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Resum executiu original de l'informe general de Human Rigth Watch a Senegal, 2010.
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English - Executive summary of the backs of the children
1.
Senegal
H U M A N âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ R I G H T S Forced Begging and Other Abuses against TalibĂ©s in Senegal W A T C H
2.
3.
Summary and Recommendations Human
Rights Watch | April 2010
4.
A group of
talibés walk through a neighborhood on their way to beg. Talibés beg on average for seven hours a day. © 2008 Thomas Lekfeldt
5.
âOFF THE BACKS OF
THE CHILDRENâ Forced Begging and Other Abuses against TalibĂ©s in Senegal
6.
I have to
bring money, rice, and sugar each day. When I canât bring everything, the marabout beats me. He beats me other times too, even when I do bring the sumâŠ. I want to stop this, but I canât. I canât leave, I have nowhere to go. Modou S., 12-year-old talibĂ© in Saint-Louis The teachings of Islam are completely contrary to sending children on the street and forcing them to begâŠ. Certain marabouts have ignored thisâ they love the comfort, the money they receive from living off the backs of the children Aliou Seydi, marabout in Kolda At least 50,000 children attending hundreds of residential Quranic schools, or daaras, in Senegal are subjected to conditions akin to slavery and forced to endure often extreme forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation by the teachers, or marabouts, who serve as their de facto guardians. By no means do all Quranic schools run such regimes, but many marabouts force the children, known as talibĂ©s, to beg on the streets for long hoursâa practice that meets the International Labour Organizationâs (ILO) definition of a worst form of child laborâ and subject them to often brutal physical and psychological abuse. The marabouts are also grossly negligent in fulfilling the childrenâs basic needs, including food, shelter, and healthcare, despite adequate resources in most urban daaras, brought in primarily by the children themselves. In hundreds of urban daaras in Senegal, it is the children who which some marabouts enjoy relative affluence. In thousands provide for the marabout. While talibĂ©s live in complete of cases where the marabout transports or receives talibĂ©s for deprivation, marabouts in many daaras demand considerable the purpose of exploitation, the child is also a victim of daily sums from dozens of children in their care, through trafficking. 4 âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ
7.
The Senegalese and
Bissau-Guinean governments, Islamic A talibé begs for money from a taxi driver. Talibés often beg on busy authorities under whose auspices the schools allegedly streets and intersections to improve their odds of obtaining the daily quota, leaving them vulnerable to car accidents and other dangers. operate, and parents have all failed miserably to protect tens Further exacerbating the difficult conditions on the street, more than 40 percent of talibés interviewed by Human Rights Watch did not have a single pair of shoes. © 2008 Thomas Lekfeldt Human Rights Watch | April 2010 5
8.
9.
(above) Because of
overcrowding, many talibĂ©s are forced to sleep The children routinely sleep 30 to a small outside with minimal, if any, cover to protect them from cold nights during Senegalâs winter, as is the case in this daara in a Dakar suburb. room, crammed so tight that, particularly (left) Scores of talibĂ©s await the opportunity to receive alms during the hot season, they choose to outside a mosque in Dakar. brave the elements outside. © 2010 Ricci Shryock of thousands of these children from abuse, and have not often barefoot, they hold out a small plastic bowl or empty can made any significant effort to hold the perpetrators hoping for alms. On the street they are exposed to disease, accountable. Conditions in the daaras, including the the risk of injury or death from car accidents, and physical and treatment of children within them, remain essentially sometimes sexual abuse by adults. unregulated by the authorities. Well-intentioned aid agencies In a typical urban daara, the teacher requires his talibĂ©s to attempting to fill the protection gap have too often bring a sum of money, rice, and sugar every day, but little of emboldened the perpetrators by giving aid directly to the this benefits the children. Many children are terrified about marabouts who abuse talibĂ©s, insufficiently monitoring the what will happen to them if they fail to meet the quota, for the impact or use of such aid, and failing to report abuse. punishmentâphysical abuse meted out by the marabout or Moved from their villages in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau to his assistantâis generally swift and severe, involving cities in Senegal, talibĂ©s are forced to beg for up to 10 hours a beatings with electric cable, a club, or a cane. Some are day. Morning to night, the landscape of Senegalâs cities is bound or chained while beaten, or are forced into stress dotted with the sight of the boysâthe vast majority under 12 positions. Those captured after a failed attempt to run away years old and many as young as fourâshuffling in small suffer the most severe abuse. Weeks or months after having groups through the streets; weaving in and out of traffic; and escaped the daara, some 20 boys showed Human Rights waiting outside shopping centers, marketplaces, banks, and Watch scars and welts on their backs that were left by a restaurants. Dressed in filthy, torn, and oversized shirts, and teacherâs beatings. Human Rights Watch | April 2010 7
10.
