Jubilee Campaign Founder to Testify Horror of Plight of Street Children

Lord David Alton of Liverpool, the co-founder of the international human rights organisation Jubilee Campaign, will be a witness at a Congressional hearing to examing the plight of children around the world.
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Alton, who is also a member of the House of Lords, will testify before a sub-committee of the House Committee on International Relations.

He will share his insights on what he has learned from his own experience when observing the conditions of street children in the slums of Brazil, and as the founding chair of the All-Parliamentary Committee on Street Children.

To investigate reports that up to five children are killed daily in Brazil’s urban centres, Alton led a Jubilee Campaign delegation to investigate the situation in February 2004.

In December 2004, he launched a new website (www.stopkillingchildren.com ) run by Jubilee Campaign to raise awareness of what is happening. It has catalogued the deaths of over 750 Brazilian children since January 2005.

Alton urges the Brazilian government to take counteractive action to stop the violent killings.

Referring to a recent report by Brazil’s Health Ministry depicting a decrease in gun-related deaths, Director of Jubilee Campaign USA Ann Buwalda said, “Although we commend Brazil for its first reduction of deaths caused by firearms in thirteen years, at 36,000 a year Brazil still holds the record for such killings—and the extraordinary number of children killed remains unacceptable for any civilized society.

She concluded, "We continue to receive reports of police squads who kill street children. The Brazilian government must put a stop to the killing of its next generation.”

Issues related to children at risk in Africa will also be explored. The hearing will be held at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 13, in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172.