In Benin, police arrested ten traffickers as they were taking 23 children to Côte d'Ivoire for work on 8 May. A week before, ten Beninoise were caught in Togo trafficking 11 children.

Aged between seven and 17, the boys and girls are among the estimated tens of thousands of children who are trafficked in West Africa each year for labour.

Children in West and Central Africa are trafficked into a variety of jobs including domestic work, work in markets, fishing, agriculture and in quarries in the region's wealthier countries.

Poverty is at the root of this abuse. Traffickers promise families that their children will be placed in good positions, where they will be taught useful skills and earn money to send home.

On 3 May, Benin's National Assembly ratified the International Labour Organisation's new Convention against the worst forms of child labour, No.182, that prohibits child trafficking. In total 73 nations have ratified it, including the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Ghana, Guyana, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Zimbabwe.

It is vital that governments not only ratify this crucial Convention but ensure it is effectively implemented as well as work together to end this form of slavery.

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