Daily life for
these children is one of extreme deprivation. Despite bringing money and rice to the daara, the children are forced to beg for their meals on the street. Some steal or dig through trash in order to find something to eat. The majority suffer from constant hunger and mild to severe malnutrition. When a child falls ill, which happens often with long hours on the street and poor sanitary conditions in the daara, the teacher seldom offers healthcare assistance. The children are forced to spend even longer begging to purchase medicines to treat the stomach parasites, malaria, and skin diseases that run rampant through the daaras. Most of the urban daaras are situated in abandoned, partially constructed structures or makeshift thatched compounds. The children routinely sleep 30 to a small room, crammed so tight that, particularly during the hot season, they choose to brave the elements outside. During Senegalâs four-month winter, the talibĂ©s suffer the cold with little or no cover, and, in some cases, even a mat to sleep on. Unfed by the marabout, untreated when sick, forced to work for long hours only to turn over money and rice to someone who uses almost none of it for their benefitâand then beaten whenever they fail to reach the quotaâhundreds, likely thousands, of talibĂ©s run away from daaras each year. Many marabouts leave their daara for weeks at a time to return to their villages or to recruit more children, placing talibĂ©s as young as four in the care of teenage assistants who often brutalize the youngest and sometimes subject them to sexual abuse. In hundreds of urban daaras, the marabouts appear to prioritize forced begging over Quranic learning. With their days generally consumed with required activity from the pre- dawn prayer until late into the evening, the talibĂ©s rarely have time to access forms of education that would equip them with basic skills, or for normal childhood activities and recreation, including the otherwise ubiquitous game of football. In some cases, they are even beaten for taking time to play, by marabouts who see it as a distraction from begging. Marabouts who exploit children make little to no effort to facilitate even periodic contact between the talibĂ©s and their Unfed by the marabout, untreated when sick, forced to work parents. The proliferation of mobile phones and network for long hours only to turn over money and rice to someone coverage into even the most isolated villages in Senegal and who uses almost none of it for their benefitâand then beaten Guinea-Bissau should make contact easy, but the vast whenever they fail to reach the quotaâhundreds, likely majority of talibĂ©s never speak with their families. In many thousands, of talibĂ©s run away from daaras each year. Many cases, preventing contact appears to be a strategy employed talibĂ©s plan their escape, knowing the exact location of by the marabout. runaway shelters. Others choose life on the streets over the conditions in the daara. As a result, a defining legacy of the present-day urban daara is the growing problem of street 8 âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ
11.
children, who are
thrust into a life often marked by drugs, A seven-year-old talibĂ©, who was severely beaten by his Quranic teacher, is abuse, and violence. fanned by a relative in a hospital in Kaolack, Senegal. © 2008 AP Photo The exploitation and abuse of the talibĂ©s occurs within a context of traditional religious education, migration, and Yet for at least 50,000 children, including poverty. For centuries, the daara has been a central institution of learning in Senegal. Parents have long sent their children to many brought from neighboring countries, a maraboutâfrequently a relative or someone from the same marabouts have profited from the absence of villageâwith whom they resided until completing their government regulation by twisting religious Quranic studies. Traditionally, children focused on their education into economic exploitation. Human Rights Watch | April 2010 9
12.
