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1. JusticeforGirls

    in Tuesday September 13th, 2011  

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   Hello Everyone,

   The piece below is a bit of a longer one, with specific information about teenage girls and homelessness in Canada. This is based on our organization’s, Justice for Girls’, work advocating for teen girls who are low income and homeless, and our recent project to create a housing strategy for girls living in poverty in…

   Hello Everyone,

   The piece below is a bit of a longer one, with specific information about teenage girls and homelessness in Canada. This is based on our organization’s, Justice for Girls’, work advocating for teen girls who are low income and homeless, and our recent project to create a housing strategy for girls living in poverty in Canada.

   Asia

   ——-

   Background on Girl Homelessness in Canada.
   Homelessness has been identified as a significant problem in Canada. Homeless girls endure frequent and severe male sexual and physical violence, grossly inadequate and dangerous housing conditions, criminalization, serious and sometimes fatal health disorders, and many other devastating consequences of homelessness.

   If there is one overreaching, extremely harmful similarity in the experiences of homeless or formerly homeless it is domestic sexual abuse. Most of the young women with whom Justice for Girls spoke (during a three year project to create a housing strategy for homeless girls) talked about experiencing sexual abuse in their homes and then experiencing further male violence while homeless or living in deplorable housing conditions. When girls attempt to escape male violence within the family home, Canadian state authorities—police, child welfare—tend to respond in a discriminatory manner. Government authorities often send girls back into their family homes where the abuser remains, sometimes remove girls from their family homes/communities to be placed in unsafe and/or inadequate government placements or mix gendered youth shelters, but rarely remove the abusive adult male from the family home or pursue criminal prosecution against him.

   As a result of current and historic colonization Aboriginal girls in Canada are disproportionately represented amongst homeless girls. Aboriginal girls face multiple and extreme oppression through colonization, male violence, racism, poverty, institutionalization in state care and imprisonment.

   For many teenage girls, poverty is a reflection of the denial of economic security to their families, which are very often led by single mothers. Immigrant, refugee, Aboriginal and racialized single mothers, and thus their children, are at extreme disadvantage in Canadian society and are nearly guaranteed to live in poverty.

   Experiences of Homelessness and Inadequate Housing
   Girls Justice for Girls interviewed for the housing strategy project frequently started sleeping temporarily at friends’ houses when they first left home. Girls would eventually be compelled to leave these temporary living arrangements as the friends they were relying on were also living in poverty and were not able to support an added person and/or host parents became afraid of criminal sanction for housing them.

   When governments fail to provide safe accessible housing for homeless girls, older exploitive men step in. Girls who are homeless “trade” sex with older men in exchange for a place to stay. When girls are first on their own, many “couch surf” for days, weeks and months at a time.

   Young women who live in poverty, especially those with addictions, are forced to live in the most deplorable environments in the form of single rooms in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) rooming houses. These buildings are often infested with bed bugs, cockroaches and rodents, inhabited by violent predatory men, and toxic with environmentally hazardous chemicals, building materials and pesticides.

   Despite the perception that homeless teenage girls do not often “sleep rough,” homeless girls in fact often sleep outside in parks, stairwells of buildings, or on sidewalks when they do not have a place to stay. They also sleep in abandoned derelict buildings (“squats”).

   Once young women are homeless, drug-addicted and experiencing extreme male violence, the criminal justice system often steps in and criminalizes girls, ostensibly for their own “protection” in an attempt to protect them from homelessness, drug addiction, sexual abuse through prostitution and other male violence. But the criminal justice system only exacerbates the problem when it criminalizes girls and imprisons them.

   National Recommendations
   In 2006 the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its’ 5th review of Canada’s compliance (with the CESCR) recommended that “[Canada] give special attention to the difficulties faced by homeless girls who are more vulnerable to health risks and social and economic deprivation, and take all necessary measures to provide them with adequate housing and social and health services.”

   A national anti-poverty strategy that features a plan for stopping girl homelessness and allocates funds for this purpose is necessary. To date, Canada does not have a strategic and coordinated provincial/territorial or national approach to housing homeless girls nor a national anti-homelessness strategy. Funds for federal anti-homelessness initiatives need to be earmarked specifically for tackling girl homelessness.

   Economic security must be legally recognized as a constitutional right in Canada. Canada must take immediate action to alleviate poverty in the lives of teenage girls and their families by ensuring that all persons have access to the means by which to live in peace, security and dignity.

   The Canadian government must specifically uphold the inherent rights of Aboriginal
   girls and make every effort to remedy the consequences of colonization. In so doing, the Canadian government must engage the leadership of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Pauktuutit and provincial/territorial Indigenous grassroots women’s groups.

   Canada must remove and criminally prosecute the perpetrators of violence in the home, especially in cases of child sexual abuse. Girls must be free from violence within their own homes and without fear of being removed if they report sexual or physical abuse by male family members. Provincial child welfare ministries must create policies to remove sexual abusers from the home when sexual abuse is being investigated or has been found, instead of removing the child.

   Canada must provide supports such as girl-only transitional housing to girls who are escaping violence and/or who are homeless. Given that male violence is pervasive in the lives of teenage girls who are homeless, and that it is often the reason for their homelessness, we believe that services similar to those available to adult women who are escaping violence need to be created for teenage girls. Girls’ transition houses must be modeled after transition houses for adult women and be created specifically for girls who are on their own.

   Canada must bring all provincial child welfare legislation in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and guarantee all children under the age of majority support from child welfare ministries (this is not the case now as in some provinces and territories children are only considered “children” until age 16).

