Western Black Rhino Extinct Ber of Catholics

19072 – Africa Research Bulletin Social and Cultural girls in the orpaillage communities (usu- Child trafficking is also a problem: ally Ghanaian or Togolese) may have moving children across borders into Religion come with a person who promised them forced begging and other activities is work in a petty trade. Once at the min- still prevalent, though it has declined in Papal ‘‘Pledge for Africa’’ ing site, however, many of these foreign recent years. Pope Benedict XVI ended his second trip girls are abandoned and turn to prosti- ITUC calls on both governments to to Africa on November 20th with a mass tution in order to survive. more rigorously impose child labour for tens of thousands in the voodoo Virtually all gold-mining communities laws and penalize individuals and orga- heartland of Benin and by issuing a grand vision for his Church’s future on in the Sahel are in remote, exceedingly nizations that do not comply, while rec- the continent. poor rural areas. They are rough places ognizing that capacity in ministries without sanitation, health services and remains very low. For the Sunday mass, some 50,000 people filled a stadium in Cotonou, the eco- regular access to clean water. These Child labour is commonplace in poor unorganized and usually temporary set- nomic capital of Benin, a country rural societies in West Africa, as it is a considered both a heartland of voodoo tlements have virtually no public facili- way of training children and assuring and a bastion of Catholicism and where ties. Schools, if they exist, are many the two religions often mix. Officials esti- (rimmrights.org) them jobs in the future. In Guinea, for kilometres away. example, ‘‘fostering’’ or giving a child mated another 30,000 people watched to a family as an apprentice, is consid- from outside the stadium, with the ser- Legislation Failure vice projected on to giant screens. ered beneficial to the child. The law does not necessarily make The previous day, the Pope had signed As Olivier Feneyrol, regional adviser off on a roadmap for the Roman Catho- much difference when it comes to child for NGO Terre des Hommes in West labour in Guinea and Mauritania, lic Church in Africa at a basilica in the Africa once put it to IRIN: ‘‘Children city of Ouidah, a centre of voodoo. The where the worst forms of child labour have been moving around the region document, an apostolic exhortation persist despite it being banned by law, for centuries and working just as long. called ‘‘The Pledge for Africa’’ contain- leading child protection experts to call That is the cultural reality here.’’ ing conclusions from a 2009 synod of for a better understanding of the African bishops, includes peace, reconcil- dynamics behind it. ‘‘The debate on this issue is conten- iation and justice as its main message. tious,’’ says Mariama Penda Diallo, He handed the roadmap over to bishops Mauritania: In Mauritania the law pro- head of international relations, solidar- from throughout the continent on the hibits putting children under 14 to ity and humanitarian action at the 20th. work, and penalises those who are Trade Union of Workers of Guinea It calls for good governance and the abo- guilty of exploiting minors. But in real- (USTG), ‘‘because people say that it’s lition of the death penalty while ity, according to a late September better to place the child from an early denouncing abuses, particularly against report by the International Trade age so they can learn how to work,’’ women and children, and describing Unions Federation (ITUC) under-14s she said. AIDS as a mainly ethical problem that continue to be sent to work, including requires a medical response. Changes in some in ‘‘slave-like’’ conditions. Most poor urban families have no behaviour are needed to combat the dis- choice but to send their children to ease, including sexual abstinence and While most of the children are girls work, added Niang in Mauritania. rejection of promiscuity, it adds. working as domestics for families, boys ‘‘With the rural exodus, many families The Catholic Church’s position on AIDS are often forced to beg; or are sent to have settled in slums with their children. and the use of condoms has long been work in the construction industry, on In the absence of public strategies to controversial and carefully scrutinised, buses as money-collectors, or in criminal look after them, poor parents have no particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, home gangs. They are also forced to beg by to nearly 70% of the world’s HIV cases. alternative but to send their children to Benedict singled out those suffering with Koranic teachers who are supposedly work.’’ giving them a religious education - as is AIDS or other illnesses during Sunday’s the case with hundreds of thousands of For the ITUC the priorities are clear: it mass, expressing solidarity with them. children across West