As governments across the globe implement lockdown and stay-at-home measures, street-connected children worldwide are being overlooked. The children’s fundamental rights to food, shelter and protection are not being met. The question remains, when the street is your home, where do you go during lockdown?

STREET-CONNECTED CHILDREN AND COVID-19

A street-connected child can be defined as any child or youth who spends a portion of his or her time on the streets living or working. As the world is told to “stay at home,” there is a great oversight on the children and families who call the street their home or place of work. There is a pressing need for governments to invest in measures to protect the physical and mental health of these children during the pandemic.

Governments are failing to ensure that their efforts to assist the vulnerable throughout the pandemic are reaching marginalised street communities. Basic resources are not reaching those who need them most, as their ability to survive on street trade is interrupted by stay-at-home measures. There is a lack of information accessible to street-connected children on how to keep safe in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and a lack of access to sanitary spaces to self-isolate safely. 

The international legal framework, and in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child make clear the obligations on States to uphold children’s rights, yet the pandemic is disproportionately affecting street-connected children with these basic rights failing to be realised. The livelihood of many of these children is dependent on street trade, charitable organisations and the benevolence of passers-by, for whom when the world is at a standstill survival becomes an even greater challenge.

ACCESS TO SHELTER, SANITATION AND HEALTHCARE

Government enforced lockdown measures immediately assume that an individual has a place to shelter and stay inside, failing to recognise the great number of street-connected families for whom the street is home. The result of punitive measures for non-compliance is the disproportionate punishment of street-connected families. Many street-connected children across the globe are facing arrest for being on the street during lockdown and with normal judicial proceedings suspended, these children and families will remain in remand custody for the foreseeable future. Without an alternative to living on the street, children are forced to attempt to remain invisible to the state, or to face the consequences of being caught in breach of lockdown.  

As non-government organisations are forced to shut their doors, and accommodation becomes harder to access, it is increasingly difficult for street-connected children to protect themselves from COVID-19. Many states are conducting street “sweeps” and denying access to usual sheltering locations for fear that street communities are infected with the virus. Government responses are falling far short of the positive action required to meet their international obligation to ensure an adequate standard of living to all, including a place to shelter safely, which is more imperative than ever given the need for social distancing and sanitation to control the spread of COVID-19.

Access to information of public interest, including how to stay protected during the pandemic, is a human right recognised by articles 13 and 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This requires that street-connected children be provided with accessible information on where they can go, how they can seek help and how to keep themselves protected from COVID-19. Closure of schools and residential centres means that street-connected children have reduced access to the shelter, information and washing facilities needed to keep themselves safe. Without the ability to wash and maintain a safe distance from other people, street-connected children are not being afforded the same protection from the virus and are put at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Street-connected children across the globe can be seen wearing dirty masks that they have picked up from the gutter in their own efforts to protect themselves from the virus.

Government initiatives aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19, including screening and vaccination programmes are failing to provide adequate protection to street-connected children whose living conditions make them more vulnerable to the virus. The right to health under Article 24 CRC places a positive obligation on the State to recognise the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and to facilities for treatment and rehabilitation. However, governments including Pakistan, India and Uganda require official identity documents in order to access COVID-19 support. Many street-connected children are either not registered at birth or do not have access to their documents, meaning their only choice is to go without government support or healthcare in this time of crisis.

ACCESS TO BASIC NECESSITIES

The right to an adequate standard of living, protected by the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, includes a right to adequate food and recognises freedom from hunger as a fundamental right. Governments have an obligation to take positive action to produce and distribute resources to ensure this right is fully realised. Yet street-connected children and their families are being left hungrier than ever.

Street-connected children are already typically living below the poverty line, and often rely on working informally on the street in order to buy necessities like food. As a result of lockdown measures, and the global standstill that COVID-19 has brought about, these children and families find themselves unable to work and unable to access or buy food, water and clothing. UNICEF have predicted that without urgent action to protect families in low- and middle-income countries, the number of children living below national poverty lines could increase by 15% to reach 672 million as a result of the pandemic.

The Concerned for Working Children in Karnataka have raised concerns that children in street situations in India and Tanzania are failing to receive economic support during the pandemic, resorting to the charitable organisations available to meet basic necessities where possible. The same is true for many other countries where government efforts have been focused on distributing necessities to vulnerable people in house-to-house delivery of food and essential items. In Uganda 1.5 million vulnerable people have received parcels of basic necessities, however these efforts fail to include street-connected children and their families who are overlooked by house-to-house schemes after all it is impossible to receive a doorstep donation when you are living on the street.

Many street-connected children globally are reliant on free school meals that they are now forced to go without as a result of school closures in many countries. There has been a grave oversight on distributing resources to street-connected children who go unnoticed as the rest of the population follow stay-at-home orders. The minimum core obligation on governments to ensure that every child has the minimum essential food, which is adequate, nutritious and safe to ensure freedom from hunger is not being realised. It is required that special attention is afforded to street-connected children with a targeted approach to addressing the increased difficulties that they are facing during the pandemic.

PROTECTION FROM VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION

Street-connected children find themselves facing increased violence and discrimination as a result of the pandemic. Not only are they facing punishment for their presence in the streets, but social stigma is resulting in an increase in the prevalence of physical attacks against street-communities. The Consortium for Street Children report that children in Nigeria are being chased in the street by paramilitary officers in areas where lockdown is in force as punishment for not following stay-at-home orders.

Public perceptions of the pre-existing respiratory diseases that living on the street makes street-connected children susceptible to, has resulted in discrimination and torture of street-communities in India. As fear of COVID-19 has increased and the world takes precautionary measures, the ill treatment of street-children has accelerated at a concerning rate, with children suffering from respiratory symptoms being stigmatised and subject to brutal treatment as a result. Interviews with street-connected children conducted by COMPAS tell of the discrimination faced in light of the pandemic, with street-connected children being screamed at as they try to assist passers-by with luggage, a practice that they would usually carry out in exchange for food or money. The experience of some of the most vulnerable children across the globe is captivated by the testimony made by a male orphan interviewed by COMPAS in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria “I am used to suffering, but I have never experienced anything like this before”.

NEXT STEPS

As the world begins to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak, it is vital that the exacerbated suffering faced by street-connected children is addressed by government policies going forward. The provision of basic necessities and safe shelter must be extended to children in street situations and their fundamental rights to information on COVID-19 must be recognised. It is vital that government’s cease to take punitive action on those who are unable to follow stay-at-home orders because for them, the street is home.

The true number of street-connected children being overlooked by government measures in this way is not known, it is anticipated that many street-connected children experiencing deprivation remain invisible to the State. The Consortium for Street Children have launched an appeal to work collaboratively with international organisations to generate accurate statistics that can be included in official data, only then can government responses begin to reach those who need them most. In the meantime, non-government initiatives and charities are striving to provide assistance to the street-communities who are facing even fewer options for survival and even more human rights violations than usual.

More information on the work of the Consortium for Street Children can be found here.

Imogen is a Law graduate from Queen Mary, University of London. During her undergraduate studies she worked as an immigration legal adviser for QMLAC. She is a current BPTC LLM student at BPP London and an aspiring barrister, with a particular interest in children law and human rights. She has written previous research papers on the right to freedom from torture in times of refugee crisis and on the human rights issues surrounding international commercial surrogacy arrangements.

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