Street Children …………………………………………………………………… 14 EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICES 15 Aparajeyo - Bangladesh ……………………………………………………………………………… 15 ARISE - Bangladesh ………………………………………………………………………………… 15 BASF - Bangladesh …………………………………………………………………………………… 16 Butterflies - India ……………………………………………………………………………………… 16 CHILDLINE - India ………………………………………………………………………………… 17 CONCERN - Nepal ………………………………………………………………………………… 17 UPCA - Nepal ………………………………………………………………………………………… 18 SPARC - Pakistan ……………………………………………………………………………………… 18 SACH - Pakistan ……………………………………………………………………………………… 19 RESOLUTIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS 20 APPENDIX – LIST OF PARTICIPANTS: CONTACT DETAILS 22 LIVES OF STREET CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA inside back cover 2 Acronyms Incidence of Street Children in South Asia AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome CEDAW UN Convention on the Elimination of All Statistics on street children are notoriously unreliable, due to Forms of Discrimination Against Women the mobility of the children, their exclusion from ‘statistic- friendly’ infrastructures, the fluidity of definitions of ‘street CSE Commercial Sexual Exploitation children’ and the differing methodologies used to calculate CSEC Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children estimates. In general, the incidence of street children is CSO Civil Society Organisation perhaps better understood through the evidence of continuing urbanisation and the failure to address socio- CSC Consortium for Street Children economic and environmental factors that combine to CRC UN Convention on the Rights of the Child perpetuate levels of urban poverty. The issue of urbanisation CWIN Child Workers In Nepal and urban poverty is examined in more detail later in this report. In summary, however, the following quantitative CWS Child Welfare Society, Nepal estimates – combined with reports of continually rising HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus numbers throughout the region - nonetheless serve to illustrate the scale of the street children phenomenon. ILO International Labour Organisation INGO International Non-Governmental • A recent Bangladesh survey cited 445,266 street Organisation children in six of its metropolitan divisional cities IPEC International Programme on Elimination of (Government/UNDP, 2001). Child Labour • India estimates 11 million street children in total IPER Institute of Psychological and Education (UNICEF 1994). A study of 5 cities in India Research, India (Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur, Bangalore and MVC Most Vulnerable Children Hyderabad) revealed a street children