PERSPECTIVE OF ISSUES OF TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN WEST AFRICA

Paper Prepared and Presented By Betty Mould-Iddrisu And Researched by Judith Sarpong

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The problem of "trafficking in persons" is a pervasive and growing phenomenon.1 Formerly, the term "trafficking" only described the illegal trade across borders of goods, especially contraband, such as drugs or weapons for profit. However, the concept has broadened over the years to cover the illegal transport of human beings, particularly, women and children, the most vulnerable victims, for purposes of selling them and exploiting their labor. Human trafficking generally involves moving a person, the "commodity," from one place to another with the promise of employment, education or marriage by using coercion, fraud, deception or force. Once moved, the person typically is forced to work under harsh conditions or for negligible wages - a modern form of slavery. In Ghana, as indeed across much of West Africa, recent reports in the local newspapers, the electronic media, and studies on this disturbing phenomenon indicate that the problem is insidious.2 Experts report that two main types of trafficking exist in West Africa: (1) trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation mainly outside of the sub-region, that is, where West Africans are trafficked internationally, for example, to Asia or Europe; and (2) trafficking in children both across and within national borders, that is, where West African children are trafficked either internationally or within their own countries for domestic service; for agricultural work; to beg or sell goods on the street in urban centers; to work in small factories or on construction sites; or, to work in the fishing industry or in the stone and mineral mining industries.3 The criminal enterprise of modern human trafficking can be highly organized, extremely profitable, and so far carries a low risk of prosecution or punishment of those who engage in it, since most West African countries have not enacted specific legislation criminalizing the practice. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially of Women and Children, supplemental to the United Nations Convention against Trans-national Organized Crime, establishes the first common international definition of trafficking in persons. It defines "trafficking in persons" as "The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs." 4 Experts in the field in West Africa agree that one or more of the following factors are present in situations of trafficking:5 · Abduction - Even though in most cases children are voluntarily handed over by parents to a third party for an agreed amount, cases of abductions and kidnapping of children are also reported; · Placement for sale - The child is handed over by parents to a third party for a fixed sum with promises of training and good treatment; · Bonded Placement - A few of these cases have been reported in Benin and Ghana, even though this phenomenon is usually practiced in South East Asia; · Temporary Placement - The child is handed over voluntarily for a fixed term usually for a token sum with promises of fair treatment which never materialize; · Placement as a service - The agent places the child for a fee which is paid by the parents; · Placement as embezzlement - The child is voluntarily handed over on the understanding that the child will be sent to school or otherwise assisted to receive training, but instead the child is put into paid menial work such as those working the local 'chop bars' in the Accra markets. In the underworld of this human trade, the victims, who are beyond the reach of the law are abused, exploited and denied their basic humanity. In fact, several studies indicate that this brutal entrenched trade has affected millions of youth in West Africa, as in other parts of the world.6 Unfortunately, whilst globalization should benefit societies through increasing opportunities for international trade in goods and services, it is ironic that it rather serves as a conduit for increasing trade in human beings. It needs to be pointed out that, regardless of whether the victims are sold as commercial sex workers, as bonded laborers, as child brides or to adoptive families, they are all treated as a commodity or as human chattel and robbed of their rights and freedoms.

