SOWC / COTE D’IVOIRE VIOLENCE

In Cote d'Ivoire many children were separated from their parents during the post-electoral violence. Now UNICEF along with its partner ‘Save The Children' are reuniting them with their families. The State of the World's Children (SOWC) report will be launched Monday 27 February in Mexico City, Mexico and in New York City. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:40
• Production Date: 21 February 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE
• MAMS Id: U120221d

Description

STORY: SOWC / COTE D’IVOIRE VIOLENCE
TRT: 2:40
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 28-31 JANUARY 2012, ABIJAN, COTE D’IVOIRE

Shotlist

1. Various shots, Michel writing at desk
2. SOUNDBITE (French) Michel Dogbo, 7 years old:
“I was at home playing, when my friend told me to come with him to give some money to his aunt. So, I went with him, and we went behind the market, then he took me with him all the way to the plateau and left me there alone.”
3. Med shot, Michel crossing bridge
4. Various shots, city centre streets
5. Various shots, Abijan Lifeboat Centre
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Stephan, 14 years old, separated from mother:
“This is a woman with her son, and then, she says to him, no I could never leave you, my son.”
7.Close up, drawing
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Berté Kafiné, Coordinator of Abidjan Lifeboat Centre:
“It’s really ‘every man for himself’, and it’s difficult in an urban environment to look out for your neighbour. It’s really difficult. It’s not like in the village where it happens systematically.”
9. Various shots, Lifeboat centre children in classroom
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Berté Kafiné, Coordinator of Abidjan Lifeboat Centre:
“It is really an advantage where we are situated. Not just because we are close to the Child Protection Brigade, but also just next to the court house who we need to go to register each child that arrives.”
11. Various shots, children in city
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Laeititia Bizza, UNICEF Chief of Child Protection:
“There is an advantage for children living in urban zones, as there are many more services, and they are much more accessible to the population. But the extreme poverty of [migrant] children doesn’t allow them access to these services. Education, for example – there is an enormous pressure on urban schools with a level of schooling that is deteriorating, and even still the poorest, most neglected children don’t have access.”
13. Various shots, children exercising on beach
14. Wide shot, Michel walking to school
15. Med shot, Michel writing on a blackboard

Storyline

Michel was just six years old when he went on the biggest and most frightening adventure of his life. It was four months after Ivory Coast’s contested presidential elections and violence continued to fill the streets of Abidjan, the country’s largest city.

SOUNDBITE (French) Michel Dogbo, seven years old:
“I was at home playing, when my friend told me to come with him to give some money to his aunt. So, I went with him and we went behind the market, then he took me with him all the way to the plateau and left me there alone.”

Michel had followed his friend for seven kilometres on foot right into the centre where he was left alone.

Because of the violence, people stayed indoors for weeks at a time and neighbours grew suspicious of each other.

During this time the Abidjan Lifeboat Centre took in over 50 children who were separated from their parents, needing shelter from violence at home or on the street.

SOUNDBITE (French) Stephan, 14 years old, separated from mother:
“This is a woman with her son, and then, she says to him, no I could never leave you, my son.”

SOUNDBITE (French) Berté Kafiné, Coordinator of Abidjan Lifeboat Centre:
“It’s really ‘every man for himself, and it’s difficult in an urban environment to look out for your neighbour. It’s really difficult. It’s not like in the village where it happens systematically.”

It was in a centre like Lifeboat that young Michel passed the next seven months.

While he made friends and studied social workers looked for his family.

SOUNDBITE (French) BertéKafiné, Coordinator of Abidjan Lifeboat Centre:
“It is really an advantage where we are situated. Not just because we are close to the Child Protection Brigade, but also just next to the court house who we need to go to register each child that arrives.”

Also working with these essential state services, UNICEF partner Save the Children found Michel’s mother in Yopougon, one of the city’s largest slums.

Unlike Michel, many children come to the city alone looking for work or an education. Once here, they often find themselves living in overcrowded, deplorable conditions, with no parental protection.

SOUNDBITE (French) Laeititia Bizza, UNICEF Chief of Child Protection:
“There is an advantage for children living in urban zones, as there are many more services, and they are much more accessible to the population. But the extreme poverty of [migrant] children doesn’t allow them access to these services. Education, for example – there is an enormous pressure on urban schools with a level of schooling that is deteriorating, and even still the poorest, most neglected children don’t have access.”

Each year hundreds of children take refuge in Abidjan’s transit centres for separated, abused or orphaned children. Thanks to the safe spaces provided by UNICEF partners like Lifeboat, these children can continue to be protected and have access to social services.

Today, Michel has returned to his family, healthy and happy. School is now his most exciting destination and reading and writing his newest adventure.