Faces of Human Trafficking Sexual Slavery, Forced Labour, Begging...

Human trafficking, sometimes called modern slavery, is a global reality that one would have expected to be a thing of the past. But strange enough, it still exists in the country and is gaining grounds in different forms. In Cameroon, the trafficking of child herdsmen is one of the local particularities, as well as children entrusted in different families or those around them, who are exploited in the domestic context as well as used as commercial sex workers.

Exploitation For Sexual Purposes
Sex trafficking which is referred to as the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation such as pornography, sex entertainment and sex tourism are gaining grounds in many major cities in the country. Reports from the Ministry of Social Affairs (MINAS) reveal that in the seaside town of Kribi, Douala, Yaounde or Bertoua, young women from different regions are being used as sex workers in different hotels. A group of young girls have once been identified at the Mini-ferme neighbourhood in Yaounde, prostituting under the supervision of older women who claimed to be positioning and organising them in the business.

The study by MINAS showed that the obligation for the young women to comply with orders from the organizers, suggested that those young girls are victims of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The same scenario is noticed in other towns like Bafoussam where the “client” pays a bar manager directly to have sexual intercourse with girls they have organized. In Bertoua, it is said people in situations of forced prostitution work in brothels under the control of “Queen Mothers”, innkeepers who rent them rooms, “smugglers” who organize meetings with clients.

Trafficking For Forced Labour or Services
This is when the vulnerability of the victim is abused. People have been enslaved as they are persuaded to devote themselves to a specific work against their wish. Some people have been recruited or moved from where they stay, deceived (false promises of employment, schooling) and at the end are being controlled, threatened, underpaid or not paid at all. The majority of victims are exploited through forced labour. Data from the Ministry of Social Affairs indicate that street children are a particularly vulnerable group as well as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Victims are used as domestic servants. The traditional practice of “confage”, particularly in the North-West and South-West Regions, has facilitated practices of child trafficking for the purpose of domestic servants. Social services in different regions have reported cases of young girls who were taken from their parents in villages, under the pretext of being offered a better life in major cities. But they ended up being used as housekeepers or waitress in snack bars without any pay.

Slavery
Sources at the Ministry of Social Affairs say this is an old practice in the Northern part of the country. Despite the democ...