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Over the past 30 years, Sierra Leone experienced a series of man-made and natural disasters that have left the country’s children vulnerable to trafficking. APRIES selected the Eastern Province under the advice of its partners in the Government of Sierra Leone and in-country NGOs. Diamond mining, a practice known to have fueled civil conflict in the country, occurs in all three districts. Agriculture-specifically subsistence rice farming- is the most prominent occupation in the province, with cocoa and coffee production notable in Kailahun. Of a population over 1.6 million persons, about 54% are under 19 years old. Kenema, Kailahun, and Kono districts form the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. It also identifies the populations most vulnerable to trafficking: 12-to-17-year old children, children who have lost one or both parents, and children not enrolled in school. The US Department of State Program to End Modern Slavery funded the research.Īmong other findings, the report summarizes community perspectives on child trafficking and child labor. Conflict Management and Development Associates, a Sierra Leone-based research agency, and the ResilientAfrica Network, a research organization at Makerere University in Uganda, collected the data under the immense pressures presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. The report’s recommendations include greater safeguards for children in informal fostering arrangements increased access to educational opportunities, especially for children living without one or both parents and, overall, increased collaboration and cooperation throughout Sierra Leone society- between government agencies, families, community leaders, and all non-government stakeholders-to prevent trafficking and support survivors.īetween 20, researchers conducted over 3000 household surveys, interviewed survivors, parents, and key stakeholders, and organized 23 focus groups. But the report recommends much more be done in response to child trafficking and child labor in the country.
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It also launched the Free Quality School Education Program to improve access to school and created the Hands Off Our Girls Campaign to raise awareness about gender-based violence. To begin to address trafficking in the country, the Government of Sierra Leone passed anti-trafficking legislation in 2005. “The high number of children in trafficking and labor is quite significant and our goal is to partner in prevention, prosecution, and protection efforts to reduce the problem over time.” “Without reliable estimates of child trafficking and child labor prevalence, government and NGOs cannot have a baseline to work from, making it impossible to know if we are making progress in reducing the problem,” said CenHTRO Director David Okech, principal investigator for the report. The report’s insights and recommendations have the potential to improve children’s lives across the country. The nature of trafficking in Sierra Leone results in Eastern Province children being taken outside the region, often to more urban areas. The report specifically describes child trafficking and child labor in three hotspot districts in the Eastern Province-Kono, Kenema, and Kailahun-that are among the poorest areas in what is considered one of the world’s poorest countries. Bryant and University of Liverpool Professor of Politics Alex Balch contributed policy recommendations informed by the research findings.īryant added, “Our recommendations reflect observations on these gaps and offer ways in which prevention and protection services can be supported to reduce prevalence of child trafficking and exploitation.” “Our research on child trafficking in Sierra Leone has given us insights into service and policy gaps,” said Helen Bryant, a Liverpool-based policy officer with the African Programming & Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES) at the University of Georgia’s Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach (CenHTRO). Produced by an international consortium of anti-slavery researchers, the report includes context-specific recommendations for programs and policies that can improve how government agencies and communities can address child trafficking and child labor injustices in the West African country. The report- Child Trafficking and the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Sierra Leone-represents the largest-scale household survey on the topic ever undertaken in Sierra Leone. An estimated 33% of children aged 5 to 17 in Sierra Leone’s Eastern Province have experienced child trafficking, and 36% have experienced child labor, according to a new collaborative report from the University of Liverpool and the University of Georgia.
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