‘Children are not camels’

By ELIAS LARI
CHILDREN are special gifts from God to the parents and they have a right to eat, sleep well, go to school, exercise their rights to know and plan for a better future.
But many parents in PNG are not aware of the rights of their children and many children are being used to pose as beggars on the streets. For differing reasons, some children also run away from home to seek food and shelter elsewhere.
Some children are used as forced labour while many others are exposed to sex exploitation.
Child trafficking and sex exploitation is becoming a serious issue in the country with parents now being urged to change bad and aggressive behavior towards their children.
Some children are nicknamed taxi’s and forced to operate at market places in major centres like Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen where they carry heavy load of bags to and from markets for a living.
Some of them have no choice but to do this type of work to feed themselves. Many are school aged who should be in school or living under their parents care but sadly, this is not happening.
But the government is very concerned at the growing widespread of abuse of children and through the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations has launched a National Action Plan to eliminate child labour in PNG.
The action plan was launched in Mt Hagen last month and attended by Minister for labour and industrial relations Benjamin Poponawa, department secretary Mary Morola and director of the International Labour Organizations (ILO) of the Pacific Island countries Donglin Li.
Poponawa raised concern that the department is aware that child trafficking and sex exploitation are becoming a very serious issue which has forced the action plan to be launched.
The minister pointed out that the government needed cooperation and assistance from all its stake holders including parents and NGOs to highlight the increasing plight of children around the country.
He said that it is imperative that parents also to do their bit to make the action plan work and more importantly, show better care and love towards their children.
“Children are presents from God and we have to take care of them and make sure they live a life that is worthy on earth.
“It is not good seeing them roaming or begging on the streets or being used as forced labour by companies,” he said.
In some countries, child trafficking and child sex labour is a money making industry and the minister does not want to see PNG children going down that road.
Poponawa spoke against the use of children to carry heavy cargoes in some places in the country saying this must stop. These children are commonly known as taxis.
“This has to stop as for today because these children are our future generations and we need to address this issue that will lead to child trafficking and forced sex labour.”
He said laws regarding child labour and protection will be changed and updated and that the government and his department needs the help of every concerned parent, citizen and organization to stop this problem.
Li said the ILO estimates that there are 186 million child labourers around the world with the highest overall number in the Asia Pacific region.
Of that, it is estimated that 85 million children are engaged in hazardous work, 5.7 million in forced and bound labour, 1.8 million in commercial sexual exploitation and 600,000 are involved in other illicit activities.
Li commended the government for the action plan to do away with child labour in PNG but added that the plan will need input and cooperation as it affects the future generation for a young nation like PNG.
“Child labour is a genuine and very serious concern which needs to be addressed.”
Morola said the action plan protects the right of a child to exercise his or her freedom as a citizen of this country.
Child labour, she said “is a very serious issue and this can be evidenced in a growing number school-aged children roaming the streets and no longer valued by their parents. Even concerned authorities turn a blind eye on the matter.
“PNG needs to end child labour because human resource is the foundation for a country to gain strength and prosper. Don’t expose a child to hard work.”
The Catholic Church through its organization, Mercy Works Mt Hagen has been a project that has helped many children on the streets of the country’s third largest city get off the street.
Program Coordinator Sr Mariska Kua said they have helped many young people become employed while others have returned to school.
“Others are engaged in business through the small and medium entrepreneurs (SME) and Mercy Works is happy to see the plans progressing.”
Nigel Marcus was a taxi at the Mt Hagen market but with the help of Mercy Works is now a grade 11 student at Hagen Park secondary school.
Parents should be made to be responsible for their children who are left out on the streets or are forced to work hard when they should be attending school under the government free education policy. Many parents are downright lazy and ‘use’ their children as mules without any care for their welfare and rights as human beings.