Ten million Africans were sold into slavery between 1500 and 1800. They were traded by their tribal chiefs and kings for gunpowder, alcohol, and mirrors. Many thought slavery was over at the end of the civil war, but no it’s not over. It is still happening in 2008 with children under the age of eighteen.
109,000 children are in slaved according to U.S. Department of State. These children have been working on cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire. Mexico’s Social Service Agency has reported more than 16,000 children are engaged in prostitution alone. Child trafficking is on the rise in three districts of Ghana. The three districts are Krachi East and West, Volta Region, Sene District, and in Brong Ahafo Region.
The organization Partners in Community Development Programe (PACODEM) discovered seventeen trafficked children in five fishing communities Old Yabi, Wodzedzi, Lala, Old Nkomi and Old Nanasewi. This organization has also rescued 120 other trafficked children in those same districts. Other organizations like PACODEM are also taking action to help solve the epidemic of child trafficking. There or over 1.2 million children being trafficked everyday.
Places like Somalia, Sudan, Chad, and other place that have political instabilities. These places are taking the young boys and turning them into soldiers, and forcing them into battle. Even thought many of the children are very young they a forced to kill and also forced to grow up at an exceedingly high rate. If the young children do not do what they are told they will be killed. Many of them would rather be killed than to lose their innocence.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809030882.html
4 comments:
It is a delicate issue when something that seems so wrong to many people is a huge part of another's cultural heritage. In this writer's opinion, the subject of sociology would be difficult when determining how to react to siutations such as these.
This is an issue that everyone knows about but chooses to ignore. If their goverment really thinks this is a problem they would do somthing about it. The problem is that crimes like these help fund some countries.
Children are not placed into slavery because naive parents or because it's cultural heritage, but mainly because of civil wars and corrupt officials and government. This is a precursor to the immense poverty in Africa. Africa is the poorest and most underdeveloped nation in world. Instead of the government building up the infrastructure to reduce poverty, it exploits its natural resources, like oil, for money for businesses and the elitists. These people are essentially forced into slavery and poverty, not "handed over" because no one cares. Plenty of people care, but unfortunately, only a select few can do anything about it and they are usually corrupt.
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