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MEXICAN LEGISLATORS PROPOSE CONTROVERSIAL PLAN TO DEAL WITH STREET CHILDREN.

Article Excerpt
Two Mexican legislators have proposed a controversial plan to take children off the streets and require that they be placed in an environment where they can receive an education and participate in organized activities. The plan met immediate opposition from organizations advocating for children's rights in Mexico. While the initiative targets urban street children, concern is also growing in Mexico about the number of rural youngsters who are forced to work in the fields instead of going to school.

Plan would put children in care of social-service agencies

Sens. Mario Lopez Valdez and Adolfo Toledo Infanzon, both of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), have proposed changes to the federal child-protection law (Ley para la Proteccion de los Derechos de Ninas, Ninos y Adolescentes) that would require municipal and state authorities to round up minors living or working on the streets and place them in the care of social-service providers. The legislation would set up federal fines for local or state governments that failed to comply.

The appropriate Senate committees must first consider the legislation, which is likely to undergo several modifications.

The proposal is similar to a plan introduced by ex-President Vicente Fox in 2001, called De la Calle a la Vida (From the Street to Life), which suggested six actions and 25 strategies to help children on the street. That plan was never implemented or funded.

The two senators said their legislation would provide alternatives for tens of thousands of children...

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