Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report Thursday morning revealing the ways that Ugandan police have been abusing street kids for bribes or on the basis of punishing them for vagrancy.
However, many of these children do not have homes to go back to. A 15-year-old boy who has been living in the streets of Masaka explained, “[The police] want us to go back home but some of us do not even have homes. Others do not know where our parents are. So when they beat us to go home, where do you want us to go?”
Homeless children are beat with wires, whips, and batons, and are even raped by men and older boys. These children are also at risk of being beaten by other older homeless children and adults, who also may force them to use drugs.
“[The policemen] take money from us. If you do not have money they beat you so much … Last week on Saturday, police came in the night and beat me when I was sleeping with three other children. The policeman beat me on the thighs with a rubber whip. He then hit my knees with a baton. He beat me until I gave him 1,000 shillings (US $0.40) and left me,” said a 13-year-old boy who had been living on the streets for two years.
Maria Barnett, a senior Africa researcher with Human Rights Watch, expressed her frustration. “Ugandan authorities should be protecting and helping homeless children, not beating them up or throwing them in police jails with adults,” she said.
Although the Ugandan government had signed child protection conventions and set somewhat of a legal framework to protect children, state agencies are not effectively meeting the needs of the children and responding to the abuses that are happening to them, according to the report.
Many children work various jobs in order to survive, including “vendors, porters, domestic help, or laborers in small homes, small restaurants, and other businesses. They were paid little for long hours of physically demanding and difficult work. Some children were victims of commercial sexual exploitation, reliant on sex work to survive,” the report further explained.
Human Rights Watch is a non-profit organization that “scrupulously investigates abuses, exposes the facts widely, and pressures those with power to respect rights and secure justice.”
Read more about Human Rights Watch's report here.
