Correspondent: The Slave Children Tx Date: 7th October 2001 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.00 ABC News music 00.00.02 ABC News reporter From ABC News – the search for the missing children… 00.00.06 Olenka Frenkiel Last April, the story of a slave ship gripped the world. 00.00.09 Music 00.00.12 Olenka Frenkiel Two hundred and fifty children lost at sea off the coast of Africa. 00.00.18 Olenka Frenkiel Then just as suddenly the story of the Etireno died. 00.00.24 BBC News music 00.00.28 BBC News reporter And the suspected child slave ship arrives at Benin with no sign of the slaves on board. 00.00.35 Olenka Frenkiel But there were children on that ship and most of them were destined for slavery. The adults with them hid their faces and soon abandoned their human cargo. 00.00.44 Olenka Frenkiel This is the story of Africa's modern slave trade and the two hundred thousand children trafficked there every year. 00.00.51 Correspondent Theme Music 00.01.01 Title Page The Slave Children 00.01.18 Olenka Frenkiel A Swiss charity, Terre Des Hommes, took twenty-three of the children into their care. These were the youngest. More than half were under ten. 00.01.30 Olenka Frenkiel They were hungry, frightened but above all dazed by three weeks at sea. 00.01.45 Olenka Frenkiel Their ship had been turned away from port after port as their fuel, food and water ran out. 00.01.54 Olenka Frenkiel On arrival each child was deloused, cleared of parasites and assessed by a doctor. 00.02.02 Aston Dr STAN SEHOUNHOUEDO Voice over This is Natasha from the boat. When the children arrive I check their eyes for anaemia. She has good colour. She's Beninese and is seven years old. Let's lie her down so I can check her ears. This won't hurt. She has an ear infection. There weren't many health problems among the children from the boat except for a few respiratory problems and throat infections. She's in good health; I don't have to worry about her. 00.02.44 Olenka Frenkiel But there were other problems. The Etireno children are from five West African countries, each with many different languages. 00.02.54 Olenka Frenkiel Omar is seven. 00.02.57 Doctor Stan Sehounhouedo Voice over Have you learn to speak a little Fon (phon) now. 00.03.00 Olenka Frenkiel He understands little of what's going on around him. 00.03.04 Doctor Stan Sehounhouedo Voice over Where does it hurt? 00.03.09 Doctor Stan Sehounhouedo Voice over As you can see there's a problem of communication with some children. This is a boy from Mali who was on the boat. So because of this language problem we have to use mime to communicate. 00.03.37 Olenka Frenkiel But was the Etireno a slave ship or not? As the delicate investigation begins, social workers ask each child how they came to leave their village. 00.03.53 Olenka Frenkiel Adakoun is six. She's gently reassured and then slowly begins to explain how someone paid her mother to take her away. 00.04.01 Social worker Voice over Were you happy to go? 00.04.03 Adakoun Voice over No. 00.04.04 Social worker Voice over You weren't happy. 00.04.05 Adakoun Mm mm. 00.04.08 Social worker Why not? 00.04.09 Adakoun Mm mm. 00.04.12 Olenka Frenkiel Victoire is eleven. She too says a stranger paid to take her away. 00.04.20 Victoire Voice over He gave my father five hundred francs and he gave my brothers another five hundred francs to share. 00.04.27 Social worker Voice over What were you going to do there? 00.04.31 Victoire Voice over They said once I was older I would do an apprenticeship. 00.04.41 Adakoun Voice over My mother told me that if I refused to go my father would be angry and we'd die of starvation. That made me scared so I agreed to go. On the boat we were crying. A man said that if we didn't stop they'd throw us overboard. 00.05.10 Olenka Frenkiel This is Africa's old slave coast. From here millions of people over the centuries were shipped overseas in chains. 00.05.19 Olenka Frenkiel They came from all over West Africa but most from the kingdom of Dahomey – now Benin. 00.05.27 Olenka Frenkiel Officially that trade ended two centuries ago but today the ports of Benin have once again become the hub of a modern slave trade. 00.05.38 Olenka Frenkiel Today the Etireno lies at anchor, its crew under investigation. Two years ago this small ferry plied twelve minute island hops in Denmark before it was sold and brought here to Africa's west coast. 00.05.54 Olenka Frenkiel The captain, a Nigerian, invites me aboard. 00.06.01 Olenka Frenkiel For three weeks the ship had drifted, turned away from Gabon and Cameroon. The captain says he doesn't know why. The Etireno, he claims, is the finest ship on this coast. 