Africa Should do More to Protect Children From Traffickers
blurb:isstoday:20052008chidltraffic
20 May 2008: Africa Should do More to Protect Children From Traffickers
A number of high-profile cases recently again highlighted the dangers of child trafficking worldwide.
This week the US Supreme Court upheld an earlier decision by the courts to impose a mandatory five-year prison term on people convicted of promoting child porn on the internet - directly linked to modern child trafficking. In Africa child trafficking survives due to a number of factors, including the cultural practice of sending children away to cities and towns as "foster children". In Southern Africa poverty, HIV/Aids and an increasing number of child-headed households are the main culprits.
Indeed, two centuries ago, when the British Empire first abolished the slave trade, this was meant to mark the beginning of the end of the transatlantic traffic in human beings. Far from it, the slave trade has survived from earlier times and has reappeared in its worldwide modern-day form of human trafficking.
Over the past three decades particularly, human trafficking has emerged as an issue of considerable concern for the international community and governments around the world have committed themselves to enacting legislation to combat this trade in human beings. This has resulted in the adoption of international standards and important obligations to governments to address the trafficking in persons and in particular child trafficking.
Child trafficking violates the basic human rights guaranteed to children under international law. It denies their right to protection, health and development and poses a serious threat to human security.
Of the different legal instruments that have addressed trafficking in persons, the most important remains the 2000 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol. Only 35 African states have ratified it.
Yet, in Africa, the scourge of child trafficking is still widespread. At the beginning of the decade, UNICEF estimated that cross-border smuggling and trafficking in Western and Central Africa enslave more than 200 000 children. In Southern Africa, Anti-Slavery International and the International Organisation of Migration have reported South Africa to be a destination country for child trafficking mainly from Lesotho, Mozambique and Malawi.
Taking the lead to fight child trafficking in Africa, African heads of state consented to prepare an ‘Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings’ at the 2000 Cairo Summit. Human trafficking became a priority on their agenda, along with issues of democracy, good governance and human rights.
As a result, the 2000 Libreville Plan of Action, the 2001 ECOWAS Declaration and Plan of Action and the 2005 Multilateral Agreement to Combat Child trafficking in West Africa demonstrate the African commitment. The 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child, the 2003 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women and the 1997 SADC Declaration on Gender and Development also contain specific provisions aimed at putting an end to child trafficking.
From the above, one can conclude that Africa has the legal framework to address child trafficking. In 1961, for instance, Benin was the first African country to legislate on the issue of the displacement of minors outside national borders. This country has to date a body of anti-trafficking legislation but child trafficking is still common, as reported by the United States of America 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report.
Following the Etireno case of 2001, Benin became known as source, transit and destination country. One major reason for this state of affairs is the cultural practice of ‘placement of children’. In essence, poor and rural communities send a child to be placed as ‘vidomegon’ (foster child) in urban centres. Yet the practice, which in the past proved to benefit the child, has nowadays failed to guarantee his/her survival and development. The risks of trafficking are however ill-perceived by families and communities.
In South Africa - the primary destination of child trafficking in Southern Africa, - 30 000 young people are reported to arrive annually from SADC countries. Armed conflicts and political instability, unemployment and endemic poverty, HIV / AIDS-related orphan-headed households and corruption of borders officials nourish trafficking.
This is why, lest nothing is done through appropriate national legislation, pro-active civil society organisation have to take the lead in raising awareness.
The situation depicted is often true for other African countries. Where legislation exists, there is no implementation; where NGOs have decided to bring a change, they often lack resources. This calls for a joint action to fight child trafficking in Africa.
At the continental level, since only 64% of African states have ratified the Palermo Protocol and subsequently failed to create implementation mechanisms, an African treaty focusing on the issue will be the most welcome, provided that it ensures deterrence based on appropriate sanctions for the traffickers. The situation is so peculiar that the need for action and legislation is unquestionable. Taking example from the African Child’s Charter and the African Women’s Protocol, there is nothing that prevent African policy makers to move from empty promises to concrete action. This is exactly what the girl-child and the innocent boy exploited in the prostitution industry, in cocoa plantations or in armed conflict zones need.
At national level, there is a need for special measures and inter-state judicial cooperation. Extradition agreements, a holistic and integrated rights-based approach, capacity building and training, and coordinated efforts shall pave the way forward. In the same vein, preventative education, awareness campaigns and the allocation of proper budgets to anti-trafficking programmes should be considered. At the end of the day, such approaches will strengthen the already existing mechanisms that aim at ensuring a safer Africa for our communities.
Lest African leaders take action, ending child trafficking in Africa will prove illusive.
Rino Kamidi, Intern, Security Sector Governance Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)
