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| Arabia | |
| 83,000 homeless children roam Saudi streets - study | |
| 2007-04-09 | |
| Riyadh: Around 83,000 homeless children are roaming the streets of Saudi Arabia, according to a recently released study. The children are believed to have been brought from neighbouring countries to work as camel jockeys and later were used for selling low-priced goods, according to Dr Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Yousuf, associate professor of sociology at the Riyadh-based Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University. The researcher pointed out, in the study published in Riyadh, that some of others enter the kingdom illegally and most of them can be seen begging near traffic lights. In 2005, the Yemeni Ministry of Social Affairs acknowledged that around 300 children were crossing the border every month. Contrary to what is reported in the daily press, the study noted that 69 per cent of street children in Riyadh are Saudis while 56.6 per cent of them are females. Around 88 per cent mothers of begging children are illiterate while nine per cent have only primary education. The results corroborated an earlier survey conducted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). An ILO study reported in 2002 that the majority of child beggars in Saudi Arabia are citizens, many of them girls with disabilities. They often beg accompanied by their mothers.
The main factor behind the growing phenomenon are economic, social and family ones. Many street children said their families couldn't afford their education costs. The study noted that 60 per cent of the children's fathers are married to another woman, while 50 per cent of fathers are unemployed. Orphanage and domestic violence and abuse are among the factors for the increase of the phenomenon. Dr Al Yousuf warned that young beggars were at risk of turning to crime if their plight was not addressed. | |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #4 Can't talk now, the sinktrap is watching. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-04-09 22:00 |
| #3 This speaks volumes about what passes for priorities in Muslim societies. All their boasting about superior morals and stronger family ties are worth shit. The only thing that holds their families together are illiterate loving mothers who slave in isolation while under the constant fear of being divorced in an instant by some fickle husband. Some life! Screw Islam and its twisted culture. All that tremendous oil wealth sure doesn't reach very many of the people. We all know what trickles down on them. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-09 18:52 |
| #2 This is why we give all that money to the Widows ans Orphans Ammunition Fund. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2007-04-09 15:07 |
| #1 The study noted that 60 per cent of the children's fathers are married to another woman, while 50 per cent of fathers are unemployed. My baby's mother. They got that over there too? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-04-09 13:07 |