CHILDREN EMPOWERED WITH CHILD TRAFFICKING KNOWLEDGE

Children and women in Lilisiana and Kilusakwalo in Auki, Malaita Province are being empowered with training on commercial exploitation on children and child trafficking.

The training is conducted by trainers from a Fiji-based organisation called ‘Homes of Hope’ with a vision to create a new culture where women and children are free from sexual abuse and stigma of forced sex.

In an interview with SIBC News today, Eroni Toutou says his team is here to empower children, women and communities to combat commercial exploitation of children and child sex trafficking.

“As part of our work, we have this manual or took kit called “Samsa” for children and “Brave Heart” for youths, where this is particularly designed to combat and equip children to combat commercial sexual exploitation and child trafficking in the Solomons”.

SIBC News understands the team from Homes of Hope Organization will also train Honiara City Council teachers this Friday.

Meanwhile, the Homes of Hope trainer says children must know that trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation is here in Solomon Islands.

Eroni Toutou says it is sad to learn some communities in Solomon Islands encourage commercial child exploitation through traditional customs which believes it is right to sell children and use them sexually to gain profit.

“And it is very sad that we have learned that some of our communities are encouraging this, through some of our traditional customs that we believe that it is always right, but in terms of  trafficking, we are not allowed to tell our young daughters, our young sons to anybody, or use them sexually for profit or commercial sexual exploitation”.

Homes of Hope is a Fiji-based organisation and are in Solomon Islands to train communities, especially women and children, about child trafficking and commercial child exploitation.

The organisations will be training selected communities in Malaita, Honiara, and parts of Guadalcanal.