¾ '¾ - ¾~~~~C - ¾ § ¾~~~~~~~~~~I ~~~ ¾ ¾~~~~~~50 Street- 4'4 Children Initiati Too I TOld,oo0 o The Street Children Initiatie (SC of the World Bank aims to identify promising policies and tehlniquesi;ii that are being developed in NGO BY K AT E SC H E CTE R faltered, welfare benefits have disappeared, and that are being d ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~many people have suffered, especially women, chil- programs for street children in 10 dren and the elderly. Parents continue to bring countries in East and Central Y ALL RIGHTS, STREET theirchildrentoorphanagesandboardingschools Europe. URCHINS, bleak orphanages and in the hope they will be provided with food and The project is a partnership w abused children should long ago shelter. State-run institutions are unable to accom- the Kirng Baudouin and SrFn- have been relegated to the Dicken- modate the growing demand and many children dations, which are workingt sian world of the igth century. Yet are turning to a life on the streets-begging, pros- upgrade national ard NGO pro- manyyoung people still live and beg on the streets tituting, and using drugs. gramsin Bulgara, :t:he ech of the world's cities. This sad phenomenon, which Because civil society in Eastern Europe and the grams lies at the heart of the disparities in our urbanized former Soviet Union is undergoing such major Republic tna -wg,Laia4 world, has in fact become a common and growing changes, wholesale obliteration ofexisting systems is Lith uan i a:,. Mace$niae, tlPoland;;: 0; (0 part of life in many areas of the world. The official unrealistic and unwise. A first step toward reform Romania and thevak Repi:iic. response is often to ignore street children or, at will be to remove the incentives that currently exist The SCI" ha s ls :o e best, to warehouse them in orphanages to perpetuate the institutionalization sys- comparativeosuia , blomi and detention centers; in the worst cases, tem. A mixed model of programs for chil- and Brazil, anc irls era they are simply killed. The urgency of dren-including partial residential care Russia and Ukr0ne 0 issues surrounding street children cannot and outreach for those who have some The outm tSCI will: be exaggerated or ignored. These chil- connection with theirfarnilies-appears to dren are the labor force, adults and par- be the solution for the post-Soviet world. * Infor ratgies and ents of the fiiture. In other areas ofthe world, the problem programsto improve xisting set- Although few countries record or publish reli- is older but no less intractible. Hundreds of NGOs vices and impro c able statistics, some studies indicate that the num- have emerged to deal with the problem, although in ;0 00 * Develop an j j l t . .it00 ber of street children in the major cities of the countries where civil society is less prevalent, these areness camaig 0developingworld represent as much as 3 percent of organizations are only just emerging. Governments campaIXXIgn :- i ;S the population. These children either spend their and police agencies are concerned about the senrous- * Strengthen , nm days barely surviving on the streets or, if picked up ness ofthe social problems, but childprotection laws 010 tt and otherAt lation i by the authorities, they are held in sometimes mas- are a new concept in many of these countries. The sive detention centers and channeled through sys- issue ofprotecting vagrant homeless children is often * lmpro< tems that have little idea what to do with them. In low on the governments' priority lists. The interna- the predominantly urban world of tomorrow, they tional donor community is also active in addressing will remain a worrisome social and policy issue as child welfare concerns, specifically street children. dren0fQAyt in SS' 0$ Wi0if they fall prey to the vices of the street while strug- Methods and approaches differ widely, but common FoV I ;~atie~ 0 gling to keep themselves and, often, their families goals include prevention by working with families 0000visit bor we .8 alive. While the international community is begin- and aiming to link children with biological or foster www.wo t orba ning to draw attention to the related human and families. V ;l hild.htm x6=-2k ;0 ;;0 tE00000000 economic costs, deep-seated sustainable change Everywhere, institutionalization or imprison- Or c A d 0 S ;D jt j: Z C ;; Zmust ultimately come from within. ment of children is far more expensive than pre- Or rcontact TimCampbelwl, E The collapse of communism has brought new ventative outreach programs. Encouraging Team Leader, tcan ell@ dimensions to the problem. Street children in the governments to invest in preventative measures, bank.org.;T Kate Schecer, T former Soviet Union and East and Central Europe such as programs to support families and keep Managr scct emerged as a wide-scale phenomenon only in the them intact, legislation to protect children's rights bank.org; or C ma Villani 9Iggos. The social contract between the state and its and street children programs that aim to reinte- Project Cooror, cviMam citizens during the Soviet era claimed to provide grate children into society, will not only have long- WOrldbano free health care, housing, education, child care term implications for the well-being of individual facilities, guaranteed employment and state retire- children, but it will also strengthen the over-all This sp eial0 repo4~t sup ment pensions. Many citizens came to see state economies of these nations and the world. [I1 part by a gran; the Oh' institutions as better arenas for child-rearing than and Yoi4h rqgtan~~?th& individual families. Kate Schecter is task manager for the World Bank's Open ¸oeiety Insitule' The economies of many of these countries have Street Children Initiative. 8 : Uban:ov Stationary Lives Street children, once unheard of, are an increasingly common presence in Russia's cities. BY JACQUELINE MIA FOSTER l , HE MOSKOVSKY TRAIN STATION in St. Petersburg is home to Igor and iz other youths who share money and food, and try to keep each other safe. "At night, the ladies who work here let us go up to the second floor and sleep" says Igor, who at 14 is one of oldest in the group. He has been living in the station for nine years. His parents are alco- holics, and he says he has no idea whether they are alive or dead. According to Doctors of the World (DOW), the boys are part of * an estimated 30,000 homeless children in St. Petersburg, and mem- bers of a growing population across Russia. Dina Bologova, a police officer who works at Moscow's Center for the Temporary Isolation of Minors, calls the situation "terrible," and says it got worse after the country's current economic crisis began. "More kids from Ukraine Homeless young addicts in St. Petersburg and Moldova started coming to Moscow because the economy there crashed even harder than Russia's." state that supported them is bankrupt. As a result, many parents Even working-class Russian families are under new stresses. seek solace in alcohol. "Society is not protected," says Bologova. According to the United Nations, 4 out of IO Russian children live In St Petersburg, DOW/France now has three drop-in centers. "We in poverty. Factories that employed are seeing not only physical problems, but a lot of psychological the parents have shut down and the ones as well," explains psychologist Marina (continued next page) WIO AWEEI,lyugsrmhene nMoew ae es 6re byamdpok n& I'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,4* ''Z th teahe sts gu -pe.n ;ils pae .r~feec ......... o - tk) t cgi:n ., A.