UN Expert Warns of Global Neglect of Street Children Facing Sexual Exploitation

The sexual exploitation of children living and working on the streets remains one of the most acute yet under-addressed child rights crises in the world, according to a new report presented to the United Nations General Assembly by Mama Fatima Singhateh, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.

In her report, Singhateh painted a grim picture of the daily realities faced by millions of street-connected children across the globe—children who, deprived of family care and institutional protection, are exposed to violence, exploitation, trafficking, and systemic exclusion. She warned that the continued neglect of these children represents a failure of national and global commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Su