Human Trafficking in [Benin] [other countries]Street Children in [Benin] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Benin |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In
the early years of the 21st Century
- 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Benin.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The Protection Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/benin.doc [accessed 2009] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - A tradition involving the use of
female slaves, known as trokosi or “wives of the
deity,” is a modern-day form of slavery that originated in the Ewe and Dangme peoples in south and east Ghana, and also in Togo
and Benin. Under this tradition, young virgins are brought to a shrine to
compensate for a crime or transgression committed by their families, perhaps
even generations earlier. The girls live as slaves to the priest. If a girl
dies, the family sends a new one to replace her. The trokosi
work in the household, clean the shrine, and are used as sex slaves. ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Global Monitoring Report on the status of action
against commercial exploitation of children - BENIN [PDF] ECPAT 2005 www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/AF/Global_Monitoring_Report-BENIN.pdf [accessed 6 April 2011] Hardly any statistics or national
studies on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) are
available in A large number of children are
sexually exploited by teachers in return for better grades, particularly in
public schools. The teachers take advantage of their position to pressure
students into sexual acts, and those who refuse receive minor grades
regardless of the quality of their school work and tests. The situation is so
serious that some students have started to act as pimps to get youngsters to
provide sexual services for the teachers. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/benin.htm [accessed 23 January 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - CHILD
LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - It is illegal to prostitute a minor in Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61554.htm [accessed 23 January 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Child
prostitution mainly involved girls whose poor families urged them to become
prostitutes to provide income. Some children were abused sexually by teachers
who sought sex for better grades and lured to exchange sex for money by older
men who acted as their "protectors." Unlike in previous years,
there were no reports of sexual tourism or reports that adult males preferred
young girls because they were viewed as less demanding and less likely to
have HIV/AIDS. NGOs and international organizations organized assistance to
child prostitution victims and worked on prevention programs. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) [DOC] UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 October 2006 [accessed 23 January 2011] [69] The Committee welcomes the inter-ministerial order
penalizing sexual violence in schools, but it expresses its concern at
reports of sexual abuse and exploitation of children and regrets the lack of
information in the State party report on the scope of the problem and
measures taken to combat these practices.
While welcoming the adoption of the Code on Persons and the Family
which sets the legal age for marriage for boys and girls at 18, the Committee
regrets the lack of clarity on the legal minimum age of sexual consent as
there is no provision to this effect in the State party’s domestic
legislation. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 4 June 1999 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/benin1999.html [accessed 23 January 2011] [32] The absence of adequate
information, including disaggregated statistical data, on the situation of
sexual exploitation of children is a matter of concern for the Committee. In
the light of article 34 and other related articles of the Convention, the
Committee recommends that the State party undertake studies with a view to
designing and implementing appropriate policies and measures, including care
and rehabilitation, to prevent and combat the sexual exploitation of
children. It also recommends that the State party reinforce its legislative
framework to fully protect children from all forms of sexual abuse or
exploitation, including within the family. It is also recommended that the State
party consider the ratification of the Convention for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others of
1949. Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation
of the Agenda for Action [DOC] ECPAT International, November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13 September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – The Protection Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/benin.doc [accessed 2009] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - A tradition involving the use of
female slaves, known as trokosi or “wives of the
deity,” is a modern-day form of slavery that originated in the Ewe and Dangme peoples in south and east Ghana, and also in Togo
and Benin. Under this tradition, young virgins are brought to a shrine to
compensate for a crime or transgression committed by their families, perhaps
even generations earlier. The girls live as slaves to the priest. If a girl
dies, the family sends a new one to replace her. The trokosi
work in the household, clean the shrine, and are used as sex slaves. ECPAT: CSEC in ECPAT International Newsletters, Issue No : 34, 1/March/2001 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 13 September 2011] SEX
TOURISM - Child sex tourism
has also been reported in OBSTACLES - There is a paucity of
information on the issue. This is primarily the result of taboos and stigma
attached to CSEC, the underground nature of the phenomenon and the lack of
concrete research on the issue. For example, child abuse and sexual
exploitation of children appear to be realities in ECPAT: Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes ECPAT International Newsletters, Issue No : 33 1/December/2000 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 13 September 2011] WEST
AFRICA - There have also been reports on
the trafficking of children for sexual purposes from Millennium Development Goals in OneWorld Guides At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 13 September 2011] HUMAN
RIGHTS - The major
human rights issues noted for UNICEF Briefing on Trafficking
in Children to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF Press Centre, 6 June
2002 www.unicef.org/media/media_9440.html [accessed 6 April 2011] SOUTH
ASIA - Benin's first
village committees were created in August 1999 in the sub-prefectures of Ze, Dogbo and Agbangnizoun in the south of the country - the area most
affected by child trafficking There are now more than 170 committees carrying
out a range of activities, most of which are believed to have an impact on
trafficking. These Committees raise community awareness, report cases of
sexual or other abuse of children by assigning a Committee who keeps a close
count on the number of children in the village. In addition, the Committee
contacts the police immediately when a child is discovered to be missing, and
monitors the re-integration of children who return to their villages. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - |
Human Trafficking in [Benin] [other countries]Street Children in [Benin] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Benin