International Day for Street Children Date in the current year: April 12, 2024

In the narrow sense, the term “street children” is applied to homeless children who live on the streets. In a wider sense, street or street-connected children are children who may or may not have homes and rely on the streets for sustenance and survival. Some of them live on the street with their families, while others are orphans, have been forced to leave home, or have left their abusive families voluntarily.

According to statistics, there are about 150 million street-connected children in the world. The main causes of children ending up on the streets include extreme poverty, political unrest and military conflict, domestic violence, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, mental health problems, substance abuse, and cultural factors in certain societies.

There are a lot of people who think that the term “street children” is synonymous with “juvenile delinquents”, “thieves”, and “beggars”. While a lot of street children do commit crimes in order to survive, they do so out of desperation or are forced. Labels that judge street-connected children for doing everything they can to survive in this cruel world distract from the fact that these vulnerable children have been let down by adults; they need our help and not our condemnation.

Most street children have only themselves to rely on and are denied many basic rights, including the right for healthcare and nutrition, electricity and clean water, education and equal opportunities, and a stable, loving and nurturing environment. Since governments in poor and war-torn countries are unable to address the issue fully, numerous NGOs focused on helping street children have emerged to take matters into their own hands.

International Day for Street Children was launched in 2012 by Consortium for Street Children (CSC), a global alliance of more than 100 NGOs, researchers, activists, and other stakeholders in 135 countries that works to address the rights and needs of street children around the world. The main goal of this awareness day is to acknowledge the strength and resilience of street children who face hardships no child should face. International Day for Street Children also aims to recognize the hard work and dedication of people who work with street children to change their lives for the better.

There are many ways to get involved with International Day for Street Children and make the world a better place. You can learn more about the needs of street children by attending a seminar, webinar, fundraiser, or any other event held by your local CSC member organization, donate to or volunteer at an organization that helps street children, petition your government to take action to keep street children safe, and spread the word about the day on social media with the hashtag #StreetChildrenDay.