Tanzanian police arrested three suspected child traffickers transporting a group of children aged between 10 and 14 years. According to police, the children were headed for various domestic duties ranging from house help, farming and livestock tending.
On 7th September 2021, the Police Commandant of the Mbeya Province, Mr. Ulrich Matei reported that the suspects were arrested while organizing to transport the children to Mbarali district in Mbeya Province for very small wages. This is against the International Labour Organisation’s statutes which prohibits the use of children for labour under all circumstances.
According to the Police Commandant, the traffickers were expected to receive an equivalent of a month’s salary for each child successfully delivered to their exploiters. This was happening even as the Tanzanian law prohibits child labour as well as child trafficking.
The Executive Director of a non-governmental organisation called “Sauti ya Mama Africa (Women Voice in Africa), Ms. Thabitha Bughali asked the Tanzanian government to take stern action on the perpetrators as their actions were depriving vulnerable child the right to education and instead exposing them to social abuse and all manner of deprivation and suffering. Reports of lost or stolen children are quite rampant in Tanzania, yet most of these cases are targeting local child market destinations for a myriad of petty jobs for profit.
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