Saving Children From Loggers

Maddlyn Maelofa (far right) and young girls in Huahai village in Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS.By Catherine WilsonAUKI, Malaita Province, Solomon Islands, Dec 1 2013 (IPS) Logging is the largest industry in the Solomon Islands, an archipelago located northwest of Fiji, where 80 percent of the islands are covered in tropical rainforest. But, although timber accounts for 60 percent of this South Pacific nation’s export earnings, most local communities have experienced no beneficial development. And when the social costs for those who live in the vicinity of logging camps includes greater inequality, increased alcohol abuse, the undermining of traditional governance and violation of human rights, such as the commercial sexual exploitation of children, there is reason for people to claim that their lives have got worse. Today seven Malaysian logging companies operate near the village of Huahai, home to 500 people in the rural Arekwa region of Malaita Island in Malaita Province. But the community, which has been surrounded by timber extraction for a decade with new operators arriving every year, has had enough.“They invite girls aged 13 to 14 years to the logging camps. Sometimes they say they are going to see movies, but we don’t know what happens,” “The companies are benefitting, but they are destroying our community’s resources,” Maddlyn Maelofa, Mothers Union leader for the Arekwa region, told IPS in Huahai. But Maelofa’...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Asia-Pacific Civil Society Crime & Justice Development & Aid Economy & Trade Editors' Choice Environment Featured Gender Gender Identity Gender Violence Headlines Human Rights Indigenous Rights Labour Natura Source Type: news