2.0 THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM · Professional Trafficking Knowledge about the nature and scope of trafficking has improved in recent years, but the extent to which it is dominated by organized crime, or looser networks, or a combination of both is still unclear. Increased understanding of trafficking has exposed the underbelly of the sex industry: the brutality and viciousness of many pimps and brothel owners; the interest among customers of unsafe sex; the complete disregard for children's rights on the part of exploiters. Current research suggests that trafficking in women and children is a hidden and clandestine business conducted mainly by criminals and criminal networks which procure and channel vulnerable victims into prostitution, pornography, sex tourism or other forms of forced or coerced labor. It involves an element of duress and may include transnational movements, that is, the movement of people across borders. These criminal elements service the demand in the sex market created by customers, mainly men, who seek unlawful sexual gratification with children and young women. Several of those who try to escape still end up in brothels. Others who escape are recaptured, and are exploited by their "employers," who are often actually highly organized crime syndicates. It is reported that law enforcers or political warlords both in Europe and Africa protect some crime rings. The linkage between trafficking and organized crime networks has become increasingly clear recently and, as rightly noted by Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's Executive Director: "Trafficking, especially for commercial sexual exploitation has become a worldwide multi-billion dollar industry".7 This illicit trade has been expanding through the use of child pornography on the Internet and the low cost advertising of the commercial sex trade, attracting tourists and pedophiles. · Distorted Traditions and Family Arrangements Trafficking also works through personal and familial networks. Amongst other things, victims are subjected to harsh conditions, denied basic health care, education, adequate nutrition, leisure time and the safety and security of their families. As noted by UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy: "Several of the victims of illegal trafficking are forced to engage in commercial sex work such as prostitution or pornography or get caught up in sex tourism. Many children are also abused and exploited as bonded laborers, domestic servants or as child brides. There have been cases of the illegal adoption of some of these children." 8 Different cultural conditions have been distorted to produce different types of exploitation; for example in India, the caste system and a history of bonded labor facilitated the trafficking of tribal and low-caste children. In West Africa, there has existed an age-old tradition of sending one's children to work or to receive an education in the home of a better-off relative or friend especially among those rural families who have relatives in the urban areas. This tradition has now unfortunately proven to be one of the catalysts in facilitating the trafficking of ever-increasing numbers of children, so that as the ILO/IPEC Report stated "…the placement of children that was once within the extended family for educational purposes is now used to exploit their labor." 9 Additionally, it must be remembered that most of the West African countries are among the least developed in the world, with the majority of the population living below the poverty line and either working in the informal sector or eking out an existence from subsistence farming. It has been identified that many children are working in these sectors assisting their parents - their assistance is considered crucial for the survival of the average household in many of these countries; thus child labor has always been considered as part and parcel of the survival of the family. The placement of children, especially girls, in domestic work is also a centuries old practice across West Africa. Whilst it is true that this placement does not necessarily result in the exploitation of the child, in most cases the relationship becomes exploitative.10 In many countries, poor girls are targeted for domestic work in urban centers. Trafficking for domestic service is common among and between West African countries including in particular, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. Additionally, in recent years there have been several documented cases of trafficking of women to Lebanon as house help and of them living in exploitative conditions.

3.0 EFFECTS ON VICTIMS Trafficking has profound effects on victims in the short, medium and long - term. It destroys and traumatizes young females in their formative years and impairs their development into mature individuals able to make major decisions for themselves. It can also result in serious lifelong, even life threatening consequences for the physical, psychological, moral, spiritual and social development of the child victim, including early pregnancy, maternal mortality, injury, retarded development, physical disabilities and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. "The sexual abuse of children - in the commercial sex trade and more generally accelerates the spread of HIV, and we must not shy away from confronting exploiters and the sexual attitudes that allow them to abuse children in this way..."11 Additionally, normal sexual, physical and emotional development is stunted. Self-esteem and confidence are undermined. Victims become especially vulnerable to the effects of physical and verbal violence, drugs, and easily get caught up in a cycle of violence, insecurity and lawlessness. Some end up as drug abusers and as juvenile delinquents. In this regard, studies show a strong relationship between sexual victimization of children and teenage pregnancies, adult prostitution, substance abuse, violence and other types of adult criminal behavior. It has been difficult to ascertain the magnitude and extent of trafficking in West Africa due largely to its "hidden" nature. Available figures however show that trafficking in women and girls is a burgeoning phenomenon. It is known that at least 200,000 children in West and Central Africa (the majority of whom are girls) are trafficked every year.12 It is also known that children as young as seven years are trafficked between Benin and Togo for cheap labor. There are reports of unspeakable hardship and deprivation along the trafficking routes before they reach their destinations. Comparatively, in Asia where some of the worst forms of trafficking have been found, it is estimated that over 30 million children and young women have been trafficked for sexual exploitation alone over the past 30 years, i.e., over one million every year.13 Studies show an existing flow of trafficking of young women and children to Western Europe - studies in China also show that, even though large numbers of Chinese women get forcibly transported to brothels in Thailand and Cambodia, a large number of the human trafficking also occurs within the country.

