Tuesday, 13 December 2016

Ministers condemn bush falling amongst young girls

-Victims of the Kuwiat/Lebanon saga make public their experiences in Yaounde
Bush falling to some Arab countries has reportedly not been a fruitful adventure to most Cameroonian young girls who for one reason or the other decided to seek for greener pastures in Arab countries uncertain of the course of their unknown adventure. Cases of Cameroonian young girls who have fallen victims to recent Arabic networks of human trafficking and slavery have since 2014 caught centre stage of discussions in the country following testimonies from some of these victims who successfully flee from their masters. The sad stories recounted of this expenditure leaves very unpleasant images of the torture, sexual harassment and the inhuman conditions that Cameroonian girls are expose to mainly in Kuwait and Lebanon. But what is even more painful is the uncertainty of the survival of other victims who are still caught in the trap of slavery to their Arab masters and reduced to such in human treatment with no possibility to flee or get access to some rescue measures under way recently.
                      The arrival of four new victims received by the minister of social affairs warranted the need by the government to create greater public awareness of the prevalence of such human trafficking networks and to sensitize young girls and youths in general wishing to seek for Eldorado’s abroad to be cautious of such illegal net works and get officially registered in the concerned diplomatic zone before embankment. For proper dissemination of this information, the ministers of youth affairs, women and the family, and the minister of communication summoned these girls in a press conference last week in Yaoundé to make public their testimonies. courageously, these girls including Angelina Mbessa a hair dresser, Ache Dassi a mother of two kids and EditteTalla a social worker shared mixed experiences which drained the mines of many journalists and others invitees to pity. Tickled by their sad experiences and some of the reasons they presented for pushing them to travel including, unemployment and early marriages like was the case of Ache Dassi, journalist were eager to know the position of the government as concerns the social reinsertion of these girls in their fatherland, and other measures initiated to improve the plight of young girls and create better employment opportunities to youths in general.

           Government spokes person the minister of communication acknowledged that government recognizes her mission to help Cameroonians trapped in human trafficking and other unpleasant situations in foreign countries. Adding that like it was the case in central Africa and Equatorial Guinea where the head of state dispatched a plane to bring back all Cameroonians wishing to return to their country, the case of Kuwait and Lebanon will not be different. But according to him, other measures need first to be put in place. Firstly, visas to Kuwait have been suspended, a prime ministerial meeting was convoked to track down all false recruitment and travelling agencies whereby the ministry of external relations is already highly implicated. According to representatives from the ministry of external relations invited to the conference, a diplomatic delegation was dispatched in 2015 to sensitize authorities in the said countries about the reported situations Cameroonians in their territory. As concerns the issue of diplomatic coverage, it was clarified that Cameroon has a functional consulate in Lebanon and although there is no diplomatic representation of Cameroon in Kuwait, there is a Cameroonian embassy in Saudi Arabia which visits Kuwait at least once a month to take stock of the prevailing situation in Kuwait. It was also revealed that through the ministry of external relations, a government shelter has been created in Kuwait to receive all Cameroonians wishing to return to their country and presently a total of 15 girls are already at the shelter awaiting repatriation.


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