A charity in the Saudi city of Jeddah is tackling the problem of child beggars ... by having them deported. 

The Al-Bir Welfare Society, which runs the kingdom's first welfare centre for child beggars, has organised the deportation of 6,000 children during its first seven years of operation, Arab News reports.

The centre is said to receive between five and 10 children every day, most of them from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Yemen and Chad. Of the 411 children placed in its care so far this year, 363 have been deported and 18 were handed over to their families, "who signed a pledge never to allow them to beg again".

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 12 October 2010.