U.S. Department of State 2001 Trafficking in Persons Report - Benin

Benin (Tier 2)

Benin is a source, transit, and destination for trafficked persons, primarily children. Trafficking also occurs within Benin. Beninese children are trafficked to Ghana, Nigeria, and Gabon for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labor, and prostitution. Children from Niger, Togo, and Burkina Faso have been trafficked to Benin for indentured or domestic servitude. Internal trafficking of children within Benin takes place in connection with the forced servitude practice called "vidomegon," whereby poor, often rural, families place a child, primarily a daughter, in the home of a more wealthy family to avoid the burden the child represents to the parental family. The children work, but the arrangement is voluntary between the two families.

The Government of Benin does not yet fully meet the minimum standards; however, the Government is making significant efforts to combat trafficking. The Government is severely limited by a lack of resources but does recognize that trafficking is a problem. There is no law specifically prohibiting trafficking; however, the Government can prosecute traffickers under other statutes. To prevent trafficking, the Government is working with international organizations to increase literacy rates, diversify the economy, and improve health care. In July 2000, the Government created interministerial bodies under the direction of the Ministry of Justice to coordinate governmental efforts to protect the rights of children. The Government is participating in a two-part ILO trafficking project with eight other countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo). Benin also has bilateral agreements with Togo, Gabon, and Nigeria, which focus on border control and repatriation of trafficking victims. Despite bilateral agreements, porous borders and widespread poverty in the rural areas, from which Beninese child trafficking victims originate, hamper enforcement efforts.