We use cookies to improve your experience by storing data about your preferences, your device or your browsing session. Human trafficking, or forced labour and exploitation are common realities in the Ivory Coast. DAKAR — Ivory Coast police vowed on Monday to ramp up efforts to stop child trafficking after rescuing 137 children from forced labour and sex work in the first major operation in several years. According to an investigative report by the BBC, hundreds of thousands of children are being purchased from their parents or outright stolen and then shipped to Ivory Coast, where they are enslaved on cocoa farms. Children are also trafficked to Ivory Coast for other types … Seven chocolate manufacturers named in Ivory Coast cocoa sector child labour lawsuit. By Ange Aboa. Now, I choose to boycott any chocolate supplier who refuses to certify their products as free of coercive labor practices, child labor, and human trafficking. To find our more details, view our Cookie Policy. Police in top cocoa-growing region say 19 minors were rescued, West Africa has struggled to stop child workers on plantations. Girls most commonly work as domestic servants, while boys perform forced labour on cocoa and coffee farms where they are exploited and abused. Authorities in Ivory Coast have rescued 137 children from being trafficked. Ivory Coast welcomed the revised results and both countries reiterated their commitment to eradicating child labour in cocoa farming. In 2019, labor law enforcement agencies in Côte d'Ivoire took actions to combat child labor (Table 6). ATU had the mandate for child trafficking, UCT was responsible for transnational trafficking, and Brigade Mondaine covered sex trafficking; however, the units lacked coordination, and no unit had a clear responsibility for internal adult labor trafficking. Load Error We are appealing to all parents: a child's place is at school and not on plantations," Aboisso's deputy police chief Kouadio Yeboue Marcellin says. He said 19 minors, ranging in age from 12 to 17, were allegedly being trafficked. Ivory Coast is the world's leading producer of cocoa, the raw ingredient for chocolate, and is responsible for about 36 percent of global exports. More than 2.3 million children are believed to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana (Photo: Slave Free Chocolate)Ivory Coast Police told OCCRP on Tuesday that those rescued were nationals of neighbouring Burkina Faso, 19 of whom were aged between 12 and 17. SAN PEDRO, Côte d’Ivoire – More than 48 children have been rescued and 22 people arrested following an operation targeting child trafficking and exploitation in Côte d’Ivoire. Articles 335 and 336 of the Ivoirian Criminal Code criminalized the pimping and exploitation of adults and children for the purpose of forced prostitution with penalties of one to five … SAN PEDRO, Côte d’Ivoire – More than 48 children have been rescued and 22 people arrested following an operation targeting child trafficking and exploitation in Côte d’Ivoire. The children would have been destined to become child labourers and prostitutes, according to the National Monitoring Committee (NMC), which fights child labour and trafficking in the West African nation. Many of them live and work in the Ivory Coast, a former French colony. (CNN) Police on Wednesday rescued 11 children and two teenagers working on cocoa plantations in southwestern Ivory Coast and arrested three farmers on suspicion of people trafficking, … [26] Approximately1.8 million children in the Ivory Coast and Ghana may be exposed to the worst forms of child labor on cocoa farms. "Ivory Coast's image is tarnished by child trafficking. At least two million children were working in plantations in West Africa, according to Cocoa Barometer 2018, published by several non-governmental organizations including Oxfam and Voice Network. An estimated 890,000 children work in the cocoa sector, some for their parents and some trafficked from abroad, according to a 2018 report by anti-slavery organisation Walk Free Foundation. Protecting and supporting trafficking victims is at the heart of IOM’s work, according to IOM National Project Officer Laurent Guittey. NGO Slave Free Chocolate estimates that 2.3 million children work in the cocoa fields of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast has in the past 10 years built a "legal arsenal" to punish child slavery and trafficking, said Soubre public prosecutor Alexandre Kone. Here's the story: last year, a young woman from the Ivory Coast kidnapped a 9-month-old baby from Monrovia. The Worst Forms of Child Labor Credit: International Labor Rights Forum. The informal labor sectors are not regulated under existing labor laws. The three Burkinabe nationals were taken into custody at a roadblock on Thursday when their bus was stopped for routine controls, said police commissioner Luc Zaka, who heads a specialized unit dealing with child labour. “Ivory Coast’s image is tarnished by child trafficking,” Aboisso’s deputy police chief Kouadio Yeboue Marcellin said. Ivory Coast's cocoa sector faces relentless struggle with child labour. SOUBRE, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Police in Ivory Coast have rescued 68 children working on cocoa farms, most of whom were trafficked from neighbouring Burkina Faso, authorities said. A landmark court case has begun in the US against seven major chocolate companies on behalf of eight Malian young men who claim to have been victims of child trafficking, and forced to work on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast, writes Neill Barston. Children Rescued in Ivory Coast Human Trafficking Bust. Authorities outside Abidjan lacked training to identify and investigate trafficking. The 2010 law remained the primary law used to prosecute child trafficking, and it criminalized child sex trafficking and labor trafficking with 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 5 million to 20 million FCFA ($8,790-$35,170). (1,2) According to a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in 2016, 21.5 percent of children ages 5 to 17 are engaged in hazardous work. Alain Lartmel is Director of child protection at the ministry of women, family and children. Last year, authorities rescued 137 children and arrested 12 suspected traffickers during a two-day operation in Ivory Coast. Protecting and supporting trafficking victims is at the heart of IOM’s work, according to IOM National Project Officer Laurent Guittey. Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5 Million in Ransom, Binance Faces Probe by U.S. Money-Laundering and Tax Sleuths, China Lands on Mars, Closing Gap With U.S. in Space Exploration, Singapore Moves Back Toward Lockdown as Virus Cases Rise, Cryptocurrency’s Value Surges to $45 Billion One Day After Its Debut. Ivory Coast police on Monday vowed to ramp up efforts to stop child trafficking after rescuing 137 children from forced labour and sex work in the first major operation in several years. We are appealing to all parents: a child's place is at school and not on plantations," Aboisso's deputy … We also use cookies to collect anonymized data about your behaviour on our websites, and to understand how we can best improve our services. “I have seen small children, 6 years old, being trafficked from Mali to Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast Arrests 4 for Trafficking Children to Cocoa Growers Police in top cocoa-growing region say 19 minors were rescued West Africa has struggled to stop child workers on plantations But a decade after the $100 billion chocolate industry pledged to cut child labor in the world’s top cocoa producers, a 2020 report sponsored by the U.S. government showed the problem had actually gotten worse. But the companies have not had the will to end it for many years. Human trafficking, or forced labour and exploitation are common realities in the Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast police arrested four alleged child traffickers and rescued 19 children suspected of being transported to work on cocoa plantations in the West African nation. By Ange Aboa. Côte d’Ivoire is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters . Photograph: Luc Gnago/Reuters. Looming political instability in Ivory Coast has further worsened the plight of child labourers. The terrible reality is that these children, 11-to-16-years-old but sometimes younger, are forced to do hard manual labor 80 to 100 hours a week. The child slaves of the Ivory Coast - bought and sold for as little as £40 Christina Lamb 22 April 2001 • 12:00am HOME for 15-year-old Wambi Bakayoko is a small mud-walled cell with no windows. Our Outreach Worker, Ibrahima, explained the centre's role brilliantly! Many children, both boys and girls from Ghana, Mali, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso are tricked or abducted into working in the agricultural sector of the country. Children in Côte d'Ivoire engage in the worst forms of child labor, including in the harvesting of cocoa and coffee, sometimes as a result of human trafficking. "To keep the child or sell it, we don't really know," the colonel says. Trafficking Child labour. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Overproduction has also fuelled the industry’s troubling child labour rates – while there was a slight relative decline from the mid-2000s, Cocoa Barometer 2018 reports that the number of children labouring in the cocoa industries of Ivory Coast and Ghana alone … In a crackdown in Soubre, Ivory Coast’s cocoa producing hub, west of Abidjan, police picked up 68 children being used on farms. Child victims of trafficking are exploited in the country’s agricultural, mining, fishing, and domestic service sectors. Authorities in the Ivory Coast have detained four and rescued 42 in a sting against an alleged human trafficking operation that saw children put to work at several mines and cocoa plantations in the West African country. Major chocolate companies, including Mars Inc. and Nestle SA, have committed to help eradicate the problem of child labor. Extending beyond a focus on child trafficking, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) – a Swiss-based foundation operating in Ghana and the Ivory Coast – has been dedicated towards ensuring a better future for children, and advancing the elimination of child labour. Officials say the children ranged from age six to 17 and were brought into Ivory Coast from Benin, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo. He is a "chocolate slave," one of approximately 2.1 million West African children who engage in the dangerous and taxing work of harvesting cocoa. It was so heartbreaking to watch. Extending beyond a focus on child trafficking, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) – a Swiss-based foundation operating in Ghana and the Ivory Coast – has been dedicated towards ensuring a better future for children, and advancing the elimination of child labour. More than 48 children have been rescued and 22 people arrested following the first operational phase of Project AKOMA, targeting child trafficking and exploitation in Côte d’Ivoire. Ivory Coast police have arrested three suspected child traffickers in the western town of Soubre, the centre of its cocoa-growing region, a police official said on Friday. Aged as young as eight, most of the children come from Burkina Faso and Mali, countries so incredibly poor that they view neighbouring Ivory Coast … Panorama reporter Paul Kenyon goes undercover as a cocoa trader in West Africa and discovers … Ivory Coast police have arrested three suspected child traffickers in the Soubre, the centre of its cocoa-growing region. Very proud to have had messages from all over the world since early this morning when the BBC's Christian Parkinson's short documentary about the centre was released. 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