Time for Change: A Call for Urgent Action to End the Forced Child Begging of Talibes in Senegal

Summary

This report outlines the situation of the talibé children in Senegal. Talibé children, some as young as five years old, are a common sight in Senegal’s urban centres. Unlike other street children, talibés are almost exclusively boys, who study in Koranic schools (daaras) under Quranic teachers and/or marabouts.

Most Quranic masters do not charge students for their studies, meals or accommodation. Instead, they force the children to spend an average of five hours a day begging in the street for their food and keep, on top of time spent learning the Koran by rote. Forced child begging constitutes a gross violation of children’s rights. The sheer and evident scale of the talibé problem in Senegal should put tackling the problem once and for all firmly at the top of the Government’s agenda.