In the News
Tanzania: Children Toil in High Risk Labor
By Sosthenes Mwita
8 December 2014
Photo: Justin Purefoy/HRW - A 13-year-old boy, who mines gold and attends classes in Mbeya Region, Tanzania (file photo).
TANZANIA has a growing number of street children who are often harassed, exploited and even sexually assaulted by security agents including members of the Police Force.
A recent research shows that there are about 4,500 street children in Dar es Salaam. Indeed, it is abject poverty that eventually drives destitute children into prostitution or into the labour market where ruthless employers offer them high-risk jobs. Child prostitution in this country may not be pronounced but it exists.
It is a stark fact that nearly 80 per cent of rural families are, invariably, deficient on money and food.
Naturally, in such a situation it is the children who suffer most. Poverty levels have reached an alarming proportion especially in the central and southern regions.
This prompts children to migrate to towns and cities in search of better livelihoods. In some cases some poor parents push their children into virtual slavery and prostitution.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is a growing problem in most urban areas in Tanzania due to acute poverty, a research commissioned by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has shown.
It is also evident that harsh economic conditions drive children out of schools. Often young children and especially girls discover that they have little prospects for survival after dropping out of school.
Some indulge in prostitution. In some cases, dire poverty prompts some parents to virtually “sell” their daughters into sexual exploitation or give them away in unwanted marriage in exchange for a dowry.
There are also increasing reports of children being trafficked. Many children are moved from rural Tanzania to urban areas because of the belief that they (the girls) are free from / HIVAIDS. Furthermore, sexual abuse of child domestic workers is increasing.
Prostitution has existed in every society for which there are written records. For a long period in history, women had only three options for economic survival: getting married, becoming a nun or becoming a prostitute.
In the case of Tanzania, prostitution is regarded as the “choice left for divorced women and widows with no male children. Several Wahaya women, who were interviewed in Bugabo Village in 1975, said prostitution was a way to “economic independence.”
And there are children who indulge in prostitution following pressure from older prostitutes. A journalist wrote in “Kiongozi” newspaper in 1961 that prostitution was a result of parents forcing their daughters into it (prostitution) for economic gain.
This argument is valid if the Wasukuma, Wanyamwezi, Wakurya and Wajita systems of marriage where a dowry has to be paid in the form of cows to enrich the parents, or to get a dowry for the boys in the case of poor parents who have many sons.
In the Wahaya tribe, parents were found responsible for advising married girls to run away from their husbands and go to towns to work as prostitutes, then to send money to the parents in order to bring wealth or support to the poor families in rural areas.
The above reasons are not the only factors to explain the increase of prostitution in Tanzania. There are others such as the breaking up of marriages which has led to the absence of parental guidance and counselling to daughters. When entering puberty, most girls find themselves indulging blindly in sexual activity.
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Tanzania: We Must Support Vulnerable Children, They Are Our Own
By Hilda Mhagama, April 5, 2014
IT is in the public eye that the problems of children who are living in Most Vulnerable Conditions (MVC) are increasing enormously as days go by.
This particular group of children has become marginalised, disadvantaged and underprivileged in the entire community though there are non-governmental organisations which are supposed to deal with such problems existing almost everywhere in the country.
The problems generate child labour, alcoholism, drug abuse, health problems, social disorder, economic disruption and deterioration of the quality of labour force of the nation. These problems in turn put them at the risk of a lot more hazards including contracting diseases like HIV/AIDS.
It is evident that the efforts of the governmental organisations, religious organisations and other private organisations in overcoming the problems of such children need extra support from the entire community.
The national costed plan of action for MVC describe them as those children under the age 18 falling under the extreme condition characterised by severe deprivation as to endanger their health, well being and long term development. In most cases MVCs have been suffering from poor services caused by inadequate support and refusal by surrounded communities to offer assistance to them.
They only receive care from surviving parent, extended family member or older children. As specified by Section 16 of the Child Act of 2009, a child is in need of care and protection which means every community member has a role to play in taking care of children regardless of the way in which they are connected.
“We need to consider the upcoming generation, they all have the right to be raised in a right way and protected as well regardless of their background or relationship,” said Ms Jeaune Ndetabura, Assistant Commissioner from Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW).
She said MVC should not only be under the care of various specialised international agencies alone, the public as well needs to change its mindset by supporting and protecting them because children hold the future of the nation. Available statistics for Tanzania indicate that there are some 21 million children under 18 (more than half the total population of this group); at least 2 million are classified as MVC and 40 per cent of these are orphans who depend on aids.
The assistant commissioner, who is also responsible for family and child welfare protection, stressed that the government cannot work alone unless the public join forces from individual up to national level.
There has been an increase of reports regarding violence against children, said Ndetabura, adding that abuse, neglect and exploitation has increased in recent years. But it will be worthy if we all get involved in protecting the future generation.
Pamoja Tuwalee is a five-year programme that began in June 2010 funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID Tanzania with the goal to improve the quality of life and well-being of MVC and their household by providing comprehensive and sustainable care, support and protection.
Kenneth Chima, Pamoja Tuwalee’s Senior Technical officer said the programme is implemented in partnership with Delloitte, nine local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and local government authority (LGA).
The programme helps in building children’s strength to improve their self- esteem, coping skills and reduce self stigma and enable them remain healthy and safe.
A lot of work has been done under Pamoja Tuwalee Programme, and more than 77,117 MVC and their households have been provided with various direct services including food in which a total of 14,452 children were provided with food and nutrition counselling.
Other contributions by the programme include the support given to the government to establish and strengthen about 570 MVC committees that are able to manage and coordinate MVC support at community level.
Chima said that the interventions focus on increasing the capacity of communities, households to protect the children and for LGA to meet the needs of MVC and their household in an innovative, efficient and sustainable manner.
“It is important for LGA to consider allocating budget for MVC because the programme cannot support all the MVC throughout the country and the programme is not a long term plan, for there is a timeframe for it,” explained Chima.
The second National Costed plan of action for MVC (NCPA II 2013-2017) was launched with the purpose to guide the implementation of actions and policies to enhance the well-being of MVC by preventing and reduce the risks and impacts of shocks and protecting their rights.
Philbert Kawemama, Senior Social Welfare officer in the Department of social work at MoHSW, said that NCPA I has been implemented in 95 of 133 local councils by September 2012, over 269,000 vulnerable children had received services and more than 50,000 vulnerable households had their incomes increased.
“It is estimated that 10 per cent of children in the country encounter social, economic, and psychological challenges which render them vulnerable including poverty, trauma of losing loved ones, neglect, abuse due to lack of protection, and limited access to basic care and support services,” said Kawemama.