1. Introduction
July 23rd in 1993, a group of off-duty policemen opened fire at more than fifty children who were sleeping in the elegant square in front of Candelaria Cathedral in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This grievous case that killed eight children woke up our consciousness of the serious issue of street children.
According to UNICEF, fifty million street children live in Latin America, which is half of the total of street children of the world. In addition, half of them live in Brazil, which means about 25% of street children live in Brazil.
Miki Takahashi and Caroline Cederlof have published research on street kids in Latin America. They show two definitions of Street children. First, Market Children is defined as children who work in the streets and markets in the cities. Second, there are Street Children who work, live and sleep in the streets, and they often lack regular contact with their families. Most of street children belong to the first group. Besides, they face with more danger than the market children do.
2. The Fact of Brazil
The population of Brazil is over 1.7 hundred million, and GNI per capita is $2710 in 2003 (UNICEF). Their power has great influence on Latin American countries. Now, Brazil faces with revolution toward democratic society. On the other hand, the difference in wages between 20 % of the rich and the poor is 33 times, which is at the worst level in the world though that of Japan is 4 times.
Street Children in Brazil
Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. The Fact of Brazil 3
3. What Causes Street Children? 5
4. Life of Street Children 7
5. Major Problems of Street Children 8
6. How can we contribute to street children? 11
7. Conclusion 12
8. Appendix; Japanese Assistance for Brazil 13
9. Bibliography/Sourses
1. Introduction
July 23rd in 1993, a group of off-duty policemen opened fire at more than fifty children who were sleeping in the elegant square in front of Candelaria...