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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years
of the 21st Century gvnet.com/childprostitution/Benin.htm
Benin is a source, transit,
and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for children trafficked for
the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. A UNICEF
study found that in 2006 more than 40,000 children were trafficked to, from,
or through Benin. Ninety-three percent of victims were Beninese and 92
percent were trafficked within the country. Forty-three percent of children
trafficked were subjected to domestic servitude. Of those trafficked
internally, 86 percent were underage girls.
- U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Scale of African slavery revealed BBC News, 23 April, 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652021.stm [accessed 23 January 2011] COMPLICITY - Much of this
trade in children often has the tacit collaboration of the victims' own families
where it is seen not so much as criminal activity but as a way for a large
family to boost its poor income. The story of Joseph
in African "slave ship" highlights
spread of child slavery Trevor Johnson, World Socialist Web Site,
19 April 2001 www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/slav-a19.shtml [accessed 23 January 2011] Although there may
be a superficial resemblance to the African slave trade of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, the driving forces behind this modern form of slavery
are entirely new. The roots of today's slave trade are to be discovered in
the way that capitalism has developed in The conditions of
extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa have attracted transnational
corporations (TNCs), which can profit from ***
ARCHIVES *** 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 - 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
– The traditional practice of vidomegon, in which poor, often rural, families
placed a child in the home of a more wealthy family to avoid the burden the
child represented to the parental family, increasingly involved abuse. While
originally a voluntary arrangement between two families, the child often
faced forced labor, long hours, inadequate food, and sexual exploitation.
Approximately 90 to 95 percent of the children in vidomegon were young girls.
Children were sent from poorer families to Cotonou and then sometimes on to
Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, and the Central African Republic to help in markets and
around the home. The child received living accommodations, while the child's
parents and the urban family that raised the child split the income generated
from the child's activities. Children were trafficked
to According to a 2000
UNICEF study, four distinct forms of trafficking occurred in the country.
"Trafic‑don" was when children were given to a migrant family
member or stranger, who turned them over to another stranger for vocational
training or education. "Trafic‑gage" was a form of indentured
servitude, in which a debt was incurred to transport the child, who was not
allowed to return home until the debt was repaid. "Trafic‑ouvrier"
involved children of ages 6 years to 12 years, who worked as artisans,
construction laborers, or agricultural or domestic workers. This was the most
common variant, estimated to be 75 percent of the total traffic of the three
provinces UNICEF surveyed in 2000. Finally, "trafic‑vente"
was the outright sale of children. 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] [71] While welcoming
the ongoing efforts by the State party to combat child trafficking, including
the new Law on the Suppression of Trafficking in Children, the National
Policy and Strategy on Child Protection, and the National Study on Child
Trafficking, the Committee is concerned at the information that a high number
of children under 18, especially adolescent girls, are still being trafficked
for the purpose of sexual exploitation and domestic labour in other
countries. [67] The Committee is
deeply concerned at the prevalence of child labour among young children under
the age of 14, at the traditional practice of domestic servants or
vidomégons, and at the increased number of children working in the informal
sector. 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] [33] While the
Committee notes the efforts of the State party, it remains concerned at the
increasing incidence of sale and trafficking of children, particularly girls,
and the lack of adequate legal and other measures to prevent and combat this
phenomenon. In the light of article 35 and other related articles of the
Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party review its legal
framework and strengthen law enforcement, and intensify its efforts to raise
awareness in communities, in particular in rural areas. Cooperation with
neighboring countries through bilateral agreements to prevent cross-border
trafficking is strongly encouraged Report by Special Rapporteur [DOC] U.N. Economic and Social Council, Commission
on Human Rights, Fifty ninth session, 6 January 2003 www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/217511d4440fc9d6c1256cda003c3a00/$FILE/G0310090.doc [accessed 23 January 2011] [28] Action to
combat trafficking has been mobilized since the well-publicized case in
April 2001 of the Etireno, a Nigerian-registered ship thought to be
carrying some 200 children from The Protection Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/benin.doc [accessed 2009] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - In September 2003,
a total of 116 Beninese boys between 5 and 17 years old were repatriated from
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 Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 2 Civil Liberties: 2 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/benin [accessed 26 June 2012] Scale of African slavery revealed BBC News, 23 April, 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652021.stm [accessed 23 January 2011] COMPLICITY - Much of this
trade in children often has the tacit collaboration of the victims' own
families where it is seen not so much as criminal activity but as a way for a
large family to boost its poor income. The story of Joseph
in Labour standards violated in Benin, Burkina
Faso, Mali AFROL News, 30 June 2004 [accessed 23 January 2011] Although 74 additional trafficked children
repatriated from UNICEF Press Centre, 16 October 2003 www.unicef.org/media/media_15016.html [accessed 23 January 2011] Another group of 74
trafficked children, between the ages of 4 and 17 years
old, was repatriated to This is the second
repatriation in 2 weeks of Beninese trafficked children coming from According to
Nigerian sources, there might be thousands of Beninese children exploited in In The Northwest: Bully for those combating
worldwide slave trade Joel Connelly, www.seattlepi.com/connelly/144536_joel20.html [accessed 23 January 2011] Human trafficking
remains huge -- about 6,000 children remain at work in Traffickers hold thousands of children,
women in bondage UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
IRIN, www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=47205 [accessed 23 January 2011] Silinu Sogbonsi was
five years old when unknown men seized him as he walked home from school in
Selinu, a little town in the southeast of LABOUR: Toye Olori, Inter Press Service News Agency
IPS, www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20511 [accessed 23 January 2011] The children, all
males and malnourished, were part of the inmates of about seven child-slave
camps discovered in the western Nigerian States of Ogun, Oyo and Osun, in a
major breakthrough by security operatives fighting cross-border crimes,
especially child trafficking and forced child labour. Ship Discovered With Human Cargo Orando Yanquoi, ExpoTimes ( www.diastode.org/Nouvelles/usnews190.html [accessed 23 January 2011] 250 children have
been discovered aboard a ship in the Gabonese port. The children who were
allegedly sold to human traffickers by their parents or guardians were taken
to According to
Zardzo, the children aboard the ship are between the ages of 9,10,and 11, who
are able to help government in the relocation of their parents or
guardians. These children are said to
have hailed from the two West African countries of African "slave ship" highlights
spread of child slavery Trevor Johnson, World Socialist Web Site,
19 April 2001 www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/slav-a19.shtml [accessed 23 January 2011] Although there may
be a superficial resemblance to the African slave trade of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, the driving forces behind this modern form of
slavery are entirely new. The roots of today's slave trade are to be
discovered in the way that capitalism has developed in The conditions of
extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa have attracted transnational
corporations (TNCs), which can profit from Rogue Voyage of a 21st Century African
Slave Ship www.strategypage.com/on_point/20010419.aspx [accessed 23 January 2011] On April 17, the
Etireno limped back into Realists wondered
if an even greater evil had occurred, with the human evidence drowned at sea. Modern Slavery - Human bondage in Africa,
Asia, and the Dominican Republic Ricco Villanueva Siasoco, Infoplease, April
18, 2001 www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html [accessed 23 January 2011] SLAVE TRADING ON
AFRICA'S Sources: "Child Slave Trade in "Fewer skilled emigrants this
year," The Star, August 6, 1997 www.migrationint.com.au/news/hungary/sep_1997-23mn.asp [accessed 23 January 2011] SLAVE CHILDREN - The New York
Times on August 10, 1997 reported that the slave trade in children seems to
be increasing in Central Africa, as well-dressed traders travel to poor rural
areas in All
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