§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how much aid his Department gives to tackle the problem of street children. [123727]
§ Hilary BennWe are currently providing financial support of around £900,000 to three UK-based nongovernmental organisations that work directly with street children: Childhope, GOAL and World Vision. We also support many more organisations and Governments working to tackle the underlying causes of the poverty, deprivation and social exclusion that force children on to the streets.
Children live on the streets because of poverty in their communities. Support for children's rights to basic health care, education, nutrition, shelter and protection from violence and abusive labour, along with work on sustainable livelihoods for their parents, is central to our effort towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
The UN Convention on the Right of the Child sets out the inherent rights and entitlements needed to guarantee a child's right to survival, development and an adequate standard of living. Poverty Reduction Strategy processes are particularly important in ensuring that these policies address child poverty and secure child entitlements. The Government believe that we should all work for the earliest possible realisation of these rights for all children. We regularly raise our concerns in bodies such as the UN Commission for Human Rights.
§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how much aid his Department gives to tackle the problem of street children in Central America; who this money is given to; and what the money is spent on. [123732]
§ Hilary BennDFID provides funds to support street children in Honduras (£18,000), Nicaragua (£10,000) and Guatemala (£16,000) under our Small Grants Scheme. In Costa Rica the British embassy has provided equipment to improve the lives of street children (£10,000). The money is given to non-government organisations (NGOs) and local organisations.
Funds are provided for projects such as the construction of a training centre in order to rescue young people and street children from drugs, alcohol and gangs; programmes to help street children gain vocational qualifications for preparation of integration into society; rehabilitation projects to prevent and combat violence in street children and projects for medical and psychological attention and vocational training.
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§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how many street children there are in Africa; in which African countries they are located; and how many street children there are in each country. [123736]
§ Hilary BennWe have no specific estimate of their numbers, but street children form a proportion of the 300 million people that live in poverty in Africa (on less than $1 per day, figure relates to 1999). In Africa, we know that some 50 million girls and boys are out of school (UNESCO). Some of these will be street children. Support for children's rights to basic health care, education, nutrition, shelter, and protection from violence and abusive labour, along with work on sustainable livelihoods for their parents, is central to our effort towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.M
§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how much aid his Department gives to tackle the problem of street children in Africa; who this money is given to; and what the money is spent on. [123737]
§ Hilary BennMuch of DFID's work in Africa in support of street children is done in the context of broader based activities, and it is therefore not possible to provide specific figures for work in this particular area. Street children in many countries benefit from our support provided through the United Nations Children's Fund, the ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour, and Save the Children Fund Programmes. We directly support GOAL in Ethiopia. We are providing £188,000 for their Street Children's Rights Project which aims to rehabilitate 700 severely impoverished street children in Addis Ababa.