child trafficking as children cannot consent.*' Children are trafficked for the same
purposes as adults: for sexual exploitation, for labour exploitation but also for
exploitation in a range of criminal activities, including begging.
76. The use of children in all forms of begging is strictly forbidden under Article 29(b) of
the Africa Children’s Charter. Article 29(a) in addition prohibits trafficking of children
for any purpose in any form. In this regard, the Committee refers to the definition
provided by the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (CTOC). Under Article 3 the
Protocol defines trafficking as;
[T]he recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of
persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,
of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position
of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for
the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the
exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to
slavery, servitude or the removal of organs’
77.The Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially
Women and Children as adopted by the African Union Ministerial Conference on
Migration and Development, Tripoli, 22-23 November 2006, also conceptualizes
trafficking in persons as it happens within and between states, urges States to take
measures to eliminate harmful customs and traditional practices, including forced
child begging, which can lead to trafficking in human beings, including children.
78.Looking at the case at hand, the Committee realized that the talibés are forcibly
subjected to economic exploitation through forced labour; and they are used for
begging by the marabouts. Given the ILO’s views on forced begging, the Committee
concludes that marabouts, when transporting talibés with the primary intention of
obtaining labour from them, are engaging in child trafficking. Article 3(c) of the
Trafficking in Persons Protocol includes in the definition of ‘trafficking in persons’ the
“recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose
of exploitation.”
79.Moreover, the Committee learns from reports that only about half the talibés in
Senegal are Senegalese. The rest are trafficked from neighboring countries,
including Guinea Bissau and Mali, where poor families are promised their sons will
be remunerated as they will receive ‘a proper’ Islamic education under the care of a
marabout at the daaras. The boys often have no contact with their families once they
* Article 3 (b) of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
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