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Pictures courtesy John Lagman, UPA
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Housing
Rights Situation of World’s Children Abysmal Says New Report
20 September 2006
The housing rights situation of the world’s children is at
crisis point causing millions of preventable child deaths every year, reveals
a newly released report by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and
Evictions (COHRE) and Cordaid (Netherlands).
According to Defending the Housing Rights of Children, there
are an estimated 150 million street children worldwide, some as young as age
three and around 640 million children (one out of every three children)
living in slums or inadequate housing in the developing countries of Latin
America, Africa and Asia.
Jean du Plessis, Executive Director (a.i.) of COHRE, said,
“Although children’s housing rights are well-defined under international
human rights law, and protected under several international and regional
human rights treaties, the current housing rights situation of the world’s
children remains abysmal. COHRE’s research reveals that, almost invariably,
the majority of those who suffer the brunt of housing rights violations are
children. Adequate housing should not be dismissed as a mere luxury for a
fortunate minority; it is basic to the survival and healthy development of
all, particularly the world’s children.”
The report also reveals that approximately 400 million
children (one in five) do not have access to safe water and adequate
sanitation near their homes. Each day almost 3900 children under the age of
five die due to diseases caused by denial of this basic human right. Many
children, particularly girls, spend several hours a day collecting water,
often sacrificing their chance of an education.
Rene Grotenhuis, General Director of Cordaid, said,
“Violations of children’s housing rights are closely linked to childhood
vulnerability and exposure to violence. The consequences of violating these
rights are lasting and profound, and can jeopardise the right to children to
life, health, security and education.”
COHRE’s Mayra Gomez, the principal author of the report,
said, “The effects of inadequate housing on children are enormous and
deplorable, leading to devastating health problems for children as a result
of tetanus, diarrhoea, respiratory infections and faecal contamination of
water. Forced evictions, another violation of children’s housing rights, have
been shown to be comparable to war in terms of the psychological trauma
suffered by the affected children. Violations like these are often at the
root of childhood vulnerability and exposure to violence.”
The COHRE/Cordaid joint report argues that in order for this
unacceptable situation to be changed, governments have an obligation to
ensure the human right to adequate housing for all children. This includes
protecting children against the trauma of forced eviction and displacement,
permitting slums to gain access to water networks, providing targeted
subsidies to construct domestic water and sanitation facilities so as to
ensure children’s right to safe water and sanitation (vastly increasing their
chances of surviving infancy and early childhood), and protecting children’s
physical and psychological health from environmental threats, including those
associated with overcrowded and/or poor quality housing.
Grotenhuis of Cordaid added, “Children and young people are
‘actors of change’. It is important to support them in empowering themselves
because they are tomorrow’s leaders. Cordaid has launched the “Children’s
Voice” (Kinderstem) fund to alleviate the hardships faced by children living
on the streets and slums around the world by providing them with shelter,
education, training opportunities and access to healthcare.”
COHRE’s du Plessis warned, “Protecting children’s housing
rights is a pressing concern in all parts of the world – whether in the North
or the South. COHRE’s research reveals that the number of slum dwellers
worldwide will double in 30 years if governments do not take their
responsibility of securing children’s housing rights seriously. We call on
all governments to recognise the gravity of the situation and to take urgent
remedial action.”
The following examples cited in the COHRE/Cordaid joint
report highlight the broad scope of housing rights violations that children
suffer in all parts of the world:
- In Zimbabwe, more than
220,000 children were unable to attend school since May 2005 because
they had lost their homes in the government-led mass forced evictions
campaign known as “Operation Murambatsvina” (drive out rubbish).
- In India, some 18
million children are ‘pavement dwellers’, living out their childhood on
the streets of major cities.
- In the United Kingdom,
one in twelve children will develop diseases such as bronchitis,
tuberculosis or asthma because of inadequate housing.
- In Zambia, thousands
of children have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. With nowhere to
go, they line the streets of the capital, Lusaka, every evening.
- In Guatemala, hundreds
of street children and homeless children have been ruthlessly murdered
by armed vigilante groups with ‘social cleansing’ on their agenda.
- In the USA, poor
children in inadequate inner-city housing are more likely to miss school
and to develop chronic health conditions such as asthma in allergic
reaction to the excrement of cockroaches, mice and other vermin.
- Roma children in
European countries including Bulgaria, the Czech republic, Greece, Italy
and Poland live in substandard housing and face violence during forced
eviction at the hands of State officials and racist groups.
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