Human Trafficking in [Niger Street Children in [Niger] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Niger] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic
of Niger [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for
children and women trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships,
continue in isolated areas of the country. An estimated 8,800 to 43,000
Nigeriens live under conditions of traditional slavery. Children are
trafficked within Niger for forced begging by religious instructors, forced
labor in gold mines, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and possibly
for forced labor in agriculture and stone quarries. Nigerien children are
also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with
Nigeria, particularly in the towns of Birni N’Konni and Zinder, and are
trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor. Women and
children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo are
trafficked to and through Niger for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation,
forced labor in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders. Nigerien
women and children are trafficked from Niger to North Africa, the Middle
East, and Europe for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. - 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 *** Last year, the Niger government eventually
passed a law banning slavery outright. Under this law, a slavery conviction
caries a ten-year prison term or a 1m CFA franc (about R10 000) fine. But tremendous poverty, illiteracy and
desperate circumstances in which many people live make it virtually
impossible to eradicate slavery. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS –
Trafficking in persons generally was conducted by small operators who
promised well‑paid employment in the country. Victims, primarily from
neighboring countries, were escorted through the formalities of entering the
country and found that their employment options were restricted to poorly
paid domestic work or prostitution. Victims had to use a substantial portion
of their income to reimburse the persons who brought them to the country for
the cost of the trip. Compliance was enforced by "contracts," which
were signed by illiterate victims before they departed their countries of
origin; alternatively, traffickers seized victim's travel documents. A local
NGO also reported that some rural children were victims of domestic
trafficking in which the victim (or his/her family) was promised a relatively
decent job only to be placed in a home to work as a servant. African Slavery and Trafficking Early in March, the government of Niger canceled a
ceremony to give 7,000 slaves their freedom. The human rights group Timidria
planned to release the slaves in a region near A botched release of slaves in Niger
Begins Enforcement Of Ban On Slavery The chief of the In
Ates region will free all slaves in the area under his control, where
entrenched slavery means 95% of the population are owned and controlled by
the other 5%. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide [scroll down] Almost 50,000 people still live as slaves in Niger. Slavery has always been practised
by the rulling classes in Niger and Northern Nigeria who still have an
interest in keeping slavery in tact. Timidria's report found that Slaves are owned and controlled by
their masters, receiving a meagre amount of food and a place to sleep in
return for their labour, the study found. "The master decides who a
slave marries and whether their children go to school. Many of those
interviewed in the survey had also been subjected to violence, rape,
degrading treatment and threats." Assibit, 50, describes life as a
slave in Niger, where 43,000 people are estimated to be in bonded
labour. Assibit was born into slavery
- as was her mother, her husband and her five children. Last year, the Niger government
eventually passed a law banning slavery outright. Under this law, a slavery
conviction caries a ten-year prison term or a 1m CFA franc (about R10 000)
fine. But tremendous poverty,
illiteracy and desperate circumstances in which many people live make it
virtually impossible to eradicate slavery. Slavery
in Niger: Historical, legal and contemporary perspectives [PDF] [page 13] INTRODUCTION - This study is aimed at contributing to the
setting up of the necessary mechanisms to eradicate slavery in Niger. Indeed,
it may seem absurd that at the dawn of the third millennium, a country like
Niger, which is well known for being amongst the lowest ranking country
according to the human development index, is being called to account on an
issue such as slavery, a form of human social organisation that was thought
to have been eradicated with the establishment of democracy. And yet slavery
is present in the daily life of Niger. The issue is not to find a definition
of slavery, but rather to free hundreds of men and women from the shackles of
slavery. For them, each day brings its lot of humiliation, physical
suffering, torture and uncertainty. PREVIOUS ANTI-SLAVERY AWARD WINNERS
– Timidria received
the 2004 Anti-Slavery Award for its pioneering work against slavery in
Niger. It spearheaded the anti-slavery movement in Niger, raising
awareness of the issue and helping former slaves to integrate into society
and successfully campaigning for amendments to the in Penal Code in 2003,
which defines, prohibits and punishes slavery. The organisation is campaigning
for the law to be implemented and for survivors of slavery to be given the
help they need to rebuild their lives. Drama
as Niger slaves are freed Dozens of slaves have been set
free at a ceremony in Niger despite an attempt by the local authorities to
stop the event being reported. The
ceremony in Tahoua in central Niger was disrupted by police, who seized
equipment from journalists. In May this year, acting under
pressure Niger's parliament banned the keeping or trading in slaves but the
law has not been fully implemented.
