Opinion

Children on the streets

November 26, 2018
Children on the streets

Abdullah Sadiq Dahlan

Okaz newspaper

CHILDREN's Day was marked around the world on Nov. 20 last with the theme "Children call for peace."

The United Nations International Children›s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) called for using all means of media to express support for millions of homeless children around the world, who are deprived of education and who live in abject poverty. It is a message to the leaders of the world and heads of companies and institutions and for the rich to participate in supporting the poor children who cannot find education, medical care and shelter. This is a humanitarian message to carry out their humanitarian duties toward children around the world and to apply the agreement of International Labor Organization to prevent child labor and to protect children from its negative impact. It is also a call for educating them and training them until they reach maturity and become fit to work.

The celebration of Children›s Day started in 1954 and it is celebrated on the 20th of November every year. It aims at increasing awareness about children all over the world and to improve the living conditions of children and to protect their rights. The 20th of November is considered an important and historical day.

On the same day on the year 1959, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration of Child›s Rights. On the same day 30 years later, it ratified the child›s rights agreement.

I think we should celebrate this day every day of the year and not just once a year. It is a local, regional and global demand to defend the child›s rights. It should transform into an occasion in which universities, schools, private institutions and companies celebrate. It is a day where businessmen, intellectuals, thinkers and writers should remind the whole world about children and their rights and the duty of society toward them.

Organizers of this international day chose the blue color. They called for all organizers around the world on this day to wear blue.

Sadly, the UN sources say there are more than 150 million children around the world who live on the streets. Many of them have escaped from their homes because of abuse from parents, who are victims of drug or alcohol addiction.

Children are homeless because one of the parents is dead or because the family is dysfunctional. Children are homeless because of wars and natural disasters. Children are homeless because of poverty resulting from economic collapse. Children in this case are forced to leave to the street in search for a job or search through garbage for food. Homeless children on the streets are exposed to exploitation by gangs that use them for begging and thefts. They are exploited sexually or are coerced to sell their organs. A segment of children who live on the streets and under the bridges are employed to peddle drugs for a small wage. Many of them die as a result of hunger, or because of drugs or diseases.

One billion children around the world are exposed to emotional, sexual and physical violence. A child dies every five minutes. The United Nations is working on a plan to put an end to violence against children and defined the year 2030 as year where countries from all over the world adhere to stopping all sorts of violence against children. In September 2015, leaders from all over the world vowed to put an end to poverty by the year 2030. However, indications are that the world leaders cannot fulfill their promises because of many international crises. It is expected that before reaching the year 2030, around 70 million children may die before they reach the age of five. It is feared that by the year 2030, African children in the southern part of the Great Sahara will be 10 times more vulnerable to death before they reach the age of five compared to other children around the world.

It is expected that 60 million children in the age of elementary school will be out of schools. It is expected that 750 million children will get married before the legal age.

This is a dark picture that is awaiting children around the world and it is forcing us to put urgent plans in action to fix the situation of the children in our country, especially children who live on the streets. It is true that the street children are not Saudi nationals and they may be in our country illegally. But they still remain in our streets as peddlers, who are in reality professional beggars.

I call on the private sector to participate in creating programs jointly with related government departments to direct poor children to education first and then put them in a special rehabilitation program that will prepare them professionally for the future.


November 26, 2018
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