Street children in Thailand

Based on the definition by the Inter-NGO Programme on Street Children and Street Youth, 1983, a street child refers to “any boy or girl…for whom the street in the widest sense of the word…has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults”. One recent U.S. State Department study reported an estimated 20,000 children on the streets of Thailand's major urban centres. According to research by the Foundation for the Better Life for Children, the number rose rapidly from 20,000 in 2006 to 30,000 in 2010, suggesting an escalating scale and severity of the problem. These children are not restricted to only the Thai nationals; a significant portion of them are Khmer, Burmese, Laos and Vietnamese. Roughly 40 percent of the street children in Bangkok surveyed in 2008–2010 by Friends-International are Khmer, Burmese and Vietnamese.
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While there are various definitions...