~ CHILDREN : TOUGHER LAWS NEEDED ~

[HOUDA-K]

More coercive laws are needed to end sexual abuse of children, declared Najat Anouar, the president of the "Touche pas à mon enfant" association, Monday in Agadir.


Abdelaâli Hadi, the Taroudant serial killer.

In a press conference marking the end of an awareness raising campaign held from May 2 to 5, Anouar called for paedophiles to be given a harder punishment in order to end sexual abuse of children and adapt the punishment to the gravity of their crime.

The campaign, mainly held in the cities of Tiznit, Taroudant, Inezgan and Agadir targeted parents, school-children and charity houses residents. Its main purpose was to end taboos concerning this phenomenon. “Not denunciating such abuse is like being an accomplice,” stressed Anouar.

"Touche pas à mon enfant" (Leave my child alone) held this campaign only a few months after the whole region was shocked by the discovery in Taroudant of the remains of several young boys. Three people had kept silent over the Taroudant serial killer's activities, even if they knew about them.

Anouar added that the next campaign will be launched in the Tangier-Tetuan region, adding that the association is presently considering strengthening its cooperation with various civil society members and specialists so that more children are protected against sexual abuse.

For her part, Najia Adib, the vice-president of the association and the mother of a victim, she stressed the deep bitterness in which her family has been living since her child was attacked, despite the attacker being in jail.

She insisted on the need to be brave in order to deal with the problem and called on all parents of victims not to remain silent.

[Ilyes]

Salam Houda.

This is a much bigger problem than any one country or a group of countries can take on, it needs to at the top of the awareness list of all governments. It's a part of a cycle that will exist as long as people are faced with hunger and poverty. Not every child that ends up a sex-slave (for lack of a better word) is stolen, some are sold by their parents for as little as a chicken.

Over the past year, Thailand has made severe changes to their red light districts to crack down on child prostitution. What has happened is that it's moved to countries such as Brazil and the rest of South America.

My point is, paedophilia has been in existence for a long time and it still is where it's always been - in the closet. In addition to putting paedophiles behind bars, governments need to make sure that their people are fed, clothe and educated. And they need to work together to ensure that crime does not relocate.