4.0 CURRENT TRAFFICKING PATTERNS WITHIN THE WEST AFRICAN SUB-REGION Although trafficking in women and children is a global phenomenon, it is particularly widespread in Africa and South Asia (especially the Mekong Area) and is a complex reality that goes beyond the abuse of traditional deployments for labor. It is based on the multiplication of informal actors at the internal level and on the organization of powerful networks at the cross-border level and has affected millions of youth within the African sub-region. Unfortunately, it has been extremely difficult due to its secretive and informal nature to identify the trafficking networks in West Africa even though studies have identified West Africa as a major trafficking route -- West African States are source, destination and transit countries of trafficking.14 Victims can be trafficked within the sub-region or transferred overseas. It is difficult to gather and interpret data on trafficked victims within the sub-region and the situation is even more complex in West Africa where borders are opened for the promotion of free trade because of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In such a situation, it has been difficult sometimes to distinguish between legitimate family cross-border migration and illegal and criminal activities. There are clearly established routes within West and Central Africa involving Ghana, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Mali, Guinea and Niger. Studies have further proven that the region is actually broken up into supplier, transit and receiver countries for victims. Source countries include Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. Transit countries include Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, and receiver countries include Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Gabon; some of these countries are both suppliers and receivers.

4.1. INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION: TRAFFICKING ACROSS ECOWAS MEMBER STATE BORDERS At the turn of the new century, West Africans increasingly are victimized by international traffickers and are sent overseas. For example, a recent media report indicated that in the past decade alone 10,000 children (mainly from Benin State in Nigeria) have been trafficked to the U.K alone.15 These ever growing numbers have forced the British police at Gatwick Airport to set up special units to deal with the problem of children asylum seekers.16 Experts suggest that many West African children who travel to the West have been trained by their captors to fraudulently present to European immigration officials as Sierra Leonean nationals fleeing civil war. By misrepresenting the children's status, traffickers hoped to secure the victims special humanitarian permission to enter and remain in, for instance, the UK The children are provided with false identification papers and are often intimidated through acts of either occultism or coercion in order not to betray those who facilitated their trip. Both British and Dutch police report that the children often disappear before the police have a chance to interrogate them. The British police have established that these children, who are mostly young girls, are transported to a number of European cities and that, even though the girls have been told they will work as hairdressers or shop assistants, in reality they are forced into prostitution. Italy has also become a focal point for traffickers, once again with the majority of women coming from Nigeria - reports say that 40% of Italy's prostitutes come from Nigeria alone (mainly from Benin City) - claims that there are some 2500 West African prostitutes working the streets of Turin every night cannot be dismissed. 17 In Italy, however there is also evidence that the former prostitutes themselves, the madams, are organizing these cartels, probably in association with organized crime cartels. One trade, which was recently discovered as facilitating trafficking in persons, is the growing numbers of young West African boys being trafficked to Europe with promises of football contracts. 18 Agents pay West African families $50 for boys as young as 8-10 years old whom they plan to train in the hope that at the age of 16 -17 they will sell them for millions of dollars to European clubs. More often than not this does not materialize and the hapless youth are left to their fate - this is especially rampant in the case of Congolese youth being abandoned on the streets of Brussels. This practice has become known as the 'New Slavery' since the recruiters change the identity of the youth, but the youth still remain the property of these so called agents.

