What do governments do to help street children?
The UNCRC sets out a framework for protection that emphasises the family and community as having the main responsibility of caring for children (Art. 5 and 18). The role of the state is to support and enable families and communities to fulfil this role. However, it is an unfortunate fact that in many cases families and communities are not able to be protective and nurturing. In these cases, as for children living on the streets, the state then takes on a greater responsibility to fill the gap (Art. 20: “A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State”).Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Although many governments try to address the issue of street children there is a real lack of long-term, sustainable and holistic approaches implemented by governments. This is partly due to lack of resources and interest, or a failure to understand how to deal with the issue in a positive w
