You must have seen children working and living on the roads and streets of Kathmandu valley. How did you feel when you see

them? Have you ever felt sympathy for them? Have you ever thought about their life? It is timulation for the mind to think and meditate on their plight.

Street children refer to children who live and work on the streets of a city. They are basically deprived of family care and protection. Most children on the streets are between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old, and their population in different cities is varied. Due to poverty, unequal distribution of resources, unemployment, ignorance, domestic violence and perversions prevailing in the society, children are seen fleeing from their homes and coming to the streets.

As per CBS 2001 AD, the total population of Nepal was 2,31,51,423. Among the population, the total number of children below 14 years was 90,98,201 (39.30%), which includes 46,38,000 (20.03%) boys and 44,60,201 (19.27%) girls. The book entitled “The State of the Rights of the Child in Nepal 2001” published by CIWIN says that 5000 children are working and living on the streets. It is alarming to note that each year at least 500 children are found to appear on the streets of Kathmandu Valley from different districts of Nepal. Most of the street children in the valley hail from Dhading, Dolakha, Kavre, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Ramechhap, and Sindhupalchok.

There are a number of reasons behind children coming to streets. Family tension, family violence, lack of protection from parents and guardians, child abuse and brutal torture by family members and others, misguidance, wrong motivation, attraction for the city, hatred from parent or step father or mother, increment of migration and urbanization, exploitation from guardians, search for new job and escaping after theft or misdeed are prominent reasons for children coming to streets.

Child Protection Centres and Services (CPCS), an organization in Kathmandu Valley working for the welfare of children carried out a survey with street children in 2007.

The survey shows 65 percent children leave their houses in search of employment, 54 percent children come to Kathmandu with influence from others, 55 percent to visit Kathmandu, 51 percent come to streets due to domestic violence, 27 percent due to lack of food and 12 percent come due to political reasons.

UNICEF, a giant organization working for the welfare of children, categorized street children into two groups: (1) Children on the street are those engaged in some kind of economic activity ranging from begging to vending. (2) Children of the street actually live on the street (or outside of a normal family environment).

Life of street children is miserable and pitiable. They are found to be working as plastic gatherers (rag pickers), beggars, tempo boys and street vendors to sell newspapers, biscuits, etc. They are also reported to be involved in washing dishes in hotels and restaurants, carrying water and working as construction laborers. They mostly suffer from different types of violence like sexual, moral and physical abuse, drugs addiction, social exclusion, health problems, malnutrition, delinquency, criminality, alcoholism, and starvation.

There are more than a dozen organizations

working for street children in the valley only. All the organizations focus on the same target groups, i. e. street children. However, the plight of street children is the same as before with barely any improvement in their condition.

This is evident from the fact that these children are still living and working on the streets in the valley. Duplication in work seems to have taken place. That is to say, more than one organization has the same project location and the same target group of street children. It is better for the organizations to consider whether the duplication is taking place while locating and implementing their programs. Central child welfare board (CCWB) should actively monitor such programs targeted for street children so that such duplication can be avoided. In collaboration with CCWB, the organizations working with and for street children have started developing profiles of

street children at Kathmandu valley. This is really a positive and appreciative initiative and will be useful to design a child development and reintegration programme in support of interested agencies. Then only can we rehabilitate the street children and provide them their rights and facilities required for their overall development.

At the moment, the country is drafting a permanent constitution of Federal

Democratic Republic of Nepal. Voices for the rights of the street children and pitiable condition of street children should be addressed and included.

Concerned stakeholders, government line agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), community based organizations (CBOs) and international non-government agencies, including CCWB, need to join their hands to get the rights of children ensured in the constitution. Let the new Constitution of New Nepal be drafted ensuring all rights of children.