4.2 INTERNAL DIMENSION: TRAFFICKING WITHIN ECOWAS MEMBER STATES In West Africa, there is a historical tradition of migration for economic purposes across the sub-region, which has de facto been borderless. Now, with the ratification of the ECOWAS Protocols guaranteeing free movement of persons across the sub-region, it has become increasingly easy to move persons across borders for trafficking purposes. Studies indicate that the trafficking is influenced and fueled by a diverse and complex list of factors, although poverty emerges as the major and ubiquitous causal factor especially in West Africa.19 Other factors include gender, social discrimination, growing consumerism, irresponsible male sexual behavior, globalization, and economic policies, which fail to ensure universal access to education and legal protection. The studies also show that the following factors profile countries from which children are trafficked: · Widespread poverty · Low educational levels - especially the girl children · High fertility rates The studies also show that countries which are more developed and less populated are frequently the countries to which traffickers send their victims - the example in West Africa is Gabon and women from Ukraine generally end up in the cities of the more affluent European countries such as Berlin, Rome, and Amsterdam. While poverty is the underlying cause for women and children trafficking within the sub-region, it cannot be an excuse for it. Other factors contributing to the practice include:20 · Traditional beliefs · Cultural values · Lack of vocational and economic opportunities for the youth in rural areas. It is common knowledge that children are often placed by their own nuclear families with relatives and friends where they believe the chance of gainful employment is higher - unfortunately, these children become easy preys for traffickers who promise work and trade opportunities, which hardly ever materialize. Some of the factors that have contributed to this trade within West Africa include the following: · Insufficient or inaccessible educational opportunities. · The traditional practice of placement and child movement within the extended family system. · Lack of knowledge on the part of families and children of the risks involved in trafficking. · High demand for cheap and submissive child labor. · Urban- rural migration. · Dysfunctional families. · Gender discrimination. · Institutional lapses such as the absence of national legislation that criminalize child trafficking and the absence of a judicial framework that punishes perpetrators and accomplices.

5.0 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES International law recognizes the problem of trafficking in women and children as a serious human rights issue. This is evidenced in several international human rights instruments and declarations, which afford both specific and general protection to women and girls against the practice. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights21 (UDHR) guarantees, inter alia, the right of every person to life, liberty and security of the person, a right to be free from slavery in all its forms and to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Reports of the death of several victims, mostly children, the cruel and inhuman treatment, the sexual and other exploitation and abuse, leave no doubt that these, and several other rights, are impinged upon when women and children are trafficked. Some of the International Human Rights Instruments, Reports and Declarations that outlaw trafficking include: · Report by the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; · General Recommendation 19 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; · The Declaration and Program of Action of the World Conference of Women; · The Declaration on Violence Against Women (DEVAW); · The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; · 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Practices Similar to Slavery; · 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; · 1926 Slavery Convention and the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Practices and Institutions Similar to Slavery; · Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; · Rome Statute of International Criminal Court - 1998; · Convention Concerning Forced Labor (obliges State parties to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labor in all its forms within the shortest possible time); · ILO Convention 182, the Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor; · 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); · The Stockholm Declaration; and, · The Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

6.0 COMBATING TRAFFICKING International law provides the framework needed to combat this evil phenomenon and this is highlighted in the aforementioned international human rights instruments and declarations, which map out strategies that can be utilized to fight trafficking. These include protective measures, preventive measures and a strengthening of international and regional cooperation. As rightly noted by UNICEF's Regional Director for Europe: "We must not underestimate the use of international Conventions in our work to end this heinous trade in children for sexual purposes and exploitative labor. These are not just vague promises; they provide frameworks that, among other things, smooth out differences between national laws".22