A group of
talibĂ©s study the Quran in their daara. and international law. Senegal has applicable laws on the © 2008 Thomas Lekfeldt books, but they are scant enforced. Senegal is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and all major international Rather than hold marabouts accountable for and regional treaties on child labor and trafficking, which forced begging, gross neglect, or, in all but provide clear prohibitions against the worst forms of child the rarest of cases, severe physical abuse, labor, physical violence, and trafficking. International law also Senegalese authorities have chosen to avoid affords children the rights to health, physical development, any challenge to the countryâs powerful education, and recreation, obligating the state, parents, and those in whose care a child finds himself to fulfill these rights. religious leaders, including individual marabouts. The state is the primary entity responsible for protecting the rights of children within its borders, something which the government of Senegal has failed to do. With the exception of studies while assisting with cultivation in the maraboutâs a few modern daarasâwhich are supported by the fields. Begging, if performed at all, was rather a collection of government and combine Quranic and state school curriculaâ meals from community families. Today, hundreds of not one of the Quranic schools in Senegal is subject to any thousands of talibĂ©s in Senegal attend Quranic schools, many form of government regulation. In the last decade, the in combination with state schools, and the practice often government has notably defined forced begging as a worst remains centered on religious and moral education. Yet for at form of child labor and criminalized forcing another into least 50,000 children, including many brought from begging for economic gain, but this adequate legislation has neighboring countries, marabouts have profited from the so far led to little concrete action. Rather than hold marabouts absence of government regulation by twisting religious accountable for forced begging, gross neglect, or, in all but the education into economic exploitation. rarest of cases, severe physical abuse, Senegalese authorities The forced begging, physical abuse, and dangerous daily have chosen to avoid any challenge to the countryâs powerful living conditions endured by these talibĂ©s violate domestic religious leaders, including individual marabouts. 10 âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ
13.
Countries from which
a large number of talibĂ©s are sent to A woman working in a small shop hands a talibĂ© sugar cubes to Senegal, particularly Guinea-Bissau, have likewise failed to contribute toward the daily quota that he must bring to his Quranic protect their children from the abuse and exploitation that teacher. Like many other talibĂ©s who lack adequate medical care inside await them in many urban Quranic schools in Senegal. The the daaras, this child visibly suffers from a skin disease. Bissau-Guinean government has yet to formally criminalize © 2010 Ricci Shryock child trafficking and, even under existing legal standards, has been unwilling to hold marabouts accountable for the illegal cross-border movement of children. Guinea-Bissau has also Dozens of Senegalese and international aid organizations failed domestically to fulfill the right to educationâaround 60 have worked admirably to fill the protection gap left by state percent of children are not in its school systemâforcing many authorities. Organizations provide tens of centers for runaway parents to view Quranic schools in Senegal as the only viable talibĂ©s; work to sensitize parents on the difficult conditions in option for their childrenâs education. the daara; and administer food, healthcare, and other basic services to talibĂ©s. Yet in some cases, they have actually Parents and families, for their part, often send children to made the problem worse. By focusing assistance largely on daaras without providing any financial assistance. After urban daaras, some aid organizations have incentivized informally relinquishing parental rights to the marabout, marabouts to leave villages for the cities, where they force some then turn a blind eye to the abuses their child endures. talibĂ©s to beg. By failing to adequately monitor how Many talibĂ©s who run away and make it home are returned to marabouts use assistance, some organizations have made the marabout by their parents, who are fully aware that the the practice even more profitableâwhile marabouts receive child will suffer further from forced begging and often extreme aid agency money with one hand, they push their talibĂ©s to corporal punishment. For these children, home is no longer a continue begging with the other. And by treading delicately in refuge, compounding the abuse they endure in the daara and their effort to maintain relations with marabouts, many aid leading them to plan their next escapes to a shelter or the organizations have ceased demanding accountability and street. have failed to report obvious abuse. Human Rights Watch | April 2010 11
14.
