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4 Int'l J. Child. Rts. 315 (1996)
The Street Children of Mongolia

handle is hein.journals/intjchrb4 and id is 325 raw text is: The International Journal of Children's Rights 4: 315-316, 1996. 315 @) 1996 Kluwer Law International. Printed in the Netherlands. The street children of Mongolia' SHARON DETRICK Practice and Implementation Editor, International Journal of Children's Rights In April of this year proceedings began in Brazil against seven police officers and a metalworker accused of murdering eight street children who were sleeping by the Candelaria Church in Rio de Janeiro. On the first day of the trial one of the police officers confessed that he had shot one of the eight children with his revolver. Human rights activists in Brazil believe that these proceedings could show for the first time that police officers systematically participate in the murders of street children without punishment, and that they could break the cycle of impunity. According to official statistics, more than 6,000 street children were murdered in Rio de Janeiro in the last ten years. Human rights activists state that the actual number is much higher, and that only eight convictions have taken place during the last ten years concerning these murders. Although the numbers of children living and working on the streets may well be the highest in Latin America, they are on the increase in other parts of the world. In Africa, for example, the numbers of street children are increasing due to massive population displacements and rapid urbanization. Information from Asia is rather scarce. However, recent reports in the press have drawn particular attention to the situation of street children in Mongolia. It is estimated that in this country about 1,500 children - of a total population of 2,6 million - permanently live on the streets, particularly in its capital, Ulan Bator. Experts have calculated that they form the spearhead of a much larger group of at least 30,000 children living in absolute poverty. Only six years ago the phenomenon of street children was non-existent in Mongolia. But with the political changes in the former Soviet Union came a sudden end to the socialist tradition in Mongolia, which had a policy of preferential treatment of women and children, and the introduction of democracy in 1990. In addition, until 1991 Mongolia was almost totally dependent upon financial support from Moscow. Since this support ceased it ' Sources of information: NRC Handelsblad, 30 April 1996; NRC Handelsblad, 5 July 1996.

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