The ILO estimates that child labour affects about 165 million children, aged between 5 and 14 years old. It concerns numerous sectors of activity throughout the world : agriculture, industry, domestic work, etc. A lot of children work very long hours and in often dangerous conditions (contact with chemicals, dangerous equipment too heavy to handle given their age, and beyond their capacity…).

 To listen to, to watch :

• Radio sketches and the cartoon dedicated to this question
• The MAEJT’s website that fights against exploitation and bad working conditions of child labour.

From child trade to child labour : many children throughout the world are victims of trade or child trafficking

We talk about trade or child trafficking when a child is taken by force or through deception, to be exploited economically or sexually inside or outside a given country. Nowadays, child trade is one of the worst forms of violation of human rights throughout the world. According to the ILO it affects about 1.2 million children every year, including hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa alone.

In the sub-region, children are trafficked for domestic work, work in plantations or illegal workshops, small business, begging, soliciting, the sex trade or are recruited by armed groups. They make up a cheap or unpaid workforce who can work anything from 10 to 20 hours per day, carrying heavy loads, using dangerous tools, without being given enough to eat and drink. This trafficking exposes children to violence, child abuse and HIV infection and contravenes their right to be protected, to grow up in a family and to have access to education.

 To listen to :

• Radio sketches on child trafficking and songs "Jay xalé yi" and "Non au trafic des enfants".

In Togo, for example the phenomenon of cross-border child trafficking is extremely widespread.

• 313 000 Togolese children between 5 and 15 years old work in urban zones in Togo or in foreign countries and are treated as almost slaves.
• 74% of these children are girls.
• 66% of children between 15 and 18 years old are victims of forced labour.

The girls are destined to work as maids or in the markets, mainly abroad (Gabon, Benin, Niger, Nigeria), and the boys are sent to Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire or Benin to work in agricultural plantations.

It is the same process most of the time : agents working for organized child trafficking networks infiltrate poor communities with tempting offers of schooling and an income that means going somewhere else to find. The children recruited - with or without parental approval - leave their family home in the hope of being able to earn enough money to support their families financially, pursue their education or just in order to be able to buy material goods such as a bicycle or a radio cassette player.

 To listen to, to watch :

• Video testimonies of Togolese children who have returned safe and sound to their families, as well as audio oral testimonies of children giving their opinion on this issue.
• The "Mbindaan du jaam" video that discusses the problem of young maids in Senegal.

The case of the Talibés : an alarming regional phenomenon

In West Africa the exploitation of children for begging purposes is widespread as seen in the phenomenon of the talibés (those children who attend Koranic school). Senegal is particularly affected, with more than 100 000 beggar children (according to UNICEF) throughout the country, most of whom are talibés. These young boys aged between 3 and 15 years old are entrusted to a Koranic teacher (a marabout) by their parents to receive a religious education. However, instead of concentrating on their religious studies, the boys are forced to beg every day to make up for the lack of their marabout’s means to look after them financially. With time, this practice has turned into a form of child exploitation and the boys are very often mistreated physically if they don’t return with the set amount of money that has been fixed for them to collect each day. As a result, these children are very vulnerable as they live in conditions of extreme poverty, suffering from malnutrition, without access to health care and are victims of violence.

In spite of the existence of two laws ; one forbidding the exploitation of children and another that makes begging illegal (April 2005), Senegal has become a kind of meeting place for begging and the destination for young beggars coming from all over the sub-region.

 To listen to, to watch :

• "Talibé" songs (from the Poto Poto album), "Xol alma taalibe" and "Taalibé" (from the Tundu Joor album)
• the video of the "Talibé" song from the Tundu Joor album.