GENDER AFFAIRS Stop The Abuse Now! Children In Sierra Leone Deserves a Better Life Posted by Alhaji Saidu Kamara on Sep 1, 2008, 19:55

When one talks about child rights, the issue of subjecting under-aged children to hard work under difficult conditions for long periods in order to pay off their parent’s debts easily comes to mind.In most traditional settings, girls as young as fourteen are forced into early marriages that are detrimental to their health.  According to the constitution of the state, it is a gross violation of the fundamental human rights of the child and is now punishable by law.

It is estimated that about sixty percent of the children in Sierra Leone below the age of 15 years are subjected to constant violation of their rights by parents through the following: trafficking, domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation, mining, trading and tedious farming activities.

In the developed world, the government institutes stringent measures against parents who are guilty of violating the rights of the child. Unfortunately, conservative parents in rural settings do not adhere to this as they consider it as a base for disrespecting elders.

Despite the singing and ratifications of various local and international documents on fundamental human rights alongside that of the Geneva  Convention on the International Convention on the Right of the Child ICRC, it is true from all indications that the rights of a child is still a difficult concept to grapple with in many homes.

According to reports, a good number of children are malnourished and out of school.

Statistical reports on Sierra Leone state that over five hundred thousand Sierra Leonean Children of school going age are engaged in child labour.

Most of such children fall victim to the dreadful HIV/AIDS, while children in war torn areas suffer and live under hazardous conditions.

Similarly, teachers in these war torn areas abandon their posts to save their lives, thereby compelling the children to toil on the land for their living.

Our children deserve a better standard of living.

When the drive to participate is neither respected nor nurtured, the children are excluded or ignored by adults and their potential to contribute to their community is curtailed.   Such children are likely to become social deviants.

The previous government established a ministry to address the needs and issues affecting children and women, and the current government is still working to address these vital issues affecting our nation.  The setting up of a ministry is in the right direction, but the question one will ask is, how far has the ministry gone in terms of its advocacy?  Has there been enough sensitization and empowerment of these children and women?  However, it has been observed that a good number of Sierra Leoneans are ignorant about the fact that children have rights that should not be abused.

If societies are properly sensitized to realize that such rights have been enacted globally and the violation of such rights would attract punishment by law, abuse of children would be minimized if not totally stopped.  Though being among the first country to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is the need to ensure that the constitutional provisions become operational for the children to benefit from them.  It is regrettable to note that though there are laws against violation of the child’s rights, children are abused on a daily basis. Though there had been concerted efforts at creating awareness about the convention, many people seem to be oblivious of its content.  We need specifics so that if the child is abused by anyone, we must know what provision is there and how it protects the child.

People must know these specifics so that they can be held accountable for the abuses.

As children are becoming aware of their rights and responsibilities, society should accord them the needed support to enable them grow into responsible adulthood.

Every effort must be made to ensure that children are protected..

As a nation, we should not forget that the children who are denied education and rights abused today would become a serious threat to society tomorrow.

The development of any nation depends on how it protect and nurtures its children.

By their very position in society, children do not possess the means to championing their interest.  Their direct voice is not often loud enough for the adult to hear or not attended to when heard.  It is therefore gracious for organizations such as the media and the various NGOs to seek the survival, protection and development of our children.

As the only English-speaking sub-Saharan country that has the national child rights coalition, Sierra Leone has the onerous responsibility to demonstrate this leadership in concrete ways to serve as example for others in the region.

As the future leaders, they should have an input into the development agenda of the nation, to prepare them fit into the whole developmental process.

There is the need for a platform to be initiated by the ministry where their views could be incorporated in its policy.

Children of school going age are on the street hawking.   For example, there were 6000 children as at December in the streets of Freetown. Out of this number, over 300 are below the age of 15 and sell all kinds of things in various areas of the city.

Most of these children especially the girls, have fallen victim to various forms of abuses including sexual abuse.

They get pregnant and give birth to a second generation of street children who have no knowledge of any cultural values and thereby pose a threat to society.

A good number of these children have been involved in various forms of crime.  Some have taken to prostitution while others have become pick-pocketers.

There are over 300,000 children involved in child labour in the agricultural sector namely farming, fishing and forestry.

This is disturbing especially as Sierra Leone has ratified the ILO.  Although the vast majority of children working in this sector are not in activities that would be regarded as the worst labour, some are dangerous as they use primitive equipment such as the hoe, cutlass, spade and knife

Moreover, most children work without protective gears and are thus exposed to cuts, snake and insect bites.

Dr. Ibrahim Sallieu Kamara, a senior lecturer at the MMECT recently drew the attention of Sierra Leoneans to what he termed the emergency of “second generation of street children”, referring to street children who have given birth to children and are raising them in the streets.

He warned that until something concrete is done about these children, moral decadence, violence and crime in the Sierra Leone society will likely escalate.

He said unlike their parents, the second generation of street children have no definite cultural heritage or background except the culture the “survival of the fittest”.

This is because they only learn about violence, cheating, armed robbery and illicit business like the drug trade just for them to survive.

He said that they lack the opportunity to learn cultural values like discipline, hard work, love and respect which are needed in every stable and civilized society.

There have been complaints of a good number of victims that are unable to continue their cases in court because of financial constraints, which enable the perpetrators to go off the hook.  The Ministries of Health and Women and Children Affairs, as well as the Sierra Leone Medical Dental Association should look into the issue by exempting victims of child abuse from paying for the medical examination before medical reports are released to enable the police to arraign suspects before the courts.

This will allow victims to come forward always with their complaints.