Exploitation of children in panhandling : 142 pases Processed in Rabat, Salé and Témara

Some 142 cases relating to the exploitation of children in panhandling were processed in the cities of Rabat, Salé and Témara, announced, Monday in Rabat, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, President of the Public Prosecution Mohamed Abdennabaoui.

Adequate decisions have been taken depending on the case and they vary between handing over the child to his family and admission to a social care establishment, if applicable, said Abdennabaoui during the said plan's steering committee, on the annual review of the pilot experience of the field team active in Rabat, Salé and Témara.

The identity of certain children was verified and included in the civil status registers, in order to enable their schooling, in addition to coordination with the social assistance units under the Entraide nationale to support needy families exploiting their children in begging, underlined the official.

He added that public action has been taken against exploiters of children in begging and several judgments have been handed in this context.

He recalled the role by the Public Prosecutor's Office within the framework of this plan, in close collaboration with the Judicial Police, according to an approach combining severe actions against the accused and the protection of children whom are the victims.

To this end, specialized magistrates were mobilized, as well as social workers and officers of the judicial police (police and Gendarmerie) to fight against this phenomenon, he noted.

The national children protection plan against begging is based on strengthening the child protection system against this type of exploitation, based on the intervention of multidisciplinary field teams in different regions in terms of judicial protection, health care, psychological and social assistance, education and training, as well as monitoring and evaluation.

The plan will be launched first in Rabat, Salé and Témara with the aim of modeling the experience before extending it in a second phase to large cities and different regions of the Kingdom.