Children In Somalia

1596 Words7 Pages

Over 2,000 to 3,000 children from ages five to fourteen in Somalia are being forced into child labor daily. Meanwhile, kids in America are going to school and receiving a proper education. Children in Somalia are living a much different lifestyle, due to the condition their country is in. If not enough attention is brought to the child labor crisis , the issue will become even larger.
Children, as young as five, are currently enlisted in the Somali armed forces. Boys as young as age eight were bribed or taken from their homes, schools, and the streets to serve as soldiers. Girls were recruited through bribery or by force for work as sex slaves and domestic labor. Children in Somalia are engaged in child labor, including in street work other …show more content…

Since the end of President Barre's government in 1991, Somalia has had daily inter-clan and inter-factional fighting. With little warning, there will be cases of bomb explosion, kidnapping, and murder in many regions of the country. Since the president stepped down the country did not know how to handle themselves (MAIN). Since Somalia has been in such a bad state for many years the situation keeps getting worse. Families are so desperate for money that they send kids as young as five to work. After a four-year term in which his Western-backed government failed to extend its power throughout a country crippled by infighting and a strengthening Islamic insurgency. (“Somalia's president steps down”). He was no longer able to handle the government, there was a lot of corruption. This made Somalia's government even worse. Since the end of President Barre's government in 1991, Somalia has had daily inter-clan and inter-factional fightings. With little warning, there will be cases of bomb explosion, kidnapping, and murder in many regions of the country. Since the president stepped down the country did not know how to handle themselves (MAIN). Since Somalia has been in such a bad state for many years the situation keeps getting worse Poverty, education and extreme terrorists have all been affecting Somalia for awhile and nothing is happening to stop …show more content…

In the Somali constitution there are no set laws relating to child labor, because there are no laws regarding the crisis it isn’t illegal to use human trafficking and use children in the work force. The lack of labor laws providing protections for minimum age and hazardous work in the TFC, and the lack of clarity regarding the status of the Labor Code leaves children unprotected from the worst forms of child labor (Findings). Because there are no set laws what they are doing in Somalia isn’t illegal this makes it easier for them to continue the process of child labor. Changing the laws will help the crisis of child labor. Shocking patterns have also emerged of children serving as human shields on the battlefields. (Tancos). The biggest form of child labor is in the military and they are being used as a “distraction” for the rest of the militia. This is terrible, but they are not doing anything illegal because there are again no set