Selling African Children Into Sex Slavery
BY CHRIS ONUORAH-(AFRICAMESSAGE)-A 34-year-old Liberian woman walked into a U.S. courtroom recently and
immediately sparked an international firestorm. Charged with allegedly trafficking four girls into sex slavery, Ophelia
Cheayee is now the subject of a fierce debate between those who support and those who condemn her.
Even so, the Cheayee case has intensified the argument that a major but devastating ailment has been added to the
long list of those eating away at the heart of Africa. To HIV/AIDS, poverty, corruption, environmental degradation, etc
can now be added child-sex slavery, another form of human trafficking.
The true number of African children caught up in this sex-slavery may be hard to determine. Some sources suggest
that there could be over a million children forced into sex-slavery around the world. Of this figure, Asia, South America
and Africa account for the highest victims.
The sex-slavery debate is rather intense in many quarters. Experts have observed that most children involved in
human trafficking across the world are primarily sent into forced labor. The rest, especially girls, are forced into
prostitution. The United Nations estimates that two million children are affected.
Majority of children forced into human trafficking come from poor, illiterate families and countries of the developing
world. There are fears that with Africa falling deeper into poverty and economic crisis, the situation can only get worse.
The movement of people is often very quick in countries afflicted by war. That was the case in Liberia, the West African
country that saw over a decade of one of the world’s most vicious civil wars. Adults as well as children were not spared
by the combatants. As refugee camps swelled with the influx of many needing urgent help, many children were adopted
by good Samaritans. But in the confusion, criminals also moved in and took children to far away countries and out of
sight of the law.
Enter Ophelia Cheayee. As the trial of the Liberian woman continues near Philadelphia, PA, some of her friends have told
the media that she was a kind-hearted person who lied in order to save the lives of four orphans stranded in their
home country. She posed as the girls’ mother in 2005 so she could bring them to the United States under a special
resettlement program.
Maybe because Ophelia Cheayee is uneducated. Maybe because of war. It is hard to explain why there are discrepancies
in the true ages and identities of the girls. But when one of them told U.S. authorities that Ophelia sexually abused and
sold her to older men for sex, the police thought it was time to make arrests. Not much has been heard from the
accused woman. But her friends insist that some of the girls were wayward and refused to go to school.
Ophelia Cheayee’s trial is a first of its kind in the United States. For this reason, the U.S. authorities are beginning to
take a closer look into the many cases of Liberian and other children brought to the country under refugee, adoption or
foster care programs. They would have to determine from now who may be considered victims of child-trafficking.
The 2000 U.N. Convention Against Trans National Crimes attempts to clear the air. “Human trafficking is the
recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of treatment or use of force or other
forms of coercion for the purpose of exploitation.” The 2005 Anti-Trafficking Protocol has been ratified by 116 of the
192 members of the United Nations.
Because children are at the center of the global trafficking scourge, observers expect even more hot debates to follow.
Many are pushing for more spirited efforts that would complement past efforts.
Over the years, many children’s rights groups have fought child trafficking in Africa. But some experts are beginning to
question the impacts of these efforts on children. A project was launched recently to try and understand children’s
migration in West Africa. At a cost of over a million dollars, the initiative led by UNICEF, the International Organization
for Migration (IOM), Save the Children Sweden and other non-profits will organize workshops and focus groups. A
report is expected next year that could help explain children’s migration.
This effort follows the hot argument that many people accused of trafficking children might actually be good Samaritans
helping out children in need.
“Many people vilified as traffickers could be trained to protect children,” said Ted Hommes Feneyrol, an expert who
added that some suspected traffickers are the children’s relatives or neighbors and not organized criminals.
Efforts have also been reported at governmental levels. Nigeria recently signed a bilateral agreement with Italy that will
fight all aspects of human trafficking, organized and drugs-related crimes. Facilitated by INTERPOL, the move has been
applauded by many who see Nigeria as a growing source of women and children trafficked into forced labor and sex-
slavery.
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