Human trafficking in Benin

Last updated

Benin ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in August 2002. [1]

Contents

In 2010 Benin was a country of origin and transit for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. In previous years, analysts also considered Benin a destination country for foreign children brought to the country and subjected to forced labor, but new information from government and non-government sources indicated the total number of such children was not significant. The majority of victims were girls trafficked into domestic servitude or the commercial sex trade in Cotonou, the administrative capital. Some boys were forced to labor on farms, work in construction, produce handicrafts, or hawk items on the street. Many traffickers were relatives or acquaintances of their victims, exploiting the traditional system of vidomegon, in which parents allowed their children to live with and work for richer relatives, usually in urban areas. There were reports that some tourists visiting Pendjari National Park in northern Benin exploit underage girls in prostitution, some of whom may have been trafficking victims. Beninese children recruited for forced labor exploitation abroad were destined largely for Nigeria and Gabon, with some also going to Ivory Coast and other African countries, where they may have been forced to work in mines, quarries, or the cocoa sector. [2]

In 2010 the Government of Benin did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it made significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. In 2009, the government took steps to accelerate prosecution of trafficking offenders and increase the number of protective and preventive activities. In efforts to prevent human trafficking, it promulgated three decrees regulating the movement of children into and out of Benin and continued its countrywide effort to register births and issue birth certificates to all citizens. The government did not, however, collect and make available to its citizens and partners accurate law enforcement data on human trafficking issues. Further, it did not give its officials specialized training on how to recognize, investigate, and prosecute instances of trafficking. [2]

The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2 Watchlist" in 2017. [3] By 2023, the country was at "Tier 2". [4]

In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 6.5 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting that Nigerian groups were heavily involved in this crime. [5]

Prosecution (2010)

The government sustained its efforts to bring trafficking offenders to justice during the reporting period. Legislatively, Benin does not prohibit all forms of trafficking, though its 2006 Act Relating to the Transportation of Minors and the Suppression of Child Trafficking criminalizes all forms of child trafficking and prescribes penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and exceed those prescribed for rape. The child trafficking law does not cover adults, though existing laws against kidnapping and labor exploitation give some protection to people more than 18 years old. The Ministry of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights reported that Benin’s eight courts handled a total of 200 cases of child trafficking and related offenses, including child abduction and corruption of children. At the close of the reporting period, 155 cases remained pending, five cases were dismissed, and 40 cases resulted in convictions; the government neither specified which of these cases involved child trafficking nor provided information on sentences given to convicted trafficking offenders. The Police Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM) handled 58 cases involving child trafficking or illegal movement of children out of the country without parental authorization, bringing 17 perpetrators to the Cotonou court for further investigation and prosecution. Gendarmes in the village of Porga arrested suspected traffickers trying to cross the Benin-Burkina Faso border en route to Ivory Coast with five children in April 2009, and delivered them to the court at Natitingou. The government did not provide information on the outcome of the Porga case, or data on cases handled by other branches of the police. There was no evidence of Beninese government officials’ complicity in trafficking offenses. Although the senior police members were provided training on child trafficking issues as part of their training at the police academy, other officials were not trained to recognize, investigate, and prosecute trafficking offenses. [2]

Protection (2010)

Four government ministries and several international donors and NGOs effectively used their partnerships to widen Benin’s ability to assist, repatriate, and reintegrate victims of trafficking in 2009. The BPM reported rescuing 266 trafficking victims as they were being transported to and from Nigeria, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Togo; these rescues were the product of partnerships with authorities of those countries. This figure represents an increase of 22 more rescues than in the previous year. Furthermore, working with UNICEF and Gabonese officials, the government repatriated 28 Beninese children, some of whom may have been trafficking victims, rescued from a boat carrying clandestine migrants off the coast of Gabon. In most cases, the BPM took initial custody of victims once inside Benin, and after an interview to confirm their status as trafficking victims, typically referred them to a network of long-term NGO shelters. The BPM holds recovered victims at a large government-built transit shelter it maintained in Cotonou, staffed by seven NGO personnel, until transferring victims to an NGO shelter for reintegration. During 2009, the BPM shelter took in 941 children, many of whom were trafficking victims, and offered them legal, medical, and psychological assistance. The Ministry of Family and National Solidarity worked with NGOs to reunite children with their families. No child goes back to its community of origin until there is a suitable point of reinsertion such as a school, vocational center, or apprenticeship. The government extended access for these children to the national network of social promotion centers, which provide basic social services in each of the country’s 77 communes. Foreign victims of trafficking offenses received assistance from the government through the BPM and social promotion centers before repatriation. According to an NGO leading the repatriation and shelter of Beninese victims from the Abeokuta quarries in Nigeria, the Beninese Ministry of Family, the BPM, and the Beninese Consulate in Nigeria repatriated 20 trafficking victims between August and December 2009. Both BPM and the office of Family and Child Monitoring at the Ministry of Family established operational databases on child trafficking during the year, but neither yielded data on trafficking victims during the reporting period. Officials encouraged victims to assist in the investigation of trafficking offenders, but shielded children from taking part in the trial unless a judge required it. Victims were not inappropriately incarcerated or fined for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, but the government did not have a mechanism for screening victims of trafficking among populations of women and children in prostitution. [2]

