Bare feet and dressed in clothes that look to be worn for two to three days without a wash. These are how some of the children selling items at various locations look like.

A lack of hygiene is also visible along with scars of skin ailments. That is the condition of most of the children who are out selling. Yes, you do feel pity and then there is the allure of their innocence. These are manipulations used by their parents to force a sale.

Now, if there is not a sale, there is begging for that one tala so the child can buy a meal. To put it simply, the exploitation of children is rife. The United States Department of Labour blatantly said there is evidence that children in Samoa are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, including in the production and trafficking of drugs.

The report noted children also engage in dangerous tasks in street work, including begging and vending. Samoa lacks laws that prohibit using, procuring, or offering children for illicit activities, including the production and trafficking of drugs.

This year the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development had prepared a draft Child Care and Protection Bill. Included in that draft are laws designed to put an end to children selling items on the streets.

According to a draft law to protect children, any person allowing or forcing a child to sell goods on the streets could face up to five years in jail.

Locally, it is mostly parents who subject their children to selling goods. It is a picture in most busy places where parents sit in the corner while their children run up to people begging them to buy items which can be bought almost anywhere.

Children as young as five-years-old have been observed doing this.

According to the draft copy of the CCP Bill obtained by the Samoa Observer, a person must not allow a child under the age of 16 years to sell goods on the streets or in any public place, at any time of the day.

It also states that a person must not sell or provide goods to a child under the age of 16 for the sale of goods by the child on a street or in another public place.

The offence stated under the draft law suggests a five-year maximum jail time.

But can a law change what is happening? The root cause of the problem, why more and more children are selling things on the streets needs to be addressed. It is poverty and access to education. With the cost of living increasing, poverty is slowly increasing.

Its impacts are evident daily. How do we get rid of poverty? Making education free is one way of attaining it but that is a long-term approach, but a needed one. This is one easy way of getting children off the streets and into schools.

There also needs to be a system of social benefits delivered through schools such as free bus fares and lunch initiatives.

It is understood that the government is a signatory to a great many conventions including the protection of children. We hope that the purpose of the draft bill is not just to satisfy what we have agreed on in the convention.

There is a habit of drafting laws and passing them but there is no enforcement. A good example is the compulsory education law. Children are still not in school mostly because they cannot afford school.

The litter law is also an example of a redundant law. There needs to be a genuine motive behind the law to protect children. There should be a push to get it done and table it in parliament.

The truth is that we need to protect our children and a law that does that is more than welcome. Exploitation of children happens daily and we need to put an end to it. The children need to be in school and education needs to be affordable, it needs to be free.

Where are the leaders of the people who have been mandated through elections to protect the nation, its children and its economy? This is the time to show leadership at all levels.