|
 |
 |
UNITED NATIONS — The sordid saga of the West African slave Ship "Etireno" has challenged our moralists and pundits with the uncomfortable but gripping reality that despite apparant globalization and the brave new world order, tragic practices remain entrenched in so many places.
"Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose," as the French would say, which is to say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Just having read some disturbing stories about slavery in the Sudan, this case across the African continent grabbed my attention.
Seeing the Etireno story, and hearing the pundits from Anti-Slavery International in London ( which I must say is an updated version of the Society which had a distinctly 19th century missionary ring to it), one is confronted with a very 21st century "In your Face" slap of African reality after Uhuru. And with double irony, these waters in the Gulf of Guinea hosted so much of this horrible commerce for centuries and apparently still do.
So in a world where the UN speaks of sustainable development, proper environmental standards, and debt relief--we still face something as genuinely dastardly and brutal as traffic in human beings. To be sure child prostitution in Thailand and child labor in Pakistan beg for remedy too, but formal slavery has a distinctly wretched ring-- the selling of human beings as chattel and often by their own parents to local "dealers".
The Times of London opines, "The incident has drawn attention to the prevalence of slavery in West Africa. Estimates put the number of children taken from their homes, sent abroad, and forced to work as domestic servants, prostitutes or in cotton and coca plantionas at 200,000." Trafficers are said to earn $500 per child taken from their parents in Togo or Benin for perhaps $15.
The vessel Etireno sailed from Benin before being turned away in oil rich Gabon, then returning back to Benin --the Nigerian registered ship was reported packed with child slaves. When the ship returned there were few children, raising speculation that they were thrown overboard. The practice is not uncommon according to experts. The captain seeing the unwanted media and police attention, may have thrown the kids into the sea.
Before I go any further into this sorry saga, let me give you a time check--this is April 2001. Colonialism is long gone in Africa, and so you can't blame the Belgians, the British, or even the Arabs.
Naturally we come the the point what is to be done? Buying children out of captivity as is often done by Christian missionaries in Sudan, for example, only creates more of a market in a macabre way. In other words, if well intentioned Americans or Europeans go to Sudan to buy children's freedom with dollars, this creates the incentive for the market to offer the missionaries yet more people. It's somewhat the same story in Mauritania where slavery has been condoned if not accepted.
UNICEF concedes the problem in child trafficking is "very common." The Red Cross has organized a predictable Summit in Dakar, Senegal (an old and hideous entrepot of slavery in the past) as the venue to discuss the matter. International Red Cross Director Didier Cherpitel exclaims that "Enterprises which benefit from child labor should be named and shamed." A good sound bite, but will this really frighten latter day slave traders any more than countless pronouncements against drug trafficking in Columbia really cause more than a snide chuckle among the caudillos of the cartels?
Development aid from the U.N., the IMF, and western donors can and should be unambiguously tied to compliance by those West African governments who are habitual offenders. While the predictable charge of "neo-colonialism" will echo, such a financial quid pro quo would be a first logical step towards making slavery a less profitable activity. More importantly it will give governments an economic incentive to end this undefendable social practice and free people from this immoral servitude.
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
