Human Trafficking Around the World (35 page)

INTERNAL EFFORTS TO DECREASE TRAFFICKING

In 2009 the government made an initial investment of $19 million for the purpose of expanding its number of anti–human trafficking units. To date it has established at least 47 such task forces within local law-enforcement agencies. The units are responsible for investigating human trafficking cases and have contributed in cases against sex traffickers. It is unclear whether the units have contributed to labor-trafficking prosecutions. The effectiveness of the units seems inconsistent, depending on the location. Additionally, NGOs state that some units lack funding and personnel (U.S. Department of State, 2010).

While anti-trafficking efforts have been predominantly focused on trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, the government is beginning to take legislative measures against trafficking for forced and child labor. In an effort to combat child labor, the government approved a nationwide model in January 2009 that merges the national educational and poverty alleviation programs (U.S. Department of State, 2009). In 2012 India’s cabinet approved changes to the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 that will establish a minimum age of 14 years for employment and 18 years for hazardous work. The changes must first be approved by Parliament (ILO, 2012). In July 2009 an amendment to the Emigration Act increased penalties for Indian labor recruitment agencies involved in deceptive recruitment practices and/or the trafficking of laborers (Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, 2009). Ranbir Singh, the protector general of emigrants, said that every year approximately 1 million workers from India find low-skill jobs in the Middle East/Gulf region and Southeast Asia. “They are the workers who are generally poor, less educated and vulnerable to exploitation and other malpractices. They are the people we have to look after” (Thaindian News, 2009).

Although the government put together a comprehensive plan in 2008 to work with NGOs to prevent and combat human trafficking, the government’s post-trafficking programs are geared primarily toward women and child victims of sexual exploitation. While the law appears to be increasingly protective of child and adult victims of forced labor and debt bondage, there is still minimal government focus on rehabilitation services for adult victims. Particularly marginalized are adult male trafficking victims, who have little access to shelters, services, and rehabilitation programs. Also, the issue of caste remains a serious problem in India. It would help improve the trafficking situation if this issue was properly addressed and programs were successfully implemented that would equalize its citizens. Until then, people of the low castes will continue to face inferior education and status that make them vulnerable to human trafficking.

CHAPTER 14

Niger

My master has four wives. We, the slaves, were doing all the housework like cooking, fetching water and firewood, and working on farms. I was beaten so many times I would run to my family. Then, after a day or two, I would be brought back.

—HADIJATOU MANI KORAOU, BORN INTO SLAVERY

In February 2010 a military junta led by Salou Djibo deposed then-president Mamadou Tandja and suspended the constitution and the cabinet. Approved by referendum in October 2010, the new constitution gave the army until April 6, 2011 to restore civilian rule, which it did, and on April 7, 2011, elected president Mahamadou Issoufou began his term (BBC News, 2010; IFES, 2010; VOANews, 2011a, 2011b). Before handing over leadership, the transitional government enacted the country’s first specific law to address human trafficking in December 2010, Order No. 2010-86. The comprehensive anti-trafficking law prohibits all forms of trafficking, including slavery and practices analogous to slavery. Offenders face 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment, or 10 to 30 years’ imprisonment if the victim is a child. The law also allows victims to file civil suits against their traffickers (U.S. Department of State, 2011). Prior to the anti-trafficking law, prosecutors used Niger’s trafficking-related statutes to prosecute traffickers, though there were no laws that addressed the sex trafficking of adults. Forced labor is prohibited through the Nigerien Labor Code. Those found guilty of forced-labor offenses face minimal sentencing that ranges from six days to one month in prison and a fine of between $48 and $598. Profiting from or encouraging child begging is prohibited under Article 181 of the Penal Code, and procurement of a child for prostitution is prohibited under Articles 292 and 293 (ILO, 1996; U.S. Department of State, 2010).

Traditional slavery continues to be a serious problem in Niger. In addition to the anti-trafficking law, Article 270 of the Penal Code prohibits slavery. Under the code those found guilty of slavery offenses are supposed to face a penalty of 10 to 30 years’ imprisonment. Yet an estimated 8,800 to 43,000 persons are subjected to traditional hereditary slavery within the nation. The Nigerien government acknowledges that slavery does exist, but considers NGO reports on the number of persons enslaved to be an exaggeration and denies its prevalence and severity (Anti-Slavery International, 2008c; U.S. Department of State, 2009, 2010).

