According to a study carried out by
International Centre for the Promotion of Creation (CIPCRE) in 2008, more than
4000 children in Cameroon have been traded in one way or the other within the
ten region of Cameroon. This figure which is alarming included children between
the ages of 10-17 years and the North West registered 32% of the victims. These
children either work as slaves in big towns or are used as sexual objects by
the perpetrators.
It was in line to put an end this
violent, exploitative, trade and inhuman treatment of children that Cinema
Numerique Ambulant (CAN) with the support of Canada Fund for Local Initiative
(CFLI) initiated film projection and discussion against child trafficking and
exploitation project around the North
West which started from the 8th -28th of January 2015.
In a press briefing attended by the
Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroon, a representative of the Governor of the
North West and other stakeholders, Ndogmo Virginie said the aim of the project
was to dissuade perpetrators from carrying out such diabolical act and to also
create awareness amongst parents and guardians not to give their children out
for whatever reason. She identified poverty and some cultural practices as the
prime cause of child trafficking in the country and especially in the North
West region. According to her, “the most disturbing part of it is that the
affected families do not consider that their children are exploited and putting
the children at work is considered as the prolongation of their education and
the transmission of values.”
Some films projected were drawn from
across Africa and depict a horrible, and heart breaking pictures of child labor,
sexual enslavement and torture. These
films or documentaries include ‘Anna, Basil and the Dealer,’ ‘Slave Children,”
‘Victims of Uncles,’ and the ‘inseparables.’
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