00.06.17 Olenka Frenkiel The ship owner, a Nigerian footballer in Germany, has denied it's a slave ship. But below decks it's clear the ship was abandoned in a hurry – the luggage of a hundred and fifty passengers still lies cluttering the tiny space. 00.06.32 Aston LAWRENCE OGHOTOTUYA Captain, Etireno This place is meant for passengers to come and have their relaxation when they need peace, for them to come and relax. And one hundred and fifty passengers cannot sleep all at a time. 00.06.42 Olenka Frenkiel So how many people can sleep here at one time? 00.06.45 Lawrence Oghototuya Maybe thirty. 00.06.46 Olenka Frenkiel Maybe thirty. 00.06.53 Olenka Frenkiel So, do they take it in turns? 00.06.57 Lawrence Oghototuya I think so. 00.07.02 Olenka Frenkiel Fresh water ran short. The toilets could not be used. The children had had to use plastic bags instead. 00.07.08 Lawrence Oghototuya This one is blocked but I think they've freed it. 00.07.12 Olenka Frenkiel He admits there were problems but he says there was no child trafficking. 00.07.19 Lawrence Oghototuya Forget about the word trafficking. I don't want to hear that. There's nothing like trafficking. They were with their parents, some of them were going on holidays, some of them were going to help for house help but for that job trafficking is out of place. 00.07.34 Olenka Frenkiel But if these children are taken and they're used as domestic servants and money has changed hands for them, that's trafficking isn't it? 00.07.42 Lawrence Oghototuya I wouldn't know if they take money. I'm not in a position to know. If the people carrying them they accept that money, it's left for the Benin authority to prosecute anybody, whoever goes there with children. You know they have to verify it. If I'm linked with the whole set up I'm ready to face the law. 00.08.02 Olenka Frenkiel But there is no law against child trafficking in Benin and it's long been the custom to send poor children to wealthy relatives where they'd work to earn their keep. If they were lucky they might go to school, it was a social safety net. 00.08.17 Aston IDJI KOLAWOLE Minister of Foreign Affairs In our culture we think that it's always good for a child at a certain age, when five years or more, to go from his house, from his parents house, to go to an uncles or to a parent's friend, abroad from the parents. We think that this gives the children a better education. 00.08.46 Olenka Frenkiel At the age of five? 00.08.48 Idji Kolawole Even at the age of five. Yes. 00.08.50 Olenka Frenkiel To leave their home? 00.08.51 Idji Kolawole To leave their home. 00.08.54 Olenka Frenkiel But the new global economy, the growing demand for money have perverted that custom. Children have become a commodity to be exploited like any other. 00.09.04 Music 00.09.13 Olenka Frenkiel Children work all over Benin. 00.09.15 Music 00.09.17 Olenka Frenkiel Parents too poor to feed them hire them out to anyone who'll pay. 00.09.22 Olenka Frenkiel With the birth rate high they're in surplus. So today they're sent across borders to richer countries where their parents are promised their labour can fetch a higher price. 00.09.33 Olenka Frenkiel It's the simple law of supply and demand. 00.09.35 Music 00.09.50 Olenka Frenkiel 'Buy low, sell high' was this woman's motto for nine years as she trafficked children across the border from Benin to Nigeria. Ten at a time, ten times a year. 00.10.00 Olenka Frenkiel She bought children for ten pounds and sold them for as much as two hundred. With her fine clothes and obvious wealth she still holds the village in thrall. 00.10.17 Philomene Voice over We used to take about eighty or a hundred children each year. Why? Because there are many people who just give birth to their children. Then they can't afford to take care of them. 00.10.40 Olenka Frenkiel Philomene claims she's retired. But she still takes pride in how easily she tricked the parents – like taking candy from a baby. 00.10.55 Philomene Voice over I would tell them influential people in Nigeria are looking for children. You will be paid a lot of money – six, ten or fifteen thousand a month. 00.11.06 Olenka Frenkiel But this was a lie. 00.11.13 Philomene Voice over Yes, that was a lie. 00.11.18 Olenka Frenkiel The children were never paid and the parents rarely saw another penny. 00.11.23 Olenka Frenkiel Once in Nigeria, Philomene prepared the children for sale. She'd cut their hair, dress them up and parade them before clients, who'd buy and sell them on to clients of their own. Each time Philomene would get her cut. The younger the child, the more she'd get. 00.11.45 Philomene Voice over A small child knows nothing. An older child may know how to escape. The little ones don't know their way home so they don't run away, they just stay there – working, working, working. 