Street children in the Philippines explained

Street children in the Philippines was first seen in the 1980s, and is estimated to be 250,000.^[1]

Defining Filipino street children

According to the "Stairway" foundation, there are three different categories of street children:

• Children on the streets make up approximately 75% of the street children in the Philippines. They work on the streets but do not live there. They generally have a home to return to after working, and some even continue to attend school while working long hours on the streets.
• Children of the street make their homes on the street. They make up 25%–30% of the street children in the Philippines. They often create a sort of family with their fellow street children. Some of them still have family ties, but may either rarely tend to them or view them negatively.
• Completely abandoned children have no family ties and are entirely on their own for physical and psychological survival. They make up approximately 5%–10% of the street children in the Philippines.^{[2] [3]}

Human rights

The Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on August 21, 1990. It also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict on August 26, 2003, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography on May 28, 2002.^[4]

Problems facing street children

Poverty

Children bear the brunt of poverty of affected Filipino families.^[5] Poverty, displacement due to armed conflict, and exposure to climatic and environmental impacts are key factors that lead to heightened vulnerability and increases in the number of street children.^{[6] [7]} In 2015, 31.4% of children in the Philippines lived below the poverty line, with poverty rates for children in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao much higher at 63.1%, according to official government estimates.^[8]

Street children are more likely to live in poverty, be deprived of access to education and other social services, and experience social discrimination. They are also less likely to have of access to justice or legal status.

Drugs

Some street children take drugs as often as once a day. A 1997 study estimated that up to 40% of street children had used drugs in the past. Other reports suggest that 66% to 85% of children had used inhalants, and 3% had used marijuana and methamphetamine (known locally as "shabu").^[9]

Summary execution of street children

Many street children were in danger of summary execution during the Marcos government era.^[10] In 2005, a report found that 39 children in Davao City had been killed by vigilante groups since 2001, most after having been released from police detention cells.^[11]

Child prostitution

Child prostitutes are used by foreign sex tourists and sexual predators, as well as local people. Some are used to film child pornography, which is rampant in the Philippines.^[12] Many street children are lured into prostitution as a means of survival, while others do it to earn money for their families. A variety of different factors contribute to the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines.^[13]

Rooted in poverty, as elsewhere, the problem of child prostitution in Angeles City was exacerbated in the 1980s by Clark Air Base, where bars employed children who ended up as sex workers for American soldiers.^[14] Street children are at particular risk because many of the 200 brothels in Angeles offer children for sex.^[15] According to 1996 statistics of the Philippine Resource Network, 60,000 of the 1.5 million street children in the Philippines were prostituted.^[16]

HIV/AIDS and STDs

There is no HIV testing for children in the Philippines, but approximately 18% of the street children contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

NGO responses

Various organizations have established charities and shelters, providing counseling, food, clothing and religious instruction in an attempt to help street children. These include Street Contact For Children, Subic Bay Children's Home,^[17] LifeChild,^[18] Spirit and Life Mission House, Tiwala Kids and Communities ,^[19] Batang Pinangga Foundation, Inc (Cebu)^[20] Jireh Children's Home,^[21] He Cares Foundation,^[22] ANAK-Tnk Foundation,^[23] and the Tuloy Foundation, among others.

Notable street children

• Darwin Ramos

See also

• Children in jail in the Philippines
• Rugby boy, street gangs

General:

• Poverty in the Philippines

Notes and References

1. Book: Freeman . Michael . Veerman . Philip E. . The Ideologies of Children's Rights . September 27, 2021 . BRILL . 978-90-04-48218-0 . 323 . April 17, 2022 . en.
2. Web site: Teachers' Corner – Background(Detail). Stairway Foundation. September 12, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20090227023442/http://www.stairwayfoundation.org/Eng/TC_Background/TCBackground_detail.htm. February 27, 2009.
3. Web site: The Life of Street Children in the Philippines and Initiatives to Help Them. July 29, 2015.
4. Web site: Celebrating 30 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. August 8, 2021. OHCHR.
5. Web site: March 2003. A situationer of street children in the Philippines. August 8, 2021. Streetchildren Development Center.
6. Web site: Street children are some of the most vulnerable children on the planet. August 8, 2021. Consortium for Street Children. en-US.
7. Web site: 2017. Climate landscape analysis for children in the Philippines. August 8, 2021. UNICEF.
8. Web site: 2016. Situation Analysis of Children in the Philippines. August 8, 2021. UNICEF.
9. Njord . Levi . Merrill . Ray . Njord . Rebecca . Lindsay . Ryan . Pachano . Jeanette D. R. . May 10, 2010 . Drug Use Among Street Children and Non—Street Children in the Philippines . Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health . 22 . 2 . 10.1177/1010539510361515 . 203–211 . 20457649. 206615376 .
10. Web site: Preda Foundation, Inc. NEWS/ARTICLES: "Nobel Prize Nominee Lauded Around the World Deserted by His Own". July 29, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20090831100542/http://www.preda.org/archives/2000/r00041301.html. August 31, 2009.
11. Web site: Globalization and Violence Against Children in the Philippines, 2005 . Capiloyan . Cleonante . DOC . August 27, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060823192034/http://www.childprotection.org.ph/monthlyfeatures/archives/apr2k6b.doc . August 23, 2006.
12. Web site: The Philippines' booming cybersex industry | DW | 04.02.2016. .
13. Web site: STREET CHILDREN IN THE PHILIPPINES.pdf . Jubilee Action . September 12, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040612202200/http://www.jubileeaction.co.uk/reports/STREET%20CHILDREN%20IN%20THE%20PHILIPPINES.pdf . June 12, 2004.
14. Web site: Pedophilia: Southeast Asia's sordid secret – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos. Agence France-Presse. Agence France-Presse. Inquirer.net. July 29, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402125110/http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20071021-95791/Pedophilia:_Southeast_Asia. April 2, 2015.
15. Web site: BBC Politics 97. July 29, 2015.
16. Web site: Philippines Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic—and Child Rights . . August 11, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080202085240/http://ipsnews.net/alert/countries/phils1.html . February 2, 2008 . dead .
17. Web site: Subic Bay Children's Home . Sbchome.org . August 4, 2012.
18. Web site: LifeChild Asia Foundation Philippines Children's Homes. LifeChild Asia Foundation. February 15, 2015.
19. Web site: Tiwala Kids and Communities| Christian Charity for street children Philippines . Tiwala.org . August 4, 2012.
20. Web site: Home. February 15, 2015.
21. Web site: Jireh Children's Home . pfmonline.org . March 18, 2014.
22. Web site: He Cares Foundation Street Children Caring Center: Help the Poor in Metro Manila, Philippines. February 15, 2015.
23. Web site: ANAK-Tnk Foundation, Giving Street Children A Second Chance At Life. www.anak-tnk.org. August 27, 2016.