BANJUL, 4 June 2009 (IRIN) -
Despite government efforts to reduce the number of children living and working
in Gambia's streets, the phenomenon continues, with hundreds of children
vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse, child rights activists say.
Photo:
Pierre Holtz/IRIN
Talibe beggar childen in
Senegal (file photo)
Street children are most prevalent in the border towns of Farafenni and
Basse, and in Brikama, Serekunda and Jarra Soma, according to Phoday Kebbeh,
director of child rights NGO Institute for Social Reformation and Action (ISRA).
“The figures are staggering,” he said.
The number of street children is
unknown, but in one Immigration Department round-up in February, 374 people
were rounded up, 200 of whom were children living or working on the street,
according to a department communiqué.
International
Organization for Migration’s regional programme director, Laurent De Boeck, told
IRIN the number of children working on the streets in Gambia is on the
rise.
In early 2008 the Gambian government launched a crackdown on
street children, with Immigration Department officials and police starting
round-ups every two months. Children are brought to a government-run transit
centre in Bakoteh, 16km from the capital from where authorities try to reunify
children with their families. But the department lacks capacity to handle the
cases, according to ISRA’s Kebbeh, who said the round-ups spark fear in
children.
Some 60 percent of children living on the street in Gambia
come from neighbouring countries, most from Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, according
to a 2006 study – the most recent – by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and NGO
Christian Children’s Fund (CCF).
Most of the children are known locally
as “almodous” - deriving from the name “Ahmed” - who beg for alms for
a religious teacher or marabout, who says he will teach them the Koran, house
and feed them. They are known as “talibés” across the border in Senegal, where
their numbers are far higher, says Kebbeh.
Poor families commonly send
their children – usually boys – to a marabout with the intention of providing
him a Koranic education, but in some cases they inadvertently feed a thriving
network of child traffickers and smugglers, says child rights protection NGO
Samu Social.
In Gambia ex-almodou Mutarr Nying, 12, escaped his
marabout’s home in 2007 because he could not endure the regular beatings from
his teacher. Children are battered if they do not deliver enough money to their
teacher each night, he said, revealing a scar on his neck he said was from such
a beating.
“It is a long time ago now [since I left]. I think two rains
have passed since. Once he [the teacher] sent my peers in search of me. They
almost kidnapped me, but a market woman came to my rescue.”
He said:
“For two days she gave me food. I slept under her stall for a week without her
knowing." Mutarr still carries a can to collect alms to support himself. He
has not seen his parents for three years.
In addition to beatings the
children face abuse from adults and other children, exploitation and exposure to
unprotected sex, said Salifu Jarsey, UNICEF’s Gambia-based child protection
expert. Many are malnourished and wander the streets half-naked, Serekunda
residents told IRIN.
Gibby Barre, 15, an almodou in Serekunda, said
while his marabout feeds the some 22 children living with him, the children have
to beg for money for clothes and shoes.
Lacking capacity police refer
the children to the Social Welfare Department, which in turn is unlikely to be
able to follow up on individual cases, said Kebbeh. So children end up in the
hands of child protection NGOs such as CCF or ISRA.
CCF runs a
UNICEF-supported drop-in centre, which gives street children a chance to get a
health check, have a shower, play with other children or simply rest, said
UNICEF’s Jarsey.
ISRA and UNICEF are also developing a code of conduct
for Gambia marabouts on minimum child protection standards, which they plan
to release by the end of 2009.
Tackling the problem of street children
is a delicate balancing act, because almodous are tied up with religion and
tradition, UNICEF representative in Gambia Min-Whee Kang said. “It requires a
multi-pronged, holistic approach, and strong systems and support structures to
create a protective environment for these children.”
ISRA’s Kebbeh said
existing legislation on child protection and trafficking also must be
enforced.
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