00.12.05 Olenka Frenkiel It's after nine. 00.12.07 Olenka Frenkiel Here, can we come in? Thank you very much. Merci. 00.12.10 Olenka Frenkiel We've come to the house of an active trafficker. This is what's known as a safe house where children are held before going to Gabon – a country where demand for housemaids is high and where traffickers get top prices. 00.12.23 Olenka Frenkiel Here we found slaves in training. 00.12.28 Trafficker Voice over They don't suffer. Tell them I know that because the children always pass through here. 00.12.34 Olenka Frenkiel So this is where you bring the children before they're trafficked to Gabon? 00.12.39 Trafficker Voice over Yes, they always pass through here. 00.12.43 Olenka Frenkiel Suddenly she decides these are in fact her grandchildren. 0.12.47 Olenka Frenkiel Where is your mother? Where is your father? Are you this lady's grandchild? 00.12.54 Olenka Frenkiel The children are afraid to answer. The family has a record of violence, both to children and adults. 00.13.05 Olenka Frenkiel Our hostess is getting angry. 00.13.13 Olenka Frenkiel She starts to threaten us. 00.13.18 Olenka Frenkiel When she goes to call her sons – it's time for us to leave. 00.13.32 Olenka Frenkiel Justine is a graduate of that safe house. 00.13.42 Olenka Frenkiel Today she brews hooch safely back in her village. But as a child she too passed through that courtyard on her way to Gabon, a victim of the same trafficker. 00.13.53 Olenka Frenkiel For ten years she sold clothes in the market for a boss whose profits grew but who never paid her a penny. 00.14.00 Olenka Frenkiel Instead she was beaten ruthlessly. 00.14.06 Justine Voice over Whenever she was beating me and I managed to take the stick from her, she asked her people to tie me up. She'd tie my legs and hands like this. Then I'd fall down and she'd start beating me. 00.14.25 Olenka Frenkiel Convinced no one would ever believe how violently she was beaten she had these pictures taken. 00.14.31 Olenka Frenkiel So these are the photographs of you. 00.14.35 Olenka Frenkiel Six other child slaves lived and worked with her for the same boss. They too were beaten, abused and never paid. For them there was no escape. 00.14.50 Justine Voice over If you ran away you'd meet people who'd take you to the police station. But she would bribe the police and take you back to her house. Sometimes girls ran away in a boat but they were caught and brought back. 00.15.09 Olenka Frenkiel Only as an adult could Justine assert her right to freedom, not before. 00.15.14 Olenka Frenkiel Children are easy to enslave, too vulnerable to challenge an adult who might exploit them. 00.15.21 Olenka Frenkiel Too young to know their human rights until their childhood's gone. 00.15.28 Olenka Frenkiel Justine now has her own child, she says she'll never send him away. 00.15.43 Olenka Frenkiel But throughout Benin, parents continue to sell their children for export. 00.15.48 Singing 00.15.57 Olenka Frenkiel Bembe village school loses children to traffickers throughout the year despite the efforts of the head teacher. For him, it's nothing less than slavery. 00.16.11 Aston AMOU MATHUREN Head Master, Bembe School Voice over Slavery doesn't just mean taking someone from here in Africa to America. If I sell my child to someone that's slavery. If I place him with someone to make money, that's slavery. If I exchange him for a present, that's slavery. 00.16.37 Olenka Frenkiel His most powerful weapon against this trade is on its way. 00.16.41 Olenka Frenkiel Lunch, funded by the World Food Programme. 00.16.48 Olenka Frenkiel Often the children's only meal, it's a powerful incentive to send them to school and it's one less hungry mouth to feed at home. 00.16.57 Olenka Frenkiel But it's not enough. Nagging at the minds of parents is a fantasy – that a fortune's to be made by sending their children to work in some distant El Dorado. 00.17.11 Amou Mathuren Voice over Many of you send your children away to live with other people. Why? For money. But you don't know what your child is eating over there. Is he eating anything at all? You don't know. 00.17.31 Olenka Frenkiel The headmaster's called the mothers to a meeting. They're not persuaded. 00.17.39 Mother Voice over We're poor in this village. If they go abroad their lives will be better. 