Prevention (2010)

Through partnerships with local and international agencies, the government provided partial support for several new programs to prevent child trafficking. In 2009, the Ministry of Family, with foreign donor support, established 142 new local committees to enable community surveillance in Benin and along the Benin-Nigeria border. The BPM, immigration agents, and gendarmes took up stations at international border crossings to screen travelers and monitor the transport of children. These observers relied on community whistleblowers to alert them to suspicious cases. Furthermore, the government completed ahead of schedule its 2008-2012 National Plan to Combat Child Trafficking and Labor. Also in 2009, the government joined with foreign partners to implement a second anti-child trafficking project to improve living conditions and advance respect for children’s rights, thus addressing key structural causes of Benin’s trafficking problem. The government, in partnership with UNICEF and a major regional bank, launched a seven-day awareness campaign against child sex tourism. The government provided training to Beninese troops on issues of child trafficking and exploitation prior to their deployment abroad for international peacekeeping missions. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

In 2008, Togo was a source, transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within Togo was more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Togolese girls were trafficked primarily within the country for domestic servitude, as market vendors, produce porters, and for commercial sexual exploitation. To a lesser extent, girls were also trafficked to other African countries, primarily Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, and Niger for the same purposes listed above. Togolese boys were most commonly trafficked transnationally to work in agricultural labor in other African countries, primarily Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Benin, though some boys are also trafficked within the country for market labor. Beninese and Ghanaian children have also been trafficked to Togo. There have been reports of Togolese women and girls trafficked to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, likely for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Togolese women may have been trafficked to Europe, primarily to France and Germany, for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. In 2007, 19 Togolese girls and young women were trafficked to the United States for forced labor in a hair salon. The Government of Togo does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it made significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. Togo demonstrated solid law enforcement efforts by increasing the number of traffickers convicted. However, sentences imposed on convicted traffickers were inadequate and protection efforts were diminished over last year.

Antigua and Barbuda ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in February 2010.

Belgium is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Victims originate in Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia, as well as Brazil and India. Some victims are smuggled through Belgium to other European countries, where they are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution. Male victims are subjected to forced labor and exploitation in restaurants, bars, sweatshops, horticulture sites, fruit farms, construction sites, and retail shops. There were reportedly seven Belgian women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009. According to a 2009 ECPAT Report, the majority of girls and children subjected to forced prostitution in Belgium originate from Balkan and CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa ; some young foreign boys are exploited in prostitution in major cities in the country. Local observers also report that a large portion of children trafficked in Belgium are unaccompanied, vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees. Criminal organizations from Thailand use Thai massage parlors in Belgium, which are run by Belgian managers, to sexually exploit young Thai women. These networks are involved in human smuggling and trafficking to exploit victims economically and sexually. Belgium is not only a destination country, but also a transit country for children to be transported to other European country destinations.

Bolivia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in May 2006.

Botswana ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in August 2002.

Tunisia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in July 2003.

In 2009 Namibia was a country of origin, transit, and destination for foreign and Namibian women and children, and possibly for men subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. Traffickers exploited Namibian children, as well as children from Angola and Zambia, through forced labor in agriculture, cattle herding, involuntary domestic servitude, charcoal production, and commercial sexual exploitation. In some cases, Namibian parents unwittingly sold their children to traffickers. Reports indicate that vulnerable Namibian children were recruited for forced prostitution in Angola and South Africa, typically by truck drivers. There was also some evidence that traffickers move Namibian women to South Africa and South African women to Namibia to be exploited in forced prostitution. Namibian women and children, including orphans, from rural areas were the most vulnerable to trafficking. Victims were lured by traffickers to urban centers and commercial farms with promises of legitimate work for good wages they may never receive. Some adults subjected children to whom they are distantly related to forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Small business owners and farmers may also participated in trafficking crimes against women or children. Victims were forced to work long hours to carry out hazardous tasks, and may have been beaten or raped by traffickers or third parties.

