Human Trafficking in [Senegal] [other countries]Street Children in [Senegal Child Prostitution in [Senegal] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first ten years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2009
|
||
|
CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/09/15/a-senegalese-beggar-unmasked/
For centuries, children in this deeply Muslim country have been sent away to religious schools (daaras) for an Islamic education. It’s a practice common throughout West Africa. But in modern Senegal – where most talibés are dressed in rags, visibly malnourished, and almost completely uneducated – it’s clear that the system is no longer working in their favor. They stalk pedestrians, beg money from passing cars, and scurry between traffic lanes for any spare change thrown from the windows. Hungry and exhausted, many spend their days sleeping on the streets. A few are orphans, but the majority are handed over to marabouts by their own parents. Most families in Senegal hold marabouts in high esteem, consulting them on everything from spiritual to political matters, and a marabout’s influence over his following is profound. “They are students, but they are abandoned. No one takes care of them,” says Mouhamed Chérif Diop, director of a program that helps talibés through the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Tostan. “Their lives are very hard. They can’t find food, often they can’t find clothes.” Sexually active
street children increasingly vulnerable to HIV One sees eight-year-old children
who already have several male and female partners who are older than they
are," said Adjiratou Sow Diallo
Diouf, author of a 2005 study on the impact of
HIV/AIDS on Dakar's estimated 6,000 street children. The 30 children, aged between 8
and 17, Diouf questioned for the study revealed
sexual relations that were both homosexual and heterosexual and rarely
protected, leaving them highly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases
including HIV. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF - The Big Picture U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Most trafficking victims are young males forced into exploitive
begging for Koranic teachers. These
boys, known as talibés, spend the majority of the day begging for their
Koranic teachers and are vulnerable to sexual and other exploitation. Domestically, some Koranic teachers bring
children from rural areas to CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - Since 2003, Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - The law provides for free
education, and education policy declares education to be compulsory for
children ages 6 to 16; however, many children did not attend school for lack
of resources or available facilities. Students must pay for their own books,
uniforms, and other school supplies. Due to government, NGO and international
donor efforts, school enrollment reached 82.5 percent during the year. In
fact, President Wade established "Places for the Little Ones"
throughout the country to serve as pre-kindergartens for children. He also
encouraged increased school enrollment. However, the highest level of
education attained by most children is elementary school. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS –
According to the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the
country had 100 thousand talibe boys and 10 thousand street children. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2006 [DOC] [58] While noting the steps taken by the State party to
address the rights and needs of street children, the Committee remains
concerned about the increasing number of street children and begging children
in the State party. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1995 [14] The absence of compulsory and
free education at the primary level raises deep concern. features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/09/15/a-senegalese-beggar-unmasked/
For centuries, children in this deeply
Muslim country have been sent away to religious schools (daaras)
for an Islamic education. It’s a practice common throughout West Africa. But
in modern Senegal – where most talibés are dressed in rags, visibly malnourished, and
almost completely uneducated – it’s clear that the system is no longer
working in their favor. They stalk pedestrians, beg money
from passing cars, and scurry between traffic lanes for any spare change
thrown from the windows. Hungry and exhausted, many spend their days sleeping
on the streets. A few are orphans, but the majority are
handed over to marabouts by their own parents. Most
families in Senegal hold marabouts in high esteem,
consulting them on everything from spiritual to political matters, and a marabout’s influence over his following is profound. “They are students, but they are
abandoned. No one takes care of them,” says Mouhamed
Chérif Diop, director of
a program that helps talibés through the
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Tostan. “Their
lives are very hard. They can’t find food, often they can’t find clothes.” Lives
of Street Children in Senegal to Improve through New Campaign web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21218879~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html www.alpha-2.info/Lives-of-Street-Children-in-Senegal-to-Improve-through-New-Campaign_a1949.html CHILD TRAFFICKERS TARGETED - Poor parents who cannot afford to care for their children often entrust them to religious leaders known as marabous to educate them and teach them the Koran. Child traffickers posing as marabous will often kidnap the children from villages and take them to Dakar where they are forced to beg for handouts in the streets. Under threat of beatings, the children must give the money to their “masters.” Leaders of Senegal’s religious communities attending the Partnership launch denounced this practice, lamenting that the country’s noble tradition of teaching young boys the Koran has been so distorted and exploited. Despite an impressive body of research on street children prepared with the support of NGOs, UN agencies, and the World Bank, past efforts have been unable to put an end to this trend. For its part, the Government has
enacted laws to protect families and children but they are not enforced.