Local human rights group say there are still some 20,000 slaves in
Niger. Signs, such as the wearing of
particular ankle bracelets, are used to identify those of a slave caste as
being distinct from the general population. In this way those born into the
slave caste are constantly subjected to social discrimination and it is
extremely difficult for them to move beyond their given status, for example
in terms of work or marriage. Overt violence or coercion are not always
required in order to ensure that slaves continue to function within the
traditional social structures, which prescribe them a subordinate status.
Social conditioning, societal pressure, lack of education or a perceived lack
of alternatives may be sufficient to retain control over the individual. NIGER: Survey finds
over 870,000 are still slaves Although Niger recently passed new
tougher laws against slavery, more than 870,000 people - about seven percent
of the country's population - still live in conditions of forced labour,
according to Timidria, a local human rights group. Niger
'slave' flees castration DISOBEDIENCE - Talking about his ordeal, Mr
Mohamet explained that he was being whipped everyday because he was suspected
of wanting to rebel against his master.
He said he had recently been sold to a new owner, known for his
cruelty towards his slaves. His new master accused him of rebellion and disobedience. Mr Mohamet said if he had not escaped, he
would have been castrated this week.
His master tried to control his slaves by castrating them or using
amputation. ICFTU
Releases Report On Labour Standards The situation concerning child
labour is alarming. The vast majority of children in Niger (70 percent) work,
whereas around 40 percent of Senegalese children work. Most are active in
subsistence agriculture and urban informal activities. In Niger child labour
in mining occurs under extremely hazardous conditions. Rescued
Niger slaves 'tortured' Aid workers have been giving
details of the physical and psychological trauma suffered by 10 slaves
rescued on Monday in the Tahoua region of northern Niger. One human rights official, Iglass Weiller,
said the 10 men, women and children, who had been slaves all their lives, had
suffered torture and starvation. He
told a press conference in the capital Niamey on Wednesday that the owner of
the slaves - who has not yet been apprehended - had raped the women and girls
regularly. One of them, Oumou Raicha, told
Timidria that for many years, she was repeatedly raped by Waglassane.
"Since I was a small child, my master used to force me to sleep with
him," she was quoted as saying. "I had many suitors, but the master
opposed my marriage on many occasions. What I want now is to have a family
and live freely." She had three
daughters by her master, two of whom died. The third, eight-year-old Aggada,
was taken from her by Waglassane and given to his "legitimate" daughter
as a "marriage gift". NIGER
MINING INDUSTRY - Niger, one of the poorest countries in Africa, provides a
typical example of child exploitation. Uranium, gold, phosphates, tin, coal,
limestone, salt and gypsum mining are prominent in Niger. In Madaoua, a major
gypsum mining town in Niger, 43 percent of the mining workers are children.
Of these 6.5 percent are 6 to 9 years of age and 16 percent are of 10 to 13
years of age. These children are exposed to innumerable safety hazards.
During extractions they are at risk of injury from their tools and from
exhaustion as they have to cover a huge area in search for gypsum. Other
risks are snake and scorpion bites and foot injuries, as most of them are
barefoot, from stones and wood splinters. Liptako is a major gold mining
area in Niger. Gold ores are obtained in difficult and dangerous conditions,
as the method of work is primitive without any source of mechanical or
electrical or any other power. Children are fully involved in most of the
activities in gold production. 17 percent of the workers are children. They
are also involved in related activities like transport, drug selling and
prostitution. In the extraction phase, children are used as carriers of ores
and waste products to the surface. The child laborers manually carry
sacks that weigh 5-10 kg. In addition to the danger of falling rocks, the
children can also fall down mine shafts. They are exposed to risks such as
explosions, asphyxiation, dust, dermatoid, flooding and drowning in the
mines. They also face very high or very low temperatures, dangerous air and
space, bilharziosis due to polluted water where they wash gold ores and
dangerous materials used in mining and processing. The nearest medical facilities
are 60 km away. Child Labour Persists Around The World: More Than 13 Percent Of Children 10-14 Are Employed "Today's child worker will be
tomorrow's uneducated and untrained adult, forever trapped in grinding
poverty. No effort should be spared to break that vicious circle", says
ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne. 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 [Niger Street Children in [Niger] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Niger] [other countries]