Over 1800 street children restored to their families

The ministry of human rights and solidarity said this September 27, 2018 that more than 1800 street children have been restored to their families in the campaign to fight against street children phenomenon.

Félix Ngendabanyikwa, permanent secretary at the ministry of Human Rights and solidarity, says the campaign to remove children from the streets is still going on and adds that he is proud of the current achievements. “More than 1800 children have already been removed from the streets throughout the country and the campaign is ongoing”.

Félix Ngendabanyikwa: “The work was not easy as there was a big number of children in the streets”

He says the ministry has put much effort in the campaign. “The work was not easy as there was a big number of children in the streets”.

Mr. Ngendabanyikwa says there are plans to do a follow up of the campaign so as to see what street children have become of after the street life. “There are accompanying measures that will be implemented by the ministry of solidarity together with its partners,” he says.

Ferdinand Simbaruhije, Secretary General of the national federation of associations defending children’s rights- FENADEB says it is true that the number of children in the street is going low. “If one goes to some places where the street children used to gather in Bujumbura, they can realize than the number of those children has considerably reduced”.

Mr. Simbaruhije regrets the fact that the roadmap that was elaborated before was not respected. “There are some points that were not respected. For example, instead of going to temporary accommodation centers that were planned, some children would be taken into dungeons,” he says.

Simbaruhije calls on the government, associations defending children’s rights and donors to redouble efforts and make this campaign a success altogether. “Removing children from the streets requires meeting their basic needs and preparing host families so as to prevent them from going back to streets. We should work together to avoid this,” he says.

This campaign to remove all children from the streets follows recommendations made in a meeting held in February 2017 between government officials, UNICEF representatives and associations fighting for children’s rights.