Under the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child the state is obliged to ensure that children have access to a compulsory, holistic primary education that will equip them with the basic skills they need to participate fully and actively in society. The government of Senegal has launched an initiative to create and subject to regulation 100 modern daaras between 2010 and 2012. While the regulation requirement in these new schools is a long-overdue measure, the limited number of daaras affected means that the plan will have little impact on the tens of thousands of talibĂ©s who are already living in exploitative daaras. The government must therefore couple efforts to introduce modern daaras with efforts, thus far entirely absent, to hold marabouts accountable for exploitation and abuse. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child the state is obliged to ensure that children have access to a compulsory, holistic primary education that will equip them with the basic skills they need to participate fully and actively in society. In addition to supporting the introduction of modern daaras, the government of Senegal should therefore ensure that children have the choice of access to free primary education through state schools or other means. Without enforced regulation of daaras and success on accountability, the phenomenon of forced child begging will continue its decades-long pattern of growth. If the Senegalese government wants to retain its place as a leading rights-respecting democracy in West Africa, it must take immediate steps to protect these children who have been neglected by their parents and exploited and abused in the supposed name of religion. 12 âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ
15.
A group of
talibés share porridge that one of the boys bought from a small food stall. Despite returning each day to the daara with money, rice, and sugar, the vast majority of talibés must beg or pay for their own food, leaving many malnourished. © 2008 Thomas Lekfeldt Human Rights Watch | April 2010 13
16.
17.
Young talibés sleep
on thin mats on the dirt floor in their daara. Because of overcrowding and poor sanitation in many daaras, diseases spread quickly. © 2006 Roy Burroughs
18.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT
OF SENEGAL âą Enforce current domestic law that criminalizes â Provide additional resources to civil and forcing another into begging for economic gainâ border police units, particularly in the specifically, article 3 of Law No. 2005-06â regions of Ziguinchor and Kolda, to enhance including by investigating and holding their capacity to deter child trafficking. accountable in accordance with fair trial â Improve and require periodic training for standards marabouts and others who force police units to ensure that they know the children to beg. laws governing movements of children across borders. â Consider amending the law to provide for a greater range of penalties, reducing the âą Express support, from the highest levels of range of punishment to include only non- government, for the prosecution of marabouts custodial sentences and prison sentences who violate laws against forced begging, abuse, under two years, from the present and trafficking. mandatory two to five years, so that âą Relevant authorities within the Ministries of punishments can be better apportioned to Interior and Justice should monitor, investigate, the severity of exploitation. and, where there is evidence, discipline police, â Create a registry of marabouts who are investigating judges, and prosecutors who documented by authorities to have forced persistently fail to act on allegations of abuse children to beg for money, or who are and exploitation by marabouts. convicted for physical abuse or for being grossly negligent in a childâs care. âą Issue clear directives to the Brigade des mineurs âą Enforce article 298 of the penal code that (Juvenile Police) to proactively investigate abuse criminalizes the physical abuse of children, with and exploitation, including during street patrols. the exception of âminor assaults,â including by âą Increase police capacity, particularly within the investigating and holding accountable in Juvenile Police, including through increased accordance with fair trial standards marabouts staffing and equipment, in order to better enforce and others who physically abuse talibĂ©s. existing laws against forced begging and â Amend the law to include specific reference physical abuse. to all forms of corporal punishment in â Provide adequate training to the Juvenile schools, in accordance with international Police on methods for interviewing children, law, including the Convention on the Rights and for protecting and assisting victims of of the Child and the African Charter on the severe physical and psychological trauma, Rights and Welfare of the Child. including sexual abuse. â Amend the law to ensure that it holds responsible a marabout who oversees, âą Ensure that children, aid workers, and others orders, or fails to prevent or punish an have a safe and accessible means of reporting assistant teacher who inflicts physical abuse abuse or exploitation, including by better on a talibĂ©. publicizing the stateâs child-protection hotline managed by the Centre Ginddi in Dakar, and by âą Enforce anti-trafficking provisions under Law No. extending availability of hotlines and assistance 2005-06, which criminalizes child trafficking in elsewhere in Senegal. accordance with the United Nations Trafficking in Persons Protocol. 16 âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ
19.
