| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* For the year 2000,
the ILO projects that there will be 19,000 economically active children,
10,000 girls and 9,000 boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 14.07%
of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
*
In 1995, there were 20,000 economically active children, 11,000 girls and
10,000 boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 18.37% of this age
group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* A significant number
of children work in marketplaces or perform domestic duties. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
|
| Child
Slavery |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children from Benin
have been taken to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon, and sold
into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000, citing Benin press)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
*
Based on a survey of 229 children trafficked from Benin to Gabon,
198 (86%) were girls, the majority of whom were being trafficked
for domestic service. More than 50% of the sample were under 16
years old. (Anti-Slavery
International and ESAM, Trafficking of Children between Benin and
Gabon, 1999)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
*
Gabon is a destination country for trafficked persons, primarily
children from west and central Africa (specifically Benin and Togo)
for domestic servitude. Women and children are also trafficked to
Gabon for sexual exploitation. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
*
UNICEF and other concerned organisations have reported that government
officials often privately use foreign child labour, mainly as domestic
help. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Trafficking
in children, which is always a problem, continues to be a subject
of considerable media coverage in Benin. Most victims are abducted
or leave home with traffickers who promise educational opportunities
or other incentives. They are taken to places in foreign countries(according
to the press, principally to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and
Gabon) and sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or
as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Police intercepted
children, some as young as eight years old, being trafficked from
Togo to Gabon. (Child
Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the UN Working
Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
* Suspected
child trafficking activities have also been identified in, Benin,
Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. These networks
feed the domestic labour market in the main urban centres of countries
like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo.
(UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West
and Central Africa, July 1998)
|
| Child
Prostitution and
Pornography |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Women and
children are also trafficked to Gabon for sexual exploitation. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* A study has
shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Gabon for use as
domestic child servants, market traders, child beggars and prostitutes.
(WAO-Afrique,
Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the
UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
* Trafficking in children,
which is always a problem, continues to be a subject of considerable media
coverage in Benin. Most victims are abducted or leave home with traffickers
who promise educational opportunities or other incentives. They are taken
to places in foreign countries (according
to the press, principally to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon)
and sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or
as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
| Children
in Crime |
- |
| Child
Soldiers |
RECRUITMENT
LAWS AND REGULATIONS
* Until recently
the minimum age for recruitment was believed to be 20.But in March
2001 Gabon's Ministry of Defence launched a recruitment drive with
the aim of enlisting, over a five-year period, 1,500 young men and
women between the ages of 18 and 25. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
* It has been claimed
that the minimum age for recruitment is 20 years of age. (CSUCS,
Africa Report, April 1999, citing CIA, World Factbook, 1997)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* Based on a
survey of 229 children trafficked from Benin to Gabon, 198 (86%)
were girls, the majority of whom were being trafficked for domestic
service. More than 50% of the sample were under 16 years old
(Anti-Slavery
International and ESAM, Trafficking of Children between Benin and
Gabon, 1999)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
*
Gabon is a destination country for trafficked persons, primarily
children from west and central Africa (specifically Benin and Togo)
for domestic servitude. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
*
UNICEF and other concerned organisations have reported that government
officials often privately use foreign child labourers, mainly as domestic
help. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* A study has shown that children are trafficked from Benin to
Gabon to be used as domestic servants, and from Togo to Gabon for
use as domestic servants, market traders, child beggars and prostitutes.
(WAO-Afrique,
Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the
UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
* In cross-border trafficking, Benin, Ghana,
Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child domestic
labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire,
Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. Suspected child
trafficking activities have also been identified in Mali, Mauritania
and Burkina Faso.
(UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and
Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)
|
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* A study has
shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Gabon for use as
market traders and child beggars. (WAO-Afrique,
Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the
UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
* A significant number
of children work in market places. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
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