00.17.51 Amou Mathuren Voice over But it isn't like that. Even if you're poor and suffering it's better to keep your children with you than to send them away. Over there they may be beaten the way you've never beaten them. They may only get scraps to eat; the leftovers after the boss's children have had their fill. So it isn't a good thing. 00.18.25 Music 00.18.41 Olenka Frenkiel Hector Gnonlonfin calls it slavery too. 00.18.45 Olenka Frenkiel He tries to persuade the villagers to stop but the men are polygamists and children are a source of income. 00.18.51 Music 00.18.53 Olenka Frenkiel Some weeks ago a group of fifteen was intercepted at the border. They were brought back to their village to continue their childhood. 00.19.01 Music 00.19.06 Olenka Frenkiel We went to find them. 00.19.08 Music 00.19.35 Olenka Frenkiel First to the village Chief to explain we've come to meet the fifteen children who returned. 00.19.52 Olenka Frenkiel We have the children's names and we bring out our list. 00.20.01 Village Chief Voice over Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. 00.20.11 Olenka Frenkiel Twelve out of the fifteen children had gone. Sent away to work – again. 00.20.18 Village Chief Voice over The parents had already been paid so when the traffickers demanded the children back they had to return them. 00.20.28 Olenka Frenkiel We went in search of the parents but they were hiding. No one is proud of selling a child. It's a sign of poverty and usually they're ashamed. 00.20.37 Olenka Frenkiel But not this man – the father of seventeen children. 00.20.43 Father Voice over I've sent many children to Nigeria. About six or seven. They didn't pay a lot of money. It was about two thousand a month. 00.20.59 Olenka Frenkiel So you sold your child for two thousand francs, that's about two pounds per month. 00.21.05 Father Voice over Yes, I took the money to feed myself. 00.21.10 Olenka Frenkiel There's little to stop this traffic. Children often go eagerly, themselves dreaming of riches. Selling or trafficking children isn't illegal. The only crime here is smuggling them across borders. 00.21.26 Aston HECTOR GNONLONFIN Tomorrow's Children Voice over The traffickers make false documents, which implicates other people like the Mayor, the village Chief and other local officials. The first thing we have to do is change the law and implement it so that all those who are involved are punished. Then the trafficker would know that if he is arrested he'll be sentenced to ten or twenty years in prison and if the parent colludes he should also be punished. There should be no leniency, then people would start changing their behaviour. 00.22.06 Olenka Frenkiel At Terre Des Hommes, it's now become clear that most of the Etireno children were being trafficked. Money had changed hands. They travelled with strangers and they were going to Gabon to work - cleaning, selling and fishing. 00.22.20 Olenka Frenkiel Many had false papers and briefed by their traffickers, still haven't given their real names. As their parents haven't come to collect them it's holding up the investigation. 00.22.35 Social worker Voice over I'm asking each of you to tell me the truth. You can still come and say to me; 'I told you before that my name is Acrave (phon) but it's really Acpe (phon). Don't' lie about it. If you're called Amasou (phon) but you told me you're name is Kojo (phon), then when your mother comes with documents for Amasou (phon) you won't get out. You have to tell us your true real name; otherwise you'll be stuck here. 00.23.02 Olenka Frenkiel Some of the children, it's emerged, volunteered to go. Kojo was in a group of five, his trafficker paid ten pounds for each child and left them on the quayside. 00.23.14 Kojo Voice over He went by plane but he told us to take the boat and he'd meet us there. 00.23.21 Social worker Voice over How long were you going to stay there? 00.23.25 Kojo Voice over We were to stay there and work 'til we'd paid back the boat fare. 00.23.29 Olenka Frenkiel Eight years that would have taken – his entire childhood. 00.23.36 Olenka Frenkiel In the port, the Etireno still lies waiting, refused permission to leave. The investigation's dragging and the captain's getting restless. 00.23.46 Olenka Frenkiel In the last two years the ship has made the journey to Gabon six times. It's a regular on this route but the captain continues to deny everything. 00.23.55 Amou Mathuren On this route we don't traffic children. I can speak for other captains because we do legitimate business. We carry goods to Gabon. 00.24.07 Olenka Frenkiel So there's no trafficking of children on this route, ever? 00.24.12 Amou Mathuren Never. 00.24.13 Olenka Frenkiel Doesn't happen. 