It is alarming that children as young as 10 years old in Lautoka have been found engaging in harmful substance abuse.
Fiji Council of Social Services executive director Vani Catanasiga highlighted this during a workshop on Trafficking in Persons facilitated by the Pacific Islands News Association and The Asia Foundation this week in Suva.
Many children, she explained, are involved in substance abuse in the Sugar City and are “at high risk of being involved in trafficking and sometimes caught in a precarious cycle of exploitation and abuse.”
This serious concern needs urgent attention.
Questions will be raised about how this alarming situation has been allowed to develop.
There is also the issue of response and how to address these challenges.
Now, with this revelation, there is a need to empower children from a very young age.
This is the age when children are vulnerable and heavily influenced by the actions of others, often succumbing to peer pressure.
We ask, where are their parents and guardians? Where are those responsible for them? What has been done to involve them and address this concern?
Ms. Catanasiga mentioned that syringes believed to be used for drugs are found on the streets of Lautoka almost every morning. This is another serious issue.
“We had an Australian volunteer who took photos of syringes on her way to work from her flat to our office,” she said.
She also spoke about marijuana cultivation, insisting it was prevalent in farming communities and involved high school dropouts. She linked the high dropout rate to youths being pushed into farming.
“Some youths graduate from drug use to drug trafficking because they’re working the land,” she explained.
This situation demands urgent action, including community-based programs that educate and support children, initiatives that engage families, and policies addressing socio-economic factors contributing to these challenges.
Swift and decisive action is needed.
The Government needs to be engaged, and civil society groups must take an active role.
The issues raised here should remind us of the importance of comprehensive action.
We need to create awareness about the dangers of drug abuse and implement strategies to empower our children, address contributing factors, and change mindsets.
Ms. Catanasiga has highlighted a critical issue that demands action.