Africa. In rural recommends investigating instances of The pope’s visit to the country was heavy areas, boys work in the fields or herd children being forced into work to pay in symbolism, in a region that served as animals. for their religious education; more a major slave-trading centre and coming prosecutions of those individuals who 150 years after what is considered the Domestics work on average 10-hour force children to work; turning the evangelisation of Benin by missionaries. days, while those working as beggars or Mauritania anti-slavery law from the- Slaves departing from Ouidah and else- in agriculture may work as many as 16 where took their traditional voodoo ory into practice; and expanding Gui- hours. Of 265 children interviewed, just beliefs with them and transplanted them nea’s child labour law to include in the Americas. under half said they were beaten by children involved in unpaid, temporary, their bosses. contract work. (UN humanitarian and news Benedict’s visit also occurred with the Roman Catholic Church facing a major A long tradition of slavery complicates analysis service, IRIN 10 ⁄ 10) challenge from evangelical movements the situation. A law was passed in 2007 that have made huge gains on the conti- forbidding slavery but it is not rigor- nent, attracting hundreds of thousands ously enforced. One fifth of the Maurit- CONSERVATION of followers. At the same time, Africa anian population is affected by slavery also has the world’s fastest-growing num- in one form or another, according to a Western Black Rhino Extinct ber of Catholics. (IRIN 20 ⁄ 11) 2009 study by NGO SOS Slavery. Re-educating those who adhere to Guinea: In Guinea, despite legislation irrational beliefs could help save banning work for under-16s, ‘‘children other species. simum cottoni) is currently teetering on carry out dangerous work in farms, in The Western Black Rhino (Diceros bi- the brink of extinction and has been mines and in fisheries.’’ According to cornis longipes) has officially been listed as Possibly Extinct in the Wild. the ITUC, some children in artisanal declared extinct. The subspecies of the mines work 15-hour-days, seven days a White Rhino in central Africa, the ‘‘Human beings are stewards of the week, from age five. Northern White Rhino (Ceratotherium earth and we are responsible for ABC Ó Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2011. November 1st–30th 2011 Africa Research Bulletin – 19073 protecting the species that share our ised to fight the criminal networks in environment,’’ says Simon Stuart, the trade. Disclaimer: The Publisher and Editors Chair of the IUCN Species Survival The South African authorities have cannot be held responsible for errors Commission. ‘‘In the case of both the already arrested 165 people linked to or any consequences arising from the Western Black Rhino and the North- rhino killings in 2011. The most sensa- use of information contained in this ern White Rhino the situation could journal; the views and opinions tional was the July arrest of Chumlong have had very different results if the expressed do not necessarily reflect Lemtongthai, a Thai national whom the suggested conservation measures had those of the Publisher and Editors. been implemented. These measures authorities accuse of using women ille- must be strengthened now, specifically gally trafficked into the country to managing habitats in order to improve smuggle out rhino horn. (Africa-Asia breeding performance, preventing Confidential, October) ‘‘We are very concerned about a grow- other rhinos from fading into extinc- Baby Gorillas Poached tion.’’ ing market for baby gorillas that is feeding a dangerous trafficking activity Several conservation successes have Baby gorilla trafficking in eastern Dem- ocratic Republic of Congo appears to be in rebel controlled areas of eastern already been achieved including the on the rise according to the Congolese DRC,’’ said Virunga National Park Southern White Rhino subspecies (Cer- Warden Emmanuel de Merode at park atotherium simum simum Wildlife Authorities (ICCN) following ), which has the recent rescue of a poached infant headquarters in Rumangabo, north of increased from a population of less gorilla. Goma. ‘‘We are powerless to control than 100 at the end of the 19th century, the international trade in baby gorillas, to an estimated wild population of over This latest incident is the fourth since but our rangers are doing everything 20,000. April; the highest number of baby they can to stamp it out on the Reptiles make up a significant compo- gorillas on record confiscated from ground.’’ (Catholic Information Service for nent of biodiversity, particularly in dry poachers in a single year. Africa, Goma 11 ⁄ 10) land habitats and on islands around the world. In recent years, many more reptile species have been assessed including most of those found in Mada- gascar.

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