JEDDAH, 31 January 2005 — A UN study on children and crime and drugs in the Middle East revealed that 56 percent of children are exposed to theft, 13 percent to beggary and 5.2 percent to violence.
The report in Al-Madinah newspaper said the Kingdom has very few street children, but when the children of non-Saudi overstayers were factored in, it became a problem.
The children of overstayers typically spend most of the day on the street and exposing them to more crime. They gather in huge numbers inside poor neighborhoods — isolated from other youngsters and schools and playgrounds. Many people, Saudis and non-Saudis, complain about the thefts committed by these juveniles, but they say the children also are as much victims as the people from whom they steal.
Al-Madinah correspondents visited the streets with some of these youngsters. Apparently, committing crimes isn’t always their own idea.
Adam, 11, was wearing threadbare clothing along with the cuts and bruises of a beating. He said his mother beat him after he failed to steal a baby carriage so she could carry her belongings.
For many, it’s a hardscrabble existence with little hope and little to eat.
Reporters noticed a couple of youngsters trying to hunt birds so they could eat them. They said there just wasn’t enough food at home.
Some of the parents set begging quotas for their children — with unpleasant consequences if they failed to reach them.
“I have to beg for money every day, and I must collect at least SR40 a day,” said Salma, a 10-year-old. “If I fail to collect that money, then I am beaten and banned from going outside.”
Such fears can make youngsters desperate.
“I beg for money — even for SR1,” Salma said.
“I will kiss hands if it means I’ll get a riyal.”
Nobody likes to be robbed, but many residents have a little sympathy for the poor street waifs.
“Overstayers’ kids are spreading in great numbers everywhere now, especially in the Aziziyya and Al-Kandara neighborhoods,” said Fahd Al-Harbi, who lives in Aziziyya district. “They’re exposed to many dangers, like getting run over by a car or even to kidnapping. I once caught a nine-year-old trying to steal from my house. I could not give him to police because he was just a child, so I set him free. It’s very sad to see kids at this young age committing crimes.”
Most youngsters aren’t criminal masterminds, so it isn’t too hard to guess who is directing their lives of crime.
“These poor kids are driven by their family members — beaten and forced to do things they do not want to do,” said Salem Al-Salhi, another local resident. “They are forced to beg and steal. No matter what they do, they had better not come home empty-handed. I once caught a child trying to steal from my house. When I asked him who told him to rob me, he said his father forced him.”
It’s ironic, but the youngsters sometimes get more care and concern from their would-be victims than they do from their families.
“These children are poor, and they are supposed to be on the playground instead of committing crimes on the streets,” Al-Salhi said. “We decided with neighbors to buy some clothes and give charity money to some poor families in the neighborhood just to prevent them from forcing their children to commit crimes.”
