Pretoria - As the country marks the end of the Child Protection Week, government turned its focus to children living on the street by launching a national strategy for children living and working on the streets.
The strategy, launched on Monday by Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana, will be used as a tool for coordination of government's effort to prevent marginalisation of children and to assist those who are already living and working in the street.
Speaking at the launch in Bloemfontein, Xingwana said the strategy provides guidance on the services and programmes to be rendered to children living and working in the streets.
She noted that the phenomenon of children living and working in the streets is worldwide, however, the precise number of these children is difficult to quantify accurately due to constant changes in the status of affected children.
She said children living and working in the streets are a manifestation of the problems, which children and families experience in communities as a result of social and economic factors, leading to their marginalisation.
"While some vulnerable children may be protected through social assistance and child care services provided by government and non-governmental organisations, other children are not detected.
"It is against this background that government, through the Department of Social Development, developed a policy framework, which will guide government and other stakeholders to respond adequately to needs of children at the risk of living or working on the streets as well as those who are already in the streets," Xingwana said.
The strategy focuses on prevention and early intervention to reduce risks, protection of children already on the street and reintegration of these children.
UNICEF estimates that there are about 100 million children living and working in the street worldwide, the majority of these children are in developing countries.
The 2011 Child Protection Week Programme was launched last week under the theme Working Together to Protect Children.
The minister emphasised that the end of the Child Protection Week does not mean people should stop protecting and advocating for the rights of children. "Instead, this week should become just one milestone in our sustained efforts to protect our children from violence and abuse."