6.1 PREVENTIVE MEASURES In order to combat trafficking in children and women short, medium and long-term preventive strategies are essential. These should include: · Education, which is an effective and long-term approach to combating child trafficking. It is necessary that governments put in place measures that maximize opportunities for early child development. Free and compulsory primary education and second chance learning as a means of improving children's status, especially girls will reduce gender discrimination and empower girls and boys. · Awareness raising, involving all sections of the community in rural and urban areas, market places, schools, churches, mosques and particularly border towns and villages is necessary. · The media, particularly the electronic media, have a key role to play in the sensitization of public opinion. Media coverage on the rights of the child, on child labor and trafficking and maltreatment of trafficked women and children have been shown to have a great impact. · Consideration should be given to developing a code of conduct for public portrayal of children in the media. Support for gender-sensitive mass media campaigns to raise awareness about children's rights in general, and trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation of children and other exploitation in particular is imperative. · Initiating gender-sensitive communication, media and information campaigns to educate government personnel about child rights and the illegality and harmful impact of sexual exploitation of children, and promoting responsible sexual attitudes and behavior in society, in keeping with the child's development, sense of dignity and self esteem would also be in order. This information should be disseminated to the different target groups through school curricula, radio and television programs, posters, campaigns etc. · Child-friendly versions of documents and materials related to trafficking could be prepared for community level dissemination. Greater knowledge and awareness among children could be built through the inclusion of sex education in school curricula. Notably, the Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography recognizes, among other things, that awareness - raising could significantly reduce consumer demand for sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.23 · Building economic safety nets and investing in community based initiatives to strengthen economic security of poor and marginalized families to offer viable alternative sources of sustainable livelihoods, especially for women headed households through self-help groups to ensure empowerment and self-reliance. · Policy advocacy for local governance structures to mainstream child protection measures to be a part of decentralized governance mechanisms and the establishment and functioning of community based child protection committees. · The formulation or strengthening and implementation of gender-sensitive national, social and economic policies and programs to assist children vulnerable to trafficking, families and communities in resisting acts that lead to the practice, with special attention to family abuse, harmful traditional practices and their impact on girls, and to promoting the value of children as human beings rather than commodities; and reduce poverty by promoting gainful employment, income generation and other supports.

6.2 PROTECTIVE MEASURES It is imperative that governments ratify recent international human rights instruments pertinent to the protection of women and children from trafficking, including those agreements listed above, as well as the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (CATOC). As at 1st Sept. 2001 the CATOC has been signed by 126 countries, including ten member states of ECOWAS (Burkina Faso, Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal) and ratified by two countries, including Nigeria, which hosts the ECOWAS Secretariat. 87 countries have signed the Protocol, including nine member states of ECOWAS.24 Most West African countries have signed, and to a lesser extent ratified, a number of the other above mentioned relevant international instruments.25 However, it must be remembered that in many common law traditions, ratification only provides the normative international legal framework, which States agree bind them in their international dealings. African countries do not frequently enough take subsequent actions of translating treaty obligations into municipal law. This state of affairs then brings about a lacuna in law enforcement and in an area such as trafficking where the criminal laws of most West African countries do not contain modern definitions it does not facilitate prosecutions of traffickers. It is imperative if protective and preventive measures are to be effective that all law enforcement agents, border police, customs and immigration officials, relevant government ministers and members of the judiciary in the countries affected are trained and sensitized to issues of trafficking and the rights and needs of victims. It is also necessary that immigration and deportation policies of receiving countries be revised to prevent further marginalization and traumatization. Victims must also be guaranteed freedom from persecution or harassment by those in positions of authority and given access to legal assistance and qualified interpreters during all proceedings.

6.3 SPECIFIC REGIONAL INTERVENTIONS On a sub-regional level, a number of fora and conferences have been organized to create public awareness and raise the trafficking issue with governments; as a result, a number of ECOWAS countries have, over the past couple of years, participated in bilateral and multilateral initiatives. For example, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire have concluded bilateral agreements with neighboring countries to address the problem of child trafficking. At the operational level, technical cooperation with law enforcement and criminal justice agencies in the sub-region was stepped up; some of these efforts include training workshops for magistrates, law enforcement, and immigration and border control agencies. · ECOWAS Heads of State Commitment Additionally, on the proposal of the Republic of Benin, and under the leadership of the Togolese President, in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention/Center for International Crime Prevention (ODCCP/CICP), an experts meeting of ECOWAS Member States recommended a Declaration and Initial Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons to the Heads of State Summit; this was accordingly adopted in December 2001.26 · ECOWAS Initial Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons The document outlines the "…. most urgent actions against trafficking in persons to be taken by ECOWAS member states within the years 2002 - 2003 with a focus on criminal justice responses…".27 Some of the actions include the following: · Ratification and implementation of all relevant human rights and other regional and international legal instruments which impinge on trafficking in persons; · States shall adopt laws criminalizing trafficking in human beings in line with the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; · States shall incorporate legal provisions for the protection of victims of trafficking and ensure that their domestic legal systems contain measures that offer victims of trafficking compensation; · States shall establish a National Task Force, which will formulate Plans of Action against Trafficking in Persons that will bring together relevant Ministries and Agencies in developing appropriate policies to combat trafficking in persons; · ECOWAS should establish a Coordination Unit to combat trafficking in Persons; · States should protect and support victims of trafficking - in this wise States are to create and develop appropriate shelters or reception areas where victims of trafficking can be sheltered, taking into account the special needs of children; · Civil Society, in partnership with Government, is to conduct a prevention and awareness raising of the crime of trafficking in persons; · States are also to establish direct lines of communication between their respective border control agencies; · States shall create special units within law enforcement agencies with the requisite training for all strata of law enforcement personnel; and, · States should establish identification verification procedures at entry points. The Plan also envisages that there should be a review mechanism to ensure effective implementation of these strategies. The Plan of Action is a welcome intervention to a problem whose dimensions were truly frightening -- at the October 2001 Experts Meeting, out of the 14 countries present, with the exception of Cabo Verde and Guinea, all the other countries spoke of trafficking taking place in their countries.28

