Borderline Slavery: Child Trafficking in Togo
This report documents the trafficking of children in Togo, in particular the trafficking of girls into domestic and market work and the trafficking of boys into agricultural work. The report is based on interviews, conducted between April and May 2002 in the capital city, Lomé, as well as in twelve cities, villages and/or prefectures within 500 kilometres of the capital: Vogan, Afanyagan, Tohoun, Sotouboua, Tchamba, Sokodé, Bafilo, La Binah, Bassar, Tsévie, Hahatoe, and Est-Mono/Élavag non.
The report demonstrates that Togo has made insufficient progress in reducing the number or severity of its child trafficking cases and most of the abuses documented by Human Rights Watch fall within the definition of child trafficking in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish the Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000; known as the Trafficking Protocol).
The following recommendations are provided for policy makers in all West African governments, including Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Gabon:
- Take immediate and effective steps to prosecute child trafficking under domestic law, including the ratification of the United Nations (U.N.) Protocol to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime to Prevent, Suppress and Punish the Trafficking of Persons especially Women and Children (2000-the Trafficking Protocol) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (2000).
- Consistent with the consensus decision of the 2002 consultation meeting in Libreville, Gabon, of twenty-one African states, establish a regional anti-trafficking convention, ensuring that any convention incorporates full protection of the human rights of trafficked children.
- Take immediate and effective steps to prevent the recruitment of children for the purposes of child trafficking.
- Intervene in the transport of trafficked children by reinforcing border controls and establishing protocols to identify and apprehend child traffickers.
- Take immediate and effective steps to address the commercial exploitation of trafficked children.