Children have the right to protection from all forms of violence

01Feb 2017
By Guardian Reporter
Columnist
The Guardian
Ea Whispers
Children have the right to protection from all forms of violence

THERE are an estimated 437,500 street children in Tanzania. Many live on the street because of the violence and abuse they suffered at home. Many more face daily abuse on the streets from the police, sex tourists and even each other.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states specifically that children have the ‘right to protection from all forms of violence.’

highlighting the large role that violence plays in driving children to the street and a recent UNICEF backed report found that 75 per cent of Tanzanian youth stated they had experienced physical violence and 25 per cent stated they had experienced emotional abuse during their childhoods.

It is therefore imperative that street children are given a voice and listened to when creating policies to reduce violence against them. Follow up studies must be undertaken directly with street children to ensure that recommendations from past studies are being implemented.

The Consortium for Street Children is raising money in order to be able to provide grants for our partners on the ground in Tanzania so that they may conduct these follow up studies.

With more focus in developing countries on preventing violence and abuse at home, and by reaching out to children already on the streets and providing them with the rehabilitation, education and security they so desperately need, the vast number of children living and working on the streets in the world could be significantly reduced.

In 2009 Jugend Eine Welt launched Street Children‘s Day, Jugend Eine Welt – Don Bosco Aktion Austria is an international aid organisation and was founded in 1997.

The objective of the non-governmental organisation is materialising national and international youth aid together with sustainable development assistance.

The project partners, the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) and the Sisters of Don Bosco (FMA), have been operating in more than 130 countries worldwide.

Through the support of Jugend Eine Welt the project partners could reach out to more than 80,000 children and young people to have the opportunity of a better future. Jugend Eine Welt, therefore, has a worldwide unique Don Bosco Network available in Asian, African, Latin American and Eastern European countries.

The "Street Children's Day" is commemorated every year on the January 31st and should highlight the situation of these children and young people and raise funds for projects run by the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco in favour of street children worldwide.

A Street Children‘s Day" information package is sent to parishes, interested teachers and youth groups at the beginning of January every year. The package includes material for a service for children, general background information on the subject of street children and suggestions for campaigns