[child-rights] Congo: Election poses dangers for street children

Children Increasingly Accused of Sorcery, Abused and Abandoned

(Kinshasa, April 4, 2006) – As presidential elections approach, Congo’s
tens of thousands of street children risk political manipulation and
physical harm, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

In recent years, leaders of political parties have enlisted street
children to create public disorder in mass demonstrations. In many cases,
the security forces have responded to these protests with excessive use of
force, leading to the death and injury of dozens of children.
 
The 72-page report, “What Future? Street Children in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (http://hrw.org/reports/2006/drc0406/),” documents how
security officials and other adults routinely abuse the country’s street
children. In the past 10 years, armed conflict, HIV/AIDS, prohibitive
education fees, and even accusations of sorcery have led to a doubling of
the number of street children. With no secure access to shelter, food or
other basic needs, these children live in insecurity and fear.
 
Instead of providing street children with protection, police and soldiers
routinely use physical violence and threats of arrest to steal from these
children. Street children also face physical and sexual abuse at the hands
of adults and older youth, who take advantage of their vulnerable status.
Rape of both girls and boys is pervasive.
 
“As a first step, the Congolese government must protect street children
during the election period. U.N. agencies in Congo should redouble their
efforts to prevent abuse,” said Tony Tate, Africa children’s rights
researcher at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report. “Congolese
authorities should use this opportunity to start addressing the abuses
committed against children.”
 
The Congolese government periodically orders mass roundups of street
children, justifying their detention on the basis of a colonial-era law
that forbids children from begging. Guilty of nothing more than being
without a home, large groups of children are detained and held in
overcrowded jails, often mixed with adult prisoners. Held for days in
deplorable conditions, these children are usually released without being
charged, and then put back on the street.
 
“Congolese authorities should be assisting homeless children, not throwing
them in jail,” said Tate. “The government should end roundups of street
children and do away with laws that criminalize children for being
homeless.”
 
In an alarming trend, an increasing number of children are being accused
of sorcery, even though such accusations are specifically prohibited by
Congo’s new constitution. Orphans or children living with step-parents are
particularly vulnerable to accusations, made by their surviving relatives,
that they are sorcerers responsible for the family’s misfortunes. Accused
children are often neglected, abused, and thrown out of their homes.
 
Agencies that work with children in Kinshasa estimate that as many as 70
percent of the city’s street children had been accused of sorcery before
they ended up on the street.
 
Specialized pastors or prophets from “churches of revival” perform
ceremonies to rid children of their sorcery. In many such churches, dozens
of children can be held for days at a time, with food and water denied. In
the worst cases, children are whipped, beaten or given purgatives until
they confess to sorcery. Even after the process is concluded, however,
children can be subjected to further abuse at home, and ultimately
abandonment.
 
“Congo’s new constitution expressly prohibits accusing children of
sorcery,” said Tate. “Congolese authorities must take action against
adults who mistreat children.”
 
Children affected by HIV/AIDS are particularly susceptible to accusations
of sorcery. In the belief that HIV can be transmitted through sorcery,
family members sometimes blame children for causing the death of their
parents from AIDS. Already AIDS orphans, these children become double
victims of the epidemic. National HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns must
educate the Congolese public about the causes of HIV/AIDS and refute the
view that it can be transmitted through sorcery.
 
Testimonies from the report: 
 
“Our worry is this, what will become of these kids tomorrow?
Thousands of children living on the streets with no supervision, no
education, no love or care, accustomed to daily violence and abuse.
What future for these children and for our country?” 
– Street child educator in Lubumbashi 
 
“Life is hard here in the streets, we are all the time harassed by
the military. They come at night, any time after 10:00 p.m. They beat
us with their hands or kick us with their boots. They regularly
demand money or items they can sell... only those who run away and
don’t get caught are safe. If we have worked all day for 100 francs
they can even take that.” 
– Emmanuel, 14-year-old street boy in Goma 
 
“A few kids were stealing from the market, and the police arrested a
whole group of street kids in the area. We were more than 20 kids in
one small room at the lockup. We were whipped with a plastic cord on
the buttocks. The kids would cry and scream. My friends paid the
police 400 francs to make them stop, I was released that day.” 
– Rebecca, 17-year-old street girl in Goma 
 
“Sometimes men come and take me by force and afterwards, leave me no
money. That happens often... I started this work when I was 10 years
old. It is not a good life. I would rather go somewhere else and
study.” 
– Amelie, 15-year-old street girl in Lubumbashi 
 
“I began spending more and more time away from the house at the
compound of a church nearby. My brother found me there one day and
beat me severely with his fists, telling me to leave the
neighborhood. The pastor there told my brother to stop the beating,
but seemed to believe him that I was a sorcerer and made me leave the
church. I had no choice but to go to the streets.” 
– Albert, a 10-year-old former street boy in Mbuji-Mayi 
 
“We were not allowed to eat or drink for three days [either at church
or at home]. On the fourth day, the prophet held our hands over a
candle, to get us to confess.” 
– Brian, 12, street child accused of sorcery in Kinshasa 
 
“Child sorcerers have the power to transmit any disease, including
AIDS, to their family members. AIDS is a mysterious disease that is
used as a weapon by those who practice witchcraft.” 
– Prophet who specializes in child sorcery at a revival church in
Mbuji-Mayi

Human Rights Watch Press release