By Mabinty M. Kamara
Defense for Children International (DCI) has called for stiffer policies and regulations binding those who may wish to take children of either blood relations or friends for nurturing, away from their biological parents either within or outside Sierra Leone.
The DCI Executive Director, Abdul Manaff Kemokai said that if the call was adhered to, it would save more Sierra Leonean girls from domestic and cross border trafficking which mostly occurs in the guise of caregiving or fostering.
This move he said came after the Sierra Leonean Embassy in Guinea, in collaboration with the Sierra Leonean Union in Conakry, identified two Sierra Leonean girl victims of trafficking.
He said the Embassy reported the issue to the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, who immediately contacted his institution to support the repatriation of the two victims and their reintegration with their communities and families in Sierra Leone.
He added that the two girls were handed over to the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and DCI by the Sierra Leone Ambassador to Guinea, Alimamy Bangura on the 4 February this year.
The alleged perpetrator is currently in police custody with the police Family Support Unit investigating.
Speaking to Politico, Mr. Kemokai said many children particularly from rural communities in Sierra Leone had been exposed to so many abuses due to the lack of proper care by those guardians in Freetown and beyond.
“Especially from Guinea, business people and other classes of people do come to Sierra Leone, go to the interior and collect children in the guise of sending them to school but end up misusing them, especially girls” Kaikai said, adding that they were speaking out now “because just yesterday, we were able to rescue two and there are many other unidentified cases there.”
The DCI boss said they wanted to “send this out that the government really needs to give a directive to the Paramount Chiefs who are the custodians of their localities to not allow parents to just give out their children to people without following due procedure to ensure the child is in safe hands.”
He emphasised that the government needed to put some mechanisms in place to ensure there were set standards and criteria for such practices and that it was the responsibility of society to ensure safe space for children regardless of their family background.
Even in Freetown, he went on, most times children were chased away from their homes after wrongdoings. This he said was because nobody was going to be held to account if anything went wrong with the child.
He added that the government could prevent these ugly situations befalling children through collaboration with the local authorities, and by way of ensuring that basic amenities in the local communities such as schools were improved. He said most parents were forced to release their children to continue schooling in bigger towns and cities who mostly end up hawking on the streets.
Kemokai concluded that his institution had started engaging its operational communities, sensitising them of the dangers of giving their children away either to a stranger or even a relative.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online