TRAFFICKING ABROAD

There are reports of Nigerien girls entering into sham marriages with citizens of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Upon arrival in these countries, the girls are often forced into involuntary domestic servitude. Other Nigerien girls enter into fake marriages and are forced into prostitution (U.S. Department of State, 2010, 2012). Nigerien girls are particularly vulnerable to these sham marriages because of cultural pressure on girls to marry at an early age. It is a common practice in Niger for girls to be married off by their parents by the age of 12, a custom that has begun to be exploited by international traffickers (IRIN, 2009a). In fact, according to UNICEF, one-third of girls in Niger are married before the age of 15 (Mebrahtu, 2012). The reasons for the persistence of this tradition include religion and poverty. One mother in Agadez said that marriage is the prescribed way of life for Muslims and that the practice of a girl’s marrying early deters potential family dishonor. “I’d rather marry my daughters to whomever rather than have them picking up unwanted pregnancies in the streets of Agadez,” the mother said (IRIN, 2009a).

Despite the fact that some parents have faced arrest and imprisonment for marrying off their daughters before the legal age, due to the severe food crisis in Niger the number of early childhood marriages is not likely to dwindle anytime soon. “People are eating leaves to survive,” said Achirou Oumarou, the director of a regional hospital in Maradi. In the hospital where Oumarou works, 5 percent of babies are typically born weighing less than five pounds; this increased to 8 percent in 2012. The incentive to marry off a daughter is in part because it fetches a dowry, which includes animals and cash (Raghavan, 2012). Moutari Mamane, regional coordinator for the NGO Association in Favor of the Suppression of Child Labor in Niger, said that parents are often unaware that this custom can result in the sexual exploitation of their daughters. “Parents don’t realize what their daughter can go through in the country she is sent to,” said Mamane. “All too often, they fall prey to sexual exploitation, violence and all kinds of mistreatment” (IRIN, 2009a). A law has been proposed that would raise the legal age for marriage from 15 to 18. As of September 2012 the proposed law had not yet been adopted. Seyna Saidou, a judge in Agadez, said that even if the law is adopted, implementation and enforcement are unlikely. “The problem with marriage in Niger is that it’s governed by customs, which allow parents to marry their girls to whomever they want and at any age,” Saidou told IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (IRIN, 2009a; Callimachi, 2012).

Nigerien citizens, primarily women and children, are also trafficked abroad through false promises of jobs where they face involuntary domestic servitude, forced labor, and forced commercial sexual exploitation. The most common destinations are Benin, Cameroon, Europe, Mali, the Middle East, and North Africa. In 2005 and 2006, Nigerien citizens made up 1.4 percent of identified trafficking victims in Benin (UNODC, 2009; U.S. Department of Labor, 2009b; U.S. Department of State, 2009, 2010). People from Niger have also been trafficked to the United States. One such case is that of Marie, a woman in her early twenties trafficked to the United States to be a nanny. In exchange for performing nanny duties for a single family, Marie was promised wages and an education. But when she arrived, her traffickers confiscated her passport, birth certificate, and the temporary visa that they had used to bring Marie into the country. Her responsibilities encompassed much more than what she had agreed to do. “She was not only the full-time nanny,” said Alia El-Sawi, former Anti-Human Trafficking Program coordinator at Tapestri, Refugee and Immigrant Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Atlanta, Georgia. “She was also assigned to cook, clean, do laundry, and perform yard work.”
¹
Marie’s traffickers locked her inside the home to ensure that she could not leave. When not performing duties, Marie was restricted to her room. “She was forbidden from using the phone,” El-Sawi said. “She did not have contact with her family or anyone outside the home for several years. If she asked to leave the house or make any phone calls, she was severely beaten with some type of object on her face and body.”

