Street Children Phenomena in Egypt

The street kids phenomenon in Egypt as known for most people is one of Egypt ‘s serious jobs. Egypt is one of the states with the highest figure of street kids. I decided to research this subject because it is one of the long lasting jobs Egypt is confronting. There are a batch of misinterpretations sing the significance of the word “ street kids ” , harmonizing to the UNICEF ; kids must fall under one of these two definitions in order to be called street kids. ” First, Children who are engaged in some sort of economic activity runing from imploring to stealing. Most go place at the terminal of the twenty-four hours and lend their net incomes to their household. They may be go toing school and retain a sense of belonging to a household. Because of the economic breakability of the household, these kids may finally choose for a lasting life on the streets. Second, Children of the street really live on the street ( or outside of a normal household environment ) . Family ties may be but are tenuous and are maintained merely casually or occasionally.”I purpose by this research to measure the state of affairs of street kids in Egypt and to cognize their precedences, activities and jobs. Besides, place the actions done by the governmental and non-governmental organisations sing the job of street kids. Finally, raise consciousness to the street kids job in Egypt.

In Egypt, authorities statute law and regulations associating to street kids remains chiefly disciplinary to the street kids who are viewed as felons and a menace to the society. By and large, the society looks at delinquents and street kids as a disease that should be treated by isolation. Despite the deficiency of conclusive information about street kids, many socio-economic indexs show that the phenomenon of street kids is turning, particularly in big metropoliss. “The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ) conducted a Rapid Situation Assessment of street kids in the two biggest metropoliss in Egypt: Greater Cairo and Alexandria. Harmonizing to this survey, Poverty, household dislocation, and kid maltreatment and disregard, seem to be the prima causes of the job of street kids. “Eighty per centum of the kids are exposed to existent or changeless menace of force from employers, hostile-abusive community members, and their equals. Ignorant about wellness, hygiene, and nutrition and deprived of services to protect them, street kids are a malnourished sub-population existing on an unequal diet. Functionally illiterate ( 70 per centum of the sample were school drop-outs, 30 per centum had ne’er attended schools in the first topographic point ) , economic endurance means working at the most humble undertakings, or worse, imploring, or thieving” .

A batch of attempts have been made to seek and gauge the figure of street kids in Egypt, but it is said that they all lack truth and dependability. Sedik ( 1995 ) , based on the records of Al-Amal Village in Cairo, estimated that the figure of street kids in Egypt, both males and females, is 93,000. Data show that the grounds for the deficiency of valid and reliable information on the magnitude of the job of street kids are because it is difficult to transport out studies on the figure of street kids because of they do n’t populate in one topographic point. Another ground is because the constabulary records do n’t maintain record except on the kids who are caught and sent to the disciplinary establishments by a tribunal order.

Through my research I found out a batch of causes for the street kids phenomena. Children run off from their places in Egypt because of kid maltreatment, esthesis seeking, disregard, being of other brothers and sisters on the street and peer force per unit area. Children say that they were kicked out of their places and forced to populate in the streets and abused by their household or the people they work for. There are a batch of ways for maltreatment. Abuse normally takes the signifier of terrible whipping and abuses for little errors. A batch of kids choose to populate on the streets because they feel they are free from any boundaries. A immense figure of kids said that one of the chief grounds for traveling to the street life is neglect. It could go on due to the unwellness of one of the parents, or the presence of a big household, or neglect because of divorce. The being of other brothers and sisters particularly older 1s affect their younger siblings to follow their lead and travel to populate on the streets if their household is confronting the jobs that they ca n’t manage. Sometimes they move together and look for one another on the streets. Peer force per unit area acts as one of the most effectual methods to increase the street kids phenomena. Children explain that equals help them set to the life on the streets during their early yearss on the streets by supplying nutrient, amusement, shelter and protection.

Street kids are normally at that place for each other. They help each other header with the street life by explicating where to populate, how to gain money and what should be done in instance a job happens. Street kids normally do work that does n’t necessitate any proficient accomplishments but they do fringy occupations that could supply them with money to last merely. Some of the work done by street kids harmonizing to UN studies include “Begging, rinsing autos or store Windowss, selling paper tissues on the streets, working temporarily in stores or mills informally, roll uping plastic from wastes to sell to recycling mills, angling and selling the gimmick, reflecting places, transporting baggage in the markets for people for money, selling newspapers and eventually harlotry. Street kids normally carry out their work every twenty-four hours, working in a scope of “4 to 18 hours a twenty-four hours whether in making one activity or a figure of activities consecutively. They normally earn from 3 to 20 Egyptian lbs per day.”

