Statement by Caroline Ford, CSC Chief Executive (Jan 2017- Feb 2021) addressing the UN Commission for Social Development 58 Session:
When governments develop affordable housing and social protection systems, they aim to reach and protect the most vulnerable in society. Yet, our research at Consortium for Street Children, suggests the most vulnerable are left behind.
Our research shows that street children, including homeless children living on the street and those children who work or have other strong connections to the street, are excluded from the data which informs policy making at a global and national level. As most national data collection exercises rely on methods such as household surveys, homeless children and children living outside of traditional households, many of whom have not been registered at birth, are simply not captured. This means they are not taken into account when decisions are made based upon this data. For example, designing social protection policies to reach the poorest people is highly commendable, but if such policies are designed, costed and implemented based on household survey data, those living outside of households, often the most vulnerable, will be excluded. As such, street children remain invisible. They are beyond the reach of any safety nets or the momentum of the Leave No Child Behind agenda.
Consider measures such as the SDG indicator 1.3.1, measuring the proportion of children who are reached by social protection measures. According to the latest available data from UNICEF and the ILO, 35% of the world’s children were covered by child benefit systems. But if this data is based on sources from which children outside traditional households are excluded, we cannot say with any reliability how many homeless or street children are being reached. They are neither included in the 35% covered, nor the 65% not covered; they are simply missing altogether.
The data that we do have about street children is either small in scale or based on unreliable and outdated estimates and generalisations. In fact, no one even knows how many street children there are in the world or in any given country. Where counts or estimates have been attempted, the different methodologies used mean that the resulting data is not comparable across cities, countries or over time. This makes it impossible for street children to be accurately factored into budgeting for interventions and policies.
Consortium for Street Children calls upon all UN Member States to join us in taking action to develop and promote standardised methods of data collection that are tailored to the realities of children in street situations. Only then will homelessness interventions and policies be able to reach those who need it the most. Only then will we be able to protect and improve the well-being of the world’s most vulnerable children, those in street situations.
Watch Caroline Ford, CSC Chief Executive (Jan 2017- Feb 2021) addressing the UN Commission for Social Development here (from 2:38:00).