CODENI coordinates a national forum about life on the streets in Mexico City

“Without papers, how am I suppose to be an active part of society?

Just because we’re on the streets doesn’t mean we don’t have rights.

We’re out there trying to get ahead, like everyone else.”

-Miguel, 19 years old, Mexico City

On May 28, 2013, the conference "The imagery of the street and its inhabitants: Analysis, critical and multidisciplinary reflections" was held in the Faculty of Psychology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The event was organized by the Psychology Student Initiative (INEPSI, http://www.inepsi.com.mx) in collaboration with the International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood in collaboration with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) (CIESPI, http://www.ciespi.org . br /), and the Collective for Children’s Rights (CODENI, http://www.codeni.org.mx/).

The aim of the event was to bring together different actors involved with on life on the streets, including researchers from different social science, civil society organizations, and youth who live on the streets of Mexico City, to analyze public policies, street-connectedness, discrimination, stigma and street identities.

In the opening of the event, Danielle Strickland, who coordinated research on street life in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro from 2008 to 2012, said she was pleased "to see young people so motivated to bring life and new initiatives to academia and, above all, to get involved with other groups in society to achieve more together." The Director of the Psychology Department of the UNAM, Javier Nieto Gutierrez, explained that students have the initiative to bring together efforts to "strengthen research, training and academic extension in the department and the UNAM, and thus have a greater impact on important issues for the Nation."

The first part of the event included the showing of the documentary "When home is the street" for the first time in the campus of the UNAM. The film was directed by Theresa Jessouroun under the coordination of CIESPI and CODENI, and shows the life stories of young people on the streets of Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. Ricardo Fletes from the University of Guadalajara (UDG), presented a review of the film, emphasizing the "high human content that brings awareness towards a greater social consciousness, to hope, to what one can do and achieve in the midst of an individualistic society."

The film reflections were followed by the first panel on "Public Policies, Interventions and Other Interactions with Street Populations" moderated by Juan Martin Perez Garcia, Executive Director of the Network for the Rights of Children in Mexico (REDIM). The panel also included Ricardo Fletes, Head of the Department of Social Development at the UDG, Luis Enrique Hernandez, director of El Caracol, AC in Mexico City, René Jiménez, from the Institute for Social Research at the UNAM, Ricardo Ortega, Head of the Center for Applied Research on Human Rights in Mexico City (CDHDF), Danielle Strickland, international associate researcher at CIESPI in Rio de Janeiro, and Jorge Lopez and Miguel Romualdo, representatives of youth living on the streets in Mexico City.

The panel discussed the efforts and effectiveness of various government programs and Civil Social Organizations (OSCs) to address the phenomenon of street populations. Reflections revolved around how some of these programs are welfare-based and lack prevention strategies, putting them at risk for creating "better street children". The need for comprehensive public policies based on human rights was also emphasized, as well as the need to reduce the vulnerability of street populations with regard to social phenomena resulting from the violence (e.g., addictions, drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution). Additionally the panel raised the questions: Who does public space belong to and who can act in such spaces? Regarding these topics, Jorge and Miguel raised the questions, "How can we survive if we are not allowed to work in public spaces?” And “How can we trust those who come to help us if they force us to do things against our will?".

The second panel on "Street Identities, discrimination and stigma" was moderated by social psychologist Izcoatl Xelhuantzi of UNAM, and panelists included Human Rights specialist Nisaly Brito, from Commeta Org., psychologist José Mayorga Martínez, Román Diaz from EDNICA, Alicia Vargas, director of CIDES, and Jorge Lopez, Miguel Romualdo and Jonathan Miranda, representatives of street populations in Mexico City.

The panel discussed the need to rethink the term "street child," as it does not include all the people that inhabit the streets (e.g. youth, adults and senior citizens), and the term street populations was proposed as an alternative. In this regard, Jorge, Jonathan and Miguel claimed not see themselves as street children, but rather as people living on the street, people with "a home and family." The panel also discussed how some institutions profit from the image of "street children", unlike others that seek to develop educational models and ethical public policies that address the needs of street people. To complete the panel discussion, the scholars and representatives of civil society organizations were asked why in the current discourse we speak of reintegrating street populations? Are they not already part of society? In this regard, panelists stressed the importance of differentiating programs that seek to ‘reintegrate’ from those who seek to ‘include.’ The difference is that the former seek to adapt street populations to societal norms, whereas, the latter are aimed at creating conditions or modifications of broader structural changes (political, economic and social) that guarantee street populations the full exercise of their human rights.

In conclusion, the conference showed the urgency of creating spaces for multidisciplinary dialogue which seek to dignify street populations and promote the development of public policies towards social inclusion. In this regard, and to finish the event, the president of INEPSI, Ángel García Juárez, expressed the need to transcend the academic discourse to concrete actions that make it possible to rethink our reality. He indicated that INEPSI is largely committed to this mission, stating that "INEPSI does not complete projects, but rather leaves questions open and continues to work to answer them".