Thursday 19 April, 2001
The Struggle For Childhood
On 20 November 1989, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It restated the UN's commitment to the plight of children, while addressing the issues of street violence, sexual exploitation and drug abuse.
Over a decade later, the BBC World Service examines the impact that the convention has actually had on the lives of children in 45 different countries.
In the six-part series, A World For Children, children in Brazil speak about the dangers of living on the streets. In India and Bangladesh children discuss work. And in Somalia, children share their experience of war. These young members of society have a right to education and a right to be protected from physical violence.
Through interviews, A World For Children hears from children whose rights are all too often ignored.
The Convention is the most widely ratified human rights document in the world and yet many children are denied the rights that would help them to actively take part in society.
A Right To A Name
Article 7 - The Child shall…have the right from birth to a name…and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.
Judge Siro Darlan is a children's judge who works in Rio de Janeiro. He was appointed to enforce a law called the Statute of Children and Adolescents, adopted in Brazil in 1990 which, among other provisions, recognises the legal rights of minors incarcerated without due process. The statute is based in large part on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Although his job is to be an advocate for children's rights, each week he is called upon to name abandoned babies that fall under his department's care. They are brought to a special office, with cots in it, as many as two or three a week.
The news stories of the day provide him with inspiration for names.
| 'When a baby comes here without any papers, I give the baby a name that is related to something in the newspapers. Or if Romario scores a goal in football and the next day a baby comes here, I give the child the name “Romario”.' | |
There are no reliable figures on the number of street children in Rio de Janeiro. Some children live permanently on the streets, others return home at night. These factors contribute to the uncertainty in estimates.
Called the “abandonados”, they often work on the streets selling candy, guarding cars and shining shoes. A UNICEF report published in June, 1999, estimated that 50,000 children nation wide work in waste dumps sorting rubbish for re-use.
According to the 1996 census provided by IGBE, the Brazilian Institute for geography and Statistics, Brazil has 161 million inhabitants. It has the most unequal wealth distribution in the world, with an alarming percentage of families earning less than $150 a month.
About one third of the population is under 17. Thirty million children and adolescents live in poverty.
A Right To Safety
Article 19 – State Parties shall take all appropriate…measures to protect the child from…maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent (s), legal guardian (s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
Fabiana Da Silva is now 18 and lives in a shelter for girls. She ran away from home when her stepfather tried to sexually abuse her and slept on doorsteps. She was just 11. Survival for her meant taking marijuana and cocaine.
| 'There was no TV, nothing to do. We wanted to pretend we were not on the streets. That's why we used to take drugs.' | |
The Right To Live
Article 6 - States Parties recognise that every child has the inherent right to life.
Fabio Campos de Oliviera sells ice creams at a football stadium. He's 17. He spent his childhood living on the streets but turned to a shelter for help after being brutally attacked by the police.
'I was sleeping on a Sunday morning and the police just came and started beating me. They told me they were going to kill me. They hurt my head and my right leg. I think they broke one of my ribs. It's still difficult for me to lie on my left side.'
Fabio will never return to the streets. He has dreams of a better future and even a career.
| 'I want to be someone. I'm too old to be on the streets. I haven't studied much to be anything. I'm trying maybe a military career, or even to become a singer. Anything to make money.' | |
His advice to street children is to go back to their families, if they have one, or seek shelter.
'It's very dangerous to live on the streets. A few days ago a friend of mine was killed.'
The Candelaria Massacre
In 1993, eight adolescents were shot and killed as they slept, near the Candelaria Church in Rio de Janeiro. No one has been prosecuted for that crime. Nine individuals - soldiers, policemen and one civilian - were implicated in the murders. They were absolved in a trial that took place in 1996.
Several Brazilian journalists have emphasised the complicity of off-duty policemen, hired killers and store-owners in the creation of death squads, who “eliminate” street children. The deaths are seen as a form of social cleansing as children are often viewed as a nuisance.
Because some of the children are involved in robberies, a significant portion of the public supports harsh police measures against them, viewing the issue as one of crime and security, not human rights.
Life In A Lorry
Article 20 – A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment…shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State.
For several years, a mother, a stepfather and three boys lived in the back of an abandoned lorry. Their parents were both alcoholics and after a fight, social workers took the children away and placed them in a shelter.
Today, Rafael, Daniel and William play marbles in the front yard of the home they have lived at for a year. It is owned by the São Martinho project, close to Rio de Janeiro, which works with children living on the streets or abandoned by their parents.
Their biggest dream is to be reunited with their mother again but her visits have been infrequent. Speaking about her last visit, eleven year old Rafael, the eldest, said:
'I thought she was coming to get us and we would all go somewhere to live together.'
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A World For Children is being broadcast again to mark the significance of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The six-part series investigates the lives of children across four continents, from child soldiers in Uganda to the street children of Rio de Janeiro; from child prostitutes in the Philippines to growing up in affluence or poverty in Germany.
The series gives children a voice to talk about the world they live in. It hopes to provide a global picture of what it is like to be a child in the 21st century.
It is presented by Nigel Wrench and supported by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
To find out when you can hear the series in your region, visit our schedule pages.
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