~~~~~~~~~~~~~' _14-b. Ifi pft*ek thiirre rs npe. $ta-te_ finstt t ion SUWSt'M ar hiis ri 914*fo1hosn per8yuh L~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~hmls Ahl4e see shX4 T elter f C train :"bWn'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4 "6:' Childre b nt Ce tr t - c~~~~~~~~-a hoo and;40 40,0 uikidL iWi epcal Af ~~~~shesndbake ~otJnenepge year whie attending neighbor- hood schools. L.cated in a for- mer kindergarten, ALMUS has space for 31 children and sleeps no more than three in each of its carpeted rooms. Ilyinkov is working with DOW/US to implement a fos- ter family system. ie believes that if he can integrate orphan- age programs with what in Russia are known as "fanily care groups," he "can eliminate or at least greatly reduce the need for orphanages within 5 to IO years." 'Since last spring, DOW/US has placed 53 chil- dren from shelters into private - - h~~~~~~~~~~~~omes that were approved as family care groups. In Moscow, however, Demaltovskaya. "These kids aren't loved enough. Their problems are promises to build shelters for homeless children have yet to be real- becoming more complex The other day I had to tell a young girl, only ized. While children from outside the city are sent back to their home I5, that she was HIV-positive. This was the hardest thing I've had to do." towns, homeless young Muscovites are left to roam the streets. As the In addition to the drop-in centers, St. Petersburg hosts the country plunges deeper into economic bankruptcy, the number of ALMUS Shelter, which could serve as a model for the rest of Russia. homeless children increases daily. E1 < One of the fewv state-run shelters that doesn't feel like a prison, it is run - _ _ by Mikhail Ilvinkov, who has worked with orphans, homeless youth Jacqueline Mia Foster is a freelance photojournalist, based in Moscow and families in crisis for I5 years. Children can live at the shelter for a since 1995. tactd te Cnte's drecor,Yur Laph i, aterseeing it on a tele- or te ta," sys Da Boogov, a isio proram.'I cme hre wth to sutcass filled with paper, polie oficrwh ha woked tth pecil an pants shereclls an "wnt romroomn to room." Cener or ix ear. Athoghit s I Jauar 199, hewasgivn aclasrom. heSalvation Army t a prson, he winows ae andteRedCossdonted pint, ape n pnis She gets the barrd ad th chldre ar undr rst o hesuppiesrom rieds ad ocasinalcororate sponsors. constnt sperviion.As sh cirles te deks, se hoerslvingy over each chilId, speak- In ikiorena' ar rom, he ng ofty aoutthi lie o tht hrizn.She stresses the impor- stru. moedsat." el hm an n cheeol. Ti i este wheels in your head to roll," a self-confidence and they realize ; 0; n shesasThecetigthawhaitistoberespected." Aof In Russia, a bureaucratic mentality and centralized eu , ~~~a pe government control mean that smaller NGOs serving children must struggle to survive. |BY BEN ARIS| government~~ ~~~~t conrolmea tatnianerkyO OSCOW'S FIRST YOUTH CENTER, justoffthesix-laneLeninsky Prospekt on the city's southern side, is run by the Russian charity No to Alcohol '4 andNarcotics (NAN). The LeninskyYouth Center is in asmall two-story house. Cartoons are daubed on the walls and in one room a group of teenage boys plays ball with a bean-filled sock. In another room, a youth worker interviews younger children pretending to be international sports stars on a TV show. The center is a pilot scheme that has been running for two years. of cigarettes and alcohol, tax-free. In the wake of the assassinations, There are other youth projects in Moscow, but NAN remains one of the exemptions were repealed. the most successful. Not only does it provide a place of refuge for chil- Legitimate charities now face a regulatory nightmare. All chari- dren, but its 50 outreach workers also address the problem of alco- ties must obtain a charities passport. In Moscow, there is a special holic parents by visiting the childrens' homes. Unfortunately, its committee that sits just twice a month to consider applicants. Small record of success is not common across Russia. organizations with little political dout find the registration process An enormous number of NGOs are registered in the country, almost impossible. but their growth and effectiveness has been stunted by the legacy of The customs service is also extremely wary of imported "humani- the Soviet bureaucracy and the lack of concerted efforts by local gov- tarian aid" and reluctant to let it through. Among the organizations ernments. The history goes back to the I9I7 revolution, when all that have fallen afoul of the rules are the Salvation Army, which NGOs were taken firmly under state control. The thinking then was reported that 3,000 sleeping bags were trapped in customs for more that there was no need for charity, since the workers' needs were met than a year and a half, and the Red Cross, which said that a consign- by the Communist Party. It wasn't until Perestroika in the I98os that ment oftoys destined for orphans was burnt by customs because "toys" the Party began to acknowledge that social problems had not been did not appear on the list of goods designated as humanitarian aid. eradicated. Charities were permitted, but they remained in the hands Progress often depends entirely on the support of local govern- of the Party and were heavily bureaucratized. ments. