violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“It is easy to get beaten if you are a street boy. People can rape you. Men can beat a boy and rape him.There is nothing you can do but run away if you are lucky.”Boy, 12, living in the street, Eastern and Southern Africa, 2005 I7Table 7.2 – Adolescents reporting sexual coercion: selected surveys, 1999 – 2005Countrystudypopulationyearare scarce. In regions with large numbers ofrefugees and displaced persons, concern wasvoiced about the safety of children in campsor dispersed within the community, while contributorsfrom all regions were concerned abouttrafficking, and the plight of children affectedby HIV/AIDS.Violence against children living onthe street‘Street children’ are a large and ill-defined categoryof children. Since the 1980s, analystshave drawn a distinction between childrenon the street and children of the street. 60,61 Arelatively small proportion – less than 10%SamplePercentagereportingforced sexualintercourseSample Age groupsize a (yr)Females MalesChina 51 Hong Kong 1999 8,382 15 – 18 16.9 17.0Kenya 52 Nyeri District 2001 2,712 10 – 24 b 20.8 11.0Nigeria 53 Plateau State 2000 4,218 12 – 21 45.0 32.0Thailand 54 Chiang RaiProvince2001 832 15 – 21 28.1 n/aUSA 55 National 2005 13,953 13 – 18 c 10.8 4.2a) Total number of adolescents in the study. Rates are based on those adolescents who have had sexual intercourse.b) Of the 1753 respondents included in the analysis, about 6% of the males and 30% of the females had never been married.c) High school students grades 9 to 12 reporting on coerced sexual intercourse.– of those visible on the streets have actuallyadopted the street as their habitat. This groupis normally characterised by the term ‘streetchildren’; although the term can be used pejoratively,it is also used by many children andtheir representative organisations, sometimeswith considerable pride.In the past, it was thought that millions ofrootless children lived on the streets in variouscountries of Asia and Latin America. However,research established that many of these childrenactually have functioning families. Nonetheless,there are cities in many regions wherelarge numbers of children have become based295Violence against children in the community