   Actions at the International level
   A Special Rapporteur on the Rights of the Girl Child must be appointed by the United
   Nations to guarantee that there is a mechanism for challenging breaches of girls’ human rights at the international level. The development of a specific girls’ convention may further promote and protect girls’ international human rights. Further, the development of an optional protocol under this proposed convention would allow redress for specific human rights violations. Such a mechanism would provide an advocacy tool for relief in concrete cases and provide a framework for inquiry into individual cases.

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   Hello Everyone, The piece below is a bit of a longer one, with specific information about teenage girls and homelessness in Canada. This is based on our organization's, Justice for Girls', work advocating for teen girls who are low income and homeless, and our recent project to create a housing strategy for girls living in poverty in Canada. Asia ------- Background on Girl Homelessness in Canada. Homelessness has been identified as a significant problem in Canada. Homeless girls endure frequent and severe male sexual and physical violence, grossly inadequate and dangerous housing conditions, criminalization, serious and sometimes fatal health disorders, and many other devastating consequences of homelessness. If there is one overreaching, extremely harmful similarity in the experiences of homeless or formerly homeless it is domestic sexual abuse. Most of the young women with whom Justice for Girls spoke (during a three year project to create a housing strategy for homeless girls) talked about experiencing sexual abuse in their homes and then experiencing further male violence while homeless or living in deplorable housing conditions. When girls attempt to escape male violence within the family home, Canadian state authorities—police, child welfare—tend to respond in a discriminatory manner. Government authorities often send girls back into their family homes where the abuser remains, sometimes remove girls from their family homes/communities to be placed in unsafe and/or inadequate government placements or mix gendered youth shelters, but rarely remove the abusive adult male from the family home or pursue criminal prosecution against him. As a result of current and historic colonization Aboriginal girls in Canada are disproportionately represented amongst homeless girls. Aboriginal girls face multiple and extreme oppression through colonization, male violence, racism, poverty, institutionalization in state care and imprisonment. For many teenage girls, poverty is a reflection of the denial of economic security to their families, which are very often led by single mothers. Immigrant, refugee, Aboriginal and racialized single mothers, and thus their children, are at extreme disadvantage in Canadian society and are nearly guaranteed to live in poverty. Experiences of Homelessness and Inadequate Housing Girls Justice for Girls interviewed for the housing strategy project frequently started sleeping temporarily at friends’ houses when they first left home. Girls would eventually be compelled to leave these temporary living arrangements as the friends they were relying on were also living in poverty and were not able to support an added person and/or host parents became afraid of criminal sanction for housing them. When governments fail to provide safe accessible housing for homeless girls, older exploitive men step in. Girls who are homeless “trade” sex with older men in exchange for a place to stay. When girls are first on their own, many “couch surf” for days, weeks and months at a time. Young women who live in poverty, especially those with addictions, are forced to live in the most deplorable environments in the form of single rooms in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) rooming houses. These buildings are often infested with bed bugs, cockroaches and rodents, inhabited by violent predatory men, and toxic with environmentally hazardous chemicals, building materials and pesticides. Despite the perception that homeless teenage girls do not often “sleep rough,” homeless girls in fact often sleep outside in parks, stairwells of buildings, or on sidewalks when they do not have a place to stay. They also sleep in abandoned derelict buildings (“squats”). Once young women are homeless, drug-addicted and experiencing extreme male violence, the criminal justice system often steps in and criminalizes girls, ostensibly for their own “protection” in an attempt to protect them from homelessness, drug addiction, sexual abuse through prostitution and other male violence. But the criminal justice system only exacerbates the problem when it criminalizes girls and imprisons them. National Recommendations In 2006 the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its’ 5th review of Canada’s compliance (with the CESCR) recommended that “[Canada] give special attention to the difficulties faced by homeless girls who are more vulnerable to health risks and social and economic deprivation, and take all necessary measures to provide them with adequate housing and social and health services.” A national anti-poverty strategy that features a plan for stopping girl homelessness and allocates funds for this purpose is necessary. To date, Canada does not have a strategic and coordinated provincial/territorial or national approach to housing homeless girls nor a national anti-homelessness strategy. Funds for federal anti-homelessness initiatives need to be earmarked specifically for tackling girl homelessness. Economic security must be legally recognized as a constitutional right in Canada. Canada must take immediate action to alleviate poverty in the lives of teenage girls and their families by ensuring that all persons have access to the means by which to live in peace, security and dignity. The Canadian government must specifically uphold the inherent rights of Aboriginal girls and make every effort to remedy the consequences of colonization. In so doing, the Canadian government must engage the leadership of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Pauktuutit and provincial/territorial Indigenous grassroots women’s groups. Canada must remove and criminally prosecute the perpetrators of violence in the home, especially in cases of child sexual abuse. Girls must be free from violence within their own homes and without fear of being removed if they report sexual or physical abuse by male family members. Provincial child welfare ministries must create policies to remove sexual abusers from the home when sexual abuse is being investigated or has been found, instead of removing the child. Canada must provide supports such as girl-only transitional housing to girls who are escaping violence and/or who are homeless. Given that male violence is pervasive in the lives of teenage girls who are homeless, and that it is often the reason for their homelessness, we believe that services similar to those available to adult women who are escaping violence need to be created for teenage girls. Girls’ transition houses must be modeled after transition houses for adult women and be created specifically for girls who are on their own. Canada must bring all provincial child welfare legislation in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and guarantee all children under the age of majority support from child welfare ministries (this is not the case now as in some provinces and territories children are only considered “children” until age 16). Actions at the International level A Special Rapporteur on the Rights of the Girl Child must be appointed by the United Nations to guarantee that there is a mechanism for challenging breaches of girls’ human rights at the international level. The development of a specific girls’ convention may further promote and protect girls’ international human rights. Further, the development of an optional protocol under this proposed convention would allow redress for specific human rights violations. Such a mechanism would provide an advocacy tool for relief in concrete cases and provide a framework for inquiry into individual cases.