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov appears uninterested in the While Party control has disappeared, the bureaucratic mentality problem, and so the city has no shelters and few facilities for street remains. Only a handful of the largest international charities have kids. Yet in Samara, the local governor, Viktor Titov, is committed the political clout to wade through the red tape. Most small and to tackling the problem. Samara's facilities are so far ahead of the rest medium charities fail to thrive. And, although two thirds of the of the country that other regions now send their social work staff existing NGOs are dedicated to children's needs, many are groups there for training. At the national level, the institutions that remain of as few as three people-perhaps a parent with a child who suffers are very passive. "The problem is that the state specialists-doctors, from a problem and the parent's two closest friends. Street children, pediatricians and psychologists-sit in their offices waiting for kids abandoned by their parents, tend to be under-represented among to come to them and ask for support. Some do come of course, but Russian charities. most stay in the metro and railway stations. There is a gap between These difficulties have meant that large international charities the two realities," says UNICEF's Vera Gavrilova. such as Oxfam and Save the Children have not opened offices in There is little dialogue or coordination among the NGOs them- Russia at all. Individual supporters have also become disillusioned. selves or the various government agencies that affect their operations. In ig99, private donations made up 9o percent of charities' funds. By UNICEF sees one of its future roles as providing a forum for these the mid-gos, private contributions were less than half that level. groups to meet and share resources. "The issue of coordination is Scandals and even criminal involvement in charities have mud- the most vulnerable and sensitive," says Gavriova. "Not only with died the picture even further. Import and export tax exemptions the problem of street kids, but with all the issues. Everything is enjoyed by charities proved attractive to mafia groups that overran divided between dozens of committees, NGOs, government bodies, some organizations. In May 1996, two top executives of the Russian etc. It's a headache, a nightmare." [t1 hockey federation were shot dead in a fight for control over exemp- tions that allowed sports organizations to import billions of dollars Ben Aris is a freelance journalist based in Moscow. 9tioit 2000 Urban Age i1 Children Of War During Mozambique's civil war, many children were used as soldiers and slaves. Healing the children and their families is the aim of Rebuilding Hope, a local NGO. [JNBIAVLE SULCA- rmalloW 3 ROM 1977 TO 1992, warring armies in Mozambique took some 2 5,000 boys from their homes to use as com- bat soldiers and forced thousands of girls to serve as con- cubines and slaves on military bases. The war, between 0 the ruling socialist government of Frelimo (Frente de Lib- ertacao Nacional) and the counter-insurgency forces Renamo bayonet in my father's stomach. I turned around and ran. A soldier (Resistencia Nacional de Mocambique), killed nearly i million caught me." Mozambicans, induding 450,000 children under the age of I5. For During his five years with the rebels, he did not want to flee those who survived, the physical and psychological scars may take a "because fleeing implied that you had a place to go," Nelson lifetime, if ever, to heal. explained. Having been forced to kill his father in the center of his For Boia Efraime, a German-trained Mozambican psychothera- village, in front of family and neighbors, all Nelson's links to his past pist working with the NGO Rebuilding Hope, one of the most hor- life had been severed. rifying stories concerns Nelson, a boy who was abducted and forced Efraime, himself only 2 5 years old in i986 when he decided to to kill his own father by Renamo rebels during a night raid when he study psychotherapy, was motivated by his experiences at that time. was I0 or ii. Nelson's father was placed among the Frelimo sup- As a schoolteacher on the island of Josina Machel, I30 kilometers porters since, as a teacher and effectively in the service of the gov- north of Maputo, the usual response to questions about absent stu- ernment, he was assumed to be "doing propaganda." Since Nelson, dents was "he's been kidnaped by the rebels." in the rebels' estimation, was "too young to be a communist" (Fre- The children ofJosina Machel first became involved in the war limo was supported by the Eastern socialist-bloc), he was told he in 1987, when the island found itself situated between two of Ren- would have a chance to remain alive if he killed his father. amo's largest military bases. Since 1984, Josina Machel had been sub- "I did not want to and I started to cry," Nelson said later in his jected to night raids by Renamo troops who burned down homes, aceount of the incident. "My father asked me to kill him, because at stole food and terrorized the population. By 1987, the raids included least I would survive. I cried and with my eyes closed I plunged the kidnapings. The captured were taken to the bases and forced into combat or used as sex slaves and agri- cultural labor. II - ;iir _ V A peace accord was signed in iggz, and in i996 Efraime founded Rebuild- ing Hope, a group of four psychologists, one psychiatrist and two play-therapists from the Mozambican Association for Public Health. The aim was to offer psy- chotherapeutic and psycho-social assis- tance to child victims of the war, one objective being to reintegrate children back into family and community. Its creation was inspired by an inter- national congress called "Children, War and Persecution: Rebuilding Hope." The first time it convened in Africa was in Mozambique in i996. UNICEF and Save the Children had been involved in reuniting former child soldiers with their families and communities, and 12 Urban Age Spring 2000 helped Rebuilding Hope to identify areas that had concentrations of thousands of girls had been kidnaped and taken to military bases. such children, especially ones receiving little outside assistance with They were then sexually available for all the soldiers and had to pre- reintegration. tend they got pleasure from it so that a rapist would take her as a wife. The Red Cross informed them that about 300 children had been A lot ofthem died in the process." Of those who survived, many had returned to a community called Zimpeto on Josina Machel, and babies as a result of the wartime rapes, and did not return to their vil- some of the Maputo-based therapists moved to the island. lages for fear their children would be rejected as symbols of the shame The therapists quickly discovered that a purely western psy- they'd brought on their families. Many became prostitutes in chotherapeutic model would not work. There is no word in Maputo. Changane, the local language, for psychologist, and the commu- "Of the ones who were lucky and didn't have kids, some tried to nity's initial response was that they were not in need of psychologi- come back but the parents donr want to hear about anything. They cal or therapeutic assistance, Efraime says. would say, 'be happyyou survived,"' Efraime says, describing also the In the cultures of southern Mozambique, he explains, curan- parents' trauma at having been unable to protect their child from deiros-traditional healers-are the agents of cure for psychic as well such horror, coupled with the community stigma about "second- as physical disturbances. "When we went to the village we thought hand product" which lowers the lobola [bride price]. people