Street kids are exposed to jobs mundane because of the life on the street with no senior supervising or protection. One of the jobs is force. Street kids could confront force in many ways. For illustration, force inside the kids groups where older street kids abuse younger kids force from the environing community which do n’t O.K. of their presence, Violence in the environment where employers exploit street kids. Violence is frequently associated with sexual maltreatment which younger street kids and street females are exposed to. Another job that street kids face is the community disapproval. Street kids are rejected by society. They are non accepted due to their visual aspect and behaviour. Peoples by and large tend to drive street kids off as a consequence of fright and disgust. A 3rd job is the constabulary apprehensions. Street kids are ever exposed to being arrested by constabulary and returned to their households or committed to rectification establishments. This procedure does non affect any attempts to alter the original ground for flight from places taking to the flight once more to the street and the repeat of the barbarous circle. The concluding job is substance maltreatment. Street kids are confronting a serious job which is free use of drugs and substances that lead them to lose consciousness, suffer from uninterrupted freak out and passing all their day-to-day net incomes. Absence of good theoretical account and refusal of society lead to predominating defeat of the street kids and losing of hope in any good hereafter.

Government used to wholly disregard the job of street kids who represented to the authorities a beginning of shame and embarrassment. The reaction was to disregard and conceal the job instead than confront it and seek to happen solutions to the causes that lead to the spread of this job. Sometimes the authorities may utilize jurisprudence enforcement forces ( constabulary ) to garner street kids and set them into juvenile correctional institutes where they mingle with felons and finally the kids escapes back to the streets with condemnable background. NGOs, on the other manus, have dealt with the job in a more scrupless manner. Plans have been developed and funded to acknowledge the street kids to houses and orphanhoods and seek to suit them in the society and inscribe them in schools. NGOs have several angles to near the job. They use the media to recommend the rights of street kids and to advance their battle to protect these kids and to handle them as victims instead than felons who must be locked up. NGOs attempt to spouse with the Government to carry on surveies to set up Torahs to protect the rights of these kids. NGOs besides have plans that help street kids in their ain environment which is the streets. NGOs supply nutrient medical attention and fiscal aid to the street kids. NGOs besides try to reunite as many street kids as possible with their households and supply psychological therapy and societal audiences to the kids and their households to make to the underside of the job and happen a solution to the jobs that drive kids off from their places.

To reason, everyone would hold on the magnitude of the job of street kids. The authorities and the NGOs have exerted many attempts to confront the phenomena of street kids but more work is needed if they want to accomplish their mark which is extinguishing or at least cut downing this job in Egypt. Laws and statute laws should be made to protect street kids and assist them suit in the society. As to the society I think that more awareness runs are needed to acquire people involved in this job. We interact with the street kids mundane but we ever unintentially neglect them. Sometimes people treat street kids as if they are something disgusting. Other times people treat street kids as if they do n’t be. That ‘s the ground why consciousness run should take topographic point to explicate to people that about all these kids were forced to populate on the streets and they did n’t take this themselves. Every individual should experience that they have an duty towards these kids and want to assist them and supply them with a better life.

Plants cited:

• “Street kids in United arab republic: from the place to the street to inappropriate disciplinary institutions” by Iman Bibars- Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 10, No. 1, 201-216 ( 1998 ) Department of the interior: 10.1177/095624789801000108
• Article: “EGYPT: Street kids worst hit by force, experts say”19 Nov 2006 Beginning: IRIN
• SPAAC ( 1993 ) , Street Children in Egypt, UNICEF, Cairo.
• Street Children in Egypt: Group Dynamics and Subculture Constituents.by Nashaat Hussein
• Article: Uncountable Figures ‘ Of Street Children Create New Worries By Michaela Singer First Published: February 24, 2008, Daily News EGYPT
• Mehdi, Ali. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 17th of November, 2009 & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.unodc.org/pdf/youthnet/egypt_street_children_report.pdf & gt ; .
• Sedik, A. Experiences with Street Children in Egypt. Center for Child Rights and Protection, Cairo, 1995.
• Abu El-Nasr, A. , 1992 ; Abdel Nabi, A. , 1994 ; Sedik, A. , 1995 ; and Koraim, A. , 1998.
• Hussein, N. 1998 ; Azer, A. The Problem of Child Labor in Egypt, 1996.