ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 435 - 01/06/2002

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS

CHILDREN

On-going poverty during the crisis years — 1985-1995, gave rise to new strategies in order to survive. This pushed a number of families to use their children as wage-earners as a means of subsistence. Other children are quite simply removed from their families and exploited

In April, senior representatives from the Social Welfare Ministry (MINAS), toured several rural areas throughout the country. Everywhere, the story was the same: Lots of children, mostly under 14, leave their families to find employment in other areas of the country, especially in the large cities. Some leave the family home of their own free will because they’re attracted by the «bright lights» of the cities; others are told to go and look for a job by their parents, because these simply can’t make ends meet. The fact is, everyone’s trying to escape the poverty trap in their area. A number of children are kidnapped by those who wish to exploit them.

Pierre Edou Nanga puts it this way: «In most cases, the children are given difficult and under-paid work on the plantations or as servants in private houses. Sometimes they’re beaten, sometimes they become victims of sexual predators. Pierre Edou, himself, was kidnapped in 1999, on the frontier with the Central African Republic. After what amounted to three years’ slave labour, he was able to escape and return home. His mother said he’d been so badly treated that his injuries had turned gangrenous.

Faced with such abominable practices, Cameroon’s Social Welfare Minister, Marie Madeleine Fouda, said: «The highest authorities in the land could no longer afford to close their eyes or pretend nothing’s happening». In May 2001, the Government ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Convention (Number 182), which outlaws the worst forms of child labour. And, following the example of a number of African countries, the Government launched a campaign financed by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and other organizations, aimed at prohibiting these practices.

Local authorities, child welfare specialists, and human rights defenders for children, started to inform parents about the dangers incurred by children who work. According to Cameroon’s representative at the ILO, just over 49% of children aged 10 to 14, work in Cameroon, although this is strictly prohibited by the Labour Code. (It should be noted that 46.4% of Cameroonians are under 15 years of age!)

The fact is, child labour in Cameroon is part of the country’s poverty-stricken scenario, and can only be eliminated if there’s an increase in family income and improved access to education. Local UNICEF, ILO and other similar groups’ workers are currently concentrating their efforts on the worst forms of child exploitation, i.e. forced labour, prostitution, involvement in drug trafficking and other criminal activities, plus all forms of labour which are particularly dangerous for childrens’ health and safety.

Child exploitation under scrutiny

In April 2001, the world’s Media reported on a Nigerian-registered «slave ship», sailing off the West African coast with 250 children on board. Cameroon’s adviser to the Regional Human Rights Centre in Yaounde, Jean Paul Bakang, said: «The very existence of this ship with its passengers, proves that exploiting children goes on in our region». And Edouard Kougoué, leader of a newly established political party, the United Social Front (USF), says: «The existence of this kind of exploitation, is now starting to appear on political parties’ agenda».

Torn from their families’ protection, child victims are particularly vulnerable. It would seem that most of these children are sent to neighbouring countries to be used as servants, to work in plantations, to beg, to work as petty traders or to tout for business for their masters. Children are also sold to be exploited sexually in the many cheap restaurants in Cameroon’s larger cities.

In July 2001, with UNICEF‘s financial help, the Research Centre «Innocenti», published a report entitled: «Child Exploitation as a Means of Economic Exploitation: Reactions to Cameroon’s National Policies». According to this study, exploited children work anything from 10 to 20 hours each day. They are forced to carry heavy burdens and have to handle dangerous tools. They often lack food and water. The study reports that in Cameroon, one out of five among these children, dies from illness or because of a work-related accident. Others contract sexually transmitted diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS. Sometimes, parents allow themselves to be persuaded by recruiters of child workers, to send their children outside the country in order to bring back additional wages. But frequently, both parents and children are not paid. In fact, as MINAS‘s secretary-general points out, «many of these children live in an extremely dangerous situation». Exploitation of children for work purposes must now be considered «a serious problem» in our country — even if numbers are not so great.

The report gives reasons for child trafficking:

• Poverty. This is a «major and omnipresent reason». In rural areas, on-going poverty hinders economic and professional possibilities and encourages families to take every possible means of increasing their meagre incomes.
• Insufficient means of getting education. «More often than not, children would like to be educated but their families are having none of this — they want them to work — so the children are sent away from their families.».
• Adults leave the villages for the shantytowns, thus placing their children at risks.
• Employers want cheap labour with no questions asked, especially in the informal business sector.
• Young people themselves want to travel and explore.
• There’s insufficient legislation available to stamp out the exploitation of children.

