Rehabilitating trafficked children in Mali

In February 2000 Mariam Ouattara, Anti-Slavery's Africa Programme Officer, was invited by Mali's new Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children and the Family to help with the formulation of a programme for rehabilitating children who had been trafficked from Mali to Côte d'Ivoire. Below is an account of the visit and situation.

Following Anti-Slavery's 1999 report on child trafficking between Benin and Gabon, we participated in a preliminary study with the local organisation Agir Ensemble au Sahel, of three regions in Mali which have populations of returned trafficked children. Networks for trafficking children to Côte d'Ivoire were established in the early 1990s following a demand for cheap labour on its cotton plantations. A recent UNICEF report found that only 13 per cent of these children went willingly, drawn by stories of high salaries.

Last December, 71 children were rescued from Côte d'Ivoire by the Malian authorities and returned to Ségou, Sikasso and Mopti. One month later, Mamadou Sekou Toure, General Secretary of Agir, and his research team went to these areas to find out the sorts of difficulties they had experienced in readjusting to life with their families and settling into their communities. This information will form the foundation of a rehabilitation programme for trafficked children.

Currently Mali has no such programme to speak of. All of the children who have been returned have been sent to regional social centres for about two days before being reunited with their families. These centres serve more as places for the children to stay while the authorities locate their homes, than as a means to help with their transition. No preparatory measures or psychological help is provided. As a result, when children return home they often have difficulties in readjusting, causing some to run away.

As is typical in cases of returned trafficked children, the research team had difficulties in locating them. Of the 71 who had been rescued, they were only able to locate and interview three, despite their all being registered with the police. Generally in West Africa returned children, and their parents, are reluctant to identify themselves because they either feel ashamed for not having brought back the wealth which was expected, as many are not paid for their labour, or they are preparing to return to Côte d'Ivoire. Even though their experiences of trafficking are terrible, children as young as ten, while abroad, see that it is possible to make money in Côte d'Ivoire. Because these children know the route and have discovered how to get paid work, they choose to return, only this time avoiding the brutality of the traffickers and their network.

Although there is clearly a lot which needs to be done, I am encouraged by the Malian Government's determination to succeed in its task and by the Ministry's desire to work with non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Ministers recognise the damaging effects of trafficking on young people in Mali, and that by establishing specialised centres which offer these children psychological help, vocational training, and the chance to go to school, they will be encouraged to remain at home.

But crucial to the fight against trafficking is a co-ordinated effort among ministries and collaboration with NGOs to resolve the problems which lie at the root of trafficking: alleviating poverty through local programmes and ensuring that education is available to these children. Although these are early days, it is encouraging that the Government is working towards a co-operative strategy. Only once parents and children see that trafficking is not an attractive option will they cease to feed this human trade.