Random Thoughts From Marybeth

African Slave Trade

Slavery in the Southern U.S. was called the "Peculiar Institution". In this case the word "peculiar" doesn't mean odd (as in, "Don't you think cousin Harry is acting peculiar since he started wearing that tinfoil hat?"). It meant that slavery was a primarily Southern institution.

Unfortuantely it was a misnomer. The kidnapping and purchase of slaves from Africa was not confined to the U.S., as a whole or in part, then or now. According to UNICEF, it continues today.

Trafficking of human beings affects every country in Africa for which data is available, either as countries of origin or destination, according to a report issued today by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence.

According to the study -- which assembles and analyzes data from across the continent -- half of African countries see trafficking in human beings as a serious problem, particularly with regard to women and children.

...Trafficking does not remain within Africa. In 34 percent of the African countries, the trade flows to Europe and in 26 percent of the countries flows are directed to the Middle East and Arab states. Trafficking within national borders is very common, occurring in 8 out of every 10 African countries.

...important factors are sexual and economic exploitation, including the demand for cheap domestic and agricultural labour. The conflict-related demand for child soldiers; demand related to adoption; and the trafficking in body parts also play a role and need further investigation, according to the study.

(Emphasis mine.)Using women and children as slaves for labor or sex is horrible and degrading enough, but body parts?

From the BBC:

Girls and boys as young as six are taken from desperately poor homes and placed as domestic workers with strangers in the city.

In return, they are promised an education. In reality, they are often beaten, fed on leftovers, forced to work long hours and forbidden to go to school.

Other children are sent instead to work in quarries or plantations, both inside Nigeria and in neighbouring west African states.

Some are even trafficked for ritual purposes and end up dead.