WHAT IS A STREET CHILD?

UNICEF has defined 3 types of street children:

• Street living children: children who ran away from their families and live alone on the street.
• Street working children: children who spend most of their time on the streets, fending for themselves, but returning home on a regular basis.
• Children from street families: children who live on the streets with their families.

How Many Street Children Are There?

UNICEF estimates that there are about 100 million street children. However, the exact number is impossible to quantify. There are street children on all five continents. The highest numbers of street children are in developing or so-called Third World countries.

Uganda has an estimated 10,000 street children, many of whom come from the Napak District in Karamoja. Most are forced to migrate as a result of insecurity and harsh climatic conditions that have caused drought, poverty and food insecurity in the region. There is also evidence that children are sometimes lured out of Karamoja by their peers, or by individuals promising better opportunities in traps that, in effect, constitute trafficking. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda_58936.html

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