[stop-imf] More evidence on harms of user fees (education)

[Robert Weissman]

Excerpt:

Young Togolese boys told Human Rights Watch they could not afford to pay
school fees and so agreed to do agricultural work in Nigeria. They said the=
y
cleared brush, planted seeds and plowed fields for up to thirteen hours a
day, getting beaten if they complained of fatigue. Some were forced to use
machetes to cut the branches of trees and wounded themselves seriously.
After eight months to two years, they were given a bicycle and told to peda=
l
it home to Togo.

=93Boys were robbed by bandits, forced to bribe soldiers and deprived of fo=
od
on their way home,=94 Cohen said. =93Some died and were buried on the side =
of
the road.=94


Full news release:

www.hrw.org
West Africa: Stop Trafficking in Child Labor
Child labor on cocoa farms "tip of the iceberg"

(New York, April 1, 2003) =97 West African governments are failing to addre=
ss
a rampant traffic in child labor that could worsen with the region=92s grow=
ing
AIDS crisis, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today.

The 79-page report, =93Borderline Slavery: Child Trafficking in Togo,=94
highlights Togo as a case study of trafficking in the region. The report
documents how children as young as three years old are exploited as domesti=
c
and agricultural workers in several countries. Traffickers lure children
from their homes with promises of high-quality schooling and vocational
training abroad. Many of the children are orphans, forced to become
breadwinners following the death of a parent from AIDS or other causes.

A scandal over the issue of child labor in West Africa blew up in 2002, whe=
n
nearly half the chocolate produced in the United States was linked to cocoa
beans harvested by child laborers in C=F4te d=92Ivoire. Many of these child=
ren
had been trafficked from neighboring countries such as Mali and Burkina
Faso.

=93The cocoa farms are the tip of the iceberg,=94 said Jonathan Cohen,
researcher with Human Rights Watch and author of the report.
=93Trafficking in
child labor occurs along numerous routes in West Africa, and governments
aren=92t doing enough to stop it.=94

Girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch were told to board ships for Gabon,
where they worked as housemaids or in markets. In a September, 2001 case
documented in the report, a boat ferrying hundreds of trafficked girls sank
off the coast of Cameroon, killing nine. Other cases document girls being
treated as virtual slaves, forced to work day and night peddling goods in
the market, fetching water, and caring for young children. Most endured
beatings and psychological abuse, including death threats and warnings they
would never see their parents again.

=93Orphans face many grave human rights abuses, and trafficking is surely o=
ne
of the worst,=94 said Cohen. =93Without government action, today=92s orphan=
s may
be traded tomorrow into servitude.=94

The report links child trafficking to years of desperate poverty and freeze=
s
on development assistance to Togo, exacerbated by President Gnassingb=E9
Eyadema=92s refusal to hold free and fair elections. The European Union
suspended bilateral aid to Togo in 1993 after the country=92s first electio=
ns
were marred by intimidation and disqualification of opposition parties.

Young Togolese boys told Human Rights Watch they could not afford to pay
school fees and so agreed to do agricultural work in Nigeria. They said the=
y
cleared brush, planted seeds and plowed fields for up to thirteen hours a
day, getting beaten if they complained of fatigue. Some were forced to use
machetes to cut the branches of trees and wounded themselves seriously.
After eight months to two years, they were given a bicycle and told to peda=
l
it home to Togo.

=93Boys were robbed by bandits, forced to bribe soldiers and deprived of fo=
od
on their way home,=94 Cohen said. =93Some died and were buried on the side =
of
the road.=94

A draft Togolese law prohibits child trafficking and imposes a
U.S.$1,500-$15,000 penalty on anyone who =93recruits, transports, transfers=
,
harbors or receives=94 a child for the purpose of sexual or labor
exploitation, forced labor or slavery. In 2001, Togo arrested or detained
ten traffickers for related offenses such as kidnapping or procuring. Few
cases were prosecuted to completion.

The Togolese government also fails to provide basic protections to children
who flee their traffickers. Girls who escaped described spending nights on
the street, knocking on the doors of churches and accepting invitations to
sleep at the homes of strangers. Some were driven into prostitution in a
district of Lom=E9, Togo=92s capital, dubbed the =93march=E9 du petit vagin=
=94
(=93market of the small vagina=94). There they faced a high risk of contrac=
ting
HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

=93Some children are double victims of AIDS: first when their parents die f=
rom
the disease, and then when they are trafficked and subjected to likely HIV
infection,=94 said Cohen. =93It is up to the government to break this vicio=
us
circle.=94

Human Rights Watch called on the Togolese government to ratify internationa=
l
treaties prohibiting child trafficking, and made detailed
recommendations to
the governments of Togo, Gabon, Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Ivory Coast and Ghan=
a
regarding the prevention and punishment of trafficking, as well as the
protection of trafficked children. Human Rights Watch also called on the
United Nations and donors supporting these governments to summon their
financial, technical and diplomatic resources to see these efforts through.

=93Child traffickers have outwitted West African governments at every turn,=
=94
Cohen said. =93Togo adopted a national plan of action on child trafficking =
six
years ago, and the problem continues unabated.=94