Child abuse is on the rise in the border sub-county of Moyale in Marsabit County, begging for urgent measures to reverse the trend.
The Child Protection Manager of a non-governmental organisation, Strategies for Northern Development (SND) Joan Kosgei said that child labour owing to the increased gold mining activities at Hillo was now a major problem which threatens the welfare of the child.
Ms Kosgei told a media breakfast meeting organized by the organization that hundreds of children mainly from the neighbouring country were crossing the border to work in the unregulated gold mines. She disclosed that the gold mines had also impacted negatively on school enrolment in the area with Watiti primary school having suffered a drop out of 44 boys who trooped to work in the gold mines.
SND, she said, was working in collaboration with government agencies and parents in an effort to stem child exploitation in the area. Ms Kosgei added that girls were being sneaked into Ethiopia to undergo the outlawed FGM rite by parents and guardians.
While the Children Act, 2022 is very strict in the country, the situation is different in Ethiopia where female circumcision is still rampant. She said that the organization, whose operations is inter-border has helped in the formation of a Cross Border Working Group to sensitize the communities against child exploitation and unsafe migration.
“We managed to rescue 16 pupils who had dropped out of school to work in the Hillo gold mines in Dabel but the menace is still rampant,” she said adding that cases of minors under 18 years engaging in small businesses such as water hawking in Moyale town is widespread.
Ms Kosgei expressed concern that many of the rescue cases comprised traumatized children who required psychosocial counselling and treatment before being reunited with their families. She disclosed that many of the rescued children have been found to have undergone sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their handlers.
Strategies for Northern Development is liaising with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Department of Immigration and that of Children Services on how best to navigate the problem.