would come to see us because they knew we were psycholo- "So they're not allowed to be known, which means they're not gists," Efraime explains. "People didn't come. They considered that going to look for help," Efraime says. "We worked until last year the curandeiros are the profession- als for helping." That led to a complex process of forging alliances with the curan- differs-they see their own form of therapy as an act while the psy- chotherapists, "Afticans by birth, Westerners by training," as Efraime puts it, see theirs as a process-they recognized that the therapists' work was different from their own and could acknowledge its usefulness. But the Western model of "pure psychotherapy still wouild not trans- late to that setting. "We wanted only to do psychotherapy but people kept asking for material aid," Efraime said. The villages were without run- Director Boia Efraime leads a group therapy session. ning water or electricity, and the infrastructure was destroyed. It became clear, Efraime says, that their material concerns were intimately tied to without seeing these girls, and only now that we are closing most of ongoing psychological disturbances. "Material assistance was in this the cases we had with the boys are we seeing that the girls cannot sense a form of psychotherapeutic intervention." come to terms with their experience." Group therapy involving girls While reassembling lives is a traumatic and slow process, Efraime with other problems is starting to attract some of these survivors, confirms, things are changing. An example of a typically tenuous who are beginning to come forward on their own. success: after seeing one particularly disaffected boy three times a One mistake the therapists made, Efraime says, was thinking that week for nine months, he heard that the boy would like to have a the children's own ways of coping could be completely supplanted by family. This indicated to Efraime that the boy could project himself therapy. "Even people who have suffered severe trauma have their into the future, something he had previously rejected for fear that it own resources," he explains. "It's very important to find out what could be easily taken away from him. He now lives in Johannesburg they are, how they are trying to deal with their problem, and if they and, for the moment, appears to be well integrated, Efraime says. "If did or didn't succeed." he finds a job in a structured environment he will work well; no one He cites an example of a young girl who would dispel her fears will realize that he has problems. But if he gets into a situation that before entering her hut by circling the hut twice and clapping her is difficult, the possibility that he will try and solve his problems hands. A therapist told her to stop, but once she stopped perform- using violence is very high." ing her ritual she began to have free-floating anxiety. "The therapist Just as difficult is the reintegration of girls who were raped and was losing her-she was going into a psychosis and having halluci- adopted as concubines to soldiers. In addition to the trauma, the nations," Efraime says. girls who return to their communities cannot speak of their ordeal "We realize," he concludes, that "we're not dealing onlywith psy- for fear of ostracism. chological problems, but also with political, cultural and moral It was only last year, Efraime says, that he and his colleagues problems." [ became aware of this deeply hidden agony. "Because we were look- ing for girls who had used guns [military training] we didn't see that Adele Sulcas is a journalist for The Sunday Independent, Johannesburg. Spring 2000 Urban Age 13 I | iEElE1 1 11~~~~~* a | g | g ! E | S !~~~~~~~~~-. |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ S. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * -_m ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a a N~~~~~~~~~~~~I .. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- _ * w 11 "When we get into fights, we : use broken7 bottles, we poke each other with metal bars so we bleed inside and we stab each other with knives... I stabbed a boy once because i ive kinWf a from here... I haven It been home in five days because I lost my shoes * i and I can't walk Iwas sixor so."- me. b...:W Y ty A lu5edtOalthe way home when I I~~~~~~mm *S2~~~~~~~alk, ab. %~~ > <~things: X m I pawhodt for th Maol T~rt~fr&b~¶0~fr~iI ~ tra ueto-Icoksonthe stetad n a thet p~~6two men toi 1 ean okm oa oe ... tf' -~~~~~~~~~~~' !U ft f The True Cost Of Market Collapse In Thailand, abandoned and orphaned street children are one of the many consequences of the economic collapse in 1997. The Thai family, known for its resilience and discipline, is now hospitalsalsoremainedfairlyconstantbetween rallying to address the problems of its younger community. 1994 and I997, but jumped in I998. The eco- nomic crisis is blamed for many changes, including the continued unraveling of Thai A NEWBORN GIRL, biting ants crawling over her thin moral standards, family cohesion, community cooperation and val- blanket, was found one recent evening under a tree only ues of self-reliance. Economic difficulties may have only exacerbated yards from the office of Supachai Satheerasilapin, direc- existing trends, but there are certainly "disturbing correlations," as tor of Thailand's Child Welfare Protection Division. In pointed out by an analysis by the World Bank, UNICEF, the Social theory it was a safe place to leave her. Behind his Bangkok Research Institute ofChulalongkorn and The Institute for Population office there is an emergency home, where the girl now lives, that shel- and Social Research of Mahidol University. ters abandoned babies and unmarried pregnant women. In fact, the The report, titled "Thailand Social Monitor on Social Capital baby girl faces avery uncertain life that was made only marginally bet- and The Crisis," speaks of the positive power of Thailand's social ter by her parents' desperate choice of location. capital-for some people it has "remained intact or even increased Supachai has become accustomed to parents bringing their babies during the crisis. Families have become more disciplined and into government homes for "temporary" care or abandoning them resilient, and Thai communities have been stimulated to expand at the hospital after birth. He contends that an average of eight babies cooperative and mutual support during the crisis." Noting that it "is a day are abandoned in Thailand. Social Welfare Office records show impossible to assign definitive 'causes' to the adverse social outcomes an average of three to four babies abandoned at government centers in the areas of child care, suicides, mental health, crime and drug a day; non-governmental agencies take in the rest. use-whether due to short-term economic downturn or the con- To many observers, the abandoned children are an