Street Children in Crisis in DRC

11/01/2006

In recognition of the right of children to be consulted on issues that affect their lives the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children, with War Child, and co-sponsored by the Jubilee Campaign, undertook a mission to Kinshasa in September 2006. This mission engaged street children directly and established an informed basis upon which the group will provide support to the efforts of the UK Government and international community in responding to this acute crisis.

The key recommendations of the report are:

1. The establishment of an anti-corruption and impunity commission to prevent and address the scale of human rights abuses against marginalised children, not least through the application of targeted sanctions, while reinforcing efforts to promote good governance.
2. Education sector reform and development in a way that ensures access by marginalised children in particular, and promotes livelihood development through the support of vulnerable women.
3. The development and implementation of a strategy that will address the phenomenon of accusing children of witchcraft.
4. The development of the planning architecture to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in a way that ensures greater focus and coherent co-ordination in response to the crisis among all the key actors.

street_children_appg_report_2006.pdf