Boat was used for child trafficking, officials conclude

The government of Benin, UNICEF and the NGO ‘Terre des hommes’ have confirmed that a boat that left the port of Cotonou, Benin, in mid-March with presumed child labourers was, in fact, carrying victims of child trafficking. The statement was based on an ongoing investigation. It reported five of the children interviewed as saying that a financial transaction had taken place prior to their departure. Eight others said they were traveling with “unknown intermediaries”. “It can be confirmed that the adventure of the Etinero ship falls within the framework of a sub-regional trafficking in minors and a network of clandestine work,” the statement said. The officials said the boat carried 147 people, including three babies and 40 children and youths aged between five and 24 years old. The Etinero returned to Cotonou on 17 April after it was refused permission to dock in Gabon and Cameroon, where the children were to work as domestics and labourers. The government has appealed to the international community for assistance in addressing child trafficking which, it said, was “a product of poverty and under-development”. According to UNICEF, some 200,000 children are trafficked every year in West and Central Africa.