Thirteen years old Ibrahim Fornah sells second-hand clothes in the streets of Freetown so he could contribute to the buying of school materials ahead of the reopening of schools in September this year.
Fornah told me that he spends the whole of the day in the streets of Freetown on an empty stomach, noting that if he removes a cent from sales, he would be flogged by his aunty whom he lives with. Fornah said he looks forward to a dignified life.
His companion, Albert Macauley, who also trade on second hand clothes disclosed that he is into trading in the streets of Freetown for her sick mother, after he lost her dad to a protracted illness. Macauley revealed that hardly does he and her mother feed without selling those clothes.
Macauley also revealed that the junks bale is a loan from a shop where her mother used to buy when she herself was into the business.
Ramatu Kargbo, a mother of three children who are also in the street trading told me that that is a way of introducing her children to the business world, adding that business pays a lot. Kargbo was not mindful of the law which criminalizes child exploitation owing to the fact that she is ignorant of it. “I was brought up in business, so it is but fitting that I introduce my daughters to same,” she added.
It has become a norm in Sierra Leone that each time school closes at the end of the academic year; one would find little children below the age of 10 on the streets doing petty trading. This is sickening to say the least, and until and unless the institutions responsible for children welfare take the necessary steps to put an end to this menace, we will continue to see more children on the street doing petty trading.
Communication Officer, National Commission for Children, Adi Valcarcel told me that the Commission’s mandate is to monitor activities of children and advice government on what to do, especially on policy development for the welfare of children who are being exploited.
She disclosed that the Commission has been collaborating with the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and other partners to develop a policy on street children. She disclosed that the Commission currently does not have activities aimed at combating the menace of child exploitation, but expressed optimism that there will be activities in that regard as soon as possible.
Director of National Youth Coalition, Morlai Conteh, told me that child exploitation is wrong, adding that there are laws that are against those practices. “We have the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and Sierra Leone is a signatory to that convention, and we have the Child Rights Act which also prohibits exploitation of children,” he explained.
However, Conteh remarked that the greatest challenge with regards fighting the menace is that of enforceability of these treaties which government have signed up to as well as to monitor.
He added that successive governments have always turned a blind eye to this menace. “If a government is serious enough, children issues must be prioritizing, because they are the future leaders,” he furthered.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 152 million children work, whereas the African Online News notes 72% of Sierra Leonean children are involved in child labor.
The Child Rights Act of 2007 defines a child as a person below 18 years. Article 32(1) state, “No person shall subject a child to exploitative labor. Labor is exploitative of a child if it deprives the child of his health, education or development. The Child Rights Act sets out parameters for children.
According to the United Nation International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), in the world’s poorest countries, around 1 in 4 children are engaged in child labor.
This story was put together with support from Journalist for Human Rights (JHR) and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ).
By Sulaiman Sesay
