Senegal: Amnesty International warns of the situation of talibé child beggars

Talibé children taken in at the Ginddi center in Dakar.

RFI/Guillaume Thibault

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The human rights organization Amnesty International publishes this Monday, December 12 a report on the living conditions and economic exploitation of street children in Senegal, the talibés.

This report challenges, once again, the political leaders on the lack of will to protect these children.

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Like ghosts, these street children appear in the early morning

and disappear at nightfall to

, their daaras (name of Koranic schools in Senegal).

No one is able to give their number.

Between 50,000 and 200,000 in Dakar alone, state and NGO studies in recent years indicate.

For Amnesty International, this is one of the priorities of the State: mapping and knowing all the daaras in Senegal to assess the number of children, better control these places and the religious leaders who run them.

Not enough means for the protection of minors

The human rights organization also recalls that a law has been in place since 2005, which prohibits trafficking and the use of children for begging, but that it is not sufficiently applied.

Interviewed by Amnesty International, child protection officials recall that the funds allocated represent less than 1% of the state budget and that this amount has been declining since 2015.

Macky Sall recently announced his desire to create a national day of daaras.

For Amnesty International, the President of Senegal must above all increase controls on these Koranic schools.

Mamadou Wane (Amnesty International): “the situation is getting worse”

Guillaume Thibault

► Read also: Amnesty International's report

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• Senegal

• Education

• Children's rights

• Poverty