State minister for Karamoja affairs Babra Nekesa says the ministry is working on rehabilitating the Koblin reception centre after getting mandate from the ministry of gender.

She says the ministry wants the centre functional for skills development before real settlement of street children is made.

Nekesa however adds that when that is done the ministry is then to handle the individuals who have been ferrying the karamoja children onto the city streets for their selfish gains.

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Uganda children

This according to the chairman Pan African Movement Uganda chapter Daniel Rugarama and the Program Director Uganda children centre Fred Kakembo while discussing a paper on the global  picture of street children and its cause at the child day held at Pan African square in Kampala.

Rugarama said that there should be programmes that are extended to support poor families and communities and monitoring children whether they go to school to prevent children going to streets.

He also blamed government for ratifying the UN convention on the rights of the children and when the children go to streets are left without putting measures in place helping them to go out of streets.

According to reports Uganda has over 120,000 street children in urban centres

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The 25-year-old, youngest-ever Ugandan Minister went to the remote village of Iriiri in the Napak district.

Minister of State for Karamoja Barbara Nekesa Oundo

Her visit was organized to coincide with the Day of the African Child, which is celebrated today under the theme, “All Together for Urgent Action in Favor of Street Children.”

In Uganda, it is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 street children – most live in filthy conditions in urban areas and are forced to beg to survive.

The majority of children on Kampala’s streets come from Napak district – one of the districts in the sub-region Karamoja, Ugand’s poorest  and mainly from the sub-counties of Iriiri, Lorengechora and Lokopo.

The Karamojong children -migration to the main cities is due to harsh economic and social insecurity.

A 12-year-old John-Bosco Odoto, a former street child who has returned to Iriiri said that Often, street children have left home, or have been sent away to urban areas by their own families, in the hope of having a better life, after arriving in the city, these children end up on the streets begging for money. “When it was night, I slept on the floor of somebody‟s house “When it reached morning then I would  go to beg for some money and  I would say help  for me some money.

UNICEF Uganda Country Representative. Dr. Sharad Sapra  said that there is a two-pronged approach to addressing this issue and this to ensure there are economic activities initiated in the communities, so that families can make a livelihood and ensuring  that children attend school so they can get the skills and knowledge to be employed gainfully, and to break the cycle of poverty.

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He made the remarks while meeting former street and refugee children at city Royal Hotel in Bugolobi as Uganda prepares to join rest of the world to commemorate the Day of the African child which is for Thursday this week under the theme :All together for Action in favor of street children.

Minister Ronald Kibuule

Kibule said that children will be off the streets and taken to schools under the UPE programme and vocational schools.

He however, warned the Children NGOs against facilitating children to be on the streets with the purpose of benefiting from them by getting donor support.

According to the Reports from ANPCAN over 10,000 children live on streets of Kampala and other major towns in the country and 89% of them are boys and 11% are girls.

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