Street Children's Day 2018
All over the world, there are about 33 million kids and teens under age 18 who don't have a home and around 100 million who spend most of their daily lives on the street without necessarily being homeless or without their parents – but still. The “street” has become their home. In this term "street" stands for abandoned buildings, vacant lots, freeway underpasses and anywhere else in the city that they can find temporary shelter.
But unfortunately for some of them this is not even the biggest problem. Moreover, they are also being chased by the police and people from the regulatory office.
These children are shouted at, chased away, pushed around, abused and sometimes even killed by the adults that should in fact care for them.
Their fear of adults and or officials may be well understood when remembering that in some cases these kids were forced to leave their homes and families due to child abuse. Of course, no one seeks his or her way into such a situation willingly. This for sure is also the trigger for the outbreak of mental diseases which will cause additional problems in their lives later on.
Other reasons why children became part of the so-called "street youth" may also include domestic, economic, or social disruption. In a lot of cases this means: political unrest, the breakdown of their homes or families, as well as cultural factors such as myths and the believe in the supernatural. In some parts of the world children are abandoned by their families just because it believes their child may or may not be in contact with the evil or the devil himself.
Sadly, the rights of these children are being disobeyed and ignored on a daily basis. In the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, almost every country of the world has agreed to ensure the rights of street children are being taken care of. Still 100 million of children are fighting for their lives in an unending battle of surviving on some of the most dangerous streets on planet earth.
Street children's Day is about youths taking actions in order to help others their age. In sharing this information with you we hope to motivate you to be creative and find ways to help people your age who need assistance.
Written by Karolin VR
To find out more about the initiators of this special awareness day please visit the following pages: