Burkina Faso: “In 2023, we received 228 reports of children being away from home,” said Donfoui Bonkian, head of the child protection brigade in the central region.

Lefaso.net: Please introduce the Regional Child Protection Brigade.

Donfoui Bonkian: The Regional Child Protection Brigade is a unit of the Ministry of Security, more precisely of the National Police, and has existed since 2009. It has branches in all 13 regions of Burkina Faso. The BRPE is dedicated exclusively to the protection of vulnerable groups. And who says protection of vulnerable groups means children and women. We are responsible for both judicial and administrative matters. In judicial terms, our jurisdiction is limited to the High Court. Administratively, our area of ​​action extends throughout the Centre region.

Our mission is to protect the vulnerable, that is, to oppose all violence and attacks against vulnerable groups such as children and women.

When it comes to missing children cases, what are the main reasons?

We put this down to the behavior of the parents towards the child; what we call abuse. You agree with me that if the child is well educated by the parents, the child can avoid a lot of problems. Most often, in our investigations and hearings, we learn that the parents are responsible. Some parents do this out of ignorance, while others think it is a way to correct their children. Violence is not only physical, that is, putting hands on the child or in any way. No, it is not like that. There is what we call moral and psychological violence, sexual violence, etc. There is a range of violence that parents inflict on their children without realizing it, which sometimes leads to the child running away from home without the parents knowing. Then they say that the child has been kidnapped without really analyzing their own behavior towards the child at home.

What procedures should parents take when their child goes missing? What are the first places to check? What is the first response?

The procedure to be followed when a child is declared missing or missing is, first of all, to make a declaration. You don’t even need to wait. A declaration to the authorities and the community level. It is necessary to declare to the neighbors and inform them about the child. You sometimes find that the child is not at home, you inform the neighbors and immediately make a declaration to the authorities. By the authorities, I mean the police, the gendarmerie. There are different police stations, different gendarmerie units and regional child protection units. So the first reaction is to report the disappearance.

There is no such place. Once you notice, the first reaction is to check the neighborhood level and make a statement to expand the search area.

When your service is contacted, how long does it take you to intervene?

There is no such time. As soon as we receive a notification of a child’s departure or a child’s departure from home, we immediately listen to the parents who came to report the departure of the child. We are trying to find out in what circumstances this situation occurred. Most of the time, we start to build a research system based on the explanations we receive. Through the explanations we receive most often, we manage to find a lot of things that provide us with research avenues.

How do you find your children?

It all starts with the information provided by the parents who come to report the child’s absence from home. This information enlightens us because most of the time we are told that the child was seen in the morning, the person came to visit him, they sat together, and then we never saw them again. We automatically identify the other child who was with him, we go to his house, we get as much information as possible from his parents. If this child is at home and only your child is not at home, then it is a different matter. But if this child is not at home either, then it is a different matter. We also try to see if there is any telephone contact in order to exploit them. So this is a set of studies.

What difficulties are you facing?

The difficulties we encounter most often have to do with getting the right information so that we can make progress in our investigations. It’s not that there is reluctance, but people are a little difficult because they are hesitant to provide information. I think it’s out of ignorance because people say to themselves “Will the information I bring to the attention of the authorities at some point not harm my interests?” » So it’s information that is a little difficult to get.

Can we provide the latest data on missing children in the Midlands?

At the level of the regional child protection brigade, what we receive most often is usually called a declaration of exit. As soon as a parent discovers that the child is not at home, or the child leaves without giving his or her location, we automatically say that the child is missing. This is where they make a statement to the authorities. Now, when we listen to these statements, we understand a lot of things. Parents come to declare an exit, but considering the age of the child, sometimes the child is simply lost. The parents, out of ignorance, send him on an errand, but when the child returns, he or she is never found again. We come to make a statement. Or in the explanation we understand that the child has suffered violence from his or her parents, so he or she is angry and leaves home.

In our survey data, we have so-called child discharge declarations, as well as missing children who have been found. Regarding the child discharge declarations in our department, in 2021, the number of cases we received was 220. In 2022, we received 243, and in 2023, we received 228.

In the case of missing children, some citizens bring children to our services once they find them on the street. For these cases, in 2021 we received 95 children; in 2022, we received 119 missing children. In 2023, we received 57 children.

In the week of August 17-25, 2024, we found five children on the street and brought them to our service. We also received six reports of children being out. This moved me and I said we need to talk.

When are cases of missing children more common during the year?

I would say during the holidays because during this period, children are no longer in school and most people are free to move around. Many parents have not yet made a schedule of activities for the holidays, so children are left to their own devices. There are also many people who say that in order for their children to become tomorrow, they need something else, so they send their children to do certain activities. Last week, an 8-year-old was found selling towels on the street and was brought to our house. The child could not even give the name of his parents or any contact information. An 8-year-old child was selling towels that his parents gave him. This situation affects everyone. Read more

Hanifa Koussoubé and

Nemata Rombah (Intern)

Lefaso.net