The Benin Government and UNICEF confirmed on 1 May that children
on board the Etireno were being trafficked into slavery.
The Nigerian-registered boat gained international attention when,
rumoured to be carrying between 180 and 250 children into slavery,
it went missing after being refused entry in Libreville, Gabon
because passengers did not have papers.
On 17 April it docked in Cotonou, Benin - the port from which
it set sail two weeks before. Although fewer children were found
on board than feared - 43 - it was initially unclear how many,
if any, were trafficked.
After questioning them, aid workers from Terre des Hommes found
that a number were indeed being trafficked to Gabon; interviews
are continuing.
Tens of thousands of children often as young as six years old
are trafficked across borders into slavery in West Africa to work
as domestic servants, on farms, in quarries, in markets and in
fishing in the region's wealthier countries. Most work long hours
in harsh conditions and receive little or no pay. The main trafficking
routes are from Benin, Togo and Mali to Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire,
Nigeria and Cameroon. Transported long distances over land and
by sea, the children - boys and girls - face arduous journeys
that can be fatal; some are transported in boats which lack sufficient
supplies of food and fresh water.
It is crucial that governments work together to end this form
of slavery. Key legislation protecting children, such as the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention No. 182
on the worst forms of child labour, need to be ratified and implemented
in order to ensure that children are protected from slavery (countries
which have signed). And children who have been enslaved need
to be rehabilitated and given the opportunity to go to school
or vocation training to ensure they do not have to return to slavery
again.
