Children sold into slavery in Chad

In Chad, children are still forced to work as domestic servants or in mines, despite the rigor of the law prohibiting trafficking.

Children are sold or pawned by their parents to be exploited as domestic servants, herdsmen or in gold mines.

According to NGOs, “these children are often mistreated by their masters and sometimes raped.”

Despite awareness-raising campaigns and appeals by children’s rights associations, the scourge is still going strong, especially in the southern part of the country.

Since 2002, the Association pour la réinsertion des enfants et la défense des droits de l’Homme (Ared) in Koumra, Mandoul province, has been taking action against this practice.

Children sold into slavery in Chad.

Ared coordinator Madjiyara Ngar Alkoua points out that “it’s not just the parents. There are cases of deportation of children, abduction of children without their parents knowledge, cases of children being followed, children being exploited in animal husbandry as camel-drivers and herdsmen, children being killed to harvest their organs. There are also children who are pledged as collateral for debts, forced marriages and the exploitation of children in gold mines. These children are deported from the South through networks run by men in fatigues”.