UNICEF
TOPIC A: HOMELESS CHILDREN.
A homeless is the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who
are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe,
secure, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time
residence.
Street children are used as a catchall term, but covers children in a wide
variety of circumstances and with a wide variety of characteristics.
Policymakers and service providers struggle to describe and assist such a
sub-population. Individual girls and boys of all ages are found living and
working in public spaces, and are visible in the great majority of the world’s
urban centers
Children are found living on the streets for many reasons, including difficult
social situations at home, often cause by parental unemployment, alcoholism,
violence and abuse.
Families with children are by most accounts among the fastest growing
segments of the homeless population. In the United States an estimated 1.35
million from 600 thousand families will experience homelessness today,
while 3.8 million more will live in “precarious housing situations.” Put
another way, of every 200 children in America, 3 will be homeless today and
more than double that number will be at risk for homelessness.
Homelessness has a devastating impact on children and youths’ educational
opportunities. Residency requirements, guardianship requirements, delays in
transfer of school records, lack of transportation, and lack of immunization
records often prevent homeless children from enrolling in school. Homeless
children and youth who are able to enroll in school still face barriers to
regular attendance: while 87% of homeless youth are enrolled in school, only
77% attend school regularly.
According to recent federal data, during the 2007-2008 school year 794,617
homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools. This number,
however, is an underestimate, as not all school districts report data to the U.S.
Department of Education, and because the data collected represents only
those children identified and enrolled in school. Furthermore, the number
does not include all preschool-age children, or any infants and toddlers.
Living arrangements for homeless children can be highly improvisational.
These situations are often precarious, unstable, and, at times, dangerous. Of
children who schools identified as homeless during the 2007-2008 school
year, 22% lived in shelters, 65% lived with other family members or friends,
7% lived in motels, and 6% lived without shelter. In addition to enrollment
problems, the high mobility associated with homelessness has severe
educational consequences. Homeless families move frequently due to limits to
length of shelter stays, search for safe and affordable housing or employment,
or to escape abusive family members. Too often, homeless children have to
change schools because shelters or other temporary accommodations are not
located within their school district. Homeless children and youth frequently
transfer schools multiple times in a single year because of these
conditions. Every time a child has to change schools, his or her education is disrupted.
According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, homeless children are
nine times more likely to repeat a grade, four times more likely to drop out of
school, and three times more likely to be placed in special education
programs than their housed peers.
TOPIC B: CHILDREN IN MERCENARY GROUPS
A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a
national or a party to the conflict and is "motivated to take part in the
hostilities by the desire for private gain.
Nowadays most of Mercenary groups use children because is easy to control
them and to didn´t catch them
There are a lot of mercenary groups that work with kids and most of this
groups are principal establish in Africa and Asia.
The military use of children takes three distinct forms: children can take
direct part in hostilities (child soldiers), or they can be used in support roles
such as porters, spies, messengers, look outs; or they can be used for political
advantage either as human shields or in propaganda.
Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been extensively
involved in military campaigns even when such practices were against
cultural morals. Since the 1970s, a number of international conventions have
come into effect that try to limit the participation of children in armed
conflicts, nevertheless the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reports
that the use of children in military forces, and the active participation of
children in armed conflicts is widespread.
As the ICRC commentary on Protocol it makes clear, this is not a complete ban
on the use of children in conflict. The ICRC had suggested that the Parties to
the conflict should "take all necessary measures", which became in the final
text, "take all feasible measures" which is not a total prohibition on their
doing so because feasible should be understood as meaning "capable of being
done, accomplished or carried out, possible or practicable". Refraining from
recruiting children under fifteen does not exclude children who volunteer for
armed service. During the negotiations over the clause "take a part in
hostilities" the word "direct" was added to it, this opens up the possibility
that child volunteers could be involved indirectly in hostilities, gathering and
transmitting military information, helping in the transportation of arms and
munitions, provision of supplies etc.
Forced or compulsory recruitment of anyone under the age of 18 for use in
armed conflict, is one of the predefined worst forms of child labour, deemed a
form of slavery, in terms of the International Labour Organisation's Worst
Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, adopted in 1999.
In terms of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation ratifying
countries should ensure that forced or compulsory recruitment of children
for use in armed conflict is a criminal offence, and also provide for other
criminal, civil or administrative remedies to ensure the effective enforcement
of such national legislation.