CHILD TRAFFICKING BETWEEN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA THE SILENT CRY ADDIS ABABA CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 26, 2012 BY MICHEL IKAMBA UNICEF-GABON

THE ROUTE TO THE NEW FAR WEST

SITUATION ANALYSIS [1] A deeply rooted phenomenon since 2000, – Operation Bana: December 2010: 142 children withdrawn in one day, – Sharon boat: October 2009: 300 smuggled migrants, 34 children between 8 and 18 years old with 2 girls sent for early marriage, – Vigilant Committee from the Ogooue Maritime province: in 2010, 12 girls repatriated, among them 6 early mothers, A mutating phenomenon: less and less visible in streets as traders but more concentrated in households as housewives, Gabon, transit place to Equatorial Guinea and Europe.

Social phenomena increase through trafficking: – Child labor: market place, workshops, restaurants; – New type of contractors (small business): baby sitters; – Sexual exploitation: hard to find but seen when the victims reach 20 or more and complain about revenues at the police station, – Teenagers arranged marriage: in , 12 official cases brought to court (Gabon), – Street children: beggars/talibe/Assistant taxi drivers/Car cleaner, – Children without birth certificates and education. SITUATION ANALYSIS [2]

International instruments: The convention on the right of the child (CRC), The Optional Protocol to the CRC about the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, The Palermo Protocol The African Chart for the well being and rights of children The Abuja Agreement between ECOWAS and ECCAS to fight human transnational trafficking and especially women and children LEGAL FRAMEWORK [1]

CHILD TRAFFICKING STAKEHOLDERS Child PoliceTribunalFamily Civil society Social worker ???

National Guidelines for the care of the victims: – Summary of the domestic legal framework for the prevention and combat, – Step by step booklet clinical psychology for field practitioners, – Definitions of roles and responsibilities of key actors and their interventions (law makers, prosecutors, social workers…) – Transit centers tasks: budget, fund raising, human resources (tutors), logistics, – Key requirement: creation of a national body for the Prohibition of child trafficking, – Prevention strategies: advocacy (evidence-based), KAP approach, C4D, knowledge management, CARE GUIDELINES

Identification Initial listening Initial action Appointing a tutor Giving legal status Intermediate protection & care Access to justice & witness protection Setting up a sustainable ssolution Local Insertion Return to the Country Of origin Integration in Another Country Identification of a Sustainable Solution Receiving the childReinsertion UNICEF Care Guidelines

KEY RESULTS Operational support since the Itinero Boat incident in 2002, Technical support to regional and domestic legal framework: – Libreville I &II Common Platform Action in 2000, – The Abuja Agreement in 2006, – Specifics of domestic legislation in Benin, Congo, Gabon, Togo, – Law 09/2004 criminalizes child trafficking, – Specific psychosocial care norms, – Development of local expertise: anti-traficking police unit, child victim care givers/social workers, specialized local NGOs

Children Withdrawn and Repatriated from Gabon to Benin, Nigeria, Togo and Mali

Obstacles/bottlenecks Political instability of the region; Failure of child protection systems; Failure of social protection and welfare; Civil war; Link with illegal migration; AU, ECOWAS, WCCAS leadership on the issue, where are we? Ignorance of legal framework is the greatest obstacle to reduce child trafficking; The specific internal trafficking of Indigenous people (pygmies): poaching, mining, logging, agriculture; Governments’ resistance to admit the phenomenon; The mafia organization of transnational human trafficking.

Most Recent key partners Interpol; US Department of Justice, USAID, The UN Centre for Human Rights in Central Africa

MERCI!