Child slavery: Africa''s growing problem
By CNN''s Avril Stephens
LONDON, England (CNN)
-- Children continue to be sold into the domestic, agricultural and sex industries in Africa despite the slave trade being officially banned in the early 1880s.
The forced labour is a growing widespread problem in West and Central Africa often as a result of parents'' ignorance or poverty, aid agenices have said.
The United Nation''s children''s agency UNICEF estimates 200,000 children are traded each year in the region.
Some parents hope they are handing over their children to a better education or job, while others embroiled in poverty are looking to offload their children for financial gain.
Children, between the ages of seven and 18 are sold mostly from Benin and Togo, ending up in the relatively wealthy oil-exporting neighbouring areas around Lagos in Nigeria and Libreville in Gabon.
Other countries importing child slave labour are Nigeria, Niger, Bukina Faso, and others as far afield as Bangui in the Central African Republic.
Social services in the UK took two 11-year-old Benin children into care after they were believed to have run away from Nigerian and Benin expatriate families.
Alfred Ironside, spokesman for UNICEF told CNN: "We are very concerned about it and working hard to overcome it.
Alfred Ironside, spokesman for UNICEF told CNN: "We are very concerned about it and working hard to overcome it.
He added: "The slave trade never stopped in West Africa."
Recent publicity surrounding the rust-bucket ship, MV Etireno, which had been refused port at Libreville in Gabon and then Douala, in Cameroon, while reportedly carrying between 25 and 250 children believed destined for the slave trade, sparked an
international search.
Benin Social Protection Minister Ramatou Baba Moussa denied her government knew about the human smuggling, but did not rule out involvement by shipping and port officials.
And Benin''s government resists describing the modern practice of trafficking as child
slavery.
But international officials say the term is an accurate one and that the transport of children from Benin, a small country of six million people that is one of the world''s poorest nations, has been well known among anti-slavery groups for the past five years.
Slavery ''still a reality''
British Foreign Office minister Brian Wilson said: "The plight of the children on board this ship serves as a timely reminder that slavery and bondage are still realities in the world."
International conferences have taken place in Africa in an effort to combat the trade and encourage the pursuit of various international agreements which outlaw slavery including the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Organisation of African Unity''s African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
The number of trafficked children being intercepted at the Benin border has risen from 117 in 1995 to 1081 two years later, UNICEF has reported.
In 1997, Benin police arrested five West Africans caught preparing to ship 90 child slaves to Gabon after they had bought the youngsters in Benin and Togo for as little as $1.50.
Despite international efforts the slave trade has continued thanks to a combination of delusion, economic need, and ignorance.
The MV Etireno gained publicity where others have often been overlooked because of the international alert issued by the Benin Government -- though later it emerged there could actually have been two ships.
The government said ports had twice refused to allow the vessel to unload its child cargo, and issued arrest warrants for the ship''s captain, crew and three businessmen.
The trade is not restricen though -- UNICEF''s Ironside said it was a "fairly sophisticated and large network involved."
But it is not a particularly lucrative market. Families sell their children, mainly girls, for between $1.50 and $14 who are then passed on and sold to work as domestic servants, and market traders, while boys work in the cotton and cocoa plantations or fisheries.
Other industries include shop assistants, car washers, and bus fare collectors.
The traffickers make up to $340 by selling the child.
Often the children are unpaid and beaten, and some of the girls are sexually abused, research by Anti-Slavery has found.
Sophie Agbidi, who runs a Cotonou centre in Benin for rescued children, said: "The children don''t eat well, they work long hours every day, and they are victims of frequent corporal punishment."
Figures compiled by the non-governmental organisation in Benin, Enfants Solidaires d''Afrique et du Monde (ESAM) on behalf of Anti-Slavery, showed that 99 percent of those trafficked from Benin to Gabon were girls.
The report said: "Interviews would suggest that girls are preferred as they are less likely than boys to rebel as they get older.
"The cost of preparing daughters for weddings may also be significant in terms of why more girls are sent with traffickers than boys."
Ironside said UNICEF has found the main problem it faces in trying to combat the sale is poverty.
"It is our number one problem, with more than 40 percent of people living below the poverty line," he said.
Togo-based WAO-Afrique said traffickers or brokers often scout for families with more children than they can easily support.
ESAM''s report suggested that more parents are accompanying their children across the initial border before entrusting them to traffickers in Togo or Nigeria.
Otherwise a "certain amount of delusion goes on among families," added Ironside.
"Some believe they are sending their children away to have a better education."
Children embark on often dangerous journeys which ESAM said "involves considerable hardship resulting in the deaths of some children."
On arrival, they face cruelty and poverty from their sponsors, mainly women, who are often known as "aunties."
Those who manage to escape and return to their homes are subsequently trafficked again.
Children from Benin who are trafficked tend to receive better treatment from Gabonese families but those who work for Benin expatriates and other West African countries face working days of between 14 hour and 18 hours a day.
If they are employed as market traders they often have to carry heavy loads of up to 30 kilogrammes on their backs and walk long distances of up to 25 kilometres each day to sell their goods.
Some girls who fail to show enough earnings are forced into sexual exploitation and prostitution, the ESAM report added.
Better co-operation between international organisations and the countries involved is necessary, as well as improved awareness on the regional level, Anti-Slavery said.
The Benin government has only five small ships to try and tackle the situation.
Britain''s Brian Wilson urged British manufacturers of cocoa products to be scrupulous in choosing suppliers and ensure that they do not profit "unwittingly or otherwise" from the slave labour of children.
National laws may require amendments to establish extra-territorial jurisdiction, to allow the prosecution in once country of an individual who has committed a crime of trafficking in another country, Anti-Slavery said.
Children should also have better access to education, health services and employment.
Anti-Slavery said: "Parent and Women''s Associations, along with other non-governmental organisations, should carry out work