Building paths to peace: Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement
Top: Sarah Karim. Bottom: Sarah Karim discussing a case of child abuse with the FSU’s Officer Commanding, Mrs Sento.
© Rosalind Hanson-Alp / Conciliation Resources
Protecting children
With help from CR, mutual understanding and increased collaboration has developed between BPRM and the police. Clear guidelines were set defining BPRM’s limit within the newly functioning legal system such as non-involvement in criminal cases. The Officer Commanding at the Family Support Unit in the southern province, Mrs Sento, was impressed with BPRM and believes their contribution is valuable “if others would do the same as BPRM, crime would decrease.”
Sarah Karim is one of BPRM’s Petty Traders Union representatives and a peace monitor. In a recent abuse case someone came to Sarah’s house and told her of a child who had been burned and beaten by her mother. The case was shocking as the seven year old girl was severely burnt on her tongue and mouth for having allegedly ‘bad-mouthed’ her mother. Sarah reported the case to the police and took the girl to hospital where she was treated for third degree burns. The mother was arrested and charged.
BPRM’s Senior Field Officer, Alex Nallo, attended the court hearing working within the formal legal system, as mandated in criminal cases, to advocate for the young girl. The magistrate ruled on six months imprisonment. Sarah brought the little girl into her home where she was nursed for over a month before it was agreed she was fit enough to move in with her grandfather.
The challenges of child protection are vast and Mrs Sento admits that “we have constraints”. Then there are taboos when it comes to talking about child abuse, she says “there are sexual abuse cases that relate to early marriages, but when we make arrests they just say they paid the dowry for the child.” Sarah is helping to bring these cases into the open and continues to work with the Family Support Unit.
