If
you
happen
to
pass
by
a
garbage
dump,
stop
for
a
moment
and
look
at
what
is
going
on.
You
will
notice
cats,
dogs
and
human
beings,
mainly
children,
trying
to
find
something
to
eat,
or
something
that
can
be
sold,
such
as
waste
paper,
plastic
bottles,
cardboard
etc.,
to
fetch
food.
If
you
don’t
walk
through
these
ghettos
and
happen
to
drive
through
the
clean
and
beautifully
illuminated
roads
in
fashionable
localities
of
a
big
city,
sometimes
traffic
lights
will
force
you
to
stop.
Here,
you
are
surrounded
by
many
innocent,
lonely
and
frightened
young
children
who
have
been
literally
abandoned
by
their
parents
and
relatives,
found
themselves
on
the
street
from
the
beginning
because
of
family
problems,
or
have
chosen
to
leave
home
due
to
some
kind
of
constant
abuse.
Who
are
they?
They
are
basically
street
children;
when
they
get
some
paid
work
they
become
working
children
and
when
they
are
out
of
employment,
they
relapse
and
become
“street
children”.
Street
children
throughout
the
world
are
subjected
to
physical
abuse
by
police
or
have
been
murdered
outright,
as
governments
treat
them
as
a
blight
to
be
eradicated-rather
than
as
children
to
be
nurtured
and
protected.
They
are
frequently
detained
arbitrarily
by
police
simply
because
they
are
homeless,
or
criminally
charged
with
vague
offenses
such
as
loitering,
vagrancy,
or
petty
theft.
These
children
beg
and
scavenge
around
rubbish
dumps
or
industrial
waste
sites
or
take
on
menial
jobs
as
cart
pushers
or
dish
washers,
working
12-15
hours
a
day
to
earn
around
75
rupees,
enough
to
buy
meal
if
they
are
fortunate.
Most
survive
by
wide
range
of
activities
from
begging,
pimping
to
pick
pocketing,
small
roadside
burglaries,
snatching
mobile
phones
etc.
These
children
live
in
packs,
sleep
on
the
pavements
and
are
involved
with
different
activities
together.
According
to
estimates
by
the
International
Labour
Organisation
(ILO),
a
considerable
number
of
nearly
30
million
South
Asian
children
who
have
dropped
out
of
school
or
leave
their
home
are
engaged
in
some
form
of
work.
Most
of
them
are
street
children.
Unfortunately,
this
is
not
the
story
in
Asia.
The
report
by
the
Human
Rights
Commission
of
Pakistan
says
that
the
number
of
child
laborers
has
risen
to
10
million.
These
young
people
range
in
age
from
three
to
eighteen.
Most
of
them
are
in
developing
countries.
Educating
these
children
can
help
avoid
their
exclusion
from
a
range
of
opportunities
available
in
big
cities.
Yet,
several
factors
conspire
to
deprive
them
of
education.
Their
parents
can’t
afford
the
costs
which
compel
them
to
work
as
domestic
helpers
or
street
vendors
or
beg
to
supplement
their
family
incomes.
For
this
purpose,
NGOs
working
with
slum
children
provide
their
staff
special
training
in
participatory,
child-centered
teaching
methods
to
address
the
needs
of
hard-to-reach
children.
International
Labour
Organization
(ILO)
Pakistan
Chapter
is
opening
28
rehabilitation
centers
through
an
implementing
partner
for
child
labourers
that
will
be
functional
from
August
2008.
The
newly
established
centers
are
also
expected
to
extend
efforts
to
combat
child
labour
and
promote
education,
especially
for
girls
through
imparting
basic
skills
and
knowledge.
Street
children
are
mainly
boys,
but
the
number
of
girls
is
also
increasing.
In
the
evenings
these
children
standing
on
the
street
signals
selling
flowers
watch
the
cars
speed
away.
They
see
many
families
having
fun
time
together
in
parked
cars
by
a
juice
shop
or
a
burger
point.
Like
all
other
children,
they
also
seek
for
protection.
Being
together
in
a
protective
environment
under
the
guidance
of
someone
who
cares
for
them
gives
these
children
a
sense
of
security.
They
need
access
to
counseling,
information,
knowledge,
skills,
and
a
supportive
community
to
protect
themselves
from
harm,
help
them
move
off
the
street,
and
take
back
control
of
their
future.
They
also
need
better
access
to
health
and
safety
services—medical
care,
legal
aid,
and
food—and
business
training
so
they
can
develop
safe
and
more
profitable
ways
of
earning
money.
There
are
countless
children
waiting
to
have
a
worthwhile
change
in
their
lives.
We
need
to
recognize
these
children
and
youth
who
are
full
of
imagination,
desires,
and
hopes
and
that
they
must
be
involved
in
decisions
that
affect
their
lives.
But
the
question
still
unanswered
that
what
the
future
holds
for
these
innocent
faces?
