The Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (Minproff) has just launched a national campaign to combat sexual violence against children in Cameroon.
Through this initiative, the government seeks to tackle the problem by taking a close look at the sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry. “The sexual exploitation of children is a direct attack on the rights of the child. It is an attack on human dignity and an obstacle to the economic and social development of a nation: destroying the life of a child by sexually exploiting them also destroys their chances of integrating into society, declares Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa, the head of this ministerial department.
She spoke thus during the launch of this campaign on October 24 in the city of Soa (Center). This runs until October 11, 2024, the date which marks the International Day of the Girl. The campaign aims in particular to inform Cameroonians of the consequences of child sex tourism and to encourage the public to act by denouncing criminal behavior they may witness. This initiative comes in a context where cases of sexual abuse of children are increasing in the country, according to associations and lawyers who are leading the fight against this phenomenon which affects minors of both sexes, even if the young girl is the one that pays the heaviest price.
Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa recognizes that “sexual violence against children is becoming more and more commonplace in our society”. However, she emphasizes, Cameroon has ratified “almost all” of the legal instruments for the promotion and protection of children’s rights. Notably the optional protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the sale, prostitution of children and child pornography, ratified in October 2020. In 2016, the country created a national child protection platform.
For several years, the government has set up, in partnership with Unicef, procedures more adapted to the social context with the aim of better coordinating the prevention, reporting, care and reintegration of child victims of violence, according to the authorities. Despite these efforts, “it is clear that over the years, the curve of violence against children in our country has hardly declined,” deplores Minproff, which emphasizes that these offenses are provided for and punished by criminal law, but remain unpunished due to the law of silence.
This shows the need to pool goodwill to fight against this scourge, she maintains. “The different administrations, tourism operators, administrative, municipal, traditional, religious and military authorities, parents, communities, educators, the media, everyone as far as they are concerned will have to play their part in achieving the goal. objective. (…) We have a year of deep reflections, open exchanges, unrestricted sharing and ambitious and bold projections, if we want to reverse the curve of sexual violence against children in our country,” she said.