Africa’s World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old’s Eyes

[one...two...tree 2,762]

KETE KRACHI, Ghana — Just before 5 a.m., with the sky still dark over Lake Volta, Mark Kwadwo was rousted from his spot on the damp dirt floor. It was time for work.

Shivering in the predawn chill, he helped paddle a canoe a mile out from shore. For five more hours, as his coworkers yanked up a fishing net, inch by inch, Mark bailed water to keep the canoe from swamping.

He last ate the day before. His broken wooden paddle was so heavy he could barely lift it. But he raptly followed each command from Kwadwo Takyi, the powerfully built 31-year-old in the back of the canoe who freely deals out beatings.

“I don’t like it here,” he whispered, out of Mr. Takyi’s earshot.

Mark Kwadwo is 6 years old. About 30 pounds, dressed in a pair of blue and red underpants and a Little Mermaid T-shirt, he looks more like an oversized toddler than a boat hand. He is too little to understand why he has wound up in this fishing village, a two-day trek from his home.

......

By no means is the child trafficking trade uniquely African. Children are forced to race camels in the Middle East, weave carpets in India and fill brothels all over the developing world.

The International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, estimates that 1.2 million are sold into servitude every year in an illicit trade that generates as much as $10 billion annually.

Studies show they are most vulnerable in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Africa’s children, the world’s poorest, account for roughly one-sixth of the trade, according to the labor organization. Data is notoriously scarce, but it suggests victimization of African children on a huge scale.

A 2002 study supervised by the labor organization estimated that nearly 12,000 trafficked children toiled in the cocoa fields of Ivory Coast alone. The children, who had no relatives in the area, cleared fields with machetes, applied pesticides and sliced open cocoa pods for beans.

In an analysis in February, Unicef says child trafficking is growing in West and Central Africa, driven by huge profits and partly controlled by organized networks that transport children both within and between countries.

“We know it is a huge problem in Africa,” said Pamela Shifman, a child protection officer at the New York headquarters of Unicef. “A lot of it is visible. You see the kids being exploited. You watch it happen. Somebody brought the kids to the place where they are. Somebody exploited their vulnerability.”

Otherwise, she asked, “How did they get there?”

John R. Miller, the director of the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said the term trafficking failed to convey the brutality of what was occurring.

“A child does not consent,” he said. “The loss of choice, the deception, the use of frauds, the keeping of someone at work with little or no pay, the threats if they leave — it is slavery.”

Some West African families see it more as a survival strategy. In a region where nearly two-thirds of the population lives on less than $1 a day, the compensation for the temporary loss of a child keeps the rest of the family from going hungry. Some parents argue that their children are better off learning a trade than starving at home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/world/af...&ei=5087%0A

[Fandango 1,439]

so what do you propose, Steven?

[Alex+R 0]

I read that yesterday and thought that was just awful. Actually, I was not aware of the practice and was surprised to learn it was commonplace.

[Ban Hammer 13,335]

so what do you propose, Steven?

if we keep sending madonna and a few other celebs to africa, the problem will be solved

[one...two...tree 2,762]

so what do you propose, Steven?

For one, the U.S. should block any imports from countries that use child labor. That'd be a good place to start.

[Fandango 1,439]

so what do you propose, Steven?

For one, the U.S. should block any imports from countries that use child labor. That'd be a good place to start.

Oooh, that'll show them!

You know, our own country uses child labor....do you think the family-owned farms don't have the kids working?

No, I'm not saying child labor is good...what I am saying is that to much of the world, it is a horrible necessity for families.

YES it sucks that this little boy has to work...but what's the alternative? Die of hunger? There is so much poverty all around the world...while it's great to say that cutting off financial support is the answer (in the comfort of your Laguna Beach home behind a computer)....I somehow get the feeling that that solution only propagates more poverty, thus continuing the cycle.

Do I know what the answer is? Absolutely not. It's a horrible situation all the way around.

[Carol&Marc 0]

so what do you propose, Steven?

For one, the U.S. should block any imports from countries that use child labor. That'd be a good place to start.

Oooh, that'll show them!

The U.S. should get involved? I beleive the Iraq conflict is a humanitarian ISSUE, where's your support? Yeah yeah lets get the F##k out of Iraq and go help the Africans!

[Fandango 1,439]

so what do you propose, Steven?

For one, the U.S. should block any imports from countries that use child labor. That'd be a good place to start.

Oooh, that'll show them!

The U.S. should get involved? I beleive the Iraq conflict is a humanitarian ISSUE, where's your support? Yeah yeah lets get the F##k out of Iraq and go help the Africans!

Is this directed at me?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

so what do you propose, Steven?

For one, the U.S. should block any imports from countries that use child labor. That'd be a good place to start.

Not a chance of that happening, considering that the US has since at least BillyBubba's time imported large quantities of cheap consumer products (pens, small electronics, etc) from PRC, a country which uses PRISON labour openly.

In many of the countries mentioned in the article, child labour is actually illegal--but obviously laws against it aren't enforced.

An example is a recent law which was passed by Indian Parliament making minimum age for working 14.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6034335.stm

Actual results of it so far: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6034203.stm

[Carol&Marc 0]

so what do you propose, Steven?

For one, the U.S. should block any imports from countries that use child labor. That'd be a good place to start.

Oooh, that'll show them!

The U.S. should get involved? I beleive the Iraq conflict is a humanitarian ISSUE, where's your support? Yeah yeah lets get the F##k out of Iraq and go help the Africans!

Is this directed at me?

Hell no, we think the same but you can articulate a hell of alot better than me! directed at Steve!

[Peikko 1,575]

Isn't that terrible?

Never mind, it's not our problem, we don't live in Africa and we have our own poverty to deal with.

I am not quite sure how kids helping out on farms equates to being forced to work in a brothel. Mind you, what a good idea, my son is devlish attractive, when I think of all the lost earnings for not thinking of this sooner.

[Fandango 1,439]

Isn't that terrible?

Never mind, it's not our problem, we don't live in Africa and we have our own poverty to deal with.

I am not quite sure how kids helping out on farms equates to being forced to work in a brothel. Mind you, what a good idea, my son is devlish attractive, when I think of all the lost earnings for not thinking of this sooner.

I'm sorry, oh Great Wizard of Oz, please tell us how we can save the world.

[Peikko 1,575]

Why, isn't it obvious?

We redistribute all the wealth on a communist model until we achieve utopia, then we can all worship the sun and sing happy clappy songs until the cows come home.

[Fandango 1,439]

I love it when you get cornered

[Carol&Marc 0]

Isn't that terrible?

Never mind, it's not our problem, we don't live in Africa and we have our own poverty to deal with.

I am not quite sure how kids helping out on farms equates to being forced to work in a brothel. Mind you, what a good idea, my son is devlish attractive, when I think of all the lost earnings for not thinking of this sooner.

Complain,complain! if your that passionate about it, GET INVOLVED! do mere words of compassion make you feel better? words of compassion with no action! is the same as doing NOTHING at all.