Human Trafficking in [Gabon Street Children in [Gabon] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Gabon] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Gabonese Republic (Gabon) [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Gabonese Republic [map], located in W central Africa, is bordered by the Atlantic
Ocean (W), by Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon (N), and by Congo (Brazzaville)
(E & S). Gabon is
predominantly a destination country for children trafficked from other
African countries for the purpose of forced labor. Children are trafficked
primarily by boat to Gabon from Benin, Nigeria, Togo, and Guinea, with
smaller numbers coming from Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon. Girls
are primarily trafficked for domestic servitude, forced market vending,
forced restaurant labor, and sexual exploitation, while boys are trafficked
for forced street hawking and forced labor in small workshops. Increasingly,
young men and women are also being trafficked from other African countries,
primarily for domestic servitude, but also for sexual exploitation. The
majority of victims arrive by boat and are trafficked to Libreville and Port
Gentil, though victims are found in smaller towns as well, including Oyem,
Gamba, Tchibanga, and Franceville. Reports also indicate that some indigenous
Pygmies are employed under slavery-like conditions, without effective
recourse in the judicial system. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Written
statement from Anti-Slavery International for agenda item 13 of the
provisional agenda Traffickers promise good money and
training in order to persuade the parents to send their children abroad. However,
after the children arrive in Gabon neither the child nor their parents are
paid for the work they do. The children interviewed in Gabon often told
harrowing stories of their journey from Bénin to Gabon and many complained of
bad working conditions and being deprived of food once they arrived. Over
half of the children interviewed said that they had been beaten by their
employers. Even where children are
rescued from these conditions, they are likely to encounter feelings of
alienation from their own family and culture and must undergo a long and
difficult task of reintegration. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are also reported to be trafficked into Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Children
(especially girls), primarily from SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
An unknown number of children‑‑primarily foreign‑‑worked
in marketplaces or performed domestic duties; many of these children were
reportedly the victims of child trafficking. Such children generally did not
attend school, received only limited medical attention, and often were
exploited by employers or foster families. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2002 [59] While noting the
criminalization of trafficking of children in a recent Act of 2001 and the
establishment of a national inter-ministerial committee to fight against
trafficking in children, and the serious commitment of the State party with
regard to this issue, the Committee is deeply concerned at the large number
of trafficked children, particularly children coming from abroad, who are
still exploited, mostly in the informal labour market, or enslaved. Gabon cracks down on child trafficking Child trafficking to Gabon gained momentum in the 1970s, when the country's oil wealth made it a magnet for the nationals of poorer neighbouring states. According to the ministry of social and family affairs, there are currently about 25 000 exploited children in Gabon -- about half of whom come from Togo, Nigeria and Benin. Rights-Gabon:
Hopefully, the Beginning of the End for Child Traffickers For the first time in its history, the country is to try
persons accused of these crimes. Eight
nationals from The
Protection Project - Gabon [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Children are trafficked
primarily for domestic labor, as well
as for work as street and market vendors.
The majority of children trafficked from Togo and Benin are girls, and
most of the children coming from Nigeria are boys. Traffickers taking children into Gabon
commonly pose as their parents or caretakers.
Children are often taken to Gabon under the guise of going to school
there. However, after arriving in Gabon, the children are denied any
education and are forced to work for their “host” families. Then, when the
anticipated date of graduation from the promised school approaches, the
families accuse the children of stealing money and kick them out into the street. In addition, children from Nigeria
may be trafficked to Gabon for prostitution
and menial labor. Some of the
Togolese girls initially trafficked to Gabon as housemaids are driven into
prostitution there if they manage to escape from domestic servitude. Child labor is extremely
widespread. An estimated 53,000 of the 132,000 children living in Gabon are
forced to work. According to another
report, an estimated 5,000 are foreign children working in Gabon. GABON: Laws fail to curb child trafficking racket Gabon passed a law against
trafficking and child exploitation in 2002, but the first police roundup of
child traffickers and their victims only took place on the 24 January -
nearly three years later. The
authorities arrested 60 young people from Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana and
Niger, along with 20 of their suspected adult employers, who were all immigrants
from West Africa themselves. The youths,
ranging in age from eight to 26, were taken into care prior to being reunited
with their families. But to the
disappointment of childrens' rights activists, the "uncles" and
"guardians" to whom they were forced to surrender their earnings,
were released from custody three days later. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide UNICEF:
War fuels Africa human trafficking "Every country represents a
different problem," Rossi told reporters at a meeting of African Union
ministers in Benin. "But at the national level in Africa there is a lack
of capacity to collect data." Nigeria and Gabon are the major destinations for individuals trafficked from
neighboring countries in West Africa, including strife-hit Ivory Coast,
Liberia and Sierra Leone. WEST AFRICA:
Traffickers hold thousands of children, women in bondage Most children and women rights
activists say much will not be achieved towards eradicating human trafficking
without first dealing effectively with widespread poverty in West Africa
because poverty is the single major cause of the trade. Sharp losses in revenue by cocoa farmers in
Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon have actually become an incentive for farmers to take in
cheap, child labourers to cut costs, the activists say. Among the poorer countries in the region,
relatively affluent countries such as Cote d’Ivoire and oil-rich Nigeria and Gabon remain attractive destinations
for parents to send their children to work in the care of intermediaries. West Africa: Stop
Trafficking in Child Labor Girls interviewed by Human Rights
Watch were told to board ships for Gabon, where they worked as housemaids or
in markets. In a September, 2001 case documented in the report, a boat ferrying
hundreds of trafficked girls sank off the coast of Cameroon, killing nine.
