Gallery: Rio Street Kids

There are tens of thousands of street children in Rio de Janeiro. People may be confused of those children. Many of them seem to enjoy their life. Sometimes they look like even rich, because a certain number of those kids are related to drag mafias and working as drug traffickers or outlooks. They can easily make money. However, whether they are rich or not, their life is very tough and they have nearly no future. Rio de Janeiro alone, around 30 people are killed everyday – most cases are related to drug business, and violent death cannot spare small children. Street children also, mainly girls in this case, frequently face sexual abuse, and many of children become sex workers to survive. In addition, the police are largely corrupt. Policemen sometimes kill children to help their related mafia group or merchants who pay money to them. Yet the plight of such street children has not been exposed enough to the world. It’s probably because Brazil is formed in a class society and the origins of most street children come from favelas, or slums, and because the international community has a double standard – it does not pay attention so much, unless there is its super big interest.