Monrovia – In bid to tackle the challenges children moving across borders in West Africa are going through, twenty members of the West African network of child protection practitioners in Liberia completed a two-day intensive training workshop to build their capacity and skills to effectively handle cases of children on the move on Wednesday March 22, 2017.
The participant were drawn from various government agencies, national law enforcement institutions and child rights organizations including the Women and Children and Children Protection Section (WACPS) of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP), the National Youth and Children Advisory Board (NCYAB) and LNP’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit.
The training was organized by Defense for Children International (DCI-Liberia) and facilitated by the Burkina Faso based International Social Service West Africa (ISS-WA) organization.
According to ISS-WA Regional Advisor Dr. Abimbola Lagunju the exercise is part of ISS-WA initiatives to enhance the capacity of national counter parts to play active role in strengthening children protection at the regional level.
“It is not hard to imagine the kinds of things these children that are moving across borders in West African go through.
They are at risk of trafficking, neglect, labor, sexual exploitation, harassment and forced and unsafe returned. We are sure that this training will enable the social workers in Liberia participating in training come their challenges in resolving their,” said Dr. Lagunju at training.
For her part, ISS-WA Regional Case Manager Abena Yamoah said developing the capacity of individual country network will accelerate progress in identifying children in need of help for safe and easy return and integration to home countries.
“Our main focus is to support and mitigate trans-national children issues. Every country has national policies that protect their own children but there is no defined policies to protect foreign nationals that are find there.
This training has exposed the social worker to the categories of children called children on the move.
They will be able to assist these children when found in Liberia to return to their home country should they need help to return,” said Yamoah, adding that “up to date 7,000 children, including more than 100 children Liberian have been returned to their home countries and to their families through the this initiative”.
Meanwhile, participant of the training lauded the organizations, DCI-Liberia and ISS-WA for the training opportunity and assured that they will their skills to hand cases of children on the move effectively and ensure protection for children.
“This is my first time to hear about children on the move and the risks they are exposed to. I am going to use the knowledge and skills from here to effectively handle their cases when I come across them,” said Head of LNP Anti-trafficking Unit Anthony S.I. Tugbe.
“This training was timely. I never knew about the conditions and risk of children on the move and available help for them.
As I go back to work, I will remain very firm on their cases. Many at times I come across these children but I do not know how to handle the issues, so, henceforth, I am going to be that help they need to get help,” said Sally G. Lablah, Social Worker, DCI-Liberia.
Children on the move are children who have left the security of their homes and home countries with or without parents or guardians and find themselves in other countries for economic and social reasons.
About 33 million children are on the move, according to a recent United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) research report.
The number of children on the move is expected to continue to raise as economic, social crisis and natural disasters remains unabated across countries including region of West Africa.
Eugene K. Myers-Media Focal Point for Children/Network of West African Journalists for Children (NetWAC-Liberia). 0886-608-740/07706-264-036/E-mail:[email protected]