In 2009, Niger was a source, transit, and destination country for children and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continued primarily in the northern part of the country. Children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging by religious instructors known as marabouts; forced labor in gold mines, agriculture, and stone quarries; as well as for involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. The ILO estimates at least 10,000 children work in gold mines in Niger, many of whom may have been forced to work. Nigerien children, primarily girls, were also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with Nigeria, particularly in the towns of Birni N'Konni and Zinder along the main highway, and boys are trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor. There were reports Nigerien girls entered into "false marriages" with citizens of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates: upon arrival in these countries, the girls are often forced into involuntary domestic servitude. Child marriage was a problem, especially in rural areas, and may have contributed to conditions of human trafficking. Niger is a transit country for women and children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo en route to Northern Africa and Western Europe; some may be subjected to forced labor in Niger as domestic servants, forced laborers in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders. To a lesser extent, Nigerien women and children were sometimes trafficked from Niger to North Africa the Middle East, and Europe for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation."

Gabon ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2010.

Human trafficking in the Gambia covers ongoing activities in trafficking women and children in the Gambia as forced labor and prostitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Ghana</span>

In 2009, Ghana was a country of origin, transit, and destination for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. The nonconsensual exploitation of Ghanaian citizens, particularly children, was more common than the trafficking of foreign migrants. The movement of internally trafficked children was either from rural to urban areas, or from one rural area to another, as from farming to fishing communities.

Guinea ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in November 2004.

Guinea-Bissau ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2007.


Mali ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in April 2002.

In 2009 Cameroon was a country of origin, transit, and destination for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, and a country of origin for women in forced labor. Individual trafficking operations usually involved the trafficking of two or three children at most, as when rural parents handed over their children to a seemingly benevolent middleman who may promise education and a better life in the city. A 2007 study conducted by the Cameroon government reported that 2.4 million children from Cameroon’s ten regions involuntarily work in forced domestic servitude, street vending, and child prostitution, or in hazardous settings, including mines and tea or cocoa plantations, where they are treated as adult labourers. An unknown number of these children are trafficking victims.

The Central African Republic (CAR) ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in October 2006.

In 2009, The Republic of the Congo (ROC) was a destination and transit country for children subjected to trafficking in persons for the purposes of forced labor and forced prostitution. Most sources agreed that up to 80 percent of all trafficked children originated from Benin, with girls comprising 90 percent of that group. Togo, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Senegal were also sources of victims found in the Congolese Republic. Internally trafficked children represented 10 percent of all child victims, the majority of which originated from the Pool region. Many child victims were subjected to forced labor, including in domestic work, market vending and fishing; girls were also exploited in the sex trade. Child victims generally experienced harsh treatment, long work hours, and almost no access to education or health services; they received little or no remuneration for their work. Other village children, however, lived voluntarily with extended relatives in cities, attend school, and did housework in exchange for food, in a traditional cultural and familial pattern that id not entail abuse.

Human trafficking in the Ivory Coast referred to the practice of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation which used Côte d'Ivoire a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who were trafficked for these purposes.

In 2009 Equatorial Guinea was principally a destination for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and possibly commercial sexual exploitation. Children were believed to be recruited and transported from nearby countries, primarily Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, and Gabon, and forced to work in domestic servitude, market labor, ambulant vending, and other forms of forced labor, such as carrying water and washing laundry. Most victims were believed to be exploited in Malabo and Bata, where a burgeoning oil industry created demand for labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Women may also have been recruited and transported to Equatorial Guinea from Cameroon, Benin, other neighboring countries, and from China for forced labor or forced prostitution. In October 2009, the vessel Sharon was detained in Gabon with 285 immigrants aboard, including 34 children identified as trafficking victims destined for Equatorial Guinea. Reports that women of Equatoguinean extraction were trafficked to Iceland for commercial sexual exploitation during the last reporting period have not reappeared.

Prostitution in Benin is legal but related activities such as brothel keeping and benefiting from the prostitution of others are illegal. UNAIDS estimates there to be about 15,000 prostitutes in the country. Most of these are migrants from neighbouring countries, mainly Nigeria, Togo and Ghana. Only 15% of the prostitutes are Beninese. Prostitution occurs on the streets, in bars, restaurants, hotels and brothels. With advent of the smartphone, many prostitutes use apps to make arrangements with clients.

References

  1. ↑ United Nations Treaty Collection website, Chapter XVIII Penal Matters section, Section 12a, retrieved August 19, 2024
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 Country Narratives - Countries A Through F". US Department of State. 2010-06-17. Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2023-02-10.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. ↑ "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements". www.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  4. ↑ US Government website, Trafficking in Persons Report 2023
  5. ↑ Organised Crime Index website, Benin: 2023
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.