An uproar in Tunisia.. A government institute accused of exploiting children in hunting scorpions
Scorpions Emoji – iStock
Al Arabiya.net – Monia Ghanmi
Posted on: August 10, 2023: 02:26 AM GST Last updated: August 10, 2023: 07:35 AM GST
The International Organization for the Protection of Mediterranean Children sparked widespread controversy in Tunisia, after accusing the government Pasteur Institute of the Ministry of Health of exploiting children in hunting poisonous scorpions to benefit from them.
In a statement on Wednesday, the organization stated that it is following with great concern the spread of a phenomenon in the Tunisian countryside, which is represented by the willingness of a large number of children to risk their lives by hunting poisonous scorpions under the scorching sun and in the darkness of the night without the slightest protection mechanisms.
She also explained that the hunting operations are carried out for the benefit of “brokers” who market them at double the price for the benefit of the Pasteur Governmental Institute, thus becoming an accomplice in this crime committed against these minors.
immediate intervention
The organization denounced this phenomenon, calling on the local, regional and national authorities to intervene immediately to prevent this “deadly activity and criminality committed against the children of Tunisia,” and called on the Ministry of Health to “give immediate instructions to the Pasteur Institute to stop accepting these scorpions from brokers and to launch a safe national program to benefit from these Scorpions in vaccines and medicines, away from children.
In his response to these accusations, the Director General of the Pasteur Institute, Al-Hashemi Al-Wazir, denied in a statement to the official news agency “the accusations that the institute is the one that assigned children to hunt scorpions,” saying that “the institute has not acquired scorpions or snakes for more than a year, And that its stock is sufficient to manufacture anti-venom vaccines for scorpion and snake bites.”
He added that “3 years ago, the institute took over the acquisition of scorpions and snakes through an organized company with conditions book, and after that it became clear that the services were not good, so the contract was terminated two years after it was signed, and no purchases were made after that.”
Scorpions and snakes
He continued, “The booklet of conditions regulates buying and selling operations, and that the institute has nothing to do with child labor, and has no knowledge of that.”
Hunting poisonous scorpions is a common phenomenon in the Tunisian desert and the regions of the south, where they spread due to the record high temperatures, until they have become a source of livelihood and a means of earning money as well as for entertainment and entertainment, as the people hunt them and then sell them to specialized brokers, in order to use them in the manufacture of medicines and treatments.
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2023-08-09 22:26:00
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