Civil society organisations are urging all Ghanaians to repeat all the right actions taken prior to the December 7, 2008 election that resulted in a successful exercise on the December 28, 2008 presidential run-off.
They said the December 7 elections passed off successfully because of certain actions and right behaviour put up by Ghanaians and key partners in the electoral process, that minimised the potential of having a failed exercise.
They said these same actions and behaviours needed to be repeated for the December 28, 2008, presidential run-off for Ghanaians to show once again their maturity in the process
These were some of the issues raised at a press conference organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), the Civic Initiative Forum, and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) at the launch of a report on the lessons of the December 7, 2008 elections and how they could be used for another successful run-of.
The CIF is a coalition of civil society organisations in the country committed to ensuring a credible and fair election this year, and IDEG is a policy research and advocacy organisation focusing on democratic consolidation and good governance in the country and the host of the CFI.
Dr Emmanuel Akwetey who read the report highlighted some of the relevant lessons of the December 7 elections that needed to be repeated for a successful run-off.
Strict compliance with the laid down procedures for voting, counting, tabulation of the results, the open and transparent compliance with and the enforcement of procedures, as well as voter awareness of the basic rules elections and their ability to strictly observe them, were all noted as essential and crucial.
He also mentioned the fact that a high level of civic responsibility both on the part of domestic observers and all voters was vital.
He said political parties and the media were most often not credible sources of election, requiring all to listen to the information provided by them critically, while treating them as inconclusive pieces of information that needed to be verified with the certified results of the EC.
He added that the credibility of the EC and the public confidence in its certified results depended heavily on transparency and professionalism with which its officials, particularly those at the highest levels conducted themselves in the management of the elections.
Dr Akwetey said the disposition of candidates to resort to the due process, that is, the courts for the peaceful adjudication of disputes, and the fair, expeditions and fair dispensation of justice by principled judges would all discourage the use of violence as an option to resolving disputes.
The acceptance of the results by the two political candidates was also crucial to peace and stability, while the zero tolerance of violence and the firm, professional and impartial enforcement of law by the security agencies would discourage anyone from taking the law into their own hands.
“For the second round of the December 28, 2008 presidential elections to be as successful as the December 7 elections, all the above lessons together with others should be effectively applied by all stakeholders, before, during and after the elections,” the report said.
He reminded leaders of the two political parties that a key principle of democracy was that whose who contested elections had to respect the legitimate decisions of the people expressed through credible ballot and transparent voting results processing and declaration.
In all the report said December 7 election was successful, however, campaigning for the presidential run-off had begun with some rancour, personality attacks and nasty accusations that needed to be stopped as they could foreshadow tension on the day of voting.
The report congratulated all stakeholders for a job well done on December 7, by asked for a reinforcement of all the positive initiatives that ensured success in the elections.
Present at the press conference were Dr Emmanuel Bombande the Executive Director of the West Africa Network for Peace Building, Ms Florence Denise, the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), representatives from the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) and several other members of the CFI.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Violence
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:
Feature: Vida-Pearl Atakpa
THE Criminalization of domestic violence under the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29) criminalizes assault and battery, incest, rape and defilement of a child, of less than sixteen years (having sex with a woman against her will, using violence or threatening behaviour.)
Domestic Violence is any forceful or serious offensive act that inflicts pain on the woman physically, psychologically and emotionally. It is also a serious evil that tarnishes the image of women in Ghana.
The code further provides protection against demeaning cultural practices such as widowhood rites, which is the type of hurtful rites performed on women especially who have lost their husbands which sometimes cause physical or mental problem.
Early customary servitude (Trokosi) which involves sending young virgin girls to the shrines to atone for crimes or sins committed by their relatives and female genital mutilation, which the act also criminalizes as using very sharp object to cut the cervix of the vagina to prevent the girl from having too much feelings for sex. Early marriage is however another discriminatory act against women in Ghana. It involves forcefully marrying a girl to a man at her early stage, due to the help the man has offered to her parents. This is mostly practiced in the northern part of Ghana.
