Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Monrovia (Fides Service)- “The question of orphanages must be considered with the general situation of the country still struggling with the consequences of civil war” says Fr. Mauro Armanino of the Society for African Missions in Monrovia, after Liberia’s National Observatory for the Defence of Children’s Rights issued a report on poor conditions in the country’s orphanages. The report was picked up by IRIN Integrated Regional Information Network of the United Nations. The National Observatory for the Defence of Children’s Rights is made up of representatives of local and international NGOs, civil society and various government ministries.
“War robbed many children of their parents” the missionary said. “So numerous structures were opened, many reliable, others less. Unfortunately opening a Home for Children can also be a way of making ends meet since an orphanage attracts aid from other countries or international humanitarian organisations”.
“The government did order an inspection of orphanage conditions and type of treatment and as a result several structures were closed, while others were given permission to carry on” said Fr. Mauro
In January the human rights section of the UN mission in Liberia MINUL expressed concern for alarming conditions of living and hygiene seen in orphanages. In one of Monrovia’s Children’s Home UN inspectors found 7 children sleeping on the floor in a building with no sanitation whatsoever. In all MINUL reported 78 orphanages for keeping 5,000 children in “deplorable conditions”.
The National Observatory for the Defence of Children’s Rights also denounced trafficking of children to the West in its report. “Everyone in Liberia knows that extremely poor families will give a child for adoption by western families in exchange for even a small sum of money” said Fr. Mauro.
“This situation, the result of years of impoverishment and civil war, will change only when there is real development so families can keep and care for all their children” the missionary concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/3/2006 righe 36 parole 393)
