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forced evictions of the urban poor and the confiscation of farmers’ land in the countryside
has relocated thousands of people and their families to areas without means of earning
a livelihood 3 . The consequences of violating families’ access to proper housing are
closely linked to the vulnerability of children in terms of health, education and the risk of
exploitation 4 . In turn this also might have led to a growing number of children migrating
alone to bigger towns to seek work for shorter or longer periods in order to support
their families. Regarding international conditions potentially affecting the composition
of street children/youth, the effects of the global economic crisis has inevitably hit
the Cambodian economy, particularly as it is narrowly concentrated on the garment,
tourism, and construction industries 5 . Without a formal social welfare system, there has
been concern that the economic crisis will reverse the positive economic trends and
push greater numbers of Cambodian children into poverty, thereby increasing their risk
of ending on the streets 6 . ‘The current financial crisis will only make problems worse
and it is expected that vulnerabilities among children and youth will drastically increase
in the coming years as a result of this 7 ’.
Having outlined the specific setting for the Cambodian Street Children Profile 2009, the
forth-coming study by the Cambodian Street Children Network (CSCN) aims to make
projections on the current situation of street children in six central locations in Cambodia
– Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Neak Loeung, Sihanoukville, Kampong Cham and Poipet.
Presentation of the Cambodian Street Children Network
The Cambodian Street Children Network (CSCN) was officially co-founded by Friends-
International (FI) and Mith Samlanh (MS) in April 2007, and invited the main Cambodian
NGOs working with street children to join it. The main criteria for selecting the CSCN
members was the duration they had been working with street children and the fact that
they all run direct services - they are not advocacy or funding NGOs only. The CSCN
thus aims to enhance the collaboration between NGOs working within the field of street
children in Cambodia, and the network’s activities centre on the three-fold objective:
i. To establish a platform for networking, coordinating services and exchanging
knowledge in order to develop best practices;
CSCN
CSCN Street Children Profile 2009
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