Domestic violence refers to physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse between marital partners, former partners and other adults who are, or have been in close relationship. Most experts distinguish domestic violence form the mistreatment of the elderly or children. Both men and women may act violently towards each other. But women are more likely than men to be injured or murdered by their partners.
Domestic violence leaves long-lasting effects on it victims and their families. Victims may abuse alcohol or drugs and experience depression, eating disorders, or other types of psychological distress.
There is no single reason for domestic violence. Many offenders have a history of alcohol or drug abuse. Some experience stress caused by unemployment, sexual difficulties, and low job satisfaction. The most abusive offenders tend to have severe emotional problems. Numerous offenders were abused as children.
It has been observed that while a number of perpetrators of such violent acts virtually escape, with varying but lesser degrees of requisite sanction, custodial sentences following protracted court processes leave victims with adequate remedies.
Although Ghana has signed, ratified and adopted several international documents and conventions on domestic violence, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms Violence against Women, until recently domestic violence has been given little practical or real legislative attention.
Violence within the domestic situation takes many forms. The regime of customary law appears to permit the right of chastisement for husbands in some ethnic groups. It has led to a prevalence of wife beating in some communities. In some home setting; house helps, the aged, sick and physically challenged members in a family may be abused. A recent national study on violence revealed that one out of three women interviewed had been beaten, slapped and physically punished by a recent partner.
The Domestic Violence Act is to provide victims of domestic violence with a broader set of remedies in the form of protection orders. Legislation on domestic violence will uphold provisions in the constitution on respect for human dignity in Article 15 amongst other human rights provisions. It will also accord with the international commitment and obligations of the Republic under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ratified by Ghana in 1986.
The legislation seeks to bring an end to domestic violence in Ghana, targeting in particular the abusive practice of “wife beaters” and men who habitually perpetrate violence against their partners.
A report by the joint committee pointed out that domestic violence and sexual abuse in Ghana constitute a serious social evil which continues to undermine and threaten harmony in the family as a unit of society, with the potential to erode gains made by the country.
The president assenting the Bill into an Act therefore provides the victims of domestic violence with a broader set of remedies, including specific protection orders that will promote human dignity and ensure prompt, cost effective and less traumatic means of redress.
Feature: Vida-Pearl Atakpa
THE Criminalization of domestic violence under the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29) criminalizes assault and battery, incest, rape and defilement of a child, of less than sixteen years (having sex with a woman against her will, using violence or threatening behaviour.)
Domestic Violence is any forceful or serious offensive act that inflicts pain on the woman physically, psychologically and emotionally. It is also a serious evil that tarnishes the image of women in Ghana.
The code further provides protection against demeaning cultural practices such as widowhood rites, which is the type of hurtful rites performed on women especially who have lost their husbands which sometimes cause physical or mental problem.
Early customary servitude (Trokosi) which involves sending young virgin girls to the shrines to atone for crimes or sins committed by their relatives and female genital mutilation, which the act also criminalizes as using very sharp object to cut the cervix of the vagina to prevent the girl from having too much feelings for sex. Early marriage is however another discriminatory act against women in Ghana. It involves forcefully marrying a girl to a man at her early stage, due to the help the man has offered to her parents. This is mostly practiced in the northern part of Ghana.
Domestic violence refers to physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse between marital partners, former partners and other adults who are, or have been in close relationship. Most experts distinguish domestic violence form the mistreatment of the elderly or children. Both men and women may act violently towards each other. But women are more likely than men to be injured or murdered by their partners.
Domestic violence leaves long-lasting effects on it victims and their families. Victims may abuse alcohol or drugs and experience depression, eating disorders, or other types of psychological distress.
There is no single reason for domestic violence. Many offenders have a history of alcohol or drug abuse. Some experience stress caused by unemployment, sexual difficulties, and low job satisfaction. The most abusive offenders tend to have severe emotional problems. Numerous offenders were abused as children.
It has been observed that while a number of perpetrators of such violent acts virtually escape, with varying but lesser degrees of requisite sanction, custodial sentences following protracted court processes leave victims with adequate remedies.
Although Ghana has signed, ratified and adopted several international documents and conventions on domestic violence, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms Violence against Women, until recently domestic violence has been given little practical or real legislative attention.
