Torture in [Morocco] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Morocco] [other countries]Street Children in [Morocco Child Prostitution in [Morocco] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Morocco.htm
|
||
|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Shelters for Morocco's street children are
a drop in an ocean Imane Belhaj,
Magharebia, www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/reportage/2008/03/14/reportage-01 [accessed 22 June 2011] Othmane left his home and
school at the age of 14 to live on the street. He no longer wanted to see his
mother fight the daily battle to get bread for his five little siblings,
struggle to lease a shantytown house and pay for his school expenses.
"The street is not more merciful," Othmane
says "This is a lie; but at least she will not have to think about my
daily living. In the meantime, I may be able to help her." Othmane carries bags of vegetables and other purchases
for customers at a nearby market. In this way, he earns a few dirhams a day,
enough to bring a little money back home when he visits once a week and still
be able to buy the cheap narcotics which help him endure his suffering. Othmane is part of the
growing number of street children in Morocco. These are the homeless and
marginalized youths without identity or family. The sidewalks are their
shelters and the bakeries' doorsteps are their pillows. In Casablanca,
these children's main "residences" are alleys in the old city, the
port, the train station and the fruits and vegetables wholesale market. The
port provides them with an opportunity to emigrate illegally. The wholesale
market gives them the chance to work as porters and make money to buy drugs.
At the train station, they can earn a bit from helping passengers or by
begging for handouts from tourists. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF
– www.unicef.org/infobycountry/morocco.html [accessed 22 June 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/morocco.htm [accessed 21 February 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - A 2001 study found that street children in Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61695.htm [accessed 21 February 2011] CHILDREN
- A
May 2004 report from the Secretariat for Literacy and Non‑Formal
Education estimated that as many as 1.5 million children between the ages of
9 to 15 were not in school. Over 140 thousand were enrolled in government
remedial and vocational education programs. The Ministry of
National Education stated its goal was to reduce the student dropout rate
from the current 40 percent to 20 percent. In the past the dropout rate had
been as high as 70 percent. The ministry attributed the reduction in the rate
was a result of boarding schools established in small towns and rural areas.
Students were able to attend these schools, spend the night, and receive
meals. In 2003 the
government signed an accord with Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 6
June 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/morocco2003.html [accessed 21 February 2011] [52] The Committee
notes the efforts undertaken by the State party, notably through the National
Five-Year Plan for Social and Economic Development (2000-2004), but remains
concerned about the large number of children who do not enjoy their right to
an adequate standard of living, including children belonging to poor
families, children living in remote rural areas and street children. [58] The Committee is deeply concerned at the
situation of Moroccan children who are deported, notably in the cities of [64] The Committee
welcomes the study on street children undertaken by the State party (report, para. 318), but expresses its concern at their
increasing number and at the lack of specific policies and programs to
address this situation and to provide these children with adequate
assistance. Haunting images of 5,000 African charity
trip This is [accessed 22 June 2011] After boarding an
overnight ferry from King George Dock to Justine said: “I
knew the people would be poor, but I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to
see. In every village and town we went through, from Morocco to Senegal,
there were hoards of street children chasing our vehicles. “They had no money,
little food, few clothes and had lived in real poverty their whole lives, yet
they were so incredibly happy. Just having the chance to play football with
us made them smile and it was amazing to see.” Shelters for Imane Belhaj,
Magharebia, www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/reportage/2008/03/14/reportage-01 [accessed 22 June 2011] Othmane left his home and
school at the age of 14 to live on the street. He no longer wanted to see his
mother fight the daily battle to get bread for his five little siblings,
struggle to lease a shantytown house and pay for his school expenses. "The
street is not more merciful," Othmane says
"This is a lie; but at least she will not have to think about my daily
living. In the meantime, I may be able to help her." Othmane
carries bags of vegetables and other purchases for customers at a nearby market.
