Letter to Supporters from Princess Firyal

Forced labour is the daily lot of millions of children in both urban and rural areas, who have to work in illegal, dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Children are often forced through organized crime into begging, stealing, drug peddling and prostitution. They work many hours in markets, factories, fields and mines. Other forms of abuse are less visible, such as domestic exploitation, paedophilia, etc. Forced labour takes away the right of education.

The extent of childhood prostitution throughout the world is impossible to assess. In some countries, boys are involved as much as girls, often no older than 9 years. Prostitution is a means to make fast money. It often becomes a regular trade controlled by organized crime.

The child is then reduced to slavery, which associated with drugs and prostitution is a source of diseases, particularly AIDS. In fact, the majority of street children are threatened by drug addiction. The streets in which they work, live and sleep are the most favourable market for drugs. The larger the city, the greater the supply, the wider the choice and the easier the access. Even before cocaine, crack and heroin, children used stimulants such as tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and especially solvent glue. This latest substance, available everywhere, can cause permanent brain damage and lead to suicide. The life expectancy of most street children addicted to drugs is limited to a few more years of suffering.

In general, life on the streets is a constant threat to the safety and survival of children. They are victims of traffic accidents, street fighting, organized crime, police harassment and para-military brutality. The death of street children is a daily occurrence. Street and working children are frequently arrested and jailed for charges of vandalism and robbery. Having suffered extreme brutality, rapes and inducement of crime, imprisoned children suffer irreversible traumas and may hate society for the rest of their lives.

The root causes of these traumas are manifold. Street children are both the victims and the mirror-image of the ills and evils of modern society. Some of the main driving forces include rampant urbanization and rural exodus, unemployment, growing poverty and the need for child labour, the breakdown of families with many men migrating abroad for work, divorce and single parent families, conflict and wars within and between countries leading to incessant streams of refugees and displaced people, the breakdown of common services in many cities which have grown beyond control, slums, pollution, no water or electricity. These children are denied the right to learn. Most have never been to school or have received poor, if any, education. The universal declaration of human rights proclaims that everyone has the right to an education, but I believe that governments and bureaucracies are often limited in their capacity to address the difficult problems that these children confront, and now you will understand why my colleagues and I are searching for alternative methods for addressing the problem. Something that will reach these children in their unusual circumstances and will offer them the opportunity to experience a safe childhood and to enter a productive and satisfying adulthood. MORE MUST BE DONE.

This is why an American based Foundation has been established. Committed to supporting programmes that will reach these children at grassroot level in the streets, the slums and the villages of the world’s under-developed countries. The primary mission of The International Hope Foundation will be to implement educational programmes to reach and address the needs of these children in their communities.

The Foundation has been formed to close co-operation with UNESCO Special Education Programme, which was launched in 1990 to develop innovative methods, that are proving effective by the way, educating children who are not reached by the traditional school system. The Foundation with the backing of UNESCO will be unique, as no other organization is engaged in implementing such work on the scale that we envisage.

UNESCO projects that, with aggressive support, we can eliminate illiteracy and the potential for exploitation of those children by the year 2030, and through literacy those children might be offered the hope and the skills necessary for becoming valued members of society.

These children cannot call for help, the only voice they have is our voice, the only help, is our ability to react. Statistics show that numbers can be doubled in the next generation.

It is with vision of a world in which we want our children to live that we must do our part and ensure that the international public is better informed about a desire to address the gravity of this crisis that threatens future generations.

As a mother myself, I know firsthand about the vulnerability of children even in the best of circumstances. There is little that an abandoned, exploited and ill-treated child can do to call for help.

Helping these children around the world is a moral imperative, but also a wise investment in social stability and the planning of human resources. We have developed a world-wide plan for street children which is based on a very few simple principles. Street and working children require practical and immediate help, not just sympathy, alarming press reports for academic studies about their situation. We have engaged in fundraising and formally commit ourselves that every penny received will reach the children without deduction of any administrative overheads. We focus on carefully selected model projects carried out by grassroots organizations in 25 of the world’s largest cities. The competence and experience of these local partners is the best guarantee of success, and by the way, there are very many success stories in that field, primarily in Africa. All street children projects assisted by UNESCO are professionally evaluated on a continuing basis, and are subject to a detailed financial report.

Most of the time street children are locked away, taken off the streets and put into orphanages or homes for juvenile delinquents, but these are strategies of the past which do not work. We need to build on what is positive, both in the children themselves and in their seemingly, so-cruel environment. Many street children are survivors, intelligent, creative and strong-willed, we must build on their natural resilience. The street is a place of meetings and other generations and people different from themselves. It is a place of discovery, learning and practical problem-solving. We must not fight the streets, but use its resources in a positive way. Street children have their own surrogate families—the group or street gang. The group is a source of safety, solidarity and friendship. We must not reject the group, but work with it.

Even the Government and City Mayors turn their backs, there are committed experienced local partners to work with—community associations, street educators, social workers, women’s groups, etc. With your contribution to this worthy cause, the Foundation can save millions of children around the world. We will keep you informed on how your support is being used to achieve our mission and goals and if you need any further information we’ll be glad to provide it. Your contribution and help will make a difference.

Thank you.

H.R.H. Princess Firyal
Founder & President of the International Hope Foundation
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

P.S. Please make cheques payable to The International Hope Foundation, a non-profit 501 (C) (3) educational organization.