SUBMISSION FOR GENERAL COMMENT ON CHILDREN IN STREET SITUATIONS

DYNAMO INTERNATIONAL’S

April 2016

Dynamo International – Street Workers Network

Dynamo International - Street Workers Network is an international network of social street workers who work on the ground with people living and working on the streets (mainly children and young people but also adults).The network represents 11,500 social street workers in 50 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.The network facilitates the exchange of practices, training, grassroots stakeholders speaking out, lobbying the authorities and other institutionsin addressing exclusion and inequality.

General Comment on Children in Street Situations

Dynamo International – Street Workers Network is delighted that this broad-based consultation proposed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is taking place so that the General Comment on Children in Street Situations can be drafted.

Although the majority of the UN Member States have signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), they do not live up to their responsibilities in terms of implementing the Convention.Children in street situationsare marginalized, discriminated againstand stigmatized.It is vital that the Committee invites grassroots stakeholders and children in street situationsto voice their views on the situations that affect them.As an international network of social street workers, we are basing our recommendations on:

-The right to protection and special assistance for children deprived of a family environment.

-Developing rights-based, holistic, long-term strategies.

A changing context

Many public policies criminalize poverty and consequently foster social exclusion that marginalize children in street situationsand deny them access to several fundamental rights.Social policies are often ineffective and unsuited to reaching this target group outside the system.These children – UNICEF estimates there were roughly 100 million street children in 2005[1] - are often forgotten and invisible to politicians.

Some brief observations:

-The number of children in street situations in Europe is rising because of austerity measures. These policies worsen social exclusion and the precarious existence experienced by the most vulnerable people.In 2011, Oxfam estimated that 120 million people were living in poverty and forecast an increase of 15-25 million people by 2025 if austerity policies were maintained.[2]Social spending (education, healthcare and culture) has been cut, thus highlighting faulty thinking by decision-making bodies:wealth is being created but is unequally shared out, which increases inequality.

-The number of unaccompanied minors is growing due to the current migration crisis in Europe.Eurostat estimated that 23,100 unaccompanied minors claimed asylum in 2014.[3]A 74% increase was recorded during the first few months of 2015.Half of them simply disappear (probably falling into the clutches of organized crime networks).

-Several countries have developed campaigns to crack down on children in street situations,to kill, wrongfully arrest, move and intimidate them.These social cleansing and security policies are serious violations of their integrity and deny them the chance to exercise their rights.

Children in street situations excluded from social systems

Children in street situations are excluded from social protection systems and social policies. Most of them have no access to social services, administrative authorities, education, healthcare and a defence before the law. They do not even have ID documents and therefore do not legally exist.

However, it is important not to solely view street connections as being negative. For many children, the streets are a way of developing positive survival strategies and restoring a social fabric in order to (re)learn to take more effective control of their lives in the future.Social street workers work in this perspective of empowerment.

The streets can therefore be seen as being meaningful and can be used as a setting in which children can be helped to turn their lives around.The public institutions need to understand these different phenomena in order todevelop/support needs-appropriate care systems tailored to the child’s living environment.

Recommendation

The holistic dimension of social policies

States sometimes opt for a charitable approach rather thanan empowering support. However, it does not address the root causes of social exclusion, as it only treats the symptoms.Moreover, social policies cannot exclusively focus on basic needs.They also need to take into account other needs, enablingpeople to fulfil themselves, to gain in self-confidence.

Life on the streets cannot be simply boiled down to economic poverty. There is a need to restore children’s real social identities in order to be able to support them in all circumstances.States need to do the following to ensure that everyone is cared for:

Ensure that wealth/resources are shared out in a non-discriminatory and equal way between all citizens.

Ensure that all empowering social policies are cross-cutting.

Put an end to public policies which cause social exclusion and poverty so as to foster social inclusion.

Offer citizens a social protection system for all in a non-discriminatory, comprehensive, accessible and effective fashion.

Develop alternative education strategies (informal education, popular education, mobile street teams …).

Decriminalize and divert children in street situationsout of the criminal justice system.

Develop educational and social inclusion programmes tailored to the reality of the streets.

Social street workers:an essential link in the chain of social and healthsupport

The founding principle of street work is being on the ground and accessible to those excluded from a classic care system.Social street workers have closeties and are integrated into the target setting, making them the first and last link in the social chain, when all other forms of care have failed.They are a key connection and an alternative channel between classic support systems and the people excluded from them.

Social street workers are an excellent means of obtaining and analysing information from the grassroots.As first-hand witnesses of the day-to-day lives of people in street situations, the remit of social street workers goes beyond direct intervention and includes several specific features:

-Raise the awareness of the general public and the authoritieson the problems experienced by people being on the streets.

-Improve people’s perception / understanding of phenomena that lead to exclusion.

-Develop alternative pathways to combat social exclusion.

-Ensure that State commitments are implemented so that children’s rights are respected.

Social street workers are also at the crossroads of the health, education, and judicialsystems.They are key contacts for other social organizations and the public authorities, encouraging social cohesion.

States must recognize/support the role and crucial position of social street workers:

Officially recognize social street work as being a means (among others) of effectively combating poverty and exclusion.

Recognize the social and educational facets of social street work, their added value, and its innovative and empowering nature, at the individual, group and community levels.

Bolster grassroots networks of social street workers.

Create a research and evaluation framework.

This recognition/support should take account that social street work:

is a long-term undertaking and must be funded as such,

requires some flexibility to enable workers to adapt to a diverse and hard-to-reach target group,

just like other social services, cannot under any circumstances be governed by a commercial ethos.

Defending the rights of children is not without risk or consequences in some countries.States are being asked to guarantee increased protection to all those who actively work to champion these rights.

Prevention is better than cure

While a significant part of the work of social street workers involves helping and supporting children in street situations, the aim is also to prevent other children from ending up on the streets.Prevention work is therefore vitaland has two objectives:

-Reduce overall violence and inequality with a special focus on the types of exclusion which go unnoticed (stigma).

-Prevent people from reacting inappropriately to violence and exclusion.

However, the prevention ethos should also prevail in the policies of the local, national and international authorities.

From participatory process to social dialogue

Social street workers witness first-hand a hidden reality – the reality of life on the streets. They need to be able to work not only alongside other social actors but also with the public authorities to develop real solutions, setting up special care systems developing children’s potential.

This work needs to be done in a spirit of cooperation and must be respectful of each individual’s uniqueness and responsibilities.

States must ensure this exchange of information and arrange a structural social dialogue fostering interaction between social organisations and institutions, establishing a win-win relationship.

Furthermore, we propose that in each country:

Aminister should coordinate children’s rights. It is important that these ministers support each other and coordinate at international level.

An independent body, such as a Children’s Rights Ombudsman, should defend children’s rights. The independent body needs to pay particular attention to the phenomenon related to children in street situations and to violations of their rights. Those independent bodies should also create discussion and consultation forums for children, grassroots organisations, the local, national and international authorities, for the purposes of actually implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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Dynamo international’s written submission for the General Comment on Children in Street Situations

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