“Most of them are second- and third-generation street children and don’t have any official papers, and usually their fathers refuse to acknowledge paternity,” he said. According to the most recent ministry figures from a 2014 survey, Egypt has about 16,000 street children, said Hazem el-Mallah, spokesman for the “Children Without Shelter” program. Domestic ViolenceHowever, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, estimates there are tens of thousands of street children in the country, its Egypt representative Bruno Maes says. “The problem is definitely deteriorating, and the figures are rising while the ages of the street children are declining,” said Aboulghar. She said street children come mainly from the mushrooming “poverty belt” of slums outside cities such as the capital and Alexandria.

Source: Egypt Independent May 30, 2017 10:13 UTC