âą
Introduce a law requiring humanitarian workers empower inspectors to sanction or close to report to the police incidents of abuse, daaras that do not meet standards that exploitation, and violations of relevant laws protect the best interests of the child. governing the treatment of children, including âą Direct the Juvenile Police to investigate the the law on forced begging. extent to which sexual abuse exists in daaras throughout Senegal. Engage talibĂ©s, marabouts, âą Require all daaras to be registered and period- the police, parents, community authorities, and ically inspected by state officials. Islamic and humanitarian organizations in â Enact legislation setting minimum standards establishing and publicizing adequate protection under which daaras must operate, with mechanisms for children who are victims of particular attention to daaras that operate sexual abuse. as residential schools. âą Task a minister with coordinating the state â Encourage child protection authorities to response from the various ministries. collaborate with Islamic authorities on the development of these standards, which âą Improve statistic-keeping on the number of should include: minimum hours of study; talibĂ©s and Quranic teachers who come into promotion and development of the childâs contact with state authorities, including: talibĂ©s talent and abilities to their fullest potential, who are in conflict with the law; talibĂ©s who run either within the daaras or in another away and are recovered by state authorities; and educational establishment; minimum living Quranic teachers who are arrested and conditions; the maximum number of children prosecuted for forcing another into begging, per Quranic teacher; qualifications for physical abuse, or other abuses against children. opening a residential daara; and registration of the daara for state inspection. âą Ensure the elimination of informal fees and other â Expand the capacity and mandate of state barriers to children accessing primary education daara inspectors in order to improve the in state schools. monitoring of daaras throughout Senegal; TO THE GOVERNMENT OF GUINEA-BISSAU âą Enact and enforce legislation that criminalizes â Improve and require periodic training for child trafficking, including sanctions for those border units to ensure that they know the who hire, employ, or encourage others to traffic laws governing movements of children children on their behalf, and for those who aid across borders. and abet trafficking either in the country of âą Continue progress on the regulation of religious origin or country of destination. schools. Work closely with religious leaders to devise appropriate curricula, teacher standards, âą Enact and enforce legislation that criminalizes and registration and enrollment requirements. forced child begging for economic gain. âą Ensure the elimination of informal fees and other âą Publicly declare that forced child begging is a barriers to children accessing primary education, worst form of child labor; follow with appropriate in an effort to better progressively realize the legislation. right to education for the 60 percent of Bissau- âą Increase the capacity of civil and border police Guinean children currently outside the state units, particularly in the regions of BafatĂĄ and school system. GabĂș, to deter child trafficking and other illegal cross-border movements of children. Human Rights Watch | April 2010 17
20.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENTS
OF SENEGAL AND GUINEA-BISSAU âą Improve collaboration to deter the illegal cross- â coordinate strategies to deter the illegal border migration and trafficking of children from cross-border movement of children; and Guinea-Bissau into Senegal, including through â facilitate the return of children who have additional joint training of border and civil police. been trafficked, and ensure that they receive minimum standards of care and supervision. âą Enter into a bilateral agreement to: âą Collaborate with religious leaders, traditional â formally harmonize legal definitions for what leaders, and nongovernmental organizations to consistutes the illegal cross-border raise awareness in communities on the rights of movement of children; the child under international and domestic law, as well as within Islam. TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS, INCLUDING CALIPHS OF THE BROTHERHOODS, IMAMS, AND GRAND MARABOUTS âą Denounce marabouts who engage in the âą Introduce, including during the Friday prayer exploitation and abuse of children within daaras. (jumuâah), discussion of childrenâs rights in Islam. TO INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS âą Explicitly condition funding for marabouts and âą Stop returning runaway talibĂ©s who have been daaras on the elimination of forced begging and victims of physical abuse or economic physical abuse, and on minimum living and exploitation to the marabout. Bring the child to health conditions within the daara. state authorities so that the Ministry of Justice can perform a thorough review of the childâs â Improve monitoring to determine if situation and determine what environment will marabouts who receive funds are using them protect the childâs best interests. to achieve the prescribed goals. â Cease funding for marabouts who âą Focus greater efforts on supporting initiatives in demonstrate a lack of progress toward village daaras and state schools to enable eliminating child begging, particularly those children in rural areas to access an education who continue to demand a quota from their that equips them with the basic skills they will talibĂ©s or who continue to physically abuse need to participate fully and actively in society, or neglect them. so that children do not need to move to towns âą Implement organizational policies and codes of and cities to access quality education. conduct requiring humanitarian workers to report âą Increase pressure on the government of Senegal to state authorities incidents of abuse and to enforce its laws on forced begging, child violations of relevant laws governing the abuse, and child trafficking. treatment of children whom they directly encounter, including the 2005 law on trafficking and forced begging. 18 âOff the Backs of the Childrenâ
21.
