It can be argued that the history of West Africa is a narrative of migration. As we noted in the third chapter of this thesis, the movement of peoples in Africa has been a feature of the continent for millennia. Empires spread beyond their borders, traders moved their goods across thousands of miles, and pastoralists followed cyclical patterns of migration in the tending of their herds.
With the arrival of colonial powers, the need for labour prompted the colonial governments to introduce economic incentives, tax structures, recruitment policies and coercive practices to secure labour from within and outside their territories. Although labour migration had been a feature of pre-colonial Africa, the division of
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territories among the colonial powers and their distinctive economic and political structures marked a real break from traditional migration, and institutionalized the large-scale, seasonal and cross-border migration that has been a key feature of modern Africa (Adepoju, 2005, p. 1).
In more recent times, both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have been main countries of immigration, with neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo among the source countries for labour emigrants (Adepoju, 2005, p. 1). The people of West Africa move for economic reasons, social or familial ties, to seek security and safety, and for political aims, among others. The diversity of push and pull factors in modern migratory practices makes its study difficult to undertake, as the distinction between voluntary and non-voluntary movement is often blurred.
Child Migrants: The difficulty of definition
Distinguishing between child migrants and child trafficking is a serious obstacle. Is it the motivation that separates the two? The decision-making process? Or is it the effect on the child that determines whether or not a child is a migrant or has been trafficked? As will be discussed below, special considerations are given to children in international and national instruments designed for their protection. These rely on the assumption that children are vulnerable and therefore unable to make an informed choice for purposes of migration.
Can we then rely on the decision-making process being undertaken by a parent or guardian as being a sufficient distinction? In these instances, the parent (an informed adult) makes the decision regarding their child’s welfare, which may involve their movement for labour purposes. Traditionally, it is not uncommon in West Africa for children to be sent by their parents to live with relatives, engaging in labour particularly on plantations owned by the relatives.
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If using this distinction, it is possible that both child migrants and children who have been trafficked may end up performing the same labour (working on a plantation), one having been forced by an intermediary, and one sent by their parents. If the outcomes are the same, does the distinction hold any value?
In a working paper analyzing north-south migration in Ghana, Kwankye et. al. (2009) used data from the Independent Child Migration Survey in Accra and Kumasi conducted in 2005, which depicted the following picture of child migration. Child migration from the northern regions of Ghana to the south is a very common practice, with one interviewee noting that, “*t+here is no house in this community from which a child has not migrated to the South,” (Kwankye et. al., p. 16). Of the 450 surveyed migrants, 87.3 percent have little or no education, the majority are female, and they are most likely to migrate between the ages of 15-17 years (45.1%). The 10-14 age group is also highly represented with 38.9% of respondents falling into this category. It is also of note that 16% of child migrants surveyed first migrated when they were below the age of 10 years.
The primary reason for migration was overwhelmingly the desire for independence and money. And although a majority of respondents attributed the decision to migrate as self-made, many others cited parents and relatives as key decision-makers.
Trafficking, Child Labour and the Agricultural I ndustries
The forced or coerced labour of children is a practice that is still prevalent in West Africa, despite efforts to eradicate its existence. Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, it is estimated that 200,000 children a year are trafficked from West African countries (Cullen-DuPont, 2009, p. 77) . Many of the international and regional agreements recognize the interrelated nature of human trafficking and child labour, treating the two phenomena concomitantly.
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Côte d’Ivoire is a destination country for trafficked persons, with victims forced to work in the agricultural sector primarily originating from Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso. These children work in “cocoa, coffee, pineapple and rubber plantations *and+ boys from Ghana are forced to labor in the mining sector” (U.S. Department of State, 2010, p. 123). Girls are also trafficked from Ghana, Togo and Benin and forced to work as domestic servants and street vendors. Child domestic servants who are abused or discarded by their host family have little means to support themselves and return home. Often, these girls become sexually exploited as a means of survival (ECPAT International, 2007, p. 16). Girls are also lured to Côte d’Ivoire to work as waitresses, only later to be forced into prostitution (U.S. Department of State, 2010, p. 123).
