violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

7ing and emotional support from parents. Manyof these children find themselves without familyor extended family support, either because theinitial solution was unsustainable or becausethey had no options available. While there areno meaningful estimates of the numbers or proportionsof children orphaned by HIV/AIDSwho live on the street, there are clear indicationsthat the overall numbers of street children arerising in many sub-Saharan towns and cities,most likely because of the increasing numberof children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In Brazzaville,Congo, almost 50% of street childrenare orphans. In Lusaka, Zambia, the majorityof children living on the street are orphans. 72Psychosocial trauma can continue even whenorphans move to foster families or to extendedfamilies. They may be treated as second-classfamily members – discriminated against inthe allocation of food, perhaps, or in the distributionof work. Orphans in Zambia havereported a lack of love and a feeling of beingexcluded, as part of outright discrimination.Many of these children are vulnerable toabuse (physical, emotional and sexual) fromextended family members and other membersof their communities, and girls are particularlyvulnerable to sexual abuse. 73Violence by policeThe level of violence against children by policewas rated a serious issue in a number of Governmentresponses to the Independent Expert’squestionnaire 76 , and was a common theme inregional reviews and consultations. Even insocieties where systems of justice are far moredeeply embedded and socially accessible thanin many other parts of the world, police violenceagainst children (or inaction against perpetrators)is rarely investigated. The level ofimpunity such conduct enjoys is an importantreason for its continuation. 77 Without independentmonitoring systems, children have noone to report police violence to, except otherpolice, from whom they understandably fearreprisals. This, combined with the perceptionthat children’s presence on the street equateswith ‘juvenile delinquency’, places many childrenat risk of police violence.Since the 1990s, international human rightsNGOs have drawn attention to police violenceagainst children living and working on thestreet. Studies in Bulgaria, Egypt, Guatemala,Papua New Guinea, Sudan and elsewherereveal widespread brutality, including beatings,sexual assault, and torture. This may takeplace casually on the street; during arrest onthe way to the police station; and subsequentlyin police lock-ups. 78 Kenya reported in its questionnaireresponse to the Study 79 that childrenliving on the street are frequently harassed andarrested by police; they may be charged withloitering or petty offences, and without representationin court, deprived of their liberty foryears in corrective institutions.In Honduras, a total of 59 children and youngpeople under the age of 23 died in detentioncentres between May 2002 and March 2004.Local NGOs allege that 41 of these victimswere extra-judicially executed by agents of theState. 80 Following her visit to Brazil in 2004,Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur onextrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,297Violence against children in the community