221. Burundi enjoys a rare cultural and linguistic homogeneity in Africa. Indeed, if we can consider Batwas as an indigenous and minority population (1% of the total population), no one can argue that their children are deprived of any right whatsoever. The protection of children from a minority group has received the attention of the authorities and measures have been taken to ensure their effective protection. 222. The Government supports the school needs of Batwa children in secondary school, as it does for needy students. Public and private media participate in the promotion and protection of the rights of Batwa children. g) Children in need of special protection because they are in situation of risk and vulnerability, such as street children and HIV/AIDS orphans 223. Children in Burundi represent more than half of the total population. The conflict in Burundi has weakened family structures, leaving several orphans and vulnerable children. It is estimated that one in five children is orphaned (about 900,000), one third of them because of the war and another third whose parents died of AIDS. As a result, ¾ orphans, especially those vulnerable or affected by HIV, live in extended families that are often unable to meet their basic needs. 7% of orphans do not have guardians and often live on the street and 5,520 children are supported through the 98 care centres which, in most cases, do not provide a minimum of necessary services for the well being of the children.49 224. Often children who find themselves in extreme poverty and have difficulty living with their own families, sometimes because of alcoholism or abuse, become street children. The latter are deprived of the right to food, drinking water, health, care, housing and family life. They are also deprived of physical protection, being exposed to violence in the street. 225. Thus, to curb this phenomenon, the Government adopted in December 2013, a National Strategy for the Prevention and Fight against the Phenomenon of Children in Street Situations. A National Platform of Stakeholders in this sector (State Service, Civil Society) implements the National Action Plan which aims at the prevention, the identification of victims and their reintegration in their families and communities as well as the fight against this phenomenon. These measures were taken to reinforce other actions of the Government through notably the Centre for Supervision and Rehabilitation of Sun Children (Enfants Soleil) (CERES) and the Sun Children (Enfants Soleil) Project (PES) whose goal is to remove children from the street and to reintegrate them into professional life. At the beginning of each year, after reintegration, the Centre proceeds to register new street children. 147. 49 This is illustrated in the tables below: National Child Protection Policy (PNPE), p. 9 48