Posted:
I came across this article today and that set me thinking on what we can do. Read the article please. I have bolded a few points I want to highlight and I'll share my thoughts on what can be done in my comments. All thoughts, opinions and suggestions welcome.
"I used to stay on the Nampally station platform with five older boys. One day two men whom the others called seths came and took me along with another new kid in an autorickshaw telling us that we will be employed in hotels. It was a big hotel, somewhere in Begumpet, and we entered through the back gate. We were given clothes, asked to take a shower in a big bathroom and were kept locked in a room for a day. Then for the next one week we were sent to different rooms by turns to both male and female customers. I was terrified and numbed but after the week got over, the seth gave me Rs 150, which is the highest ever amount I owned then," recounts another 16-year-old boy.
In Public Gardens alone between 100 and 125 boys sell sex, most boys being between 13 and 16 years of age, according to Philip Issidore of Divya Disha, Hyderabad partner of Child Line. Some other areas of operation include Kacheguda railway station, Sundarayya Park in Baghlingampally and Yousuf Sharif Baba Dargah at Nampally. Mostly living on footpaths, railway stations, under the flyovers, on the stairs of showrooms, these boys do a variety of jobs during daytime including wiring, welding, loading and unloading of goods, cleaning in hotels and working at wedding halls. "Most of these homeless children enter this profession initially out of peer pressure. They are exposed to abuses of all sorts from older boys, men, transsexuals, and even women. Once they realise that they cannot stop this abuse but can utilise it to earn a living, they continue the cycle by initiating more boys," says Issidore.
However, most of these boys do not use any protection while indulging in sexual acts even though they are aware of STDs. HIV is an alien term for them although they know that AIDS means death. The very few who have used condoms have done so on the insistence of their customers. Issidore says that lack of acknowledgement on the part of the government that male children are also sexually abused and a false notion that trafficking is restricted to girls alone has led to this situation. "Even APSACS which distributes free condoms to MSMs does not take into consideration these boys and sex education is limited to girls alone," he says.
When enquired about this, APSACS additional project director Dr B Jayamma told TOI that condoms are available for all and anybody can use the vending machines at the railway stations.
Help from police remains a mirage. The website of the AP police lists mobile numbers of child welfare officers (CWO) across the city. But when the number listed under the CWO of Nampally police station was called, TOI was told that there is no office or officer of this type. Similar was the case with Kacheguda CWO where the person attending the call said, "wrong number" and disconnected the call. While the inspector from Nampally police station was unwilling to comment on the issue, the Kacheguda inspector was unavailable for comment.
Admitting that police have always played the role of a silent spectator, Issidore says that the new legislation against child abuse is the first of its kind in terms of the fact that it is gender-neutral. "Although the modalities of its implementation are yet to be chalked out, one can only hope that young boys who have never been protected enough will find a legal and hence social recognition of their abuse. This is the first step before they can be given any sort of security," he says.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Exploited-street-kids-see-no-hope-in-new-law/articleshow/13420534.cms
Exploited street kids see no hope in new law
HYDERABAD: The legislation to protect children below 18 years from sexual abuse was passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, but 15-year-old Bala (name changed) is not convinced that it would help him from potential abusers as he stands at a corner of Public Gardens in Nampally in his fluorescent yellow T-shirt waiting for a customer. Alongside are other street children like him, sex workers and MSMs (men who have sex with men), all waiting for customers to stop their cars and pick them up. Bala, who had left his family in Ponnur and hopped on the first train from Nidubrolu railway station in Guntur four years ago, had changed several jobs till he decided to work as a rag-picker during the day and a sex worker by night."I used to stay on the Nampally station platform with five older boys. One day two men whom the others called seths came and took me along with another new kid in an autorickshaw telling us that we will be employed in hotels. It was a big hotel, somewhere in Begumpet, and we entered through the back gate. We were given clothes, asked to take a shower in a big bathroom and were kept locked in a room for a day. Then for the next one week we were sent to different rooms by turns to both male and female customers. I was terrified and numbed but after the week got over, the seth gave me Rs 150, which is the highest ever amount I owned then," recounts another 16-year-old boy.
In Public Gardens alone between 100 and 125 boys sell sex, most boys being between 13 and 16 years of age, according to Philip Issidore of Divya Disha, Hyderabad partner of Child Line. Some other areas of operation include Kacheguda railway station, Sundarayya Park in Baghlingampally and Yousuf Sharif Baba Dargah at Nampally. Mostly living on footpaths, railway stations, under the flyovers, on the stairs of showrooms, these boys do a variety of jobs during daytime including wiring, welding, loading and unloading of goods, cleaning in hotels and working at wedding halls. "Most of these homeless children enter this profession initially out of peer pressure. They are exposed to abuses of all sorts from older boys, men, transsexuals, and even women. Once they realise that they cannot stop this abuse but can utilise it to earn a living, they continue the cycle by initiating more boys," says Issidore.
However, most of these boys do not use any protection while indulging in sexual acts even though they are aware of STDs. HIV is an alien term for them although they know that AIDS means death. The very few who have used condoms have done so on the insistence of their customers. Issidore says that lack of acknowledgement on the part of the government that male children are also sexually abused and a false notion that trafficking is restricted to girls alone has led to this situation. "Even APSACS which distributes free condoms to MSMs does not take into consideration these boys and sex education is limited to girls alone," he says.
When enquired about this, APSACS additional project director Dr B Jayamma told TOI that condoms are available for all and anybody can use the vending machines at the railway stations.
Help from police remains a mirage. The website of the AP police lists mobile numbers of child welfare officers (CWO) across the city. But when the number listed under the CWO of Nampally police station was called, TOI was told that there is no office or officer of this type. Similar was the case with Kacheguda CWO where the person attending the call said, "wrong number" and disconnected the call. While the inspector from Nampally police station was unwilling to comment on the issue, the Kacheguda inspector was unavailable for comment.
Admitting that police have always played the role of a silent spectator, Issidore says that the new legislation against child abuse is the first of its kind in terms of the fact that it is gender-neutral. "Although the modalities of its implementation are yet to be chalked out, one can only hope that young boys who have never been protected enough will find a legal and hence social recognition of their abuse. This is the first step before they can be given any sort of security," he says.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Exploited-street-kids-see-no-hope-in-new-law/articleshow/13420534.cms
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