Modern Slavery in Africa

Modern Slavery in Africa

The modern-day slavery in Africa.

Hundreds of thousands of Africans continue to be required in situations of slavery or forced labor, from which they can not escape. The modern slave exploiters are well-connected local, political and legal exploit the weaknesses of the countries concerned, in order to get people to be subjugated to forced labor or to sell their services to international cartels, as is the case for the trafficking of girls for prostitution in Africa or elsewhere.

Benin
In Benin there is a widespread practice of Vidomegon: Due to the progressive impoverishment of families some girls are sold for a few francs to a foster family, for which they become free labor until they reach adolescence, when they are left on their own.

Chad
Various sources, but especially the uffico information OCHA (the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs), argue that the Arabized members of the clan who live in the north and east of Chad buy children from impoverished families. These are then forced to convert to Islam, changing the name, and are either kept in slavery in Sudan by the clan or sold to other clan Arabized.

Mali
Although the Malian government has repeatedly denied the existence of slavery, it is known that many ethnic bellasono held in slavery by Tuareg groups.

Mauritania
Social stratification in Mauritania sees bidanes (literally "white people") in the highest class, while harratin are at the bottom of the social pyramid. The bidanes are the descendants of the Berber clan (the Sanhaja) and Arabs (goods hassan) who have already occupied the north of Mauritania after the tenth century. The harratin are the descendants of sudanici and Bantu groups living along the Senegal River, to the south of the country. As always, the harratin are considered slaves of bidanes, and are part of the legacy that passes from one generation to another. To date, at least 90,000 harratin living in a situation of total enslavement, while all other harratin (600,000, 20% of the population) live in a state of partial enslavement.

Slavery was abolished in Mauritania at least three times in the last century (the last time in 1981). In August 2007, the new government has once again declared slavery illegal and criminalized the possession of schiavi.La political leadership, however, has not facilitated the action of the international groups that have tried to bring to light this practice.

Niger
In Niger, slavery was outlawed in 2003. Nevertheless, approximately 8% of the population still lives in conditions of slavery.

Slavery is widespread among the Tuareg, Fulani and Toubou. These are nomadic or semi-nomadic ethnic groups who practiced slavery for centuries. In 1904-1905, slaves accounted for three quarters of the population in Niger.

Sudan
Slavery has always been one of the plagues of Sudan. After the imposition of shari'a by the government of Omar Bashir, President of Sudan, cases of slavery have risen considerably. Various groups and personalities in Europe, including the Anti-Slavery Society, Amnesty International, Father Renato Kizito Sesana and the Catholic Archbishop of Khartoum (Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako), presented documentation and personal testimonies in this regard.

Ethiopia
Ethiopian and Eritrean children are kidnapped or sold by their parents before being taken to the Gulf countries. The majority of children are trafficked into prostitution or are sexually assaulted in the family that buys them.

Trafficking in children
In Nigeria and Benin, humanitarian organizations have denounced the trafficking of children. The children are kidnapped or sold with prices ranging from 20 to 70 U.S. dollars, in countries such as Togo and Benin. The children are then used for sexual purposes, such as household handyman, or workers in mines and plantations. Their selling price can reach $ 3,500.

Similar situations are found in Sierra Leone and Ghana. Almost all of the children used in illegal diamond mining in Sierra Leone have been kidnapped from neighboring countries, also because of the insecurity that characterized the region until recently. Many of the African prostitutes - mostly Nigerian - who work on European roads were sold by family members or by local leaders to groups of drug dealers, who then sell them to local mafias who control prostitution in Europe.

Aya
In almost all African countries south of the Sahara, there is a system that Swahili call aya. These are girls or young women from the countryside and are taken from families of the city, where they have to work without time or other rights to a minimum wage (in Kenya this can be less than twenty euro per month), food and accommodation. These people are often subject to sexual and physical abuse and have no right to protest.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.