Other cases document girls being treated as virtual slaves, forced to work
day and night peddling goods in the market, fetching water, and caring for
young children. Most endured beatings and psychological abuse, including
death threats and warnings they would never see their parents again. Children’s
testimony from Borderline Slavery ON THEIR RECRUITMENT BY CHILD
TRAFFICKERS - My
friend had an aunt in Gabon, and she came and saw the conditions we were
living in. She said she had a good job in Gabon, so I should accompany her
there and work with her. My mother was very seriously ill, and my friend’s
aunt said that when we got to Gabon, she would find me a job as a trader so
that I could send money to my mother for medicine…I was willing to go because
of how she spoke about it. She never said how much money I would be making. -
Dado K., age
twenty-nine, trafficked to Gabon when she was sixteen Modern-Day
Slavery? - The scope of trafficking in persons in Africa INTRODUCTION - Chikezie is a 13-year-old from
Nigeria who was in fourth grade when a man from his area promised his family
to educate him. Upon arrival in Libreville, Gabon, he was forced to hawk
water and nylon bags for his ‘master’, who beat him when he did not earn as
much as expected. His ‘master’ also burned him with a hot iron. Chikezie escaped
to the Nigerian embassy in Gabon, which assisted his repatriation. He is now
at home studying to be a chemist. TYPES AND EXTENT OF TRAFFICKING IN
AFRICA - TRAFFICKING FOR FORCED LABOUR - The ILO also estimates 200,000 to 300,000 children are
trafficked each year for forced labour and sexual exploitation in West and
Central Africa. ….. UNICEF estimates 25,000 foreign children are working in
markets and farms in Gabon; 7,000 of them are likely trafficking victims. Rogue Voyage of a
21st Century African Slave Ship The West African child slave
traffic works like this: Smugglers coax families in flat-broke countries like
Benin and Togo into "giving up" their kids. They promise education
and a better life. The going price for a child: $15. The smugglers sell the
boys to plantations in wealthier places like the Ivory Coast and Gabon. If they're lucky, the girls
end up as household workers. Many girls end up in brothels. African
"slave ship" highlights spread of child slavery On March 30, the MV Etireno set
sail from Benin for Gabon. The manifest of the Nigerian-registered ship said
it was carrying 139 passengers. It had room for 200. The ship was turned away
from Libreville, Gabon, after the Transport Ministry issued a press statement
claiming there were 250 Nigerian children aboard, destined to be used as
slave labour. Written
statement from Anti-Slavery International for agenda item 13 of the
provisional agenda Traffickers promise good money and
training in order to persuade the parents to send their children abroad.
However, after the children arrive in Gabon neither the child nor their
parents are paid for the work they do. The children interviewed in Gabon
often told harrowing stories of their journey from Bénin to Gabon and many
complained of bad working conditions and being deprived of food once they
arrived. Over half of the children interviewed said that they had been beaten
by their employers. Even where
children are rescued from these conditions, they are likely to encounter
feelings of alienation from their own family and culture and must undergo a
long and difficult task of reintegration. New
Global Treaty to Combat "Sex Slavery" CHILDREN SOLD OR KIDNAPPED - According to Anti-Slavery
International, children aged 8 to 15 years are "recruited" or
kidnapped from backward villages of the poorest countries in Africa, such as Benin
or Togo, and sold as slaves to households, plantations or brothels in
neighbouring countries, including Nigeria and Gabon. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Gabon Street Children in [Gabon] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Gabon] [other countries]