HRW: Senegalese children exploited in Quranic schools

By Kate Thomas Apr 16, 2010, 15:51 GMT

Dakar - Thousands of children at urban Quranic schools in Senegal are being subjected to extreme abuse and slavery-like conditions, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published Thursday.

The report said that at least 50,000 boys, known as talibes, are forced to beg after being sent to residential schools, or daaras, by their parents.

It said that religious teachers, known as marabouts, are using education as a cover for the economic exploitation of male students aged four to 15, who have to meet strict daily quotas of coins, rice and sugar.

'The talibes generally wake at first prayer, around 5am, and from then until when they go to bed, which may be around 11pm, they spend the vast majority of their time on the street begging for money that usually only benefits the marabout,' said HRW's Matthew Wells, who authored the report.

'The long hours on the street place them in an extremely vulnerable position compounded by the lack of food, healthcare and sanitation in the daaras, which leave many constantly malnourished and often sick,' he added. 'In many urban daaras it's clear that religious education is taking a backseat to economic exploitation.'

Ibrahima is a former talibe who ran away last year from a daara in Dakar.

'When I could not bring the quota, the marabout beat me' the 13-year old said. 'He took out the electric cable and we went to the room. I stood there and ... he hit me over and over, generally on the back but at times he missed and hit my head. I still have marks on my back from the beatings.'

HRW said that more than 40 percent of the children they interviewed do not own a pair of shoes. Among them is eight-year-old Adama.

'I begged without shoes on in the heat,' Adama. said. 'It was very difficult. The ground was so hot sometimes. I hurt a lot.'

Other talibes complain about sexual abuse, lack of mosquito nets, overcrowded dormitories and injuries sustained from car accidents while begging.

According to HRW, the children are trafficked from neighbouring countries including Guinea-Bissau, to Senegal, where they are handed over to marabouts who then act as de-facto guardians.

'Most parents are primarily interested in their children obtaining a religious education, but many come from poor villages ... and are often motivated by economic reasons,' Wells said.

He said that in many daaras, the children are discouraged and in some cases forbidden from contacting their parents. Fewer than 10 percent of talibes interviewed for the report had seen their parents since leaving home several months to more than 10 years previously.

HRW is calling for the Senegalese government to stem what it calls 'the growing tide of forced begging'.

The sight of talibes using empty tomato cans as begging bowls is commonplace on the streets of most Senegalese towns, and the country's growing middle class donates to them frequently.

But Quranic education is valued highly in Senegal, a country where 94 percent of people are Muslim.

HRW acknowledges that separating the strands of education and exploitation in people's minds will not be easy.