In this way, he earns a few dirhams a day, enough to bring a little money
back home when he visits once a week and still be able to buy the cheap
narcotics which help him endure his suffering. Othmane is part of the
growing number of street children in Morocco. These are the homeless and
marginalized youths without identity or family. The sidewalks are their
shelters and the bakeries' doorsteps are their pillows. In Casablanca,
these children's main "residences" are alleys in the old city, the
port, the train station and the fruits and vegetables wholesale market. The
port provides them with an opportunity to emigrate illegally. The wholesale
market gives them the chance to work as porters and make money to buy drugs.
At the train station, they can earn a bit from helping passengers or by
begging for handouts from tourists. Nobody's constituency Ahmed El Amraoui,
Al Jazeera, Mdiq, northern english.aljazeera.net/focus/moroccoelections2007/2007/09/2008525184652704902.html [accessed 22 June 2011] PRECARIOUS EXISTENCE - At first, Abdel
Fatah was reluctant to revisit his unhappy childhood or unlock the mysteries
of street life, but the promise of a hot meal and money made him open
up. "I went to school for only
one year. I quit because I did not like it, neither did my mother. My father
abandoned us when I was a child. My mother was cruel and used to blame me and
my other two brothers for her misfortune. I left home and started to work in
construction when I was 11 years old. But the man I used to work for was very
abusive," Abdel Fatah said.
"After working for a few months, I found myself on the street
with nothing to eat, no clothes and nowhere to sleep. But I found other
children out there who later became my friends. Now I am happy and
free." ADDICTIONS - Abdel Fatah started to smoke at the age of 11, and a
year later his new friends pushed him to sniff glue. He sleeps in different places
every night, mostly in mosques, public gardens and in bus stations. His mother never bothered to inquire about
him, he said. Moroccan civil society and government try
to help children at risk Sarah Touahri, Magharebia, www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/reportage/2007/02/02/reportage-01 [accessed 22 June 2011] In the backstreets
of Child glue sniffing rises in Morocco Pascale Harter, BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4113441.stm [accessed 22 June 2011] A non-governmental organisation in Information About Street Children - This report is taken from “A Civil Society
Forum for North Africa and the Middle East on Promoting and Protecting the
Rights of Street Children”, 3-6 March 2004, At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 22 June 2011] The structure of
the Moroccan family has changed due to increasing poverty. Parents are unable to fulfill their
traditional role as providers, and children increasingly become the main
sources of revenue in large families.
With his traditional authority weakened, the father turns to violence
as an expression of his status and physical punishment becomes more
common. Families also disintegrate and
break up due to the divorce or disappearance of the father (leaving the
mother and children alone); re-marriage of one of the parents; alcoholism and
drug abuse; and maternal prostitution.
Single mothers remain the outcasts of society, and are unable to
garner support from eroding communitarian solidarity. Street Life BBC World Service, 1st July 2000 www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/streetlife.shtml [accessed 21 February 2011] A
motley crew of abandoned
children, runaway child maids, and the rejects of broken homes. Children as
young as six live a life on the run from police hunting for children to dump
in borstals run by the Ministry of Youth and
Sports. Human Rights Watch Report, NOWHERE TO TURN:
State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/spain-morocco/spnmorc0402-06.htm#P1018_181685 [accessed 22 June 2011] Child prostitution and the spread of AIDS www.popline.org/docs/154139 [access date unavailable] In Wafa Bennani,
Reuters, pangaea.org/street_children/africa/morocco.htm [accessed 22 June 2011] As night empties
the streets around ``About 1,000
children live in the streets of Casablanca alone,'' she said. This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 22 June 2011] Street children in www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/990920/1999092048.html [Last access date unavailable] Perilous lives of runaways Europe does not
want - Street Children Who Flee Morocco Face Beatings And Abuse In Spanish
Enclave Giles Tremlett,
The Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jun/15/gilestremlett/print [accessed 22 June 2011] Ismael, just 14
years old, emerged from behind the breakwater in the Spanish Spotlight on DARNA,
Community-based Innovations to Reduce Child
Labor through circle.winrock.org/news/ma-DARNA.cfm [accessed 22 June 2011] In All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - |
Torture in [Morocco] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Morocco] [other countries]Street Children in [Morocco Child Prostitution in [Morocco] [other countries]