Plans to stop people trade

2006-07-02 21:29

Lagos - African ministers are to devise a strategy to fight the trafficking of thousands of children and women from the continent into forced labour and prostitution, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said on Sunday.

As well as the 15 states of the west African bloc, ministers from the 11-nation Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) will attend the two-day meeting, to be held on July 6 and 7 in the Nigerian capital Abuja, an ECOWAS statement said.

Thousands of children fall victim to trafficking every year across central and west Africa, most of them because of poverty, according to Ecowas.

Nigeria is a major hub of people trafficking, with children smuggled in from neighbouring African countries such as Benin to work in quarries or as domestic workers, and women smuggled out to work as prostitutes in Europe and the Gulf.

The meeting "will adopt a joint plan of action and multilateral cooperation agreement on trafficking in persons" within Ecowas and ECCAS, the statement said.

- AFP