Street Children’s Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child: A study of acceptance and observance in Mexico and Ecuador

Abstract

This paper offers a first template for assessing performance by national governments in guaranteeing disadvantaged groups of youngsters access to their rights, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Street children, who are among the most severely disadvantaged children of any society, are the particular focus of this paper. The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) constitutes a bold new approach to children’s rights, requiring governments to assume new commitments to helping street children. Latin America has a particularly strong history of work with street children, spanning at least 30 years, but governments have not managed to guarantee access by street children to their basic human rights. This paper explores CRC adherence with respect to street children in two Latin American countries – Mexico, a fairly affluent country and Ecuador, a relatively poor one. I divide my exploration of each country’s observance of the CRC into the broad fields of legislation, implementation and enforcement, and assess governmental progress in the decade since their ratification of the Convention. Findings are disappointing for both countries: they suggest that domestic legislation is still inadequate, and that neither government has implemented the policies or allocated the budgetary resources necessary to ensure that street children gain access to their rights. Regrettably, data collection, monitoring of implementation and measurement of outcomes, are all gravely inadequate for enforcement of CRC provisions in Mexico and Ecuador. The findings suggest that strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are required to counter existing disincentives for governments to invest in street children. Substantial improvements are needed, particularly in the field of enforcement, before street children in Mexico and Ecuador can gain consistent access to their basic human rights. The prospects for Ecuador’s street children are particularly bleak: the government will need considerable international support to be able to deliver on its commitments to street children under the CRC. Mexico has a more developed political economy and has made more progress than Ecuador; the Mexican government is in a position to make substantial advances toward guaranteeing street children their rights as provided by the CRC.