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 picture 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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