In Ghana, many children are displaced internally by traffickers, either unwillingly or with the consent of their parents, who are often deceived by the trafficker. They are forced to work in the fishing or agricultural industries, or as domestic servants, beggars or porters (called kayayei) (U.S. Department of State, 2010, p. 157). It is estimated that in Accra alone, over 30,000 children are working as kayayei (Baafri, 2010). Children are also used in the commercial sexual exploitation27 industry.
This cross-border trafficking is a serious blight on the comparatively stable political system in Ghana. Not only are Ghanaian girls trafficked out of country into forced prostitution in Europe, girls from neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire are trafficked into the Ghanaian commercial sexual exploitation industry. Moreover, “*c+itizens from other West African countries are subjected to forced labor in Ghana in agriculture or involuntary domestic servitude. Trafficking victims endure extremes of harsh treatment, including long hours, debt bondage, lack of pay, physical risks and sexual abuse” (U.S. Department of State, 2010, p. 157).
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The terminology used here is intentional. Sexual exploitation, as distinct from “prostitution” makes clear the unequal power relationship that exists between the exploiter and the victim.
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Data Challenges
In cocoa producing nations, like Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, it is not uncommon for members of a farmer’s family to be involved in many of the farming activities. This may also include more distant relatives being sent to work on the cocoa plantation. This traditional practice presents challenges in the study of child labour, and the determination of whether it is exploitative. Boas and Huser tackle this issue in their comprehensive report on Child labour and cocoa production in West Africa. When trying to capture the extent of child labour in the cocoa industry, data becomes a serious obstacle due to these definitional issues. To many farmers, the notion that the work of their children (or foster children) should be considered as ‘child labour’ is absurd (Boas & Huser, 2006, p. 15), even though some of the work can present real safety hazards to the children.
Harkin-Engel Protocol
The cocoa industry in West Africa, and most significantly in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, is a global industry which still uses child labour to this day (Oved, 2010). Estimates by UNICEF put the number of African children working on Ivoirian cocoa plantations at 10,000 to 15,000, and they are mainly ‘sold’ by intermediaries to farm owners (FitzGibbon, 2003, p. 83). In 2001, the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA) and the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) to develop a child-labour-free certification process that conforms to ILO Convention No. 182, and covers all of West Africa by 2010. The Payson Centre at Tulane University was tasked with auditing the progress of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, from 2006 – 2011 in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
The Payson Centre recently released its fourth annual report on Harkin-Engel Protocol on September 30, 2010. They found that both countries are far from meeting the targets set out in the Protocol, and that 97.46% of cocoa-growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire and 86.3% of cocoa-growing communities in Ghana have yet to be reached with remediation activities (Payson Centre for International Development and
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Technology Transfer, 2010, p. 14). Moreover, researchers found evidence of forced adult labour in the cocoa industry. However no remediation interventions have as yet been designed to eradicate this issue in either country.
Interestingly, the 2010 annual report provided the results of a household survey and a snowball survey undertaken by researchers in Mali and Burkina Faso, both identified as source countries for trafficked children. The snowball survey indicated that a high proportion of respondents were at one time victims of child trafficking (75% in Burkina Faso, 63% in Mali), and almost all had been exposed to hazardous work on a cocoa farm (97.9%) and experienced the “worst forms of child labour other than hazardous work" (99.5%) (Payson Centre for International Development and Technology Transfer, 2010, p. 123).
Of the victims of child trafficking, very few (25% in Burkina Faso, 20% in Mali) had interactions with police or border guards, and only two respondents had ever had any contact with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies or social services agencies (Payson Centre for International Development and Technology Transfer, 2010, p. 16). Borders guards in both Burkina Faso and Mali indicated that they were aware of the problem of child trafficking to both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, but many reported that if they suspected a case of child trafficking, they would ‘do nothing’ (Payson Centre for International Development and Technology Transfer, 2010, p. 128).