Trafficked children are commodities; they are brought, sold and transported according to supply and demand. The victims can be as young as five years old. For example, a woman from Sokoto state said: ‘... the woman gave me fifty thousand naira to take care of my children. She promised to find my son a job and said that I would receive some money every month. I thanked God, because I thought that I had at last found a way of taking care of my nine children. I had no idea what she really had in mind for my child!’
This case is by no means exceptional. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Malian children work on plantations in Cote d’Ivoire – many of them victims of trafficking. Nigeria reports that in 1996, some 4,000 children were trafficked from Cross River Staten to various places within and outside the country. Benin registered over 3,000 trafficked children between 1995 and 1999.
Although most children are voluntarily handed over, cases of children being kidnapped for trafficking are increasing. In Sokoto state, Nigeria, kidnapped children were sold for amounts ranging from 50,000 to 150,000 naira.
What are the causes?
1) Poverty is the main factor. As families often have little or no choice, the decision to hand a child over to an intermediary is made without considering the consequences or counting the price to be paid in the future.
2) Child trafficking is also made easier by traditions and customs. For example, children placed with higher-income family members, sometimes wind up being exploited.
3) Another cause is the break-up of traditional family structures, as people move into towns.
4) Greed is also a factor.
Ghana reported that mothers not only give away their children as a response to poverty, but also out of greed and self-fulfilment. They try to achieve, through their children, what they have not been able to do themselves.’
The majority of trafficked children come from large, poorly educated families of more than five children, living in rural areas. Although some countries have laws which enable them prosecute traffickers, violators are rarely punished and customs officials mostly turn blind eye.
Often the children end up as domestic workers, but employers can also be found in sectors like bars or restaurants, garages and plantations. Often, they come from aboard: for example, in Ivory Coast, children are trafficked from Mali to work on plantations owned by Malians.
Payments to the children are often very low. Children sometimes work for nothing because they must repay costs incurred by their employer. In these cases, children often end up working for several years without any income. These children can work from 10 to 20 hours a day, carry heavy loads, operate dangerous tools and lack adequate food or drink. Nigeria reports that one out of five trafficked children dies of illness or mishaps. Others catch sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
Many of the children become badly affected by terrible working conditions, ill-treatment and diseases, and this leads to crime, drug taking or long-term mental disorders. Many West African countries now recognise the problem and are taking action, and now have agreement for sending victims home, and punishing traffickers.
No comments:
Post a Comment