Street children need our help! [Archives:2002/31/Culture]

BY ABDUH M. ASSABRI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
It was nearly 12:00 at midnight in Sanaa when I was at the bus stop waiting for a minibus (dabbab) to pick me up. I was baffled to hear little children on a number of different minibuses shouting themselves hoarse, Hadda, Atthreer, etc. (places where passengers are heading for). What in earth are such young children doing in such a late hour? Who is responsible for these children?
The children were wearing filthy clothes and looked as if they were in poor health conditions. Their cheeks were blown away with Qat as they stood in the cold midnight hour exposing themselves to the possibility of catching cold all for a few rials a day.
What kind of future do those Yemeni children have? Their future is at stake, and it is truly difficult to guess what tomorrow holds for them. Could it be anything but more despair, poverty and frustration?
Street children
Yemen is a country with a significant population of street children. Is this the new generation that we will rely on in building the modern and prosperous Yemen? Perhaps the term street children is somewhat offensive and unjust. But is there any other alternative term?
In this respect, the term street children refers to children that consider the street their home and family. They are the homeless children without parents. They are the kids living in an environment without protection, supervision, love, guidance, care, and attention.
Street children live and work in city streets all the day long. We often see them begging, peddling simple goods, and in rare cases stealing for survival.
Some children work in the streets to earn money for themselves and to support their family members, who are usually helpless and have nothing to offer. They return home late at night with whatever money and food they collected during the long day and night hours. Others have little or no contacts with their elder brothers or parents and must cope without their support.
These children often get addicted to qat. Many of them were reported to have been charged with vague criminal offenses such as, loitering, vagrancy, or petty theft. They are either tortured or beaten up and often held for long periods in poor and unknown conditions.

Children reality in the Capital
Yemens Capital, Sanaa on its own is a city crying for help to its street children. You can see those children almost at every crossroads and every traffic light.
Tens of children can be seen in the street pavements begging. The picture in reality is even worse that what you may see. There are whole families growing in the streets raising their members with no education or skills, just to add more burdens to the overwhelmed economy. Men, women, old and young, girls and boys are all moving in great numbers asking you for alms. Food security is really non-existent in our economy and this in turn adds to the suffering of the poor segments of the society posing a very hazardous future for our children.
Streets and roundabouts of Sana’a have become the shelter of quite a good number of children and old men and women.
Several foreigners who had visited Yemen for the first time recently expressed their concern and surprise to the increasing number of street children by the year. Locals too realize the increase in the number of those children loitering, begging or peddling their goods to passersby. What kind of future can those children bring to Yemen?
Rafeeq Ahmed, a little child, said he collected fares from passengers because of desire to continue his school education. When asked why his father didnt give him money, he said, he has nothing to give me. He himself needs more money to survive.
Another child, Mousa Ali, 13, a peddler, said that his father died two years ago and no one could afford to take care of his family except himself. I have to work day and night in order to provide at least the essentials for my family, he desperately said.
Some families are overburdened with debts and living expenses, so they eventually decide to send their children to the streets to work, peddle, or beg.
Children deprived of basic needs
Among those victims was Hatem Adhaheri a teenager boy from Mahweet. Hatem worked as a waiter in one of cafeterias in Sanaa. During his employment period, this poor child used to be given some food, little free time and no medical assistance at all. He was repeatedly told by his family that he should not stop working until he earns enough money to pay family debts. He was temporarily suspended from work several times for making simple errors.
Because of the need to work to support their families, street children are usually deprived of basic needs such as education, physical and mental health care and adequate food. They also frequently fall prey to exploitation and abuses.
Psychological studies have confirmed that many children choose street life as an alternative to harsh poverty or violence at home. It is a tough choice to make, but with constant threats of starvation, violence, and abuse, they tempt to choose the street as their new home.
On the other hand, the same study stressed on the fact that street childrens work could indeed be helpful to them and to their families; working and earning can be a positive experience in a childs growing up taking into consideration he or she would be idle and not join a school any way. Despite the fact that child labor should be opposed, but the facts say that their work helps support families significantly. This depends largely on the age of the child, the conditions in which he works in, and whether work prevents the child from going school.
Juvenile offenders
Only six countries in the world namely Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Yemen were known to have executed juvenile offenders, young people convicted of acts committed before the age of eighteen.
The Yemeni Labor Law has provided relatively significant legal protection for children. However there are still some limitations in the law that require amendments to ensure full protection of these vulnerable groups of the society. The law has to define the legal working age in a way that conforms to the time they finish their basic education. The law must also force employers to abide by the international and national conventions pertaining to upholding child rights that support taking measures to save children from suppression, abuse and exploitation in the labor market.
All and by large, to limit this ever-increasing phenomenon in Yemen, economic measures to raise and develop the individual income are needed urgently and should be given priority over all other issues to achieve overall development for the local communities. Measures should also be taken to reduce unemployment rates and to ensure free basic education for children. The problem of the increasing number of students leaving schools to work should be studied carefully and tackled.
Our objectives in tackling these aspects of the complex and troubling street children issues include drawing attention to the plight of bonded and forced child laborers, helping to end the hazardous consequences of children loitering, begging. We need to work together to discuss and find solutions to the large and significantly complex issue of child labor. It is the duty of all of us, government, civil society, and citizens alike.


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