In 2001, however, Cameroon took matters in hand. Parliament passed appropriate legislation outlawing the exploitation of children, and established a National Commission Against the Exploitation of Children. The Commission is chaired by the country’s Vice-President. Society in general, especially key sectors, have been mobilised to combat this nefarious practice. Government ministers meet with the civil authorities and village chiefs in areas most affected by the problem. The aim is to establish viable structures to watch out for child exploitation.

The poverty factor

Exploiting children is one of the most pernicious aspects of a much greater problem. Across the African continent, children are forced to work. According to the ILO, 41% of Africa’s boys, in the 5 to 14 year age group, are involved in some kind of income-generating activity; compared to 21% in Asia and 17% in Latin America. 37% of Africa’s girls in the same age range as the boys, have to work; compared to 20% in Asia and 11% in Latin America.

The fact is: Africa is the world’s poorest continent, with the weakest education system; and it’s in underprivileged areas such as this that children are the most likely to be called upon to work. Moreover, when one asks parents or guardians of these children, why they make them work, parents generally answer: «To supplement the family income» or, «to help the family survive». In Cameroon, parents of families with a very low income (51% of country’s total population of the country live below the poverty line!) say the only way they can make ends meet, is to make their children work on their farms or in the informal sector of industry. Mrs. Cathy Mbembe is chairperson of the association, «S.O.S Women». She states quite simply that «the biggest problem, is poverty.»

The number of children in work situations has increased dramatically, because Cameroon’s education system has been going from bad to worse — mainly because of the deteriorating economic situation. Everything’s going wrong in education in spite of some progress stimulated by the onset in 2000, of free primary education. Teachers are increasingly demoralized, shown by the never-ending strikes because of low wages. All this has given rise to children giving up school altogether, or continually playing truant. 27% of children, aged 10 to 14, years don’t attend school and many end up working. In the villages of the northern and eastern provinces, 30%-40% of children have given up going to school.

The prevalence of AIDS cannot be ignored, either. A growing number of heads of households are dying from AIDS, thus plunging families deeper into poverty. Those who are left behind, especially the children, have to shoulder increasingly heavy responsibilities. The National Committee for Fighting Against AIDS‘s chairperson, describes the situation as follows: «HIV/AIDS destroys family life and increases the possibilities that the children will have to find work. At the very moment in their lives when they should be in school, children become heads of families and have to accept new responsibilities, forcing them to give up their schooling.»

Education and mobilising public opinion

Recognizing that the incidence of child labour is linked to poverty in families, and that it’s not just a question of prohibiting it by promulgating laws, Cameroon’s NGO‘s distinguish between «normal family obligations, and work which leads to exploitation and ill-treatment.» Cameroon’s socio-cultural realities are such that children can perform some tasks suited to their age and capabilities in the family and the community. However, the country’s present economic difficulties, the existence of HIV/AIDS and other catastrophes means that the traditional nature of children’s work has taken on an abusive character. Since it is not yet possible to prohibit children’s work in all its forms, the immediate difficulty consists in forming public opinion as to the dangers inherent in the type of work they are frequently forced to undertake. Government and companies must be placed on alert.

Cathy Mbembe thinks that concentrating on the worst forms of exploitation, will make it possible to determine priorities and win the public authorities’ support. She reminds people of the ILO Convention Number 138 — which encourages countries to fix the age when children can lawfully work, as 14 or 15 years. In fact it took a long time for countries to sign the Convention following its approval in 1973. But Convention Number 182 — which prohibits the worst forms of children’s work «succeeded on the strategic level, for it made it possible to reach a world-wide consensus».

Mrs. Mbembe is concerned, however, about the danger of focusing on just the worst forms of child exploitation. She says the general problem could be covered up. «There are fundamental issues which need to be tackled, such as the whole question of Cameroon’s present economic situation. People have to be taught to think differently when considering the economy and the exploitation of children. A long-term solution must be looked for, which will include programs aimed at allowing children to go to school and at improving the incomes of those families which feel obliged to send their children out to work» (under the conditions we have been describing).

• Sylvestre Tetchiada, Cameroon, May 2002 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment

Children at school in African countries

  (In Afriquespoir, Congo RDC, April-June 2002)   

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PeaceLink 2002 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement