[ad_1]
<! –
->
Up to 216 victims of human trafficking have been saved from forced labor and prostitution as part of a major operation in Benin and Nigeria, Interpol said Wednesday.
Operation Sparrowhawk II involved 100 policemen from both countries who rescued 157 child slaves, said the world police organization, which coordinated the raids in early April.
Many children worked in the markets, hawking goods, carrying heavy loads or fetching water, while others worked as domestic servants or were forced into prostitution, Interpol said. Of the miners rescued, 36 were boys and 121 were girls.
"It's organized crime groups motivated by money," Stanfield told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"It is difficult (to stop them) in the region because of lack of resources," he said, adding that countries were better equipped and better prepared.
Slave children
The rescued children were between 11 and 16 years old and came from Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.
The youngest was a boy forced to smuggle heavy goods, such as sacks of rice, on the border between Benin and Nigeria, Interpol said.
Most were beaten and abused, including death threats and warnings that they would never see their parents again. They are now entrusted to national agencies or charities and are sometimes returned to their parents.
Deal with the authors
Investigations are underway to dismantle criminal networks active in Benin and Nigeria, countries of origin, transit and destination for human trafficking, said Paul Stanfield, Director of Organized Crime and Emerging d & # 39; Interpol.
Police arrested 47 suspected traffickers and seized vehicles, money, phones and computers during the operation, which targeted markets in the capitals of countries as well as airports, ports of sea and border areas, said Interpol.
About 1.4 million people, or 0.8 percent of the population, would be enslaved in Nigeria, according to the Global Slavery Index of 2018 published by the human rights group Walk Free Foundation. Benin has about 58,000 slaves out of 11 million inhabitants.
"These crimes can only be fought collectively and through inter-agency cooperation," said Dominic Asogwa, controller of the Nigerian Immigration Service in the border region of Seme, in a statement.
Interpol will continue its efforts to identify the hotspots of modern slavery in West Africa, with a focus on mobilizing countries for them to attack themselves. same to the problem, said Stanfield.
"I think we will be here for the long term, but we do not want to be in charge of directing it," he said.
[ad_2]
Source link
