‘Children of the street’: sexual citizenship and the unprotected lives of Ghanaian street youth

Abstract

Youth-sensitive policies are gradually gaining recognition in Africa. The release of the recent publication Children in Ghana by the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and UNICEF-Ghana attests to the value the country places on young people's perspectives. Guided by Richardson's conceptual framework on sexual citizenship, this paper draws on four sets of focus group discussions, informal conversations and interviews with 24 young people aged between 14 and 19 (seven young men and 17 young women), all of whom were living on the streets of a city in Ghana. It shows how young people navigate sexuality in a context of poverty and in an era of HIV/AIDS. It argues that the young women's demonstration of a sense of agency, evident in the midst of violence and insecurity, contradicts the notion of childhood sexual innocence. These experiences challenge the view that human rights and sex education are sufficient strategies to address young people's transitions to a safe adulthood within impoverished contexts.