Meanwhile, the general public has come to accept the sight of boys as young
as 4 years old begging on city streets. Many unwittingly encourage the
situation by giving the children money, food or other small gifts. However,
the practice of begging is in itself dangerous as many children disrupt
traffic and get into accidents. PILOT PROJECT - Over the next 18 months, the Partnership will implement a pilot project in Kolda, Tamba and Matam––the three main cities from which the majority of street children originate––to bring some 500 children back home or place those who cannot go home in appropriate structures, and to rehabilitate a dozen centers for children. www.alpha-2.info/World-Street-Children-News-Senegal-Streetkid-News_a1948.html This article has been archived by
World Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] Ignace Thomas, another volunteer, says
drug and alcohol habits are some of the reasons these youths ended up on the
streets to begin with. Their families
would punish and yell at them for drinking too much, he says, and the boys
did not want to be told what to do, so they would leave. In other cases, he says, there are family
problems that lead the youth to leave. SENEGAL: Why
the`talibe’ problem won’t go away These boys are `talibes’, followers of a `marabout’,
to whom they were entrusted by their families to learn the Koran. But their `marabout’ - like many others who are caretakers of an
estimated 10,000 children in Dakar - does not have the means to support
them. Thousands of `talibes’ spend hours each day walking the city in search
of scraps of food and begging for money to meet a daily quota exacted by
their `marabouts’, or face beatings, talibe children told IRIN. Often with ripped clothes, barefoot and
filthy, the children move alone or in packs. Many never learn the Koran,
officials from non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) say, and rarely do they attain adequate schooling that will lead to
jobs when they become adults. The United Nations children's
agency (UNICEF) in 2004 estimated that there are up to 100,000 child beggars
in Senegal, constituting one percent of the country's 11.4 million people. It
is unclear how many of them are talibes. "We study the Koran from the
morning up to midday. Afterwards the kids go out in the streets up to 3 p.m.
in search of something to eat and then resume studying, which takes us up to
4 p.m., after which time we go back out to find something to eat," said Amadou, a pseudonym. FEATURE-Senegal
seeks better life for beggar boys TRADITION - A 2004 estimate by the United
Nations children's fund UNICEF indicated up to 100,000 children, mostly talibe, were begging across Senegal, representing nearly
1 percent of the population. Aid
groups say nearly all the hundreds of children sleeping rough in Dakar's
streets have run away from daaras. Success Stories - Abdul in Senegal www.globalfundforchildren.org/success_stories/abdul.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
With limited access to education
or training and few opportunities for employment, an increasing number of Sexually active
street children increasingly vulnerable to HIV One sees eight-year-old children
who already have several male and female partners who are older than they
are," said Adjiratou Sow Diallo
Diouf, author of a 2005 study on the impact of
HIV/AIDS on Dakar's estimated 6,000 street children. The 30 children, aged between 8
and 17, Diouf questioned for the study revealed
sexual relations that were both homosexual and heterosexual and rarely
protected, leaving them highly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases
including HIV. West Africa: Children in danger: Living on the street www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=59343 www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/3658/1/191 FORCED TO LEAVE THE VIOLENCE - It was because of another older
brother that Ale left in the first place. When his father died, and with his
mother gone to live in St-Louis, he was left in the village to work with his
brother in the rice-fields. “Whenever he came home and saw me
and my friends and brothers playing instead of working in the fields, he
would beat us,” Ale said. The boy ran away from the village three times to
his mother’s small house in town, but each time she brought him back. So in 2004 he fled as far as he
could go, joining the tens of millions of other children living on streets
worldwide. Information about Street Children
- www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/Information%20about%20Street%20Children%20in%20Senegal.doc At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
A child normally has references
within his or her family through which they build their own identity as
adults, but as soon as s/he starts to feel ill at ease within the household,
these ties break and the child starts to move away from the unit in which
s/he no longer feels comfortable. The majority migrate to the urban areas to
survive, and become street children. Senegal
- For The Smile Of A Child Some street children experience
family rupture. Others, called “talibés” (children entrusted by their parents
to a wise man who insures their religious education), live in “dahras”,
generally pitiful schools of the Koran. There, most of the day they beg to
earn their living and that of the wise man’s. The
last group of children is made up of adolescents called “fackmans” who, under
the influence of drugs, become violent and have broken all family ties. [scroll down] SENEGAL MINISTRY SETS PLAN TO REACH
THOUSANDS OF STREET CHILDREN - This outreach began when the leader felt a burden for the more than
300,000 street children of Street Children In france.youthlink.org/fr/projectsenegal.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Children of The principal themes that emerge
from this interview are that in Senegal To Organize Seminar On Begging By Street Kids www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=351365 She said there was a distinction
between the talibés (pupils in Koranic schools) and other kids who begged in
the streets, adding that there were some 500,000 street children in Exit the players weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/599/cu1.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Curiously, the other show, Enfants
de nuit (Children of the Night), was also spun out darkness, absence,
helplessness and despair. An exhibition-performance devised by 18 young
artists aged between nine and 25 who come from the ranks of the poorest, most
deprived and abused street children in Senegal, and who live or have passed
through the Man-Keneen-Ki home-cum-art school in Dakar. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - |
Human Trafficking in [Senegal] [other countries]Street Children in [Senegal Child Prostitution in [Senegal] [other countries]