THE DURBAN DECLARATION

A call to action from children of the Deloitte Street Child World Cup 2010. This was presented to the UN Committee on Human Rights along with Governments of participating countries.

The children from the Philippines also made a short film to illustrate the Durban Declaration, which you can view here.

Listen to us: we have the right to be heard

“The government don’t do anything for children on the street, they don’t even think about them. When they see those children they do not even make a case for them. They should take them by the hand and say: I am going to support you, I am going to help you, you are not alone. But no – they look at them as they would anything else, like any other rubbish.”

Governments and civil society need to listen to street children to understand

• Why they are on the streets and what their right to a home means to them
• How to end the abuse they experience and realise their right to protection from violence
• How to develop services and realise their right to education and health care

These children believe their voices need to be heard so that negative perceptions of them change. They want it to be understood that we are people like them.

Listen to us: home means family

“A house doesn’t give me advice, food, love or care – the family offers you this.”

Governments and civil society need to understand – “we do not want to stay on the streets. It is not a good thing for children to live on the street.” These children spoke of leaving homes due to:

• Neglect, sexual abuse and violence at home (often connected with alcohol and substance misuse)
• Family breakdown and conflict, often involving “step-parents”
• Economic pressures, leading some children to seek to earn money on the streets

Most of these children wanted to return home, and felt that if families could be given more support children would not have to run away

Listen to us when we say we are abused: we have the right to be protected

“When a child is beaten, nothing happens to the perpetrator.”

The children described incidents of violence and sexual abuse at home, on the streets (from gangs or members of the public), within institutions (including schools and orphanages), and from police and security guards. The children did not see the perpetrators of this abuse brought to justice.

Governments and civil society need to ensure that children can have confidence that they can report violence and abuse, and that steps will be taken to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable.

Listen to us so that we can have a future

“Police and legal systems do not work. [These street child] projects work well.”

The children spoke of how projects in which they were involved had enabled them to leave the streets, access education and healthcare, and stop substance misuse. These projects took the time to understand why they were on the streets and the barriers and prejudice which prevented them from accessing services. They heard that the children wanted to return home and understood the difficulties involved in this [process. These projects also understood the importance of sports and art programmes to the children. “When I’m playing football, I don’t think of those bad things that happened to me.”

Government and civil society need to work together to understand why children do not access services, to ensure that investment is targeted toward those services that work, and to safeguard children’s rights.