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Cameroon for example belongs to Anglophones and Francophones in equal measure and no one class should consider itself blessed with a special mission to enjoy while the others watch on the side lines of national reality.
Psychic torture born of material and constitutional deprivation is the worst kind of human rights abuse. Society must watch against it.
Child Trafficking And Labour In Cameroon
Trafficking in human beings is a new form of slavery of our time and a serious violation of human rights. Art 3(a) of the UN Trafficking protocol defines “Child Trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer and harbouring of a minor for the purpose of exploitation”. Any child who has been taken away from his/her home or family, and transported to somewhere else within or across national borders by an organised crime group, to be exploited is a victim of trafficking.
Cameroon is a source of transit and destination for children who are trafficked for forced labour to and from neighbouring countries such as Benin, Chad, the Central African Republic and Nigeria. Also, children from the Central African Republic and Chad are trafficked to Cameroon, while Cameroonian and Nigerian children are trafficked to Chad. Girls are also internally trafficked from the Francophone Grand Worth and Anglophone North West to the Francophone cities of Douala and Yaoundé
Factors that Favours Child Trafficking
Children of deceased parents are extremely vulnerable to trafficking for forced labour, prostitution or combat. Their vulnerability is exacerbated by the little or no funds for their education. This coupled with stiff unemployment in Cameroon, culminating in object poverty. Thus children accept what ever job that comes their way just to save themselves from the spectre of starvation.
Deteriorating living condition, particularly in the rural areas, large family sizes (as a result of polygamy) and the demand for unskilled and docile workers are also blamed for child trafficking. Some children in a bid to evade from the stress of overcrowding at home, broken families or domestic violence fall prey to trafficking. Also, non-existence of birth registration system is another major factor and as such, children are easily moved between countries.
Out come of trafficking
Once children are trafficked, the main forms of exploitation they may be subjected to include exploitative child labour, debt bandage, domestic work, begging, involvement in illicit activities such as drug trafficking or in armed conflicts, illegal adoptions, marriage and trafficking in organs. When children are very young, their documents are easily falsified and they are presented at the borders as offspring’s of the traffickers.
In most cases, these falsified documents are obtained through the conspiracy of some state officials. Trafficked children can work from 10-15 hours a day, carrying heavy loads, operating dangerous tools, yet lacking adequate food or drink. Others succumb to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS as a result of prostitution and or unprotected sex from their masters.
Traumatized by these abominable working conditions, ill-treatment and disease children loose their human dignity and develop a feeling of outcast. High crime wave, drug consumption and long term mental disorders become eventual.
According to a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), thousands of Cameroonian Children fall prey to trafficking annually. Children are exploited as labourers on plantations, cocoa farms, and workers in small shops, bars and households. It is common for a middle class family in Cameroon to have one or several children working for them in exchange for a very modest wage and minimal education.
The survey revealed that children from Chad, the central Africa Republic and Nigeria were paid as little as 3000 CFA francs per month to perform chores sometimes lasting 18hours a day. These children usually suffered from Malnourishment and sexual abuse. The report added that government lacked an approved national strategy for combating trafficking and has no system for collecting data on trafficking related crimes.
Despite the short comings of the Cameroon government to combat trafficking, it has however made relentless efforts to curtail this ill. The ministries of social affairs, labour and women’s Affairs, the General Delegation for National security and the National Gendarmerie annually allocate funds to support anti-trafficking programs. In 2003, the government sponsored a three day conference on sex tourism that was attended by hotel managers and travel agencies. The ministry of social affair conducted seminars in four provinces to discuss the sexual exploitation of children.
In 2004, the Cameroon government worked in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to remove 450 children from cocoa plantation, and educated some 100 youngsters at risk of forced labour on the plantations, as part of a project to educate and retain assistance to children cocoa workers and their parents. Other victims were also referred to government centres, sponsored by the ministry of social affairs or sheltered in orphanages until they could be reunited with families.
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Akwalla Johanness
I am a young development activist who believes that for youths to be successful, we need to come together and share ideas that are beneficial to the whole of humanity.
I strongly believe that for Africa to come out of the political hostage its finds itself, our leaders must stop to consider themselves as traditional rulers. We all know that traditional rulers rule for life, and power is passed on to their descendant. And I think that once our leaders stop to think of themselves as such and concentrate on development by investing into the education and basic health care and social services, then can we say we are on the right path to human development.
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