6.4 INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP, COOPERATION & CAPACITY BUILDING There is a clear international dimension to the problem of trafficking, which makes international cooperation absolutely indispensable. In view of the multidimensional factors influencing the growing trend in trafficking women and children, a multi-faceted approach involving all sections of the community, including community leaders, religious leaders, relevant government ministries, non-governmental organizations, regional and international organizations is imperative for strategies to be effective. Active and effective cooperation, not only between Governments and non-governmental organizations but also between non -governmental organizations themselves, is also imperative for headway to be made in the fight against trafficking. Unfortunately, an observation made in a Report on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography by the Special Rapporteur on the Commission on Human Rights showed that most initiatives and programs functioned on an ad hoc basis, without coordination relating to networking or tapping of sources of funding.29 Additionally, there was no close cooperation and openness in sharing information and experiences for the mutual strengthening of the capacities of organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. Cooperation between States would facilitate not only the identification of offenders and trafficked persons, but also with the sharing of information about the methods of offenders, and with the implementation of security and border controls. International cooperation is also important for extradition purposes. Significantly, one of the most important international cooperation components under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Crime is its extradition provision. This is vital to ensure that there are no "safe havens" to which offenders can flee. Mutual legal assistance is another important judicial cooperation under the Convention. The Convention also calls on States to support the efforts of developing countries to fight transnational organized crime and assist them to implement the convention through both technical cooperation, as well as financial and material assistance. It is necessary that Governments work towards greater cooperation and coordination to: · Establish national and regional databases, build knowledge centers on trafficking and develop qualitative and quantitative indicators. It is necessary that governments support the design of research methodologies and the implementation of studies and action research to enable in depth assessment and analysis for improved actions. · Institutionalize a process for regional actions through regular consultations involving governments, I/NGOs, international agencies, judicial systems, and children's organizations to examine progress, share good practices and establish mechanisms to address bilateral and multilateral issues. · Create partnership with children and young adults by including them in existing regional, national and local networks, task forces and community level processes. Children and young adults could also be included as equal partners in research, designing of policies, programs and projects. Children could also be supported to form their own networks for interacting among themselves and with adults.

