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FEATURED ARTICLES ***
Glue, a Cheap Substitute for Intoxication
Those who might
think these street kids are ignorant are wrong. They are actually inventors -
innovators of a cheap substitute for intoxication, which is easily available
in the market, sold in both drug stores and hardware stores. It is none other
than a sticky adhesive gluten substance commonly known as dendrite solution.
If you happen to be
in a car in Kathmandu waiting for a red light, don’t be amazed to witness the
street children congregating around your car begging for money with a plastic
bag in hand. These bags, usually filled with gluten, might look like a
harmless, playful thing to us - but it is cheap and extremely harmful
substitute for getting high and intoxicated.
Children remain easy prey for exploitation,
violence
Street children are
the most vulnerable lot. Sexual abuse is hidden but a widely prevalent
suffering among them. No child is safe and away from this cauldron of
suffering. Approximately 99 per cent
of them are physically and psychologically abused. Child sexual abuse may
include fondling a child’s genitals, masturbation, oral-genital contact,
digital penetration, and vaginal and anal intercourse. The other ways a child can be abused with
are direct physical contact, such as sex by exposures, voyeurism and child
pornography, use of obscene language, also referred to as non-contact abuse,
shows a research conducted jointly by CPSC NGO Nepal, CPCS INT Belgium and
VOC Nepal.
Males are the
predominant perpetrators of sexual abuse against street children. On average,
there are three male abusers for every two female abusers. On an average, 40
per cent of sexually abusive episodes are perpetrated by street-living
children and adults as well as 40 per cent by non-street living adults. Non street-living adults include relatives,
shop, hotel or restaurant owners and workers or any Nepali adult not living
on the street. The street is clearly the chief location for all types of
sexual abuses, accounting for one in three incidents occurring. – sccp
Nepal police 'torture
kids for fun:' rights group
The New York-based
Human Rights Watch said it had received more than 200 reports this year of
the torture in police custody of street
children or minors suspected of crimes.
"Sometimes, the torture is inflicted to extract confessions from
the children," said Human Rights Watch researcher Bede Sheppard. "At other times it appears to be
carried out purely for the entertainment of the official," Sheppard
said. The youngest alleged victim of
police torture was a 13-year-old, and methods of torture reported on the
minors included kicking, punching, forcing metal nails under toenails and
beatings with plastic pipes, the rights group said.
***
ARCHIVES ***
A Video Playlist
for Nepal
There are an
increasing number of street children videos now available that constitute a
supplementary source of information for researchers, especially for those who
may not have experienced the reality of street children.
ECPAT Global Monitoring Report on the
status of action against commercial exploitation of children - NEPAL [PDF]
A study on child
sex tourism (CST) in Nepal
(Kathmandu and Pokhara)
in 2003, showed that there were many incidences of foreign tourists/paedophiles exploiting children (particularly street
children and children from slum areas), who were lured by the promise of
money and gifts from tourists. Abuse took place in hotel rooms, restaurants,
secluded places and while trekking, etc. The study did not find any organised form of sex tourism existing in Nepal at that
time. The exact number of abuses was difficult to measure as most of the
contacts were made at individual level and therefore difficult to trace.
There were also numerous cases reported in the local newspapers of foreign
tourists keeping young boys and girls in their rented homes for long periods
of time where they were exploited sexually in exchange for shelter, food,
clothing and money.
UNICEF
– Nepal
[accessed 24 June 2011]
The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor
U.S. Dept of Labor
Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005
[accessed 23 February 2011]
INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There is anecdotal evidence that unaccompanied
children are fleeing areas of civil unrest and migrating to urban areas
because of economic hardship and to avoid recruitment by Maoist
insurgents. There is concern among government officials and NGOs that
these children are much more vulnerable to labor or sexual exploitation, or
living on the streets.
Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
U.S. Dept of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006
[accessed 23 February 2011]
CHILDREN
-
Internal displacement due to the conflict, including of children, continued
to be a problem, with estimates of the number displaced ranging widely. The
International Labor Organization estimated that 10 to 15 thousand children
were displaced during the year. As IDPs, children faced inadequate access to
food, shelter, and health care, and had limited access to education.
Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC)
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 3
June 2005
[accessed 23 February 2011]
[61] The Committee
also notes with concern that little has been done to address the particular
health vulnerabilities and needs of children at risk, including street
children, child laborers, child sex workers and Dalit children.
[85] In view of the
increasing number of children living and working on the street and the State
party’s recognition that they are among the major victims of abuse, neglect
and exploitation, the Committee regrets the paucity of information about
specific programs and measures to address their situation.
[95] The Committee
notes with grave concern that certain groups of children are at a
particularly higher risk of being sold and trafficked, including girls,
internally displaced children, street children, orphans, children from rural
areas, refugee children and children belonging to more vulnerable castes.
Street children with mental illness left in
the lurch
Arjun Poudel,
Republica Social affairs, November 13, 2010
[accessed 13 November 2010]
Street children
with overt mental disorders often go totally unattended in the country as
orphanages in the country are reluctant to admit them.
Worse still,
orphanages do not admit children with mental health problems. “They only
admit healthy and small children,” Sub-inspector Shankar Shrestha,
who is also a staffer at the center, said, adding, “They do not admit
children above the age of twelve.” He said that the police have no choice but
to leave such children back on the streets if their relatives do not come
looking for them.
