On 12 April 2021 – International Day for Street Children – Cities for Children along with the Special Parliamentary Group on the SDGs in Pakistan held a national consultation to review policies related to street-connected children and how best to support “Access for Street Children.” The event was supported by the Consortium for Street Children, framed with a view to understanding who “street children” are, and how to facilitate access to fundamental rights in particular access to education and justice.
The event was moderated by Hon. MNA and Convenor of the Child Rights Group Ms. Mehnaz Akber Aziz, with keynote speakers being the Hon. Minister for Human Rights, Dr. Shireen Mazari and the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Mr. Hamza Shafqaat.
The spectrum of participants in the roundtable included MNAs from each of the provinces including Kheso Maal Daas from Sindh and Ms. Munawara Bibi from Balochistan; representation from the social protection programme, Ehsaas; Ms. Sarah Ahmed from the Punjab Child Welfare and Protection Bureau; Iqbal Detho from the National Commission on the Rights of the Child; and practitioners from national and grassroots level organisations including Sahil, Good Development Pakistan, Dost Welfare Foundation (Peshawar) and the Pehli Kiran School System (Islamabad). Importantly, we also worked to interview and incorporate the real voices of street-connected children via a video screened at the event, to truly illustrate the challenges of intergenerational urban poverty; what drives children out of school and into the workforce; and the vulnerability that comes with informality of status.
5 main takeaways:
1. Acknowledging complexity.
What came across very clearly was that “street children” is not a monolithic term. The situation differs in each urban context, with drivers of mobility including conflict and disaster. While some may fall into exploitation by criminal groups, it was shared that this was certainly not always the case. Many children who are seen on the streets are there for survival activities for their families who they do return to – or work around school hours. Understanding communities and children’s constraints as well as their voice and agency will help devise humane policies that are rooted in their reality.
“With or without the local governments our children have suffered. And largely they have suffered because of the War on Terror. So there is a natural corollary… It’s one thing that there are organized gangs but I think to recognize the problem, we need to understand its different types” – MNA Shandana Khan
2. Review of existing laws and their implementation.
One useful framework for shaping policy on street children is UN General Comment No. 21 on Children in Street Situations. We started out with laying out some relevant national laws to do with street-connected children, including the Vagrancy Laws carried on from the 1950s that represent status offenses and provide the rationale for criminalizing activities like begging for alms. In terms of providing education and protection without discrimination, there is Article 25A reinforcing the right to education, and child protection laws that are currently at different stages of development in different provinces. There is an opportunity to shape these protection laws and lay out their implementation so that the best interests of children remain paramount.
3. Cooperation and coordination.
There is need for communication and coordination across parties, legislative bodies, child protection and social welfare departments, law enforcement agencies and civil society. One recommendation that was suggested by Ms. Aziz was the setting up of an “umbrella” like network of organisations working on issues related to street-connected children, to share best practice locally as well as to connect at the international level.
4. Reviewing the role of protection facilities.
Not all children are unaccompanied, so there is a need to review on a case-by-case basis who belongs in a protection home or facility. Shelter and drop-in facilities have a place, and an important role to play in the lives of vulnerable children as safe spaces they can access with opportunities for learning. We need to think about what the state and private organisations can afford to sustain and how to offer, as Azaz from Dost Foundation said, “continuity of care.”
“A multi-stakeholder mechanism proposes a few things. First, how to reach out to children, how to hold parents accountable and also support parents to fulfill their parental responsibilities. This means there is also the need to assess its tailor-made evaluation which is part of what we call case management in terms of child protection.” – Valerie Khan, Good Development Pakistan
5. Casting a wide net.
The Ehsaas programme has several elements offering support and incentivizing education, especially for girls. When it comes specifically to street children, there is a need to recognize the gaps in social protection mechanisms, and see who falls through the cracks in urban spaces especially due to issues like lack of formal documentation and identity documents.
For Cities for Children, this was a first step towards creating a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of street-connected children, and taking a rights-based approach centered on non-discrimination, the best interests of every child and, as Usama Khilji said, “think more with our hearts when it comes to children.”
We would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Mehnaz Aziz and Mehreen Mubashir from the SDGs Secretariat, for their dedication to child rights and giving this platform to discuss the issues in an open, consultative way.
Press coverage of the event is available here: Minister reiterates commitment to street children
The full video of the event is available on the SDGs Secretariat Youtube channel