Violence within the domestic situation takes many forms. The regime of customary law appears to permit the right of chastisement for husbands in some ethnic groups. It has led to a prevalence of wife beating in some communities. In some home setting; house helps, the aged, sick and physically challenged members in a family may be abused. A recent national study on violence revealed that one out of three women interviewed had been beaten, slapped and physically punished by a recent partner.
The Domestic Violence Act is to provide victims of domestic violence with a broader set of remedies in the form of protection orders. Legislation on domestic violence will uphold provisions in the constitution on respect for human dignity in Article 15 amongst other human rights provisions. It will also accord with the international commitment and obligations of the Republic under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ratified by Ghana in 1986.
The legislation seeks to bring an end to domestic violence in Ghana, targeting in particular the abusive practice of “wife beaters” and men who habitually perpetrate violence against their partners.
A report by the joint committee pointed out that domestic violence and sexual abuse in Ghana constitute a serious social evil which continues to undermine and threaten harmony in the family as a unit of society, with the potential to erode gains made by the country.
The president assenting the Bill into an Act therefore provides the victims of domestic violence with a broader set of remedies, including specific protection orders that will promote human dignity and ensure prompt, cost effective and less traumatic means of redress.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Mental Health
Story: Vida Pearl Atakpa
THE Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded a total number of 30,904 representing 12.4% during the third quarter of 2008 as against 26,261 patients who were admitted in 2007.
Speaking at the end of year award ceremony and X’mas party for patients and staff of the Hospital on Thursday by Dr. Akwasi Osei, Medical Director of the Hospital.
According to him, the increase was due to cases of schizophrenia, depression, mania and substance abuse out of these new cases indicated a data of 2,066 males against 1,854 females.
He expressed regret about the rate at which the youth continue to indulge in alcohol and drug abuse against all advice which are the major causes of mental health in the country.
Dr. Osei noted some of the challenges as inadequate human resources and financial problems which compelled them to embarked on mass repatriation of 90 patients to their respective homes.
He noted however that, the hospital has been able to operationalise laboratory through donor agencies like Friends of the Hospital and the Ministry of Health.
Dr. Osei appealed to government to pass the Mental Health Bill in order to eschew maltreatment of some healers at prayer camps.
He adviced the public especially the youth to stay away from drugs and alcohol to curb mental illness in the country.
As part of the ceremony, a dancing competition among the inmates of the hospital was organized and winners were given awards.
Special awards were given to deserving workers of the hospital for their hard work and dedication to the inmates.
Dr. Akwasi Osei commended Ghanaians for their comportment during the just ended elections and appealed to them to do same in the run off.
THE Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded a total number of 30,904 representing 12.4% during the third quarter of 2008 as against 26,261 patients who were admitted in 2007.
Speaking at the end of year award ceremony and X’mas party for patients and staff of the Hospital on Thursday by Dr. Akwasi Osei, Medical Director of the Hospital.
According to him, the increase was due to cases of schizophrenia, depression, mania and substance abuse out of these new cases indicated a data of 2,066 males against 1,854 females.
He expressed regret about the rate at which the youth continue to indulge in alcohol and drug abuse against all advice which are the major causes of mental health in the country.
Dr. Osei noted some of the challenges as inadequate human resources and financial problems which compelled them to embarked on mass repatriation of 90 patients to their respective homes.
He noted however that, the hospital has been able to operationalise laboratory through donor agencies like Friends of the Hospital and the Ministry of Health.
Dr. Osei appealed to government to pass the Mental Health Bill in order to eschew maltreatment of some healers at prayer camps.
He adviced the public especially the youth to stay away from drugs and alcohol to curb mental illness in the country.
As part of the ceremony, a dancing competition among the inmates of the hospital was organized and winners were given awards.
Special awards were given to deserving workers of the hospital for their hard work and dedication to the inmates.
Dr. Akwasi Osei commended Ghanaians for their comportment during the just ended elections and appealed to them to do same in the run off.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
CHILD SOLDIERS, A NATIONAL CANKER!
