Daily news
Tuesday, 28 september 2010
New laws to control begging
Disabled children particularly vulnerable:
Rasika Somarathna

Authorities will take a stringent approach and formulate new laws to halt organized child begging.
Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karalliyadda yesterday said that the authorities had been advised to strictly enforce laws with stringent punishment for those who lure or force children into begging.
“If the existing legal framework is not adequate to deal with matters effectively the Government is prepared to introduce new laws,” he added.
The Minister said that around 10 to 15 years back there were around 20,000 child beggars in the country. The figure has come down drastically due to multiple efforts, he added.
However, the Minister said that it was brought to his notice that certain organized racketeers were behind forced child begging.
These groups take advantage of localized festivities such as the Kandy Perahera, Kataragama Perahera, the Poson season in Anuradhapura and transport child beggars, he added.
The Minister was of the opinion that there were shortcomings in the legal framework and that measures were afoot to fill these loopholes.
According to the Minister, the Police would play a major role in the exercise. The setting up of a separate unit to deal with child abuses within stations has been a part of these efforts.
The affected children are to be given protection, rehabilitation, education and other support. The Minister said local authorities and enforcement agencies should be more vigilant against organized begging. According to experts begging is the street occupation that places children at most risk in Sri Lanka today. Disabled children are considered particularly vulnerable. Some children are forced to beg by outsiders and some others by their own parents.
These children are often abused and have no opportunity for schooling or play.

@RAIHAN@

The Little beggars

Shaohua on Sunday, December 14, 2008

These days, being a beggar has become a type of job. Large streets and small alleys, you can see them everywhere. Basically, they are all organized and disciplined. and wide in variety. The young ones organize behind the scenes so that the children and old people go beg, not for food, but for money. For some, if you give them food, not only will he refuse, he will also yell at you. The money they beg for must be handed over to those above them. Even worse, the phenomenon of holding onto young girls and not letting them go in order to successfully get money happens too often. Dealing with beggars has become a kind of burden. Dealing with one group after another, it is truly annoying. What makes people feel the most unhappy is using children only a few years old to go beg. Doing this is a kind of abuse towards children, a kind of destruction, that will result in great harm to their growth and psychological health. Because of phenomenon like this, all of society should pay more attention towards children beggars, and safeguard children’s lawful rights and interests. Towards those manipulating behind the scenes, society should also investigate responsibility, so that these children can live, learn, and grow up healthy like normal children.

• In this article, we can see the effect of child beggars. Obviously is destruction of growth and psychological health to the child who became beggars.

• We also find a solution in this article that which is society should pay more attention towards children beggars and safeguards children’s lawful rights and interests. Society also should investigate their responsibility to overcome this problem.

*LIYANA MUHAMMAD*

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Family background-child beggar

Although begging is illegal it does not carry a jail sentence under the Vagrancy Act 1824. Many people begin to beg because they are not receiving benefits when they first start to sleep rough. There has long been a strong relationship between begging, substance misuse and poor physical and mental health. Beggars have generally experienced a disruptive family background, substance abuse, exclusion from the labour market and institutionalisation and often have an acute lack of self-esteem. Many beggars have at some time found themselves victims of violence and harassment from the public.

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what is begging..??

Begging is the solicitation of money or food, especially in the street. There is a close relationship between begging and homelessness and homeless charity Crisis estimates that over 80 per cent of beggars are homeless. People who beg are among the most vulnerable in society, often trapped in poverty and deprivation, and it is regarded as a risky and demeaning activity.

Begging is visible on the streets of many British towns and most of the public report seeing someone begging in a public place at least once a week. Research carried out by the University of Glasgow found that begging was overwhelmingly driven by need rather than greed, although the apparently increasing prevalence of begging is coupled with an increasing perception that beggars, rather than being homeless and hungry, use the money they receive to support their addiction to drugs or alcohol. *suzana*....