Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from
2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Congo-ROC.htm
The Republic of the
Congo (ROC) is a source country for children trafficked within its borders
for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation, as well
as a destination country for children trafficked from other African countries
for the same purposes. Within the ROC, boys and girls are trafficked from
rural areas, primarily from the Pool Region, to Point
Noire and Brazzaville for forced street vending and domestic servitude. Girls
are trafficked from rural areas primarily to Brazzaville, but also to Pointe
Noire, for commercial sexual exploitation. Transnationally, children are
trafficked from other African countries to Pointe Noire for domestic
servitude, forced market vending and forced labor in the fishing
industry. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here or a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the
Republic of the Congo (ROC). Some of these
links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated
or even false. No attempt has been
made to verify their authenticity or to validate their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular
interest to you. Would you like to
write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Roch Eulonge
N'zobo, Roger Bouka Owoko & Alain Oyandzi, “The
Situation of the Pygmies in the www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/NL%20Summer%202004%20-%20ebook.pdf [accessed 17 July
2013] Related article:: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/extermination-of-the-pygmies-552332.html [accessed 26 April
2020] [scroll down] The Rainforest
Foundation is urgently calling for justice, and recognition of the rights of
the 'Pygmy' people, with the release of a report exposing alarming human
rights violations suffered by 'Pygmies' in the Republic of Congo. Beatings, rape,
'slavery' and discrimination were documented in the report based on
investigations by our partners, the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights
(OCDH). The report, published by the Rainforest Foundation, reveals cases of
collective rapes, police brutality, and appalling health, housing and education
systems. Very few 'Pygmies' have basic civil rights and most lack national
identity cards. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Republic of the Congo ROC U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/republic-of-the-congo/
[accessed 30 May
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Forced labor,
including forced child labor, occurred (see section 7.c.), including in
agriculture, domestic service, and market vending. In previous years NGOs in Bambama, Sibiti, and Dolisie reported the majority Bantu population forced
adult indigenous persons to harvest manioc and other crops with limited or no
pay and under the threat of physical abuse or death. Some reports suggested
that hereditary servitude was taking place. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Child labor was a
problem, particularly in the informal sector. Internal child trafficking
brought children from rural areas to urban centers for forced labor in
domestic work and market vending. Children also engaged in agricultural work
and the catching and smoking of fish. NGOs working with indigenous
communities reported children were forced to work in fields for low or no
wages harvesting manioc under the threat of physical abuse or death. Children
from West Africa worked in forced domestic servitude for West African
families in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. Children also engaged in the worst
forms of child labor, including in commercial sexual exploitation and forced
recruitment for armed conflict. Freedom House Country
Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/republic-congo/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 26 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Congo is a source
and destination country for human trafficking, and allegations of complicity
have been lodged against government officials. However, the US State
Department reported in its 2019 Trafficking in Persons report that
authorities had taken some efforts to address the problem, including
assisting victims and increasing training for police. According to local
NGOs, members of minority groups have been conscripted into forced farm labor
by members of the Bantu ethnic majority. Child labor laws are reportedly not
effectively enforced. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 17 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 26 April
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 318] Within ROC,
internal child trafficking brings children from rural areas to urban centers
for forced labor in domestic work. The majority of foreign children subject
to forced domestic work or commercial sexual exploitation in ROC originate
from Benin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as other West
African nations. (1; 14; 15; 16; 3; 13) A 2015 report funded by the UN Office
on Drugs and Crime found that most victims of commercial sexual exploitation
as a result of child trafficking were between the ages of 9 and 11 years old.
