Summer Holidays: A Thriving Season for Child Trafficking and Rape in Cameroon

According to the International Labour Organisation, more than 600 000 children (Most of whom are girls) were victims of child trafficking in 2005.Most of these victims are girls who do not go to school or are school dropouts. Horizon Jeunesse (Youth Horizon), an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) based in Yaoundé (Cameroon’s capital city) claims that, about three million the Cameroonian children are working or being trafficked in conditions of near slavery (http://ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=34063).These children are often taken away from their parents by their relatives who promise to provide the children education and training but once in town these children are forced to prostitute, hawk and in most cases end up as street children.

Child trafficking in Cameroon is most rampant in its rural areas. Child trafficking like forced/premature marriages, child labour, massive rural exodus, high rate of school drop outs, drastic drop in agricultural productivity, high vulnerability to diseases due to poor sanitation and housing conditions and a high child mortality rate are results of the neglect and abandonment of rural areas by policy makers and are a consequence of the inadequacy of  current policies for the fight against poverty, disease, and illiteracy in rural areas-when these even exist .This explains why parents of victims and the victims themselves are ready to pay any price to see greener pastures which they have been promised by human traffickers.

Summer holidays constitute the peak period for child trafficking in Cameroon. The month of May marks the end of the academic year in Cameroon and therefore the massive exodus of pupils and students from rural to urban areas in search of greener pastures. I am then not surprised that movement into major urban centers in Cameroon has scaled up in recent weeks.

In fact, I have noticed that, as years go by, the number of children leaving their villages to ‘work their school fees’, as this is referred to in Cameroon, is ever increasing while the average age of these children, who while on holiday, hawk, peddle, and carry out all sorts of activities that will enable them go back home with something with which to pay their school fees and buy their school needs, has sensibly reduced.

While I understand that agriculture is the main means of subsistence for a majority of people living in rural communities of Cameroon, and that the fact that agriculture is in crisis, has greatly contributed in making them more powerless and vulnerable to disease, and climate change, I am also completely opposed to the practice of using children as a source of revenue for the family. I am wounded in my soul whenever I find a child who carries a load which out weights him/her just because they are selling one thing or the other so that his/her family can survive.

Also, the fact that Sexual abuse and rape are on the rise during summer holidays in Cameroon is an  indicator that with the desire to make their ends and those of their families meet comes exposure of these tender souls  to horrible acts such as rape and other forms of sexual assaults. In fact it is no longer news in Cameroon when information that a rapist who, with the pretext of buying 2 pieces of Chewing Gum (costing less than 5 cents),lure these children to isolated areas or into their homes and sexually assault them.

Acts like those described above are not only  criminal but destructive and wicked because of the trauma and long lasting negative effects they have on the reputation, self –esteem  and on   the sexual and reproductive health of the victims. While these despicable acts call for the toughest and harshest action against its perpetrators, prevention remains a better cure. Enough is enough! I am tired of seeing the future of the children of Cameroon given to rapists on a platter of Gold. Let’s be responsible enough to stop sacrificing the happiness of these children on an Alter of the ‘fight for survival’.

 The government, parents, and all those involved in child trafficking should not ignore the heavy psychological and health burden that the enslavement of their children represents. Children are the future of our world and merit to be treated better. No degree of poverty, pain, and suffering should ever justify their enslavement.  Vigilance of the government and civil society organisations has to be heightened at this moment for this summer holidays to be free of human trafficking and forced child labour. An abused child is not only simply abused; he/she is denied the right to happiness and is robbed of all dignity.