Children's rights in Mali are secured by several laws designed to protect children and provide for their welfare, including an ordinance that provides for regional positions as "child delegates" to safeguard the rights and interests of children. However, as with most legal issues, this is the official account, based on laws that have only a status on paper. There are no provisions for the execution of the laws, and as any visit to any medium-sized town in Mali will show, there are scores of children in the street who live on the verge of starvation and who are often maltreated. Especially the talibe, young boys 'given' to a 'marabout', are subject to all sorts of negligence if not inhuman treatment by their masters. Such 'marabouts' are also in practice above the law—in spite of widespread maltreatment of children by them not a single complaint against them has been made. There is a serious problem here, because hardly any research in this area has been carried out. However, a qualitative study by Jelle Hilven, of the Free University of Brussels, revealed acute deviations from official politics in daily life.
Background
For many years education in Mali was tuition free and, in principle, open to all; however, students were required to provide their own uniforms and supplies. Primary school was compulsory up to the age of 12, but only 56.6 percent of children from seven to 12 years old attended primary school during the 2005–6 school year. Girls' enrollment in school was lower than boys' at all levels due to poverty, cultural tendencies to emphasize boys' education, and early marriages for girls. Other factors affecting school enrollment included distance to the nearest school, lack of transportation, and shortages of teachers and instructional materials. Members of the black Tamachek, or Bellah, community reported that some Tamachek children were denied educational opportunities because their traditional masters would not allow them to attend school. Approximately 11 percent of students attended private Arabic-language schools, or medersas (from مدرسة
Movement
Local women's rights NGOs, such as Action for the Promotion and Development of Women, the Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights, and the Women's and Children's Rights Watch, educated local populations about the negative consequences of underage marriage. The government also helped to enable girls married at an early age to continue in school.
