Intersectionality, Children’s Rights and HIV: The Case of Street Children in Trinidad and Tobago

Introduction - This paper examines the social epidemiology of HIV-AIDS within a Caribbean context and the specific ways in which children are affected. In particular, the paper explores the ‘nature’ of risk and vulnerability among especially marginalised children: street children.
Method - Literature on HIV-AIDS in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was reviewed
and semi-structured interviews with 44 key informants were subject to intersectional
analysis (feminist theory) in order to explore the ways in which social marginalisation
gives rise to particular risks and vulnerabilities.
Findings - Despite advancements in children’s rights and comprehensive prevention,
testing and treatment programmes, stigma, discrimination and social marginalisation
intersect to limit rights and access to services of children affected by HIV-AIDS. The findings suggest that universalising (hegemonic) discourses on risk, vulnerability and rights may be too limited a basis for social action and that the intersectional analysis of experiences of childhood and marginalisation provides a more cogent means of uncovering the nuanced ways in which the rights of some children get overlooked.
Policy and Practice Implications - Although situated within a development paradigmi, the
paper charts paths for debates on children’s rights that are more widely applicable and
which may be more appropriate for addressing the needs of especially marginalised children especially within developing countries.