Child Trafficking and the Complexities of Implementing the CRC in West Africa

Ogunniyi, Daniel

Abstract

Introduction
Although numerous studies have been conducted on trafficking in persons in recent years (Hodge 2014; Hoffman and Abidde 2021; Stoyanova 2017; Weitzer 2015), the global and institutional forces reinforcing child trafficking in West Africa have, however, gained marginal attention in the literature. In many ways, child trafficking is among the clandestine crimes that directly challenge the dignity of the human person in its varied forms and manifestations (Montgomery 2007; Regilme 2022). Victims are often coerced into prostitution, forced labor, forced marriage, and other exploitative practices, which undermine their fundamental rights and freedoms (Winterdyk, Perrin, and Reichel 2012, 29). Generally, conditions that permit human trafficking also maintain status inequalities against persons being trafficked (Essien 2022, 284). The problem of human trafficking is particularly pervasive in the West African region and affects children disproportionately (Laurens ten Kate et al. 2021, 511–525; UNODC 2020).

Indeed, West Africa has long been characterized by high levels of intra- and extra-regional migration, a trend that predates the partitioning of states by Western powers (Olaosebikan 2014, 143). Pre-colonial migration in the region was never homogeneous—some instances were connected to trade and the search for subsistence food, shelter, and greater security, while others were induced by warfare and natural disasters (Baker and Aina 1995, 89–91). With increasing contact with Western countries, however, the migration patterns in West Africa began to change. For instance, the source countries for the transatlantic slave trade were predominantly from West Africa (Green 2012).1 Although at the international level, the abolition of slavery and the slave trade was affirmed in the 1926 Slavery Convention and the Supplementary Convention that followed in 1956, human trafficking has slipped through the cracks and continues to plague many children in the West African region to this day. This has been characterized as a form of modern-day slavery (LeBaron 2020; Siller 2016). Thus, while the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted in 1989 as a global mobilization tool to protect children’s rights and dignity, including the elimination of child trafficking, the implementation of this treaty has proved difficult in West Africa.

Although articles 32, 34, and 35 of the CRC2 prohibit child trafficking and other exploitative practices, implementation of the treaty has been fraught with many challenges. This chapter examines the complexities around CRC implementation in the region, focusing specifically on child trafficking as evidence of a wider problem confronting children. One of the central arguments of this chapter is that although systemic and other local factors could be identified to account for the continued manifestation of child trafficking, the present economic configurations of the world are, in fact, highly implicated in the crisis. This study demonstrates that, in the post-colonial era, the neoliberal thinking around economic globalization, such as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) promoted by powerful institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), contribute to the cycle of poverty among rural populations and indirectly induce child trafficking. Institutional challenges on the ground, indeed, also create a climate for child trafficking to flourish. The study begins by attempting to contextualize the problem of child trafficking in West Africa, following which a regional assessment is undertaken vis-à-vis the globalization nexus. The study then assesses the extent of child trafficking in two West African countries (the Gambia and Benin Republic) and makes specific recommendations for improved anti-trafficking governance at regional and country levels.3 The chapter concludes that effective implementation of the treaty requires a rethinking of the current neoliberal world order, which perpetuates economic inequality in the West African sub-region and elsewhere in the developing world. Also, the need for West African countries to strengthen their national institutions and show political willingness to address child trafficking is highlighted.

Citation

Ogunniyi, D. (2024). Child Trafficking and the Complexities of Implementing the CRC in West Africa. In S. S. F. Regilme Jr. (Ed.), Children's rights in crisis: Multidisciplinary, transnational, and comparative perspectives. Manchester University Press. https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526170149.00018

• Online Publication Date: Jun 18, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 10, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2024
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Children's rights in crisis: Multidisciplinary, transnational, and comparative perspectives
• Chapter Number: 9
• ISBN: 9781526170132
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526170149.00018
• Keywords: Child trafficking; Children’s rights; Child labour; Exploitation; Globalisation; Poverty; CRC; West Africa
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4520407
• Publisher URL: https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526170149/9781526170149.xml