TRAFFICKING WITHIN NIGER

Slavery is prohibited under the anti-trafficking law and Article 270 of the Nigerien Penal Code, but traditional slavery persists and is practiced by minority ethnic groups such as the Toureg, Maure, and Peule. Within these groups, a caste system exists in which slavery is ascribed at birth and passed from one generation to the next. Slaves are forced to work as shepherds, agricultural workers, domestic servants, and sexual servants (Kaye, 2008; Anti-Slavery International, 2008e; U.S. Department of Labor, 2009b). One highly publicized case of traditional slavery in Niger involves the enslavement of a woman named Hadijatou Mani Koraou. Born to a slave, Mani came into the world as the property of her mother’s owner. At the age of 12 she was sold to El Hadj Soulemayne Naroua for $543.05 as a fifth wife, or
sadaka
. Under this arrangement Mani was not legally a wife, but a slave acquired to work as both servant and concubine (ECOWAS, 2008).

Mani’s experience was probably not unlike that of any other
sadaka
; under this arrangement, forced sexual relations are commonplace. The first sexual attack happened when Mani was 12 years old; Naroua sneaked up on her when she was working in the fields. Thereafter she suffered sexual abuse or beatings whenever Naroua perceived her to be disobedient (ECOWAS, 2008). “My master has four wives,” Mani told the BBC. “We, the slaves, were doing all the housework like cooking, fetching water and firewood, and working on farms. I was beaten so many times I would run to my family. Then, after a day or two, I would be brought back” (BBC News, 2008). Under pressure from the human rights organization Timidria, Naroua released Mani from slavery in 2005. The liberation certificate was signed by Mani and Naroua, and countersigned and stamped by the village chief. Mani tried to leave after receiving the certificate, but Naroua prevented her from doing so, stating that she was his wife (INTERIGHTS, 2009a). This claim, of course, was false, as the consent of both parties is required for a marriage to be deemed legal in Niger. Other requirements are a religious ceremony and payment of a dowry, none of which had transpired during Mani’s enslavement (Anti-Slavery International, 2008b).

Mani was eventually able to escape under the pretext of visiting her sick mother (ECOWAS, 2008). She then appealed to the local civil and traditional tribunal, which found that no marriage existed between Mani and Naroua. In response, Naroua filed an appeal with the local high court, which ruled that under customary law a slave girl is the de facto wife of her master when freed. This ruling is in direct violation of both Niger’s domestic law and international antislavery laws that Niger has ratified. Mani appealed to Niger’s Supreme Court, which quashed the high court’s decision, composed it differently, and then sent the case back to the high court (Anti-Slavery International, 2008b, ECOWAS, 2008). During that time and with the consent of her brother, Mani married a man of her choosing. In response, Naroua filed suit against Mani for bigamy. The high court judge found Mani guilty and sentenced her, as well as her husband and brother, to six months’ imprisonment. Each was also fined $113.14. Mani appealed the verdicts in the Court of Appeals in Niamey, but the court deferred sentencing until the judgment by the divorce judge had been decided. Nonetheless, it did order a provisional release of Mani and her family members. At the time of release they had each served two months of their sentences (Anti-Slavery International, 2008b).

What Mani did next, and the verdict that resulted, are significant. With the help of local attorneys and human rights organizations, Mani brought a case against the Nigerien government before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice on April 7, 2008, for failure to implement laws against slavery (Pflanz, 2008; Anti-Slavery International, 2008b).
²
“I was wrongly jailed, not because of anything I did but because of slavery, and today there is no more slavery, so I wanted the court to vindicate me, to give [me] my rights which I was denied some four years ago, to compensate me,” Mani told the BBC (BBC News, 2008).

This was the first time that the ECOWAS Community Court had heard a slavery case and the first time that the court sat in Niger. The case turned on the fact that the Republic of Niger—through its judges—had the opportunity and obligation to protect Mani when she came before them. The court highlighted the fact that one of the Niger judges had not denounced the act of slavery against Mani, but instead said: “The marriage of a free man with a slave woman is lawful, as long as he cannot afford to marry a free woman and if he fears to fall into fornication.” The ECOWAS court stated that the judge’s recognition of Mani’s slave status without denouncing it was a form of “acceptance, or at least tolerance, of this crime or offense.” The Nigerien judge, according to the court, had an obligation to bring a criminal prosecution or punish the crime or offense (of slavery) “as need be”: