DAKAR, 3 December 2009 (IRIN) - In Côte d'Ivoire destitute children -
particularly girls selling sex to survive - urgently need shelters where
they can receive care and support, says a local NGO monitoring girls who
sell vegetables by day, sex by night.
On 2 December 13-year-old Fanta died days after she was reportedly
gang-raped at a bus station near where she and friends exchanged sex for
money and food.
"This is just one of many such cases - there was nowhere for her to go for
care and support," said Irié Bi Tra Clément, founder of local NGO
Cavoequiva, which means let us unite in the Gouro language. He and other aid
workers, having received a call about Fanta's situation, met with her and
sought a care centre where they could take her.
Most of the girls Cavoequiva assists tell the NGO they were brought to
Abidjan from rural Côte d'Ivoire by relatives or family friends, who said
the girls could make a living as porters or vendors in Adjamé market. The
girls said later their hosts forced them into selling sex, according to NGO
staff.
With the help of aid workers Fanta - whose parents are deceased - was
examined at a local hospital, but that was already a few days after the
rape, Irié said. She then returned to a cement stall in the market; she died
hours later. The medical exams showed she was HIV-positive and quite ill,
Irié learned.
"It is deplorable what is happening to these children," he said.
Cavoequiva is appealing to international NGOs, the government, donors and
the UN Mission in Côte d'Ivoire for help to set up shelters in Abidjan for
needy, exploited children estranged from their families.
"Despite the arrival of NGOs in Côte d'Ivoire in recent years.there is a
glaring lack of shelters for children in distress who require long-term
care," Cavoequiva says in a January paper.
For Irié, adequate support - including in education and skills training -
would go a long way to keep the girls off drugs and out of prostitution. In
extensive interviews with Cavoequiva staff, girls who sell sex at Adjamé
talked about the various widely available narcotics they take when they work
at night.
Growing problem
Violence against girls in general is on the rise and resources to assist
victims are limited, said Désiré Koukoui, director of the International
Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) in Côte d'Ivoire.
"Girls are increasingly subject to abuse and violence in homes as well as in
the streets," Koukoui told IRIN from Abidjan, where BICE runs several
shelters for disadvantaged and abused children. "We are seeing this more and
more, especially during the recent years of conflict in Côte d'Ivoire. It is
necessary to provide special assistance for their specific needs."
He said there are centres for such victims but in insufficient numbers. "It
is a problem of resources; even the existing centres do not have enough."
Shelters for sex-trafficked children require considerable resources and that
is a principal reason for a shortage, according to Tatiana Kotlyarenko,
executive director of Enslavement Prevention Alliance West Africa, which
fights human trafficking particularly the sex trade in women and children.
"It all goes back to the same issue - total lack of resources made available
for victims," she told IRIN. "So many children in the world die daily
because there is no safe place for them to go for protection, while millions
of dollars go into trainings, research and policy. I think it is time for
the international community to shift the focus to the priority - the victims
themselves."
She said while all the other elements in the fight are essential, existing
laws cannot be enforced or plans implemented if effective victim protection
is not in place.
The Ivoirian government - not a signatory to the UN protocol against human
trafficking - in 2007 adopted a two-year action plan for exploited and
trafficked children, calling in part for strengthening laws to protect
children and improving care and support for child victims.
Officials with the Family and Social Affairs Ministry were unavailable for
comment on the status of the measures or the need for shelters.
np/aj[END]
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