indication of tinuation of long-term trends tied to social transformation and eco- a much broader tragedy affecting children, from infants to teenagers, nomic development," the report nonetheless states that since the in Thailand. The number of children in the country's 2i orphanages, onset of the crisis, social problems have been intensifying in Thai- long stable, increased in I998, a year after the country's economic land. Divorce is on the increase, as is juvenile crime, drug abuse and boom collapsed. The rate of infants abandoned in 40 government the incidence of orphaned, abandoned and street children. Historically, Thai society centered on the family. Ex- tended families acted as safety nets when individuals experi- enced difficulties, The strong relationship among the family, the community and the Bud- dhist temple also has been a pil- lar of support. Even before the economnic crisis, there were signs that the relationship was frag- menting. Rapid urbanization pulled thousands of farmers into cities, especially Bangkok. Some men left their families in the provinces and sent money home. Others moved their fam- ilies. The heavy migration tore apart traditional communities and created new ones. Then the economic crisis - * * . - . .g. ** 1 . - -. - - ~~~~~sla-mmed on the brakes. Dra- matic declines in average in- i6 Urban Age Spring 2ooo He came to Bangkok's streets two years ago. His mother put him into a provincial emergency home three times for "bad behavior." Beer and his friends beg money to / % buy their food and claim to have no interest in going / , 8 Zhome. They like the freedom of the streets. Though Chana, I4, is so thin his bones point outward, he says he Sf J w - ,f S has more to eat now than in his village farm. He came to Bangkok three months ago with his father, but they X i s s . - were separated after the first month. The local public welfare division sends social workers around to "home school" them. Beer says he wants to stay in Bangkok for that. "I get to learn here," he says. At home, he would g ~ - < _not be able to go to school. r f _v- ~- More Thai children are in school now than ever _/ vt -i - _ X > ^~ _ before, according to Simon Baker of Child Workers in Asia. And fewer children are working. Though there were predictions that those gains might reverse because of the crisis, national statistics indicate it hasn't hap- pened. Between I988 and I996, there was a major Twelve-year-old "Beer" came from Ayuthaya province in central Thailand decline in child labor among 13-to-i4-year-olds, Baker two years ago because his mother and a series of three step-fathers had notes, citing the drop from 40 percent to 9 percent in put him into an Emergency Home three times. He lives in an abandoned agriculture and urban areas combined. Despite increas- wooden railroad cargo building with a few other boys and an older man. inginequalities, Thailand's fast-growingeconomybefore the crisis meant the incidence of povertywas decreasing and poor families in rural areas were able to educate their comes and high unemployment resulted. Doomsayers predicted an children. At the same time, demographics changed. Thai women onslaught of school dropouts, increases in child labor and other con- stopped having four to six children, giving birth to only one or two. sequences that never materialized. What did appear was confirmation Although Baker believes that, in historical terms, "Thai children that the government was unprepared to take care of the most vul- have never had it so easy," Baker says that the situation still isn' great. nerable members of its population. The number of children in the workforce, estimated at 8 percent, is Studies fuinded by the Asian Development Bank and UNICEF far too high, as are the dropout rates among children in secondary show how Thai famiies and schools acted to prevent school dropouts. school (after only three years) and vocational schools. Many families resorted to borrowing, working multiple odd jobs or Baker says that stricter regulation of child labor laws have made putting the children to work part-time. Others, however, "are over- children unattractive to big factories. That opens up the informal whelmed," says Father Joseph Maier, an American Roman Catholic sector, which is unregulated and can accommodate abusive employ- priest who has worked nearly two decades in one of Bangkoks largest ers. Of the children he has talked with, Baker finds that many have slum areas. Many kids, Father Maier believes, are turning up on the migrated from hard and tedious labor on farms to these conditions streets as a result. by choice, and stay because the situation is better than what they had A recent sampling of students revealed that I2 percent admitted previously known. some experience with drugs. At the same time, recent legislation set Even the abandoned orphans have some hope, provided author- stricter penalties for children caught with drugs. In I998, there were ities take action. Many are placed in foster homes and, while gov- 7,726 drug cases involving children under age i8-in contrast to only ernment orphanages house more than 4,500 children, there is a II9 cases in I995. More than 300 girls have been remanded to a cen- waiting list for adoption. "The abandoned babies give us such a prob- ter in Bangkok that was built for 6o inhabitants. As the Social Mon- lem," says Supachai. "We have to trace the parents to get them to give itor notes, there are many Thais who think the crisis "compelled poor us legal authority to adopt the babies out. That rakes a long time, and Thai families to do things they would not otherwise have done, such sometimes we caint find them." as turning to crime, putting their children to work as messengers for "Abandoned" is a "frustrating and terrifying" word to Father drug traffickers, turning to prostitution and drugs." Maier. Babies are left at a hospital because mothers "just can't do it," Thailand is also estimated to have more than half a million chil- he explains. Parents are dying from AIDS and grandmothers or aunts dren affected byAIDS. The government recentdy initiated aggressive "can't handle it." The mother is in jail because the husband left or is public awareness campaigns and medical programs after a period of a drunk and she started selling drugs." The mother "can't make" the denial. Now the greatest problem it faces are AIDS orphans. By 2005, tuition for grade six. There is nothing to eat in the villages so children the number of children orphaned by AIDS is expected to reach are sent to Bangkok- "There are more kids on the street, more kids 225,000. in prison," and that, he concludes, "is real abandonment-to force Social and health problems such as these have forced many chil- them to stop being kids." dren to live on the streets. Estimates go as high as Io,ooo, though there is little reliable data. Twelve-year-old "Beer" is perhaps typical. Karen Emmons is a freelance writer in Bangkok. Spring 2000 Urban Age 17 Recogn izi ng Rights In Guatemala, the battle to gain recognition for the basic rights of A R T I L L A children-particularly street children-is being waged in the interna- DE tional courts, the national legislature, and in the cities and towns. DERECHOS I After more than a decade, the outcome is still unclear. de las NINAS, los NINOS y los JOVENES que viven o trabajan ; :;X B:Y i ;R:iL I ; ; A U R f : _mostly in Guatemala City, e al BY tRAiO MAUFto ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~en la though the phenomenon has also grown in smaller OTH SYMBOLIC AND SYMPTOMATIC of society's cities. unwillingness to deal with children's rights is the io-year With the plan's imple- Cjourney through Guatemals legislature of the U.N. mentation stalled, Roca's A L E Convention on the Rights of the Child. Though the Forum perseveres as the sole code does not exclusively address street children, activists body coordinating action to __ call it a necessary first step. With its enactment, the state would for the address the problem. first time officially recognize the child as a "subject with rights," due Financed by the German booklet to street children, special and differential treatment within the justice system. Technical Mission, the Forum educati themtabot thiren t. Guatemala was the sixth country to ratify the convention, in Jan- brings together groups such as uary I990, but the debate over implementing it seemed to strike a Casa Alianza, the local branch nationalistic nerve. Opposition groups denounced it as a threat to of Doctors Without Borders, several local NGOs and government Guatemala's sovereignty and the nghts of families. Congress approved institutions. Roca proudly describes a plan the Forum helped design what critics called a watered down version of the law in I996, but its recently that coordinated the national police, the national disaster enactment was postponed three times, then suspended indefinitely. relief agency, the Red Cross and several others, to protect the street The Guatemalan Republican Front, a conservative party that con- population during the winter, when temperatures can dip below trols the legislative and executive branches, says it plans instead to freezing at night in Guatemala's highlands. address children's rights by establishing a Family Institute to combine Efforts by Forum members are complemented by Casa Alianza's efforts of the state, the church and families. Details have yet to emerge. legal aid program, which tries to prosecute human rights abuses Nearly every person working with street children points to a per- against street children. Casa Alianza has filed almost 400 cases since vasive social and governmental indifference as the major factor hin- I990 in Guatemalan courts, many documenting abuses by police dering their progress. "At the state level a serious policy of attention authorities. Bruce Harris, executive director, notes however, that "we've to street kids does not exist. Not in the area of education, health, gotten a day in court, so to speak, only 17 times. Significantly, the labor training, anything," laments Arturo Echeverria, national direc- courts ruled in our favor in I5 of those." In most of the cases, accord- tor for CasaAlianza, one of the largest NGOs working on the issue ing to Casa Alianza, investigations are minimal, files are lost or wit- in Guatemala. His remarks are echoed by Onelia Roca, director ofthe nesses do not show up to testify. In some cases, they are murdered. Forum on Protection of Street Children and Youth. Casa Alianza has also taken its case to international courts, a strat- Casa Alianza, founded in Guatemala in I98I and now working egy that recently paid off with a precedent-setting decision by the also in Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, has led the charge on sev- Inter-American Court on Human Rights in Costa Rica. On Decem- eral fronts, from setting up protective homes to spearheading legal ber z, I999, in its first ruling ever involving children, the Court con- actions against those who have violated the rights of the "street pop- demned Guatemala for violating the American Convention on ulation." It now works with over 4,ooo street dcildren, offering pro- Human Rights when uniformed police officers murdered five street tection and care, rehabilitating them, and working to eventually children in Guatemala City in I990. The Court is expected to award "reintegrate" them with their families (if a pattern of abuse did not damages to the victims' families. Casa Alianza has nine pending cases exist before) and society. involving abuses in Guatemala and Honduras. A degree of political willingness to address the issue appeared "While nothing will bring back the children," remarked Harris at the end of I996, when President Alvaro Arzu's government drew after the verdict, "we hope this sentence sends a message to the up an ambitious action plan with the help of several NGOs to ad- Guatemalan state that they can no longer get away with the bloody dress the '"allujiz.acion" (street-ification) of children. The detailed murder of street children, something which they have done for far scheme outlined eight priorities in areas of prevention, attention and too long." awareness raising, including new laws and regulations. But only the first step was completed-a census of the "street population." Craig Mauro is editor of The Siglo News, an English-language The report estimated that some 6,ooo children live on the streets, newspaper in Guatemala City. 18 Urban Age Spring 2000 Vox Pop ui BY GER PHILPOTT The Pavarotti Music Centre in Mostar was founded as a therapeutic initiative for the children of Bosnia affected by the war. l_ a.~~~--- HILE ON ASSIGNMENT FOR THE BBC to film war-torn Croatia in I993, David Wilson and Bill Leeson were deeply moved by observing a landscape where thousands of Croats had been killed and many others forced to flee their homes. Particularly touching was the effect of the war on children. Doing anything con- crete about the huge and severe damage seemed impossible, however, - until a chance meeting with Nigel Osborne of Edinburgh Univer- sity's music department at a bakery in Mostar. Osborne had already conducted a number of music workshops 'fr in the region-offered as therapy for those who had experienced the I_* trauma of war and dislocation. Wilson and Leeson immediately rec- ognized the potential of the initiative for the children of the area, and once they were back in London they decided to seek help from their friends in the music indus- try. The result was creation of the War Child Internationally charity. famous music stars Bono, lead singer for the group U2, was one of at the center itself, thousands of children have ben- the first to come on