HYDERABAD: Society for Protection of Rights of Children (SPARC) on Tuesday celebrated International Street Children Day and Press Briefing at the Centre for Street Children (CSC) SPARC office in Phase ii Qasimabad Hyderabad. Regional Manager SPARC Zahid Thebo, Admin Finance Irfan Qureshi, Social Mobilizer Shoukat Sirewal, and others participated. Zahid Thebo Said that the main objective behind it was to give a strong voice to the millions of street children in Pakistan so their rights should not be ignored. Pakistan has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and has a legal obligation to work for ensuring that all children’s rights are integrated into the nation however the government policies and practices usually fail to include street children. When the rights owed to them are denied, the things usually taken for granted are healthcare, education, and justice.
Zahid Thebo Said that In Pakistan, the number of children found living, working, and begging on the streets has been growing despite efforts to provide basic education and aid. Currently, the unofficial number estimated of such children is Estimated 1.2 to 1.5 above million who end up on the streets due to many factors including poverty, neglect, family problems, natural disasters and displacement, violence in homes and schools, and lack of adequate employment, education and social welfare systems. Once on the streets, these children then become even more vulnerable to other abuses including drug addiction, trafficking, and sexual abuse. Some other risks faced by these children include homelessness, malnutrition, and marginalization from mainstream society.
SPARC has always tried it’s best to support these children and improve their standard of living and for that, it established CSCs in metropolitan cities. SPARC provides them access to food, water and sanitation facilities and also encourages them to acquire education and learning skills. They are mainstreamed in government schools and given vocational training to earn a decent living.
