ABSTRACT
Protecting street children and working children is a serious challenge for the national governments of the South and the international community’s struggle towards peace, equity and justice. The number of working children between the ages of 5 and 14 in the developing countries is 250 million, of whom 120 million work full time. This chapter discusses the problem of street children and working children in the South as a problem of development and looks at how global non-govemmental organisation (NGO) networks are working to fight the problem. NGOs are the leading actors in protecting child rights world-wide. New ties and relations among the peoples and institutions of the North and South are mushrooming through NGOs, often bypassing governments. They also have alliances or networks in their common goal of the protection of children world-wide. Development cooperation is discussed as a channel for international relations and the promotion of the rights of children and youth as global citizens.