A feature by: Vida-Pearl Atakpa
Social Trafficking Child
The Issue of Child Trafficking in Africa
The use of children as soldiers in armed conflict is among the most morally repugnant practices in the world, Children are combatants in nearly three-quarters of the world's conflicts and have posed difficult dilemmas for the professional armies they confront, including the United States.
Yet moral reasons aside, compelling strategic arguments exist for limiting the use of child soldiers. When conflicts involving children end, experts say the prospects for a lasting peace are hurt by large populations of psychologically scarred, demobilized child soldiers. Parts of Africa, Asia, and South America risk long-term instability as generations of youth are sucked into ongoing wars.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines child soldiers as "any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity."
This age limit is relatively new, established prior to 2002, fifteen years is set as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict. While some debate exists over varying cultural standards of maturity, nearly 80 percent of conflicts involving child soldiers include combatants below the age of fifteen, with some as young as seven or eight.
Approximately 300,000 children are believed to be combatants in some thirty conflicts worldwide. Nearly half a million additional children serve in armies not currently at war, such that 40 percent of the world's armed organizations have children in their ranks.
“Child soldiers are trusting, vulnerable, and often intimidated, they can easily be manipulated,” experts say. In combat, children can be daring and tenacious, particularly when under the influence of drugs a common practice or when compelled by political or religious zeal.
Child units can greatly add to confusion on battlefields, slowing opposing forces' progress. Children have also been used as scouts, messengers, minesweepers, bomb-makers, and suicide bombers. Child units are also effectively used as advance troops in ambush attacks.
About 30 percent of armed groups using children include girls. In addition to fighting, girls are often subjected to sexual abuse, and in some cases are taken as mistresses by army leaders.
Human Rights Watch reports having interviewed girls who were impregnated by their commanders, then forced into combat with their babies strapped to their backs.
Child combatants have been found on battlefields throughout history. Perhaps the most notable example is the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) in the closing days of World War II. What is new is the extent to which children can be found on the modern battlefield.
Several factors have led to this rise. First, children in modern conflict zones are more easily recruited as the social structures around them deteriorate. This is particularly the case in long, protracted conflicts and in parts of Africa, where the AIDS epidemic will have created 40 million orphans by 2010.
As soldiers, children often witness or commit horrifying atrocities including rape, beheadings, amputations, and burning people alive. Those who are fortunate enough to survive their military experience are often left with severe mental health problems. Furthermore, they often lack basic survival skills, as the armies using them provide food and shelter. Various human rights groups have set up programs to help rehabilitate demobilized child soldiers, but they can only do so much, says Victoria Forbes Adams of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers with the entire generations of scarred children heightening the chances of recurring conflict, Adams says more long-term analysis of these programs is needed.
The most effective way to stop the use of child soldiers however is to end the conflicts in which they fight. "Child soldiers will be used by warring parties for as long as the war continues. There must be a political solution," says the International Crisis Group's Senior Adviser John Prendergast.
Beyond this, there are few viable strategies. Efforts to limit the proliferation of small arms have been ineffective, and as Adams points out, "That wouldn't tackle the issue of children who don't have to carry a gun." Governments have responded to both advocacy and the threat of sanctions. As a result, governments rarely include children in their armies. However, government forces are often aligned with militias who do enlist children.
Preventing the use of children by militias and opposition forces is a true challenge, as these groups rarely respond to advocacy and imposing sanctions on them is quite difficult. One approach is prosecution. The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for leaders in Uganda. Though this is taking place after the fact, it may set a precedent for future recruiters of child soldiers.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers worked to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilization and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Trafficking of children in West Africa is widespread and increasing. The countries involved include Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
Boys and girls, as young as seven, are trafficked, primarily for their labour. The journeys involved can be dangerous and there have been reports of children dying along the route, particularly when traveling by sea in unseaworthy vessels. The children are smuggled both within national boundaries and across international frontiers, sometimes with the collaboration of border guards.
Poverty is central to why parents send their children to work. The prospect of good wages in a wealthier country, such as Gabon or Côte d'Ivoire, seems an acceptable option. But the realities of what most of these children have to face along the route and once they reach their destination are not widely known. Although many of those who are trafficked ultimately do not earn the money promised and the conditions in which they are forced to live and work range from basic to brutal, the reality of one less mouth to feed for a poor household makes a significant difference.
The lure of well-paid work not only attracts parents, but in some cases children go to 'recruiters' themselves, often believing that they will have a good job in the city. However, a recent UNICEF report found that only 13 per cent of these children went willingly.
Apart from the dangerous journey which most of these children face, they are forced to work long hours in harsh conditions. Their working hours, regardless of age and sex, range from ten to 20 hours per day, up to seven days a week, without any time for rest, recreation or education. Basic food, health, sanitation and clothing requirements are not met, and sometimes they are not paid. In addition, they face beatings and other forms of physical abuse from their employer and, particularly in the case of child domestics, are at risk of sexual exploitation by the family employing them. A significant number run away, but unable to return home or find alternative employment, they resort to prostitution to earn a living.
Because traffickers frequently come from the same region as the children whom they recruit, it is easier for this practice to be hidden as they may know the families and the area. If arrested by police at the border it is not unusual for parents to defend the trafficker saying that he had their permission to take the child across the border for work. Most believe the trafficker's promise that he will find the child well-paid work.
Isolated from their family, community and culture these children are under the trafficker's and employer's complete control, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Conditions are basic and with no consideration for safety standards. “On plantations they are poisoned by the chemicals used in farming, they suffer skin diseases, heat stroke, increased heart rate, malnutrition as well as physical abuse. “ A research conducted.
'Our day began at 5am. Carrying heavy tools on our head, we had to walk six kilometers through mud and stones in bare feet to reach the fields. By the time we reached them we were soaked through and exhausted. Once we arrived the overseer showed us the area we each had to plant before the day's end. We were afraid of what he would do to us if we could not finish the work. This threat and the threat of being denied food if we could not finish in time forced us to work quickly. The work was hard and bending all day gave us back pains. If we were ill and couldn't work we were afraid that we would be tortured to death. One day I witnessed two of my colleagues being tortured for trying to escape. They became seriously ill and died.' An escapee narrated.
Social Trafficking Child
The Issue of Child Trafficking in Africa
The use of children as soldiers in armed conflict is among the most morally repugnant practices in the world, Children are combatants in nearly three-quarters of the world's conflicts and have posed difficult dilemmas for the professional armies they confront, including the United States.
Yet moral reasons aside, compelling strategic arguments exist for limiting the use of child soldiers. When conflicts involving children end, experts say the prospects for a lasting peace are hurt by large populations of psychologically scarred, demobilized child soldiers. Parts of Africa, Asia, and South America risk long-term instability as generations of youth are sucked into ongoing wars.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines child soldiers as "any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity."
This age limit is relatively new, established prior to 2002, fifteen years is set as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict. While some debate exists over varying cultural standards of maturity, nearly 80 percent of conflicts involving child soldiers include combatants below the age of fifteen, with some as young as seven or eight.
Approximately 300,000 children are believed to be combatants in some thirty conflicts worldwide. Nearly half a million additional children serve in armies not currently at war, such that 40 percent of the world's armed organizations have children in their ranks.
“Child soldiers are trusting, vulnerable, and often intimidated, they can easily be manipulated,” experts say. In combat, children can be daring and tenacious, particularly when under the influence of drugs a common practice or when compelled by political or religious zeal.
Child units can greatly add to confusion on battlefields, slowing opposing forces' progress. Children have also been used as scouts, messengers, minesweepers, bomb-makers, and suicide bombers. Child units are also effectively used as advance troops in ambush attacks.
About 30 percent of armed groups using children include girls. In addition to fighting, girls are often subjected to sexual abuse, and in some cases are taken as mistresses by army leaders.
Human Rights Watch reports having interviewed girls who were impregnated by their commanders, then forced into combat with their babies strapped to their backs.
Child combatants have been found on battlefields throughout history. Perhaps the most notable example is the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) in the closing days of World War II. What is new is the extent to which children can be found on the modern battlefield.
Several factors have led to this rise. First, children in modern conflict zones are more easily recruited as the social structures around them deteriorate. This is particularly the case in long, protracted conflicts and in parts of Africa, where the AIDS epidemic will have created 40 million orphans by 2010.
