30 thousand children working in streets, new study

Thirty thousand children working in the streets in eight governorates of Yemen, showed a recent study prepared by the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood in cooperation with the Arab Council for Childhood and Development and academic research team from the University of Sana'a, headed by Professor Fouad al-Salahi, head of Social Department.

The majority of street children are aged between 6 to 14 years old. Female category is ranges between 70 – 30 percent, according to the study.

The study attributed the reasons for the emergence of street children in the capital, and in seven provinces includeing Aden, Taiz, Hajja, Hodeidah, Sa'adah, Dhamar and Hadramout, to: poverty, unemployment, family disintegration divorce or parents death or absence of the oversight role of the family, family disputes, violence against women, parental abuse of children, internal migration and lack of social services.

The study conducted on a sample of 4760 children aged between 6 to 17 years old, clarified that the majority of street children did not receive basic education, where volume of male children reach to 4042 children. This mean 84 percent compared to 718 girls at 15 percent of the total volume of the taken sample.

The majority of street children's parents who are still alive, reaches 90 present compared to only 9 present of those parents are dead, confirmed the study.

28.8 present of the sample reported that they dedicate what they gained from their work to help their families.  The professional activity engaged by street children, which is distributed over itinerant food vendors, wash cars, begging, working in markets or on mobile carts, and in restaurants, laundries, ovens, cleaners and other areas.

According to the study, the majority of street children spend their entire day in the street, and 48 percent of the children return home at night, while 50 present of them spend the most time on the street including in times of the night exposing them to various risks.

The diseases affecting street children, are malaria, diarrhea, various infections, diabetes, anemia, spinal injuries and back, liver and skin diseases, headaches, stomach pain and others ailments, the study mentioned.

Street children are feeling frustration and disappointment towards despising looks from the community attached to their work. The study also indicated that the manifestations of violence against street children are physical violence and contempt than reprimand over cases of anxiety, fear and insecurity among those children.

The study was the first of its kind on the reality of the phenomenon of street children in Yemen, had been prepared in order to enable government agencies concerned to benefit from its results and to develop a database including plans and activities and future programs of the government, aiming to address this phenomenon and limit it in the future. 

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