Human Trafficking in [Chad Street Children in [Chad] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Chad] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Chad [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Chad is a source, transit, and destination
country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and
commercial sexual exploitation. The majority of children are trafficked
within Chad for involuntary domestic servitude, forced cattle herding, forced
begging, forced labor in petty commerce or the fishing industry, or for
commercial sexual exploitation. To a lesser extent, Chadian children are also
trafficked to Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Nigeria for cattle
herding. Children may also be trafficked from Cameroon and the Central
African Republic to Chad’s oil producing regions for sexual exploitation.
Chadian rebels recruit children into the armed forces. In the last year, the
Chadian National Army (CNA) also conscripted
children. While the government appeared to have discontinued this practice in
May 2007, more recent reports indicate that soldiers from the CNA continue to recruit children, as well as men, by
force. Due to the volatile security situation in the country, however,
information to confirm these reports has been difficult to obtain. During the
year, Sudanese children in refugee camps in eastern Chad were forcibly
recruited into armed forces by rebel groups, some of which are backed by the
Chadian government. A high profile case during the last year of French NGO
personnel attempting to unlawfully fly 103 children of Chadian and Sudanese
origin to France was most likely a fraudulent adoption scheme rather than
child trafficking. Reports indicate that these children were likely destined
for illegal adoption in France rather than for forced labor or commercial
sexual exploitation. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June,
2008 [full country report] |
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** Protection Project - Chad [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Children from Chad in Cameroon
are paid as little as 3,000 CFA francs per month and required work as much as
18 hours a day. They are undernourished and sometimes sexually abused. In early 2003, a Chadian girl who had been
trafficked to Nigeria 10 years before at the age of 9 managed to escape. She
had been forced into prostitution during her captivity. She reported that
other Chadian girls were living under similar circumstances in Nigeria, and
that the main clients for the trafficked victims were French legionnaires. Chadian children trafficked to the
Central African Republic are forced into bonded labor. During the dry season,
nomadic cattlemen from northern Cameroon and central Chad traffic boys to the
Central African Republic. The herdsmen approach parents either directly or
through middlemen. Children are trafficked internally
within the country. One farmer in the south of Chad sold his 9-year-old
daughter as a domestic servant to a ministerial representative. The girl
managed to escape. Young girls known as tallanis, who sell foodstuffs on city streets, are
sometimes kidnapped for occult practices or sexual exploitation or both.
Also, poor families from rural areas send their children to live with
relatives or friends in the city so that the children may be educated. Often
the girls are financially or sexually exploited. Girls are also brought from
the countryside to work in drinking establishments, where clients sexually
exploited them. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are reports of child trafficking in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - Several human rights
organizations reported on the problem of the mahadjir
children who attended certain Islamic schools and were forced by their
teachers to beg for food and money. There was no reliable estimate of the
number of mahadjir children. During the year the
High Islamic Council held a public meeting with imams from around the country
to discuss the treatment of children under Islam. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Although
the law prohibits trafficking in persons, persons were trafficked within the
country. Children were trafficked for forced labor, primarily as herders or
domestic workers (see section 6.d.). A 2004 NGO survey of 500 child herders
who had been returned to their parents indicated that there may have been
between 1,500 and 2 thousand children between 6 and 17 years of age who had
been trafficked as child herders. Local authorities, religious groups, and
NGOs rescued 256 children in 2004-05. The government arrested
traffickers during the year. In May a citizen was arrested in SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
There were cases in some southern regions in which families sold their
children. In some areas local authorities fined parents caught selling their
children into forced labor. To avoid detection, some families worked with
intermediaries to pass children from families to the farm owners. During the year there were reports
that in the southern part of the country families contracted out their
children to Arab nomadic herders to help care for their animals, and the children
often were abused and returned with little financial compensation for their
work. There were also credible reports
that children were forced into slavery. According to a 2004 UN news service
report, aid workers in the country estimated that families have sold as many
as two thousand children--some as young as eight--into a system of slavery in
which they worked as child cattle herders. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1999 [35] While taking note of the
existing awareness and political will regarding the problems caused by the
involvement of children in armed conflict, the Committee remains seriously
concerned about the lack of resources available to support the rehabilitation
and social reintegration of demobilized child soldiers. The Committee is
particularly concerned about the situation of traumatized or permanently
disabled former child soldiers and their lack of access to compensation or
other support services. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure
the enforcement of its legislation banning the recruitment of children under
18 years. It also encourages the redoubling of efforts to allocate the
necessary resources, if necessary with international assistance, to the
rehabilitation and social reintegration of former child soldiers, and in
particular to provide compensation and support services to traumatized or
permanently disabled former child soldiers Chad:
Legal Framework a Hindrance in 'Child-Trafficking' Case Six members of the group -
arrested on 25 October - have been charged with abducting minors for the
purpose of changing their civil status (giving them new parents), a crime
that carries a penalty of five to 20 years of forced labour. Although the information has not
yet been verified, there is speculation in this case that the children were
willingly handed over, in which case abduction would be difficult to prove, Ndiaye said.
Trafficking legislation usually encompasses the illegal recruitment of
children from "vulnerable" parents, who may agree to give up their
children because they cannot care for them, he said. A conviction in child trafficking also
allows authorities to seize any assets used in the commission of the crime, Ndiaye said, which can deter future incidences. Protection Project - Chad [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Children from Chad in Cameroon
are paid as little as 3,000 CFA francs per month and required work as much as
18 hours a day. They are undernourished and sometimes sexually abused. In early 2003, a Chadian girl who had been
trafficked to Nigeria 10 years before at the age of 9 managed to escape. She
had been forced into prostitution during her captivity. She reported that
other Chadian girls were living under similar circumstances in Nigeria, and
that the main clients for the trafficked victims were French legionnaires. Chadian children trafficked to the
Central African Republic are forced into bonded labor. During the dry season,
nomadic cattlemen from northern Cameroon and central Chad traffic boys to the
Central African Republic. The herdsmen approach parents either directly or
through middlemen. Children are trafficked internally
within the country. One farmer in the south of Chad sold his 9-year-old
daughter as a domestic servant to a ministerial representative. The girl
managed to escape. Young girls known as tallanis, who sell foodstuffs on city streets, are
sometimes kidnapped for occult practices or sexual exploitation or both.
Also, poor families from rural areas send their children to live with
relatives or friends in the city so that the children may be educated. Often
the girls are financially or sexually exploited. Girls are also brought from
the countryside to work in drinking establishments, where clients sexually
exploited them. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Chad Street Children in [Chad] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Chad] [other countries]