'Schools must fight trafficking'

2008-10-11 20:21

Maputo - Graca Machel, a Mozambican human rights campaigner and the country's former first lady, appealed to schools on Saturday to take more action to prevent children being kidnapped and sold into prostitution.

Machel, who is married to former South African President Nelson Mandela, said Mozambique was targeted by child traffickers because it did too little to protect the young.

"The vulnerability of many schools arises from the fact that they are not protected by walls or fences, and have no security guards. Anyone can enter," she told The Associated Press.

"Pupils, particularly girls, are exposed to the risk of falling into the hands of criminals, who kidnap them for forced labor or for prostitution", she said.

Police are investigating at least two instances of children who were recently kidnapped from a primary school in the southern city of Matola.

Police about two months ago detained the driver of a minibus transporting 20 children from the central province of Manica without documentation amid suspicions they were being trafficked to South Africa.

Sexual abuse in schools a major problem

Another minibus was stopped with eight women, also allegedly being smuggled to South Africa.

A Unicef report last year estimated that 1 000 women and children were trafficked from Mozambique to neighbouring South Africa annually and said that sexual abuse in schools was a major problem.

Machel is Mozambique's top child rights campaigner and heads its most prominent nongovernment organisation, the Community Development Foundation.

She said that parents and teachers were doing too little to education children about the dangers.

"Parents and guardians are still not telling children not to accept offers of jobs, or of studying, from anybody," said Machel.

"A new element should be introduced into family education. The ease with which children agree to travel to any place shows they are not aware of the dangers of being trafficked or sexually abused."

- AP