HIBAPRESS – Ahmed Al-Musaed
While the city of Oujda is witnessing waves of severe cold, a worrying phenomenon that raises the displeasure of human rights activists and associative actors returns to the forefront; It is the exploitation of children in begging at traffic signals and in public squares, in a scene described as "the ugliest types of psychological violence" against the youth.
Civil society actors in the city expressed their deep concern about the growing phenomenon of mothers and fathers taking their children to the streets day and night in the midst of the freezing cold to solicit passers-by. One of the associative actors pointed out in a statement that what is happening in the "traffic circles" in Oujda is not just poverty, but a systematic exploitation that deprives the child of warmth, education and dignity. The speaker considered that exposing the child to the freezing cold and pushing him to beg is a "complex violence"; It is physical violence resulting from harsh climatic conditions, and psychological violence that instills in the child's mind the culture of the "lower hand" instead of academic achievement. The exploitation did not stop at the limits of direct begging, but the associative events in Oujda monitored another phenomenon that is no less dangerous, which is the fathers taking their children out of schools and pushing them to sell "installment cigarettes" at certain points on the main streets of the city. These practices do not only end the child's educational path, but put him in direct contact with the world of deviance at an early age. In the face of this situation, civil events launched an appeal to the competent authorities in the city of Oujda, from local authorities and educational directorates, for the necessity of intervention through awareness and sensitization: organizing campaigns targeting families that take begging with children as a source of livelihood; activating the law: punishing the economic exploitation of children and protecting them from homelessness; The educational role: inviting parents' associations to coordinate with the Regional Academy for Education and Training in the Oriental region to reduce school dropout resulting from this phenomenon. Oujda's streets still need a firm approach that goes beyond mere "sympathy", to protect the rights of the child and ensure his dignity away from the sidewalks of exploitation.
