Tens of millions of children live on the streets worldwide

9 March 2011: Street children need greater protection and recognition if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved, says a major report being launched at the United Nations today.

The Still on the street – still short of rights report, commissioned by Plan and the Consortium of Street Children (CSC), highlights the dangers and challenges street children face and how their rights have been ignored by governments and the international community.

Children speak out

The report is being launched at the 16th session of the Human Rights Council* in Geneva, where a street 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 18-year-old Severine, who was forced to live and work on Benin's streets.

Birth registration key

Plan's Head of Global Advocacy Nadya Kassam says: "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."

Call for action

Plan and CSC are calling for governments and the international community to:

• focus greater attention on marginalised children in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
• 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.
  

Read the Still on the street – still short of rights report.

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