board. Others joined in the Bono and Luciano efitted." effort, and in 1995 the first of two Pavarotti and Pavarotti contributed The center employs a number oftrained music Friends concerts was held in Modena, Italy as sup- their time and talents therapists, some with medical training, who work port for War Child. Alongside Bono and Luciano on a one-to-one basis with disturbed children. The Pavarotti were some ofthe world's biggest pop stars to helping the therapists also conduct group sessions in special including Elton John and Eric Clapton. The aim children of Bosnia schools. In addition to the work of the center's was to raise money for the creative and therapeu- music therapy department, PMC operates tic use of music to benefit the children of Bosnia. diskjockey training courses, and two professional The concerts were a huge success, raising enough money to build studios are devoted to the development of professional music The Pavarotti Music Centre (PMC) on the site of a former primary throughout the Balkans. Other work includes dance and drama school in East Mostar. The PMC was one of the first post-war classes, guitar dasses and a children's choir. rebuilding projects in the area. Wilson, who believes that music in "Before PMC, there was little for young people to do in East itself is a form of reconciliation describes the PMC as, "a neutral Mostar" says Wllson. "Recently I saw 6o young people, on a Sunday space where children and young people of all ethnic groups can come morning, drumming." He adds that the young drummers, some of together to play and listen to music and attend workshops in a peace- whom were among the biggest troublemakers in the area, were taught ful environment. Ifs also a symbol of hope on everyone's part that life their new skills by Eugene Skeef, who once acted as driver to the late will go on." South African civil rights activist Steve Biko. Wilson was PMC director during its first two years, and is now In addition to the work of the PMC, there are plans by War writing a book about his experiences. The PMC was designed by Child to link the center with other projects throughout the world, Bosnian and British architects with four primary purposes in mind- specifically the Children's Village in Monrovia, Liberia. There are music education, music therapy and workshops, recording studios also plans for a children's center in Guatemala. The grand vision of and performance areas. The center opened in December I997, with War Child is to develop the music, cultural and psycho-social many of those who had performed at the Modena concerts attend- dimensions of all of these projects, bringing them closer together ing the opening event. to help improve the lives of all of the child victims of the world's war It is difficult to calculate precisely the number of children who zones. have benefitted from the PMC's work, although Wilson explains that, "with all the outreach work in hospitals, kindergartens and work Ger Philpott is a freelance journalist based in Dublin, Ireland. Spring 2000 Urban Age 19 Innocents Abused Acknowledging the existence of child abuse, and dealing with its effects, has been a long and difficult societal challenge in many emerging economies. BYL DEBBIE MESCE vian media swarmed over a prostitution scandal allegedly involving government officials and adolescent boys, which is still being investi- gated. The coverage led to a fund-raiser to start another center for RI O R TO TH E CO LLAPSE of the Soviet Union in I99I, abused children in Riga, and improvements to other centers. most Communist governments did not legally acknowl- Awareness has been raised in Albania, as well. A I997 survey showed edge child abuse and neglect. The recent decision by a that 73 percent of the I,252 people polled believe child maltreatment is court in Croatia to send a father to jail for I4 years for sex- avery important and serious problem forAlbanian society. This recog- ually abusing his daughter was not only the longest pun- nition will help drive the work that lies ahead, including legal reform, ishment ever meted out for such an offense in that country, but a says Ditika Shehi, a program coordinator with Albania's Child Abuse reminder that a decade earher such abuse of children was not officially Prevention team. Albania has laws protecting children, but lacks tools recognized. This legacy of denial colors what mental health experts such as family courts to implement them. see as a growing wave of maltreatment across the former Soviet War has slowed progress in some nations. The system in Union, fostered by pressures of the transition to a market economy, Yugoslavia is overwhelmed, says Nevenka Zegarac, a social worker in unemployment, lower wages and increased alcohol Belgrade. "We've been in an emergency situation for iO consumption. years, and the result is that we have a lot of refugees here. " When New York child psychiatrist Owen Lewis She adds: "We don't have a stable economy and proba- began assessing the situation in I995, the region did bly wont for the next few years. It's very hard to do pre- not have even a skeleton service available to prevent vention work and family preservation because everyone and treat child abuse. "The starting point was really is at risk in a way. It's hard to talk about parental skills almost nothing," says Lewis, who later that year co- when you dort have the money to feed the kids." founded the Children's Mental Health Alliance Foun- Programs in some countries are focusing on preserv- dation (CMHAF). In 1996, the Open Society ing the famnily-fighting the long-standing practice of Institute and CMHAF developed, in coordination removing children from troubled families and putting with the National Soros Foundations, the Child them in orphanages and institutions. In the Czech Abuse and Child Mental Health Program. Their Republic, an NGO called STREP (the Czech acronym strategy envisioned a systematic approach that began with educating for the Center for Assistance to Children and Families) has been and training mental health professionals, social workers, pediatri- working since I997 to strengthen families and keep them intact when cians, police, teachers, journalists, prosecutors and judges. possible. Attitudes in some countries were a formidable barrier. "It is in Child abuse programs are increasingly able to assist victims and some ways a political issue," says Maria Keller Hamela, a child psy- their families, due in part to governmental support. With the possi- chologist who works with Nobody's Children Foundation in War- ble exception of Yugoslavia, the child abuse programs in these coun- saw. "Catholics and the right wing see the sanctity of the family and tries are slowly being integrated into local and national institutions. believe we shouldn't intervene, that parents have the right to raise In Latvia, the government