I Coast returns smuggled kids

2006-12-22 09:44

Abidjan - Ivory Coast has repatriated 14 children who were smuggled from Burkina Faso and Mali, probably to work on farms in the world's top cocoa grower, says an aid worker.

Ivory Coast was trying to stop the worst forms of child labour on its plantations to avoid the United States sanctions.

Police foiled the smuggling operation during spot checks on two coaches carrying the minors into the western cocoa town of Soubre.

The children said they were coming to help relatives on their farms or in their corner shops, but two adults believed to have been smuggling them got off the coaches and fled.

Michel Seka, who worked on a project ran by Germany's international co-operation body, GTZ, to stop child trafficking, said the children were returned to their countries this week and were handed to the social services.

GTZ repatriates 65 trafficked kids

Seka said: "We believe they were sent to work in the cocoa fields since it's the time of year for it", adding that GTZ had repatriated 65 trafficked children so far this year, most of whom came from poor and arid Burkina Faso to the north.

Harvesting of the chocolate ingredient peaks from October to December in the West African state, which turned out about 1.3 million tons of cocoa annually and the seasonal flow of cash into the bush fuelled child trafficking, crime and prostitution.

The GTZ and Interpol had trained Ivorian security forces to detect trafficked children, who usually entered the country on public transport. GTZ was also training rural communities to spot and report any new arrival of children in their areas.

Ivory Coast was trying to eliminate the worst forms of child labour from its farms ahead of a 2008 deadline set by the US parliamentarians for punitive sanctions on its cocoa exports, but there had been little progress beyond a pilot scheme in one main town.

Farmers and local authorities in Ivory Coast, while recognising the problem of child trafficking, insisted that there was no widespread use of forced child labour on farms.

They instead pointed to cultural differences and the need to pass on skills to enable their children to earn a living as an adult.

- Reuters