7.0 THE WAY FORWARD / RECOMMENDATIONS Political commitments at the highest levels of decision - making in the West African sub-region were made at the December 2001 ECOWAS Heads of State Summit Meeting where the Heads of State proclaimed their "… strong commitment to the eradication of trafficking in persons, especially women and children…".30 They further committed to establish as criminal offences the trafficking in persons within, between or from their territory and whether to organize, direct or participate as an accomplice in this trafficking.31 Other actions pledged included:32 · To collaborate with other nations across the globe to arrange for the safe repatriation of trafficking victims; · To implement policies and programs to provide for the protection and physical, psychological and social recovery of trafficking victims; · To use all forms of state and public media to mount public awareness campaigns to educate potential victims of trafficking, their families and the general population; · To provide and strengthen sensitization and training of government officials, particularly law enforcement personnel, customs and immigration officials, and prosecutors and judges on the investigation and prosecution of related crimes; · To create specialized anti-trafficking units within law enforcement agencies and prosecutorial services, with a special view to fight for the involvement of organized criminal groups; · To strengthen border controls, without prejudice to international commitments to the free movement of persons, to prevent and control trafficking; · To gather and analyze data on the nature and magnitude of the phenomenon and to exchange such information among the law enforcement and government agencies of nations across the globe; · To support local communities and NGOs working against trafficking in persons; · To strengthen preventive measures, including educational and social measures to discourage the demand in trafficked persons; and, · To establish an ECOWAS unit for the coordination of the efforts of National Task Forces and to draft a sub-regional convention against trafficking, with a special focus on women and children. Ideally, any framework for the total eradication of all forms of trafficking should include some or all of the following specific interventions: 1) Ratify and implement international human rights instruments relevant for child protection, including: · The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; · The ILO Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour & its Recommendation No. 190; · The UN Convention against Trans-national Organized Crime; · The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially, Women and Children Supplementing the UN Convention against Trans-national Organized Crime; and, · The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. 2. Review, initiate and strengthen national laws in line with conventions ratified and criminalize all the forms of trafficking. 3. Adopt and promote an attitude of "zero tolerance" to all forms of violence and exploitation of children and women, through reinforced media and public awareness raising campaigns. 4. Adopt a holistic approach to fighting trafficking in women and children with full participation of communities and children, taking into account specific interventions in changing the mind set created by culture, traditions and age old stereotypes. 5. Encourage the development of national institutions for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child such as Ombudspersons (National Watchdogs) for Children and Children's Commissioners. 6. Identify and remove corrupt public officials acting as accomplices of traffickers and resist the pressure to attempt to address trafficking simply by limiting migration, which exacerbates the problem, especially for women. 7. Undertake specific rights based and child-friendly actions to counter the specific stigmatization child victims face. 8. Strengthen networks of cooperation between national and international law enforcement agencies. 9. Promote the adoption of an international warrant, at regional levels, for the arrest of women and child traffickers. 10. Encourage and improve monitoring of the problem of trafficking in the regions to ensure effective implementation of plans of actions at national, sub regional, and regional levels. 11. Establish or upgrade databanks to be able to understand better the magnitude and extent of trafficking and the situation of victims.

8.0 CONCLUSION Trafficking in women and children is an alarming global phenomenon, which knows no boundaries of a geographical, cultural or social nature. There are no simple solutions to it. "Each delay in our efforts and actions to help these children means a longer list of victims".33 If the demand is not significantly reduced there will continue to be children who are trafficked for sex and other purposes. In West and Central Africa, as in some parts of Asia and South America, it must be recognized that the worst forms of trafficking that exist is trafficking in children for exploitative labor and the trafficking in persons (mainly women) for the sex trade. Additionally, in several countries such as Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Nigeria, mainly due to outmoded traditional practices and disparities in rural and urban settings, there is a high incidence of both internal trafficking and outward flows of those trafficked to neighboring countries. In fact in Ghana, it was found that most of the trafficked children come from the Northern and Upper East Regions which record the highest level of poverty and illiteracy nationally, unemployment, high infant mortality rates and paradoxically high birth and population rates.34 The main factors according to researchers to be overcome to eradicate trafficking are the following: 35 · Socio - cultural factors · Economic factors · Juridical and Political Factors · Intolerable Working conditions of Children · Impact of trafficking on the Children · Consequences to the Communities · Various violations of the Rights of the Child. It is to be hoped that with the political commitments outlined and the various efforts at awareness raising by both International organizations, the international communities, regional organizations, governments and civil society that the next few years would lead to a dramatic drop in the incidence of trafficking across West Africa.

