Africa-Press – Angola. The president of the African Commission for Human Rights and Child Welfare, Wilson de Almeida Adão, expressed, in Luanda, great concern about the increase in cases of child trafficking on the continent.
The representative of the African Commission made this statement on the sidelines of the meeting held, Friday, with the Ombudsman, Florbela Araújo, having assured that there is strong evidence of trafficking in human beings and a high number of children affected by this phenomenon.
Human trafficking, he highlighted, is a problem that harms almost all African countries, especially when there is an economic disparity between one country and another.
Wilson de Almeida Adão said: the problems that children face in Africa are varied and fuel trafficking, as there are other serious situations associated, in particular, with harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, persecution of albinos and many others problems, which unfortunately, because of these traditional, religious and social beliefs, have been violating certain rights in almost all African countries.
“A study is being carried out to understand this problem at African level”, he announced, mentioning that richer countries are generally the preferential arrival points for human trafficking, leaving countries with fewer financial resources.
“We have been calling, at the local police level, for the strengthening of information sharing. It is necessary that there is a greater inspection process at the borders”, he informed.
The president of the African Commission highlighted that a large part of trafficking networks attract children with the aim of work and studies: ʺThere are several African countries with a high number of children who are targets of armed conflict as child soldiers”.
Some progress
According to Wilson de Almeida Adão, the situation of children on the continent has seen progress in some aspects and in others there have been setbacks in terms of realizing children’s rights. The African Union, he said, has been advocating that States develop a set of public policies for the most vulnerable people, in order to increase children’s budgets. Wilson de Almeida Adão announced that the budget allocated for children is still very small and without resources it is not possible to develop adequate public policies.
ʺWe must always remember that the first factor in protecting children is the existence of a properly structured family, without which it is not possible to create a healthy society”, he said.
Invitation to Angola
On the occasion, Wilson de Almeida Adão invited Angola to be part of the African Commission body, since there is a seat to monitor the work linked to the fight against corruption against children and that, until now, the country is not represented in the continental institution as it should, in its own right. ʺIt is a right that belongs to the State of Angola, like all other African countries, but, unfortunately, it is one of the vacancies that has not yet been filled,ʺ he highlighted.
Children’s economic and cultural rights
Wilson de Almeida Adão also said that another situation that concerns the African Commission is related to multidimensional poverty and the realization of children’s economic, social and cultural rights.
He mentioned that there is still a high number of children outside the education system: “Angola is one of the countries that has a high rate of children outside the education system, which is why it is necessary for the State to strengthen public policies”.
With this, the representative of the African Union said that it is the Commission’s role to be a monitoring body for the realization of these Human Rights, as it acts essentially in two ways, including the presentation of a State Party Report, which aims to present a document on the realization of the rights enshrined in the African Charter on Human Rights and Child Welfare and recommending that States assess whether what is celebrated is being fulfilled.
The official highlighted that, to date, there are no complaints against Angola at the level of the Committee on Violation of Children’s Rights.
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