The Child Protection Network (RPE) of Ganzourgou organized training for the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and civil status officers of the municipalities of the province of Ganzourgou on February 28, 2023 in Zorgho.
The problem of mobility and child trafficking is a reality in the province of Ganzourgou. This is why the Child Protection Network (RPE) of Ganzourgou has initiated training for the benefit of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and the civil status agents of the municipalities of the province.
According to the provincial director in charge of child protection for Ganzourgou, Jacques Hermann Soubeiga, 381 children on the move were intercepted in the province between 2021 and 2022 and returned to their families.
To put an end to this situation and contribute to protecting the rights of children, the RPE benefited from the financial support of the NGO Terre des hommes.
The opening of the training was chaired by the High Commissioner of Ganzourgou, Aminata Sorgho/Gouba. She praised the dynamism of the RPE/Ganzourgou whose actions have made it possible to intercept several children on the move in the province.
Ms. Gouba hoped that the training could enable participants to work to prevent children from abandoning classes for gold sites. The first person in charge of the province invited parents to fully play their role in the education of children.
After the presentation of the Network made by its coordinator, Albert Tarpaga, the provincial director in charge of child protection of Ganzourgou, Jacques Hermann Soubeiga presented the situation of child mobility in the province.
For him, several actors are involved in the fight against the phenomenon, but the lack of synergy of action makes the results mixed.
Mr. Tarpaga also noted the extreme poverty of the families, the lack of means of care and the placement in apprenticeship of the children intercepted as difficulties in the fight.
He also praised the efforts of the NGO Terre des hommes in the care and apprenticeship placement of children. “Without Terre des Hommes, it was not going to be easy for us in the province,” he said.
The children’s judge at the High Court of Ziniaré, Ibrahim Mission presented the legal texts which frame the protection of the child in the field of mobility and trafficking.
According to him, the trafficking of children is provided for and punished by the penal code of Burkina. “The penalties range from 5 to 10 years imprisonment and when certain aggravating situations are committed, the penalties can range from 11 to 20 years imprisonment or even life imprisonment”, he illustrated.
Ibrahim Mission however noted the complexity of the repression, since most of the time, it is the parents of the children who are at the origin of their mobility.
The participants made a commitment to redouble their efforts in the fight against the mobility and trafficking of children.
As a reminder, the RPE of Ganzourgou was in 2010 and brings together technical services and civil society organizations (OCS) for the protection of children’s rights in the province.
Source: Burkina Information Agency