Footnotes
1 Final Report of the Joint ECOWAS/UNODCCP/CICP Meeting of Experts on Trafficking in Persons, Accra 23 - 24 October 2001.
2 Dr. Rima Salah, UNICEF's Regional Director for West and Central Africa, First Pan-African Conference on Human Trafficking, Abuja, 19-23 February, 2001.
3 Id. See also, African Center for Human Development (William Tengley & Emelia Oguaah), DANIDA Commissioned Report on Child Trafficking in Ghana; and International Labour Organization, Combating Trafficking in Children for Labour Exploitation in West and Central Africa, Synthesis Report.
4 The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially of Women and Children, supplement to the United Nations Convention Against Trans-National Organized Crime at Article 3(a).
5 UNICEF Sub-Regional Workshop on Trafficking in Child Domestics in West & Central Africa - 1998
6 See e.g., UNICEF Sub-Regional Workshop on Trafficking in Child Domestics in West & Central Africa - 1998; African Center for Human Development (William Tengey & Emelia Oguaah), DANIDA Commissioned Report on Child Trafficking in Ghana; and International Labour Organization, Combating Trafficking in Children for Labour Exploitation in West and Central Africa, Synthesis Report.
7 UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy.
8 UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy.
9 Combating Trafficking in Children for Labor Exploitation in West and Central Africa. Synthesis Report. ILO/IPEC
10 UNICEF Sub-Regional Workshop on Trafficking in Child Domestics in West & Central Africa - 1998.
11 UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy.
12 Combating Trafficking in Children for Labor Exploitation in West and Central Africa. Synthesis Report. ILO/IPEC.
13 Dr. Rima Salah, UNICEF's Regional Director for West and Central Africa, at the First Pan -African Conference on Human Trafficking, Abuja, 19 - 23 February, 2001.
14 U.S. State Department, Report on Human Trafficking 2001. Found at www.usdos.gov.
15 Trafficking of African Children and Young People - West Africa Magazine. Issue 4336, 29 July - 4 August 2002.
16 Id. See also, Sarah Maloney, Conference Report: Transatlantic Workshop on Unaccompanied/Separated Children: Comparative Policies and Practices in North America and Europe. Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 152, No. 1, 2002. Oxford University Press.
17 Trafficking of African Children and Young People - West Africa Magazine. Issue 4336, 29 July - 4 August 2002.
18 Young African Footballers Lured to Europe - West Africa Magazine. Issue 4336, 29 July - 4 August 2002.
19 African Center for Human Development (William Tengey & Emelia Oguaah), DANIDA Commissioned Report on Child Trafficking in Ghana; and International Labour Organization, Combating Trafficking in Children for Labour Exploitation in West and Central Africa, Synthesis Report.
20 African Center for Human Development (William Tengey & Emelia Oguaah), DANIDA Commissioned Report on Child Trafficking in Ghana; and International Labour Organization, Combating Trafficking in Children for Labour Exploitation in West and Central Africa, Synthesis Report.
21 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, U.N Doc. A/ 811.
22 UNICEF's Regional Director for Europe, Stephen Woodhouse.
23 Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography at preamble 8.
24 Background Paper - ECOWAS - ODCCP Expert Group Meeting on Trafficking in Human Beings, Accra, Ghana, 23 - 24 October 2001. 25 Id.
26 ECOWAS Declaration A/DCL2/12/01 on The Fight Against Trafficking in Persons; ECOWAS Initial Action Plan Against Trafficking in Persons (2002-2003).
27 ECOWAS Initial Action Plan Against Trafficking in Persons (2002-2003).
28 Final Report of the Joint ECOWAS/UNODCCP/CICP Meeting of Experts on Trafficking in Persons, Accra 23 - 24 October 2001.
29 Report on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography by the Special Rapporteur on the Commission on Human Rights. Ms. Ofelia Calcetas-Santos, E/CN.4/1999/71, 29 January 1999.
30 Final Report of the Joint ECOWAS/UNODCCP/CICP Meeting of Experts on Trafficking in Persons, Accra 23 - 24 October 2001.
31 ECOWAS Declaration A/DCL2/12/01 on The Fight Against Trafficking in Persons at para. 5.
32 Id. at paras. 6 - 23.
33 UNICEF's Viet Nam representative, Morten Giersing.
34 African Center for Human Development (William Tengey & Emelia Oguaah), DANIDA Commissioned Report on Child Trafficking in Ghana.
35 African Center for Human Development (William Tengey & Emelia Oguaah), DANIDA Commissioned Report on Child Trafficking in Ghana.
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