Social experiment shows how homeless children are treated

If you saw a child alone in a public place, what would you do?

This was the question posed in a social experiment by Unicef to see whether people would treat a little girl differently based on how she was dressed.

Unicef, or the United Nations Children's Fund, posted a video on its Facebook page on Tuesday (June 28), showing the results of the experiment.

It has been viewed more than one million times since it was uploaded and received over 800 comments.

In the experiment, a six-year-old child actor named Anano is dressed in nice clothes and stands alone in a street in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

It doesn't take long before concerned strangers approach her and ask her if she is lost.

Some even reach out to touch her and comfort her.

The scenario is then modified - this time, Anano is made to look like a homeless child. She is dressed in dirty clothes, has black marks on her face and unkempt hair.

Not a single person stops to ask if she is all right as she stands alone in the same busy street.

The experiment is then repeated in a restaurant with similar results.

Diners are seen moving their bags as the "homeless" girl approaches wary of whether she is a pickpocket.

One man in the restaurant even calls the staff over to ask them to take her out of the restaurant.

The child actor gets so distressed that she runs out of the restaurant in tears.

The experiment has to be stopped prematurely as Anano becomes too upset to continue.

When interviewed by the video crew, she shard how she felt being ignored and pushed aside by strangers.

"Because my face was covered in soot and my clothes were all dirty. This made me sad," she said.

"I don't know, they were all telling me to go away," she added.

Facebook users had mostly positive reactions to this heart-rending video, commending it for raising awareness of our biases and how we respond to children in need.

However, some commented that the reason people reacted to the "homeless" child in that manner was because of real-life experiences.

Facebook user Valentin Huciu said "Nobody has the courage to recognise here that gypsies send their children to steal and beg. And therefore we all have developed a natural defence system."

Some also admitted that they would have ignored Anano in her second outfit as well.

Facebook user Nicolas Marinus said: "I have stopped children that seemed lost to help them out, but would most likely pass by Anano in her second outfit too. She seems like the typical gypsy children you see around, begging and hassling people. Life conditions you sometimes, not always for the best."

Would you stop to help a child in need regardless of their circumstances?

xiuhuil@sph.com.sg