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| CHANGING THE STORY |
CHANGING THE STORY Editorial 25-April-2021
In an interview for April 12,
International Day of Street Children, a girl spoke of her life with a smile.
Her grandparents lived in the same abadi where she was born, and where she now
lives with her uncle, who does the same kind of work as her father before him.
She was begging, like her grandmother, but after a night in jail and the
decision of a tearful uncle, she has stopped. She used to go to school, but not
anymore. Why? She is asked. She just doesn't, she replies with a shrug. The
history of intergenerational poverty, ignored, is common.
It is repeated in each of the
interviews with children who have connections to the street, who live in
"informal" urban settlements, sometimes for decades. For some, the
story has gotten darker with the pandemic and families go deep into debt.
While many began working early to support
their homes, around the age of seven or eight, previous economic activities
were often based on school hours. Now, for children who lag further behind
without access to digital options, the possibility of returning to education
seems remote. The theme of this year's international day was "access for
street children", but the road to real options is fraught with obstacles.
The first, perhaps the most important, is the lack of understanding of who the
"street children" are.
The dominant narrative remains
that they are victims or criminals, associated with gangs or mafias. Laziness
laws enacted since the 1950s reinforce stigma and legitimize their removal or
temporary detention, but this has yet to lead to long-term responses. . Gaps in
the social protection of street children must be taken into account. In
reality, street-connected children come from diverse backgrounds, including
refugee, displaced, and economic migrant communities. They often lack the
documentation that is key to accessing services. With invisibility comes
vulnerability to harassment and exploitation.
Some are unaccompanied, but many
have families and parents who love them, and some (by no means all) fall into
the hands of criminal groups. So to design solutions, the first step is to
recognize complexity. A second step would be to review the existing laws and
their implementation. One is Article 25-A, which affirms the right to education
for all children, without discrimination. Really achieving this for street
children means investing in community outreach and working with organizations
that understand their challenges and know how to tailor solutions: accelerated
programs, creative learning opportunities, and components perceived as useful,
including vocational training. In terms of child protection, there is an
opportunity at this time to shape the laws that are currently in different
stages at the provincial level, and also determine how they will be
implemented.
There have been plans to expand
protection and shelter facilities, which should be safe spaces where the best
interests of the child are paramount. At no time should they become detention
centers, something that can be avoided by establishing provisions for
consulting children and their families about their future, and for reviewing
individual cases.
A useful framework for formulating policies
for street-connected children is General Comment No. 21 of the UN on children
in street situations. This emphasizes a holistic rights-based approach to
addressing both prevention and response in accordance with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child. The opening paragraph contains quotes from street
children, one of which is "Give us a chance to change our history."
There may be several opportunities, if we wish.
Some may be in social welfare
programs like Ehsaas, which has elements that offer support to families and
incentivize education, especially for girls. However, when it comes
specifically to street children, it is necessary to recognize the gaps in
social protection mechanisms, see who falls through the cracks and how they can
be filled. Then, there is the possibility of cooperation to create and
implement rights -Laws based on On April 12 of this year, the Minister of Human
Rights, Shireen Mazari, reiterated a commitment to street children that the
government assumed for the first time in the Minister's First Inaugural Speech.
Her words were important because they defined justice as access to basic
rights: health, education, protection.
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