Street Children, Juvenile Justice and Mental Disability

Summary

• A national workshop on the human rights of street children within the juvenile justice system of Lagos State, Nigeria, was held from Monday to Wednesday, June 2–4, 2003.

• The workshop, which was jointly conducted by Human Development Initiatives (HDI), in
collaboration with the Consortium for Street Children (CSC), UK, was prompted by the request of the Lagos State Government to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for support and ideas towards resolving the myriad of socio-economic problems of Lagos State, such as those of street children.

• Participants were drawn from the Lagos State Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development, the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the police, nongovernmental organisations, street children, children in remand homes and approved schools, media, and other stakeholders