There are an estimated 437,500 street children in Tanzania. Many live on the street because of the violence and abuse they suffered at home. Many more face daily abuse on the streets from the police, sex tourists and even each other. CSC is raising money to provide grants for its partners on the ground in Tanzania, so that they can ensure that work being done to prevent violence against street children is effective.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states specifically that children have the ‘right to protection from all forms of violence’ yet CSC's report 'State of the World's Street Children: Violence' highlighted the large role that violence plays in driving children to the street and a recent UNICEF backed report found that 75% of Tanzanian youth stated they had experienced physical violence and 25% stated they had experienced emotional abuse during their childhoods.
It is imperative that street children are given a voice and listened to when creating policies to reduce violence against them. Follow up studies must be undertaken directly with street children to ensure that recommendations from past studies are being implemented. The Consortium for Street Children is raising money in order to be able to provide grants for our partners on the ground in Tanzania so that they may conduct these follow up studies.
With more focus in developing countries on preventing violence and abuse at home, and by reaching out to children already on the streets and providing them with the rehabilitation, education and security they so desperately need, the vast number of children living and working on the streets in the world could be significantly reduced.