Valores e direitos humanos: meninos e meninas em situação de rua na região central de São Paulo

Abstract

The present work is a study of boys and girls who live on the street in the center of the city of São Paulo. The objective is to analyze their moral values, expectations, and dreams within the context of their life on the street and their social condition as a group of individuals of a determined class. Since the parameters of the study include the struggle for the defense and guarantee of human rights and the construction of public policies focusing on children and adolescents, we constructed our analysis on the basis of an ethical concept rooted in the social theory of Marx, according to which the individual constructs and reproduces his life in society in constant relations with the social and historical values constructed by him as his individual and collective reference for life in society. The study demonstrates the presence of values such as solidarity, thought of as a means of social transformation, as well as the value placed on the family, education, and work. It also indicates, as well, the precarious lifeconditions to which the children and adolescents are exposed as well as the rejection and prejudice suffered by them, indicating a necessity to transform the social system that alienates and imprisons individuals. We cite the work developed by Cedeca Sé with the boys and girls living on the street in order to show that this experience marked our professional performance and, with the current reflection, we aspire to contribute to its development, believing in a project in which a human being is considered as the central value of a society moving in the direction of social transformation to achieve equality