Box 9: Ziguinchor, Senegal: Two children in difficulty Abdoul, aged about 6 or 7, was brought to the attention of a centre for children in difficulty by other children who pointed him out as a child who slept sometimes in the streets, and needed medical attention for an injured foot. His father was from Guinea, much older than his mother, who was from Guinea-Bissau; the father had decided to return to Guinea, leaving the child with the mother. The mother had died and he was staying with his uncle, who worked in the market. Abdoul’s birth had not been registered, and the one of the first actions of the children’s centre was to try to get him documented: a birth certificate is necessary for the juge pour enfants to give the centre the ordonnance de garde that provides legal authority for their custody of any child. It was a huge struggle to find witnesses who could give evidence as to his parentage, given the demands on time to attend court, transport costs etc, but eventually they were able to establish a birth certificate for Abdoul, and he is enrolled in school and doing well. However, Abdoul will not be entitled to Senegalese nationality on majority, since neither of his parents is Senegalese, nor born in Senegal. He has no contact with any family in either Guinea or Guinea Bissau; even if he may be able, on the basis of a birth certificate, to establish nationality of one of those countries, it will effectively be useless to him since his life is clearly established in Senegal. Mohammed was found by the centre sleeping rough at night in the bus station in Ziguinchor, where he’d been portering and doing other tasks in return for pocket money and food. He had left Guinea at the age of about 12 with his older brother, with the intention of earning money to look after his mother. They had arrived together at Kolda, inland from Ziguinchor, and his older brother had stayed there, but Mohammed had decided to travel on. The centre eventually managed to trace his brother, but they both refused the idea of returning to Guinea until they had attained their objective of earning some money. Mohammed was too old to be enrolled in school, but accepted the idea of obtaining training in a skill, and is now learning to be a tailor. But it has been impossible to establish a birth certificate for him. Only because the juge pour enfants was sympathetic to the situation was it possible to get a provisional ordonnance de garde without a birth certificate; and no contact has been established with his family in Guinea. Mohammed is at real risk of remaining without any documents proving his nationality when he reaches adulthood. He will not be eligible to be Senegalese under Senegalese law. With thanks to Futur au Present, Ziguinchor, Senegal. Names have been changed. 4.8.2. Child workers UNICEF noted in 2001 that the scale of child trafficking in West Africa was “enormous”, with “clearly established trafficking routes involving Benin, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger”.255 Reports of trafficking in babies for childless couples also regularly surface, including between Niger and Nigeria while this report was being completed.256 More than two thirds of countries in West and Central Africa surveyed in 2003 identified trafficking in persons, especially children, as a problem (compared to one-third in East and Southern Africa).257 The main types of trafficking identified include trafficking in children within and across countries primarily 255 Rima Salah, Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa: An Overview, UNICEF, 2001 (Regional Director for West and Central Africa address to the first Pan African Regional Conference on Human Trafficking). 256 See, for example, « Arrestations au Niger dans une affaire de trafic de bébés », RFI, 26 June 2014 ; Monica Mark, “Wives of top Niger politicians held over child trafficking”, The Guardian (London), 27 June 2014; See also, Al Chukwuma Okoli, “Commercialism and Commodification of Illicity: A Political Economy of Baby Buying/Selling in South East of Nigeria”, International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 2 March, 2014. 257 Trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, in Africa, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2003. 77