These Grim Images & Sounds
Arpan Shrestha,
Republica, Kathmandu,
March 24, 2009
[accessed 24 June 2011]
As the night deepens,
the wind temperature drops significantly and the children abandon their
‘police-demonstrator’ game. They huddle together, every so often kicking each
other in the butt and smiling. “We have to sleep outside tonight,” says one
observing the thick vapor in their breath.
“Look, the vapor I exhale is the longest,” says another in a
reaffirming stance as the children crisscross their vapor and stroll towards
the temple opposite Basantapur Durbar. All four
climb the stairs to the temple. On
reaching the top, one begins to sing as others collect scattered paper boards
to sleep on. The hurt one then gets a little plastic out of his worn pants
and begins to inhale from it. Two others stretch out and follow suit. One of
them blurts out (to the singing boy), “Shut up, will you?” Soon, the four snuggle up to each other
and sleep, or perhaps surrender to the hallucinations from the glue they’ve
been sniffing. Two stray dogs appear, sniff around and settle next to the children
and together they all call it a day.
95 pc street children sniff glue
Kantipur.com, Kathmandu,
Jan 2, 2009
[accessed 24 June 2011]
With the onset of
winter, it is usual for people to buy warm clothes and heaters to warm up
their rooms and snuggle up in the quilt till late morning. However, looking at skimpily dressed
street children, you may wonder how they survive the freezing cold of
Kathmandu. But they have their own way of keeping warm: they sniff dendrite.
Bibek Moktan, 12, who hails from Hetauda,
warms up his winter morning by blowing into and inhaling from a plastic bag
containing dendrite. "I sniff one
tube (50 grams) of dendrite a day," said Moktan.
"When I first tried sniffing, I felt a current flowing inside me, but
slowly I got used to it." Kale Pariyar, 15, from Kalimati, was
also sniffing from a dirty plastic with glue inside it. "I sniff, because
I want to enjoy as others do,"said Pariyar. Bibek and Kale are not the only ones who sniff glue to
keep warm and to be happy. There are hundreds of children on the streets of
the capital addicted to glue despite various health hazards associated with
it.
According to a
research conducted by Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN), glue
sniffing affects various organs including the brain, nervous system, eyes,
blood, lungs and heart and even causes death.
Nepal police 'torture
kids for fun:' rights group
Agence France-Presse AFP, KATHMANDU,
Nov 18, 2008
[accessed 24 June 2011]
The New York-based
Human Rights Watch said it had received more than 200 reports this year of
the torture in police custody of street
children or minors suspected of crimes.
"Sometimes, the torture is inflicted to extract confessions from
the children," said Human Rights Watch researcher Bede Sheppard. "At other times it appears to be
carried out purely for the entertainment of the official," Sheppard
said. The youngest alleged victim of
police torture was a 13-year-old, and methods of torture reported on the
minors included kicking, punching, forcing metal nails under toenails and
beatings with plastic pipes, the rights group said.
Dream big, Mrs
Ban tells street children
Nepal News, KATHMANDU, November 2, 2008
[accessed 24 June 2011]
She asked officials
at the drop-in centre about the children's education and observed the
facilities available there. While some come for classes during the day and
spend the rest of their time in the streets, others, who were sexually
abused, live at the centre.
Paritra Tamrakar, programme officer at
the centre, informed the visiting dignitary that sexual exploitation of
street children was rampant in the capital. She said that over 80 percent of
street boys have been sexually abused, and there was difficulty in taking
action against the guilty due to lack of implementation of the law.
Children remain easy prey for exploitation,
violence
The Rising Nepal,
Kathmandu, Aug. 11, 2008
[accessed 24 June 2011]
Street children are
the most vulnerable lot. Sexual abuse is hidden but a widely prevalent
suffering among them. No child is safe and away from this cauldron of
suffering. Approximately 99 per cent
of them are physically and psychologically abused. Child sexual abuse may
include fondling a child’s genitals, masturbation, oral-genital contact,
digital penetration, and vaginal and anal intercourse. The other ways a child can be abused with
are direct physical contact, such as sex by exposures, voyeurism and child
pornography, use of obscene language, also referred to as non-contact abuse,
shows a research conducted jointly by CPSC NGO Nepal, CPCS INT Belgium and
VOC Nepal.
Males are the
predominant perpetrators of sexual abuse against street children. On average,
there are three male abusers for every two female abusers. On an average, 40
per cent of sexually abusive episodes are perpetrated by street-living
children and adults as well as 40 per cent by non-street living adults. Non street-living adults include relatives,
shop, hotel or restaurant owners and workers or any Nepali adult not living
on the street. The street is clearly the chief location for all types of
sexual abuses, accounting for one in three incidents occurring. - sccp
Nepalese football academy rescues street
children
Mail & Guardian Online, May 31 2008
[accessed 24 June 2011]
Three years ago, Mahendra BK was a 12-year-old boy living on the street in
Pokhara, a middle-sized Nepalese town with a
population of about 200Â 000. His mother died when he was still an infant and
his alcoholic father died of tuberculosis when Mahendra
was only eight. Mahendra
lived in extreme poverty with his sister and grandmother for about a year. At
the age of nine, he left them and ended up in Kathmandu, the capital, where
he was living a high-risk life on the street, collecting garbage and selling
it for petty cash to recycling factories.
"When I was
living on the street, I was sleeping under empty rice sacks in many different
places. The police used to come around and chase me away.
