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The
Modern
West African Slave Trade
Recently,
we have seen the revival of the once thriving slave
trade routes across West Africa, after a lapse of 25
years. Slavers have reappeared following the old
slave trade routes, except that trucks, jeeps and modern
four-wheel drive vehicles and, on occasions, aircraft,
have replaced the camels. The slavers often carry mobile
telephones.
Some
things, however, have not changed. Cunning,
deceit, the use of drugs to subdue the children and the
whip still remain part of the essential equipment of the
professional slaver.
The
trade involves most states in sub-Saharan West Africa.
The
children are kidnapped or purchased for $20 - $70 each
by slavers in poorer states, such as Benin and Togo, and
sold into slavery in sex dens or as unpaid domestic
servants for $350.00 each in wealthier oil-rich states,
such as Nigeria and Gabon.
These
children are bought and sold as slaves. They are denied
an education, the chance to play or to use toys like
other children, and the right to a future. Their
lives are at the mercy of their masters, and suicide is
often the only escape.
The
material in this report is based on a Mission to West
Africa by the Society's Secretary-General, supplemented
by material from Cleophas Mally of WAO-Afrique.
THE
SOCIETY IN ACTION
The Society, in
discharging its historic role, is currently working for
the suppression of the slave trade in West Africa and
the rescue of slave children.
THIS
IS THE SOCIETY IN ACTION
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Links
to other pages dealing with slavery in West Africa:
Traditional
slavery in West Africa
Slavery
on the cocoa plantations in West Africa
Links
to other pages dealing with slavery:
Does
slavery still exist?
What
is slavery?
Child
slavery in South Asia
Hierodulic
servitude in South Asia
Odalisques
Rescuing
slaves
Slavery
Convention 1926
Links
to pages on related topics:
Trafficking
of children
Trafficking
of women
Links
to pages dealing with other servile conditions falling
short of slavery:
Bonded
child labor
Servile
concubinage
Serfdom
Forced
labornot
responsible for the content of
external internet sites. |
