Human Trafficking in [Benin Street Children in [Benin] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Benin] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2010 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/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7568 [accessed 23 January 2011] 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 material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
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Human Trafficking in [Benin Street Children in [Benin] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Benin] [other countries]