EscucharMANAGUA - The government of Nicaragua will undertake a plan to remove more than 300 children who beg at traffic lights in the capital, by means of persuading their parents or with coercive actions in order to make them responsible for their children, informed an official source on Wednesday.
``The begging or working children who stay at the stoplights for eight hours per day will be taken to foster homes or institutions if the parents insist on exposing their children to the dangerous situations,'' said Luis González, director of the Nicaraguan Fund for Children (FONIC in Spanish).
The plan to move the children from the stoplights, which was conceived last February and will be initiated in the coming days, includes a commitment from parents to act responsibly toward their children, explained González in a meeting with the press.
According to the official, the parents could be punished and could lose guardianship of their children if FONIC observes that the children are exposed to ``risks, abuse or other practices which could harm their integral growth,''
Officials from FONIC, who are working on the plan, would be supported by members of the National Police in order to avoid ``whatever altercation with the public order,'' explained González.
The government measures designed to protect the children will include the implementation of alternative cultural, educational and recreational programs as well as the delivery of food to serve as incentive to those who come to centers where the programs are in effect.
According to FONIC some 8,000 children are at risk in Nicaragua, of which only around 600 work the traffic lights
``The child at the light is only the tip of the iceberg which we have been able to see, concerning the situation of children in this country,'' added González.
``Lamentably there are parents that take advantage of their children. The children are drugged so that they can tolerate eight hours beneath the sun and rain,'' said acting First Lady María Dolores Alemán, daughter of President Arnoldo Alemán.
Dolores, who does social work with private sector support and international collaboration, added that the government ``will try to rescue the children'' but recognized that there is insufficient economic capacity for an integrated assault on the general problem of poverty and its effects on children.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights criticized the government measures to alleviate the situation of the street children and defined them as ``punitive and coercive’' actions against the children themselves.