As soldiers, children often witness or commit horrifying atrocities including rape, beheadings, amputations, and burning people alive. Those who are fortunate enough to survive their military experience are often left with severe mental health problems. Furthermore, they often lack basic survival skills, as the armies using them provide food and shelter. Various human rights groups have set up programs to help rehabilitate demobilized child soldiers, but they can only do so much, says Victoria Forbes Adams of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers with the entire generations of scarred children heightening the chances of recurring conflict, Adams says more long-term analysis of these programs is needed.
The most effective way to stop the use of child soldiers however is to end the conflicts in which they fight. "Child soldiers will be used by warring parties for as long as the war continues. There must be a political solution," says the International Crisis Group's Senior Adviser John Prendergast.
Beyond this, there are few viable strategies. Efforts to limit the proliferation of small arms have been ineffective, and as Adams points out, "That wouldn't tackle the issue of children who don't have to carry a gun." Governments have responded to both advocacy and the threat of sanctions. As a result, governments rarely include children in their armies. However, government forces are often aligned with militias who do enlist children.
Preventing the use of children by militias and opposition forces is a true challenge, as these groups rarely respond to advocacy and imposing sanctions on them is quite difficult. One approach is prosecution. The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for leaders in Uganda. Though this is taking place after the fact, it may set a precedent for future recruiters of child soldiers.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers worked to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilization and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Trafficking of children in West Africa is widespread and increasing. The countries involved include Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
Boys and girls, as young as seven, are trafficked, primarily for their labour. The journeys involved can be dangerous and there have been reports of children dying along the route, particularly when traveling by sea in unseaworthy vessels. The children are smuggled both within national boundaries and across international frontiers, sometimes with the collaboration of border guards.
Poverty is central to why parents send their children to work. The prospect of good wages in a wealthier country, such as Gabon or Côte d'Ivoire, seems an acceptable option. But the realities of what most of these children have to face along the route and once they reach their destination are not widely known. Although many of those who are trafficked ultimately do not earn the money promised and the conditions in which they are forced to live and work range from basic to brutal, the reality of one less mouth to feed for a poor household makes a significant difference.
The lure of well-paid work not only attracts parents, but in some cases children go to 'recruiters' themselves, often believing that they will have a good job in the city. However, a recent UNICEF report found that only 13 per cent of these children went willingly.
Apart from the dangerous journey which most of these children face, they are forced to work long hours in harsh conditions. Their working hours, regardless of age and sex, range from ten to 20 hours per day, up to seven days a week, without any time for rest, recreation or education. Basic food, health, sanitation and clothing requirements are not met, and sometimes they are not paid. In addition, they face beatings and other forms of physical abuse from their employer and, particularly in the case of child domestics, are at risk of sexual exploitation by the family employing them. A significant number run away, but unable to return home or find alternative employment, they resort to prostitution to earn a living.
Because traffickers frequently come from the same region as the children whom they recruit, it is easier for this practice to be hidden as they may know the families and the area. If arrested by police at the border it is not unusual for parents to defend the trafficker saying that he had their permission to take the child across the border for work. Most believe the trafficker's promise that he will find the child well-paid work.
Isolated from their family, community and culture these children are under the trafficker's and employer's complete control, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Conditions are basic and with no consideration for safety standards. “On plantations they are poisoned by the chemicals used in farming, they suffer skin diseases, heat stroke, increased heart rate, malnutrition as well as physical abuse. “ A research conducted.
'Our day began at 5am. Carrying heavy tools on our head, we had to walk six kilometers through mud and stones in bare feet to reach the fields. By the time we reached them we were soaked through and exhausted. Once we arrived the overseer showed us the area we each had to plant before the day's end. We were afraid of what he would do to us if we could not finish the work. This threat and the threat of being denied food if we could not finish in time forced us to work quickly. The work was hard and bending all day gave us back pains. If we were ill and couldn't work we were afraid that we would be tortured to death. One day I witnessed two of my colleagues being tortured for trying to escape. They became seriously ill and died.' An escapee narrated.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
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