The Other Side of Childhood: Children in Street Situations

Although they exist in every nation and country on earth, not even their very prevalence has brought them the care they truly deserve, or enough attention in the media and public discourse. They are aged between 5 and 20 years (but some also say that they are strictly under 18 years) and live their lives in harsh street conditions, often not recognised or forgotten by their own families. They are children in street situations, sometimes called gamines de la calle, meninos de rua, enfants de la rue, and even the thrown aways. Their life means almost nothing to their environment, which either does not notice them at all, mistreats them most cruelly, or exploits them for some criminal activity. Their life is therefore more uncertain than the life of any other person in the world. Left to themselves, they pursue ways to survive that often border on crime, which can lead them to illness, addiction, and premature death. Their every living day is a fight for survival and recognition, which is aggravated by not only the fear and discomfort their presence causes to others but also the lack of will to solve their problem and lack of realisation that they are, in fact, just children. In this work, the authors deal with the definition of children in street situations in an international framework, and consider the approach taken towards children in street situations in the Republic of Serbia.