The International Day for Street Children was celebrated for the first time on April 12, 2011. Occasions such as the International Day for Street Children have given us the opportunity to review the situation and adopt more practical strategies to tackle the issue of street children in Pakistan, especially in cities like Karachi and Lahore.
However, it is a fact that the number of street children in big cities of Pakistan, such as Karachi and Lahore, has grown in recent years.
Thousands of street children are living and working on the streets of big cities of the country. Due to their vulnerability, these children need to be given protection and introduced to an environment that facilitates their basic needs. Additionally, a child's right to life, security and health facilities should be accepted and to facilitate street children government and non-government entities should introduce community led care and residential facilities for these children. There is also a need to orient political will and allocate resources to the structured development of child rights - based comprehensive prevention policies as outlined in the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency. Involvement of all stakeholders including government, non-governmental organisations, donor agencies and street children is essentially required to solve this problem on sustainable basis.
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