The 6th International Day for Street Children was celebrated globally on April 12th. Virlanie Foundation Inc. (VFI) joined the celebration by supporting Bahay Tuluyan for their call upon the Philippine presidential candidates to prioritize the street children.
VFI recognizes the significance of International Day for Street Children in giving an avenue for street children worldwide to voice out their rights and needs. In the local scene, Bahay Tuluyan conducted an event to raise profile of the issue of street-connected children and to ask the presidential candidates to state their policies in relation to children in street situations.
In the international level, this year’s theme for the International Day for Street Children, Identity, aims to raise people’s awareness on the difficulties street children face in getting identification documents and how this can limit their access to key services such as education and healthcare. The theme also seeks to create a clearer view of how street children see themselves and how the society perceives them.
The International Day for Street Children is initiated by Consortium for Street Children (CSC). Personalities like Steven Gerrard, Danny Boyle, John Major and Bianca Jagger also advocates for the Day.
Now, CSC is asking for support from the United Nations in adopting the International Day for Street Children. This would pave the way for more publicity about the issues of street children. Furthermore, it hoped to put more pressure on the governments to recognize the needs and provide support to street children.
According to CSC, around 3,000 people have already signed the Demand a Day petition. Find out more about the International Day for Street Children at www.streetchildrenday.org.
