Author: Anti-Slavery (Anti-Slavery)

Date: London, 1999

Title: Synopsis of 1999 report on the trafficking of children between Benin and Gabon

Original language: English.

Concerning: The UK based organisation Anti-Slavery in 1999 documented the trafficking of children from Benin to Gabon, to work as forced labour or slaves in the latter country. Research was done in Gabon and Benin 1998-99 and included several hundred interviews, making it a strong documentation.

Source: Anti-Slavery (Anti-Slavery)

Synopsis of 1999 report on the 
trafficking of children between Benin and Gabon

The number of trafficked children being intercepted at the Benin border rose from 117 in 1995 to 413 in 1996 and reached 802 in 1997 (official statistics quoted in UNICEF, "Report to the sub-regional workshop on the trafficking of child domestic workers, with particular emphasis on the girl-child", July 1998, Cotonou, Benin).

Given the alarming rise in the number of children being trafficked in the region Anti-Slavery International commissioned a non-governmental organisation in Benin, Enfants Solidaires d'Afrique et du Monde (ESAM), to carry out research into the trafficking of children between Benin and Gabon.

The project, which was funded by the UK National Lottery Charities Board, was initiated in October 1998 and completed in July 1999. The research is based on interviews of 884 people, 654 in Benin and 230 in Gabon, and includes interviews with children who have been trafficked; children who are preparing to be trafficked; families of the children; and recipients of the children after they have been trafficked.

Table of the groups interviewed for the study

The families of the children who were trafficked tend to be polygamous and the average age of the parents was between 53 and 60 years old. Many of the families interviewed said that they had more than one child living abroad. Most significantly, 63 of the 170 parents interviewed (37%) said that they could not earn enough to satisfy the essential needs of their family and therefore were prepared to hand their children over to traffickers.

Interviews with children in Benin who were at risk of being trafficked or actively preparing to be trafficked, revealed that their parents were extremely influencial in persuading the child to cooperate with the trafficker. Of the 281 children interviewed in Benin, 212 (75%) said they would go if their parents told them to.

Interviews with the families of trafficked children showed that vast majority of children, 149 out of 170 (88%), were coming from three departments in Benin: Oueme, Mono and Atlantique. This was confirmed by interviews carried out in Gabon with the 101 children who confirmed that they came from Benin. All of these children came from the regions identified above, with Oueme accounting for 51% of the total.

Of the 91 children who had been trafficked and were interviewed back in Benin, 61 (67%) were girls and the children's ages, at the time of being trafficked, varied between 7 and 18. Of the 138 trafficked children who were interviewed in Gabon 137 (99%) were girls. While the ages of this group also varied significantly, 80 (58%) were under 16 years old.

Looking at the whole sample of 229 children who have been trafficked, a total of 198 (86%) were girls. This reflects the fact that girls are in greater demand for work as domestics and as market traders. Interviews would also 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. Of the trafficked boys interviewed nearly two thirds were working in the agricultural or fishing sectors.

The other important piece of information that came out of the research is that many of the children intercepted trying to cross borders or sent back from countries to which they were being trafficked do not return to their homes. The sample of 91 children in Benin was gathered from a list of 150 trafficked children that had been documented by the special police department for the protection of minors. However, the researcher could only locate 91 of the 150 children listed (61%), indicating that many of the children who are returned home are subsequently trafficked again. Interviews also suggest that more parents are accompanying their children across the initial border before entrusting them to traffickers in Togo or Nigeria.

The actual process of trafficking the children often involves considerable hardship and has resulted in the deaths of some children. One testimony taken in Gabon told of how two people had died during the trip and their bodies were thrown over the side of the boat. A separate testimony from a child in Gabon explained how a group of children had begun their trip in February, but then been forced to wait in transit as the trafficker tried to find other passengers for the trip. The trip by canoe to Gabon was only resumed in April, by which time the children had used up all their food:

"The water we brought with us finished during the voyage. We were obliged to drink seawater. All of us were weak. Those who could manage it drank the seawater, but Sévérin didn't drink it. He became weaker and weaker. When we reached Libreville, the guard-coasts arrested us…Sévérin was feeling worse and worse. As the gendarmes noticed the seriousness of his case, they talked about calling an ambulance, but it didn't arrive on time and Sévérin died."

Interviews carried out with 49 families who were receiving trafficked children from Benin showed that 37 families (76%) were of West African origin (Togolese and Beninois). Girls placed in these families were needed as cheap labour to help their sponsors who were almost all market traders. The girls referred to their sponsors as "aunties" so that people will assume that the girls are family members and not trafficked from another countries. The 12 other families (24%) were Gabonese and primarily used the trafficked girls as domestic servants. Almost all employers (95%) were women.

The sample of 91 children in Benin were asked about the conditions in which they lived and worked when they were trafficked to Gabon. With regard to their living conditions, 61 (67%) described their treatment as bad. In describing what they meant by bad treatment they mentioned being shouted at, being deprived of food and being beaten.

With regard to their working conditions, 54 (59%) described their treatment as very bad, while 25 (27%) described their treatment as good. The minority of girls who are placed in Gabonese families tend to be well treated by their employers (food, medical care, wages and spare time). However, those working for traders, who are often themselves from Benin and other West African counties, have to work between 14 and 18 hours a day - this includes both domestic work and commercial activities. They often have to carry heavy loads (10 to 30 kilograms) and walk long distances to sell the goods (as much as 25 kilometers a day).

If the girls do not earn enough money they risk being beaten and this means they are often frightened about going home if they have had a bad day or if their earnings have been stolen. This makes the girls vulnerable to exploitation by people who offer to pay the money they must give to their "aunties", but sexually abuse them or force them into prostitution in return for their "help". The following testimonies taken from different girls after their return to Benin illustrate these dangers:

"One day, I was coming back from the market crying because a gang had beaten me up and taken all the money I'd made from selling iced juice. A man proposed to give me the money I must give to my "auntie" but I had to stay with him for a while before returning home. He abused me sexually. He always wants the same thing. Another day, he paid the whole tray of fruits I was selling, and I had to do the very same thing. I fled from my "auntie" and found refuge with a Gabonese woman."

"I couldn't sell of lot of fruit that day. I went back home and my "auntie" beat me because I didn't bring enough money. I ran away to cry behind the house. A man proposed that I spend the night with him and he will pay my auntie the money I owe. The following day, he brought me to a station where we took a bus for Equatorial Guinea. I worked a lot on a plantation and was also his wife. One day, I fled by going though the forest until Libreville. From there I was brought back to Benin."

At a local level, communities should be encouraged to discuss the causes of trafficking and identify solutions, so that they are committed to working together with the authorities on a local and national level in the development of policies to control and eradicate the trafficking of children. Parent and Women's Associations, along with other NGOs, should carry out workshops and education programmes to make parents and children aware of the consequences of trafficking and its dangers for the child and the community.

At a national level programmes should promote and protect child rights, using the media to make people aware of the problem of trafficking. Collaboration between NGOs and government departments will be important in developing long term strategies for reducing trafficking, particularly in relation to the rehabilitation of children who have been trafficked.

Programmes also need to be developed to ensure that children have effective access to education and health services and employment prospects, as this will reduce the incentive to cooperate with traffickers. The development of projects which encourage economic activity is also extremely important. These could include environmental projects to reverse the degradation of the soil and thereby revitalise agricultural activity, and micro credit schemes to allow families to keep their children with them and develop small trading initiatives which could increase their income.

At an international level, there needs to be close cooperation on a bilateral and regional basis to facilitate effective action against traffickers. Regional institutions like the OAU and ECOWAS should engage with both governments and NGOs and take a lead role in seeking solutions to this problem. National laws may require amendments to establish extraterritorial jurisdiction, to allow the prosecution in one country of an individual who has committed a crime of trafficking in another country. Children who have been trafficked should never be penalised and policies need to be adopted which encourage victims to testify against the trafficker. All governments should ratify the International Labour Organisation's new Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No.182) which specifically prohibits the trafficking of children.

Governments should work to ensure that the UN's draft International Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime includes a protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. Governments should also urge the UN to adopt a specific year as the International Year Against Trafficking of Human Beings. This would focus attention on the issue and provide an impetus for governments to introduce national and regional programmes of action against trafficking.

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