Children in street situations​

Children living or working in the streets or public spaces are entitled to the respect, protection and fulfilment of all the rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee on the Rights of the Child's General Comment no. 21 on children in street situations provides additional guidance in this regard.

2011

On 9 March 2011, the Human Rights Council held its annual day on the rights of the child on the theme of a holistic approach for the protection and promotion of the rights of children working and/or living on the street, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 13/20. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights prepared a summary report of the panel discussions, which focused on root causes and factors leading children to live and work on the street and conditions of children working and/or living in the street: prevention strategies and responses.

In its resolution 16/12 adopted on 24 March 2011 the Human Rights Council invited the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a study on challenges, lessons learnt and best practices in a holistic, child rights and gender-based based approach to protect and promote the rights of children working and/or living on the street, including practices in the collection of disaggregated data and experiences on access to child friendly counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms to protect the rights of children living and/or working on the streets. The study was delivered to the Council at its 19^th session in March 2012.

A follow-up meeting  (PDF) was held in Singapore in December 2013 with the following agenda (PDF).