Child begging in Guinea-Bissau gets ‘out of proportion’ 

“The situation of begging is gaining an out of the normal proportion,” said Sulimaine Embaló, after a survey conducted by the association of children who find themselves begging in the streets of Bissau.

The president of the Guinean Association for the Fight Against Irregular Migration and Human Trafficking said that the situation of Talibé children, students of the Koran, “is very worrying” and that the situation is “inhuman.”

“The people who pick up these children say they will study the Quran, but that doesn’t happen. What happens is that these children go on the streets to do begging between 7 am and 18 pm, which is inhumane,” he said.

Questioned about how the association sees the complicity of the Guinean authorities, which does not act to protect children, Sulimaine Embaló said that on the part of the Institute for Women and Children, there is an awareness work that is being done with the Koranic masters, but the “applicability of the law” is lacking.

“There are people who are intercepted at the borders and in other places, but this is in vain because there is no enforceability of the law. These children are unprotected; the rights of these children are being violated,” he warned.

Sulimaine Embaló warned that begging is not part of the five pillars of Islam and also pointed out that not all Koranic masters are in favor of putting children to beg.

“Not all Koranic masters send the children out to beg. The Koranic masters who send the children to beg are the natives of Guinea-Bissau, and the children who are begging in Bissau are mostly from Bissau,” he said.

According to the president of the Guinean Association for the Fight against Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Human Beings, 46% of children surveyed in Bissau do not attend school and cannot read or write.

The survey also detected a “new scourge”.

“Children copy each other; it’s not only the Talib children begging, especially in Gabu and Bafatá,” he said, explaining that other children are also starting to beg, imitating the Talibés, to earn money.

“There is one thing we must consider: the begging situation is gaining an unusual proportion. This motivated us to also census who was talibé and who was not talibé,” explained Sulimaine Embaló.

The survey also detected children in alarming situations regarding health issues, nutrition, and physical violence.

“There are masters who beat the children if they don’t take money”, she said.

Sulimaine Embaló also warned that “girls have been identified working in the homes of the Koranic masters, sent by their parents, who are then given in marriage to older men.

With information from Radio Manchete

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