Côte d'Ivoire & Mali
Côte d'Ivoire claims to take action on child slave workers

afrol.com, 13 October - Yesterday, the representative of Côte d'Ivoire to the UN, Eric N'dry, addressed the recently documented widespread use of child slaves from Mali and other neighbour countries on Ivorian plantations. As the case of his country had shown, "much could be accomplished with dedication and cooperation," he stated, referring to a regional agreement aimed at combating child trafficking, signed on 6 September. A documentary from 28 September, however, shows that little has been accomplished. 

N'dry's statements came after a report by the Special Rapporteur on the exploitation of children had noted incidents of child trafficking in West African States. Young Malian children have been discovered working inside Côte d'Ivoire as sources of cheap labour also by the UN. Also a TV documentary on British TV, documenting the use of slave, particularly children, on Ivorian plantations, caused much negative publicity for the country. "Resolving that issue had been a high priority for his Government," N'dry told the UN Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee. 

- First, there had been a preliminary investigation to study the scope of the problem, discover the perpetrators and identify methods of punishment. The investigation also studied ways in which those children could be repatriated and rehabilitated. It was important to note that full resolution of this serious problem could only be carried out with close cooperation between countries in the sub-region. That positive and broad cooperation had led to the signing of an agreement between the Governments of Mali and Côte d'Ivoire aimed at combating child trafficking in all its forms. That agreement provided for the identification of the places of origin of the children and details of their itinerary while in Côte d'Ivoire. 

N'dry went on to say that a commission, with participants from both countries, had been established to follow-up the preliminary investigation, as well as monitor implementation of the agreement. He noted that all those initiatives had been in line with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

Law enforcement authorities had also been made aware of the problem of transboundary trafficking for cheap labour in the region, and that initiative had been successful recently in stopping a busload of children from being transported in from another country. N'dry said his Government had also convened regional meetings designed to identify strategies aimed at stopping all forms of child trafficking. 

Finally, he said, even though traffic in children presented many complex problems, those problems should not be seen as an excuse by the international community not to extend great effort to work to address the problem with concrete action. As the case of his country had shown, much could be accomplished with dedication and cooperation. 

Slavery documented
A documentary shown on British television station Channel 4 on 28 September documented the massive use of slaves as labour force on Ivorian cocoa plantations. Cocoa is among the major export products of Côte d'Ivoire. The documentary made unsubstantiated allegations damaging the Ivory Coast, said Kouadio Adjoumani, Ivory Coast's ambassador to the UK.

However protesting against the allegations of Channel 4, Malian and Ivorian governments have admitted there is a problem in child trafficking and use of slave labour. On 6 September, thus, Mali and Côte d'Ivoire signed an agreement prohibiting the illegal trafficking of children for labour between the two countries. The accord states that both countries must develop legislation regarding the movement of children abroad. 

Yesterday, Eric N'dry used the situation in his own country to illustrate the benefits of regional cooperation against child trafficking. "A group of foreign children had been discovered working in Côte d'Ivoire. Regional meetings had led to the identification of child trafficking and a bilateral agreement had led to identification of the points of entry and controls," N'dry said. 

The documentary by Channel 4, made after the agreement praised by N'dry, however shows that the governments still have a very long way to go in combating child trafficking, child labour, forced labour and slavery.

Sources: Based on Anti-Slavery, BBC and UNICEF

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