Street Children

Try and picture, if you can, all of the people living in the UK under the age of 18. Hard, I know. Now times that by 12 and you may come somewhere near the number of children who live on the streets around the globe. That’s around 150 million kids living and working on the streets. Some people reckon that this will increase to 800 million by 2020! The problem is made worse when you throw war into the mix and countries such as Iraq and DRC have large numbers of street children, particularly in the major cities.

Focus on....Iraq

The number of street children has rocketed in Iraq since 2003. The main reason for this is conflict-related poverty. So many people have died since the start of the war, that there are now a lot of widows and orphans. This, along with people losing their homes and jobs has meant more children have to beg, or do dangerous or illegal work in order to help support themselves and their family. Some children end up in prostitution, gangs or selling drugs and pornography.

Iraqi society disapproves of street children, even if they are orphans or have been affected by war. These days, most orphanages are accepting only the children that lived there before the war. The newly orphaned and abandoned children on the streets are looked down upon in society. Some of Iraq’s children live, sleep and play in the street between tanks and on bomb sites.  In a city, where there is so little money, it is almost impossible to make a living on the streets and most of the children are barefoot, ragged and often appear to be starving.

The dangers street kids face:

Neglect – they often don’t have anyone to look out for them and protect them.

Exploitation – kids often end up being drawn into dangerous and illegal work such as prostitution, selling drugs or scavaging for rubbish.

Physical and sexual abuse – kids are too often targets for adults who take advantage.

Arrest – the police often arrest street children for small offences such as loitering (that’s hanging around looking shifty to you and me) or simply for being homeless. They can then be tortured, beaten and abused by the police and are sometimes locked up with adults for long periods of time without a trial.