Find lasting solution to professional beggars, society told

Society has been advised to find a lasting solution to professional beggars owing to their trade not only tarnishing the country?s image but also being a catalyst to child labour. The remarks were made at a ministerial roundtable discussion of a shadow report on the implementation of the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights in Dar es Salaam over the weekend. Contributing on the ills against children and young persons` economic and social exploitation, Tanzania Women and Children Welfare programme coordinator Edda Mariki raised concern over the alarming number of children being used by professional beggars. Mariki said some beggars came with a different child on their begging missions, suggesting that some children were probably hired on regular basis to draw sympathy to passers by to give alms. ?Some beggars come as far away as Kigamboni. There are children who board a boat daily to the city centre simply to beg. Once queried they tend to say their parents sent them to find money for food,? said Mariki. Meanwhile, a representative from the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, Adam Hancy, said Tanzania was overshadowed by Western culture. Contributing to the discussion, Hancy said society ought to learn to discard what it felt was wrong and assimilate what was viewed as right. We should be able to refuse what we feel is immoral, said Hans. For her part, Southern Africa Human Rights NGO Network (SAHARINGON) Tanzania Chapter coordinator Rehema Kerefu called for concerted efforts to stop segregation against the girl child which, she said began from childhood. She said some tribes had set different rites to celebrate the coming of a new baby girl, adding that a boy child was received with a more jovial mood than a girl child. ``We need to address segregation from the grass-roots level up,`` she said. Earlier speaking at the meeting, SAHRINGON Tanzania Chapter chairperson Hellen Kijo-Bisimba said most people were unaware of their rights. Kijo said the shadow report endeavoured to push the government to submit its report to the international committee on social, economic and cultural rights. She said lack of resources should not be used as an excuse for failure to submit the report on time. The shadow report was jointly prepared by the Southern Africa Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRINGON), Tanzania Chapter, and other stakeholders and funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).