Mr Edmundo Urrutia, the Guatemalan Ambassador to the UK, made a presentation on Street Children to the APPG on Street Children on 21st February. MP's attended the meeting from the main political parties in both the House of Commons and House of Lords and representatives from Casa Alianza, Amnesty International, the Railway Children, the Consortium for Street Children, Jubilee Action, UNICEF and Toybox also were also present...

The Ambassador outlined the Guatemalan legal framework for children and the existing Government structures responsible for street children. He said that street children are a high priority and an important issue close to the President. Recent initiatives to assist street children have included:

    * Studies by six Mayors in different areas of the country into social trends.
    * The formation of a forum on street children with the Government and a number of NGOs to develop a strategic plan. Funding assistance and support is from the British Government via the Global Opportunities Fund for Police training via the Consortium for Street Children. However it was acknowledged that the forum relied heavily on NGO's and had insufficient resources to be effective.

The Ambassador finished by saying that the issue of street children is complex, the State was weak and there are a lack of resources to implement the law including insufficient National Police and called for improved coordination between the Government and NGO's.