(13) However, information on children’s work is limited because there has
never been a national child labor survey or similar research conducted in
ROC. (4). A Study on Human
Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation within th Gulf
of Guinea countries James Okolie-Osemene PhD, Department of International Relations
and the Director of Research and Linkage Programme,
Wellspring University, Nigeria [Long URL] [accessed 14
February 2022] The objectives of
this study are to situate and examine the context, nature and networks of
human trafficking for sexual exploitation around the Gulf of Guinea in order
to identify the intersection between the sources, transit and destinations of
the illicit trade, interrogate the human rights implications of human
trafficking for sexual exploitation around the countries of the Gulf of
Guinea on the one hand, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats to the anti-trafficking activities on the other hand. The Situation of
the Pygmies in the Republic of Congo [PDF] OCDH - Observatoire Congolais des
Droits de l'Homme, July 2004 www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/OCDH%20Rpt%201%20%28English%29%20v.2.pdf [accessed 30 January
2011] [pages 19 & 20] 4.4. WORKING CONDITIONS THAT RESEMBLE
MODERN SLAVERY
– The work the Pygmies carry out for the Bantu in Ngoua
II resembles forced labour. They put a great deal
of effort into what is hard and often badly paid work. A day's work on a
Bantu farm pays between 500 and 1,000 F.CFA, (50p to £1), according to the
employer's whim. No consideration is made of the effort made. On 30 June 2003,
OCDH members traveled with a Pygmy, Mr. Ingouma,
who had been requisitioned by a Bantu to carry a sack of groundnuts weighing over
80 kgs a distance of more than 50 kms from Ngoua II. In return,
the Bantu gave him a bottle of palm wine valued at 250 F.CFA (25p). Like the Bantu, the
Pygmies who work at Man Fai Tai, the main logging company in the area,
confirm that they are treated 'like slaves' by the Malaysians who run the
company The Pygmies of Kabo regularly incur debts with the Bantu. And, by
lending them money, these Bantu are creating the conditions that force the
Pygmies into coming back for another loan. The practice thus becomes
entrenched and is, in fact, a form of 'debtslavery'
for the salaried Pygmies. At the end of the month, unable to read or write,
they have to pay off amounts established according to the word of their Bantu
creditors. When they cannot pay all their debts, these creditors take them to
courts that issue orders to stop and seize the debtor Pygmies' salaries. Xinhua News Agency,
June 21, 2007 english.people.com.cn/200706/21/eng20070621_386239.html [accessed 30 January
2011] "We can affirm
today that human trafficking targeting children exists indeed in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 29 September 2006 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/congo2006.html [accessed 30 January
2011] [79] While noting with
appreciation the ratification by the State party of relevant ILO Conventions,
as well as the adoption of an appropriate legislative framework, the
Committee is concerned at the lack of data on the issue of economic
exploitation of children. The Committee is also concerned at information
according to which children, in particular indigenous children, are exploited
economically. Finally, the Committee is concerned at reports that children,
in particular from the Democratic Republic of Congo and indigenous children,
are recruited to clean sewers and latrines manually, which is extremely
hazardous to their health. [81] While welcoming
the study on the sexual exploitation of children which is being conducted
with UNICEF’s support, the Committee expresses concern at sexual harassment
in schools. It is also concerned at the fact that sexual exploitation of
children is a widespread practice. The Committee is also concerned at the
fact that the Portella Law prohibiting the presence
of children in bars and night clubs is not enforced. [83] While noting that
the State party has ratified the Convention for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others on
25 August 1977, the Committee is concerned at the absence of legislation
prohibiting trafficking in persons, particularly children. The Protection
Project - Republic of the The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/congor.doc [Last accessed 2009] FACTORS THAT
CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Poverty, a lack of education, a
lack of opportunity, gender inequality, and civil unrest are some of the
major factors that contribute to the trafficking infrastructure in the
Republic of the FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Evidence
suggests that hundreds of children from the Republic of the ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/republic-congo/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 26 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Congo is a source
and destination country for human trafficking. Anti-trafficking legislation
languished in parliament and allegations of complicity in trafficking by
government officials did not lead to prosecutions in 2017. According to local
NGOs, indigenous people are often conscripted into forced farm labor by
members of the Bantu ethnic majority. Child labor laws are reportedly not
effectively enforced. 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/af/276989.htm
[accessed 20 March
2019] www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/republic-of-the-congo/ [accessed 25 June
2019] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR The indigenous
population was especially vulnerable to forced labor in the agricultural
sector. On July 29, a human rights NGO reported that
the majority population, called Bantus, often forced indigenous persons to
harvest manioc and other crops without pay and under the threat of physical
abuse or death. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Although there are
laws and policies designed to protect children from exploitation in the
workplace, child labor was a problem in the informal sector. Children,
including children from Benin and the DRC, were subjected to domestic
servitude, market vending, and forced agricultural and fishing work. Child
victims experienced harsh treatment, long work hours, and almost no access to
education or health services. Additionally, they received little or no
remuneration for their work. There were no official government statistics on
general child labor. Children as young
as six, especially indigenous children in rural areas, often worked long
hours in the fields harvesting cassava and carrying heavy loads of firewood.
A local authority reported that this was culturally acceptable, although not
officially legal. Human Rights
Reports » 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78729.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] TRAFFICKING IN
PERSONS
– The law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, and there
were unconfirmed reports of trafficking of children by West African
immigrants living in the country. Trafficking could be prosecuted under
existing laws against slavery, prostitution, rape, illegal immigration,
forced labor, and regulations regarding employer employee relations; however,
there were no known cases of the government prosecuting any trafficker under
these laws. The ministries of security, labor, and social affairs, as well as
the gendarmerie, have responsibility for trafficking issues. There were
unconfirmed reports that the country was a country of destination for trafficked
persons. It was not known to be a country of transit or origin. There were
unconfirmed reports that minor relatives of immigrants from The Department of Labor’s 2006 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/PDF/2006OCFTreport.pdf [accessed 2 November
2010] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE AND NATURE
OF CHILD LABOR
- Children work with their families on farms or in informal business
activities. In Brazzaville and other urban centers, there are significant
numbers of street children, primarily from the neighboring All
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ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery – Congo
ROC", http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Congo-ROC.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
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