Consultation to UN committee on street children situation in India

New Delhi : Street Children expressed their views to the UN Advisory Board Members on the forthcoming UN General Comment on Children in Street Situations. This was done in a consultation jointly organised in New Delhi by Plan India and Consortium for Street Children (CSC), UK.

With the participation of almost 54 children and young people, this consultation brought evident facts in front of the UN Advisory Board Members. They interacted with the children to understand their situation and what they could do to work towards helping governments to support children for overcoming their situation.

The recommendations shared will be reflected in the forthcoming UN General Comment on Children in Street Situations, a key piece of international law on children's rights, laying out governments' obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The key demands of street children placed before the UN committee were protection, safe environment, shelter, food, identity and dignity. The major concerns included lack of healthcare, child trafficking, lack of address to substance abuse.

Till date two programmes have been formulated by the Indian government, 'Integrated Child Protection Scheme' which encompasses street children in need of care and protection and 'National Plan of Action for Street Children.'

Mr. Gehad Madi, Member, UNCRC Committee and Advisory Board said, "Developed by the UN's highest authority on children's right, the general comments lay out for the first time what the governments must do to respect children's rights under international law. These recommendations will prove to be a powerful tool to promote street children's rights."

Plan India has been working with street children in India for over a decade. The flagship programmes includes School on Wheels, an initiative to improving the quality of education for underprivileged children, Dreams on Streets, a programme to end child begging at traffic signals of Delhi and Dreams on Wheels, an initiative that involve working with children living on railway platforms.