provides reimbursement for treatment their own children. When you talk about child abuse, some say this services, and in Lithuania finding is available to train social workers. is creating the problem." The Czech government is developing policies and laws for standards Another issue was establishing what actually constitutes child of care and support for families. And in Poland, it is now mandatory abuse, outside obvious physical beating or sexual abuse. Often, par- that law students at the University of Warsaw attend a seminar on ents defend treatment of their children as discipline. "Public opinion child abuse and neglect issues. is not clear. There's still not one opinion about what is abuse and "Ten years is not a long time for everybody to understand that what is not," says Ausra Kuriene, a clinical psychologist at Children's child abuse is a problem, and that you need to have help," says Ruth Support Center in Vilnius, Lithuania. Soonets, who helped start the Tartu Child Support Center in Esto- But attitudes are changing as the issues are discussed publicly. "In nia. While her center is seeing a growing number of children five years, there's been a tremendous dhange," Kuriene says. "More and clients-399 last year-she continues to be amazed at the progress more, all the newspapers, magazines and TV are talking about it." that has been made in those few years. rim Although many experts in the region criticize the news media's cov- erage, in some cases the publicity has helped. In the fall of I999, Lat- Debbie Mesce is a freelance journalist based in Washington. 20 Urban Age Spring 2000 Subterranean B I ues Mongolia's street children need help, I _ | certainly. But the emphasis should be placed on keeping families together. BY DOMINIC ZIEGLER N 1OT MUCH SEPARATES the plight of homeless chil- walk with the stiff and bow-legged gait of rickets victims. The bone dren in Ulan Bator from those in Rio de Janeiro or deformity, caused by deficiency in vitamin D, is exacerbated by a Manila, except that winter temperatures as low as lack of sunlight. minus 30 degrees centigrade in this Mongolian capital The girl's reluctance to seek aid highlights a problem for people force the city's 3,000 street children to seek shelter in the who want to help. If found young enough, children can be taken in, city's underground sewers and heating systems. The fetid squalor in but older children may prove unwilling to accept offers of shelter. For which these children live-eating, sleeping, defecating and having many, the streets are where their friends are, where they have indepen- sex in these underground tubes-tugs at ones heartstrings. dence and, often, where reasonably good, if ilicit, money can be made. For a long time after I99o, when social welfare subsidies disap- The government's National Centre for Children's goal is to spon- peared with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mongolian gov- sor 4,000 of Mongolia's poorest families. The support, equal to $zo ernment pretended that street children didn't really exist. According a month, would do much to keep families together and children at to officials, there were just 300 street children in I99Z. This year their school in a country where the annual household income is less than number is expected to exceed 4,000, this in a country whose total $400. The state earmarked sponsorship for 400 families last year, population is only 2.5 million. but the funds dried up after two months. As for the Centre, its annual Anti-poverty groups in Ulan Bator, mosdy Western, now tackle $ioo,ooo budget covers only staff costs and heating. Of the 4,000 the problem through 2o-odd "shelters" that offer services ranging targeted families, only 30 are getting any money. from a simple ger-the traditional felt tent adapted to serve as a Family support, poverty alleviation and income generation are halfway house-to larger homes with scores of children. Every becoming the focus of some NGOs. In addition to running its ger Wednesday night Father Gilbert, a Filipino priest who runs a home village, the Christina Noble Children's Foundation sponsors indi- for I40 children who were once on the street, delivers mutton pan- vidual children; part of the deal is that the whole family gets access cakes and hot tea to subterranean colonies of children. He has learned to health care. that tracking down children, including new arrivals, requires know- Save the Children Fund runs half-a-dozen shelters that attempt ing every open manhole cover in the capital; in winter he must visit to integrate children back into society. It also pays for mobile kinder- them at night, when their occupants are sure to be huddling there. gartens that go where the herders go. In the countryside, it has started He first stops at the manholes a few paces west of the Ulan Bator to encourage mini-farms for former homeless children, growing veg- Hotel, where eight children live. Last year, one child stabbed another etables and the like. About 25 children who received training last year to death here; he is now in the adult prison. A second child died in subsequently earned about $350 each. an alcoholic coma. On a recent night, only one child camne up the Now, says the Fund's Ariuntungalag Tsendiin, there needs to be ladder to greet Father Gilbert. The others, the 14-year-old said with more emphasis on placing social workers in schools. In Mongolia they a grin as he took the pancakes, had passed out. have proven to be more effective than teachers in spotting problems, Wednesday night is also soup-kitchen night for the homeless, perhaps because of the history of quasi-social workers who organized young and old, who are able to trudge to Father Gilbert's children's Young Pioneers under the Communist system. In time, says Ariun- home. This makes the street outside the home the natural place for tungalag, shelters could be taken over by local government, leaving the mobile medical clinic that belongs to the Christina Noble Chil- NGOs to focus on income generation and family support. dren's Foundation. In the back, Damian Kenny, a young Irish pedi- Mongolians may soon be able to agree that they have stanched atrician, sets up shop. Outside, a line forms made up of people the flood of children coming to the streets. But bringing their num- seeking treatment for the usual street ailments: scabs, tuberculosis, bers down to their Communist-era levels will take painstakingly urinary infections and sexually transmitted diseases. longer. One girl of i6 approaches the vehide with sideways suspicion, holding her three younger siblings. Then she changes her mind, and Dominic Ziegler is the China and Mongolia correspondent for with a sharp order takes her brood off The boys, aged ii and seven, The Economist magazine. Spring 2000 Urban Age 21 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I* 0 l fE i ~l qL