A magistrate restores
custody of five boys who fled from Quranic teachers that forced them to beg on the streets of Dakar, Senegal, to their relatives in GabĂș, Guinea-Bissau. Hundreds of talibĂ©s run away from their daaras each year, tired of the abuse and exploitation. © 2008 AP Photo TO THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF SLAVERY âą Consider an investigation into the situation of the tens of thousands of children in Senegal who are forced to beg by their Quranic teachers, which appears to qualify as a practice akin to child slavery. TO THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES âą Work with governments in the region to improve collective response to child trafficking. TO THE ORGANISATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE âą Denounce the practice of forced begging and physical abuse in Quranic schools as in conflict with the Cairo Declaration and other international human rights obligations. Human Rights Watch | April 2010 19
22.
Talibés beg at
night around a gas station in Dakar. Afraid of the beatings that frequently await them if they fail to return to the daara with the daily quota, many talibés beg on the streets late into the night. © 2010 Ricci Shryock
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24.
(front cover) Three
talibĂ©s ask a taxi driver for money on a street in H UMA N R I G H TS WATCH H U M A N the Senegalese capital, Dakar. They each carry a tomato can to collect 350 Fifth Avenue, 34 th Floor money, rice, and sugar to bring back to their Quranic teacher. New York, NY 10118-3299 © 2008 Thomas Lekfeldt (below) A talibĂ© sits on the concrete floor of his daara in a Dakar R I G H T S suburb, where he also sleeps. All of a talibĂ©âs possessions are often www.hrw.org kept in a small backpack hung in the daara. W A T C H © 2010 Ricci Shryock Tens of thousands of children attending residential Quranic schools, or daaras, in Senegal are subjected to conditions that meet the international definition of being akin to slavery, and are forced to endure often extreme forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation by the teachers, or marabouts, who serve as their de facto guardians. The vast majority of these children, known as talibĂ©s, are under 12 years old, though many are as young as four. By no means do all Quranic schools run such regimes, but many teachers force the children to beg on the streets for long hoursâa practice that meets the international definition of a worst form of child labor. The marabouts are also grossly negligent in fulfilling the childrenâs basic needs, including food, shelter, and healthcare. In thousands of cases, children, including many from Guinea-Bissau, are victims of trafficking. The Senegalese and Bissau-Guinean governments, Islamic authorities under whose auspices the schools operate, and parents have all failed to protect these children. The Senegalese authorities have made next to no effort to hold perpetrators accountable, despite applicable laws that criminalize forced begging, and have balked at regulating the vast majority of daaras, apparently allowing fear of political backlash from religious authorities to trump the childrenâs welfare. Well-intentioned aid agencies attempting to fill the protection gap have too often emboldened the perpetrators by giving aid directly to marabouts who abuse talibĂ©s, insufficiently monitoring the use of such aid, and failing to report abuse. This Human Rights Watch report concludes that without state regulation and a commitment to hold accountable those that abuse and exploit these boys, the widespread problem of forced child begging in Senegal will worsen. Its findings are based on interviews with 175 current and former talibĂ©s, as well as some 120 others, including marabouts, families who sent children to residential Quranic schools, religious historians, government officials, and humanitarian officials.
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