00.24.19 Amou Mathuren I've never seen it. It was all just a frame up. 00.24.34 Olenka Frenkiel But right next to the Etireno lies the rusty old Gucheon. And for the traffickers it's business as usual. 00.24.42 Olenka Frenkiel This boat, leaving soon for Gabon, is ready to load its human cargo. 00.24.48 Olenka Frenkiel At the Sobetraco Shipping Agency they're selling tickets. 00.24.53 Aston Hidden Camera 00.24.55 Olenka Frenkiel Our local team, armed with a secret camera, went to test the system. 00.25.02 Olenka Frenkiel How easy would it be to get tickets for two children with no travel documents? 00.25.09 Olenka Frenkiel Child trafficking may not be a crime but providing forged papers certainly is. 00.25.20 Trafficker Voice over How old are they? 00.25.30 Trafficker Voice over We make them new documents, give them a new nationality, complete with visas and everything. 00.25.37 Olenka Frenkiel All he needed was photos of the girls. It would be sorted in a day. But, he warned, clandestine passengers cost more. It's the Tarif Clando. 00.25.50 Trafficker Voice over It's the Tarif Clando, two hundred thousand francs. Two hundred thousand francs per head. 00.26.03 Olenka Frenkiel Two hundred pounds a head. They've become a little nervous since the Etireno but the traffic hasn't stopped. 00.26.12 Olenka Frenkiel In two days a fourteen year old schoolgirl, Dorette from Benin, has become eighteen year old Aminata from Mali. Her passport stamped and signed complete with a visa to Gabon. 00.26.25 Olenka Frenkiel But children don't just go by boat. Some go by air. 00.26.30 Olenka Frenkiel It's a less popular route as it's more expensive but demand is high and the prices children fetch for their traffickers in Gabon make it worthwhile. 00.26.43 Olenka Frenkiel We flew Air Gabon. We'd been warned to watch out for children being trafficked and our attention fell on three men and three children. 00.26.49 Aston Hidden camera 00.26.51 Olenka Frenkiel Supposedly brother and sister these two sat in silence throughout the flight and exchanged not a glance nor a word with each other or with a third child with them. 00.27.05 Olenka Frenkiel They remained subdued even when the drinks came round. 00.27.14 Olenka Frenkiel When the landing cards were issued we watched as the men copied from each other. But here no one challenged these men about whether the children were truly theirs. 00.27.25 Olenka Frenkiel It's the poor countries like Benin, Mali and Togo, which supply the children to the richer ones, like Ivory Coast, Cameroon and in this case, Gabon. 00.27.37 Aston Hidden camera 00.27.38 Olenka Frenkiel When we arrived our passports were checked for over an hour. The children we'd been watching sailed through while we were kept behind. 00.27.46 Olenka Frenkiel But we found them again and with the help of a local contact we approached. The main man said he's a teacher, they're his children and they go to school. 00.27.56 Olenka Frenkiel Do you go to school? Non. 00.28.02 Olenka Frenkiel The children barely spoke French, the language of school. Only one could write. 00.28.09 Olenka Frenkiel It's because they're backward, the man claiming to be their father told us. 00.28.13 Olenka Frenkiel But they even had to be reminded of their own official names. 00.28.21 Olenka Frenkiel It was time to confront Mr Agbo, this school teacher, travelling mid-week in the middle of term with children he claimed were his own but could barely read or write. 00.28.31 Olenka Frenkiel We believe that you are trafficking these children. 00.28.36 Mr Agbo Voice over No, that's nonsense. 00.28.38 Olenka Frenkiel Do you deny that? You're taking them on somewhere else to work. These children don't go to school. 00.28.46 Mr Agbo Voice over I'm a mature person; I wouldn't be so stupid. 00.28.50 Olenka Frenkiel Can we see the children's passports? 00.28.53 Olenka Frenkiel He brought us a family passport. 00.28.55 Olenka Frenkiel It's brand new. 00.28.57 Olenka Frenkiel Issued just three weeks before. It said he was a teacher. 00.29.03 Olenka Frenkiel But if you're a teacher how come the children can't read? 00.29.07 Olenka Frenkiel He had no answer. Their onward flight to the fishing town of Port Gentil was called. And we could do nothing to stop them. 00.29.15 Olenka Frenkiel Later we learned that Mr Agbo, a well-known trafficker, delivered the children to his clients. 00.29.21 Olenka Frenkiel Within days, one of the boys was seen working on a fishing boat. 00.29.33 Olenka Frenkiel That night in the hotel we showed our aeroplane footage to our local contact, Baba Apoudjac and his group of activists in Gabon, who try to rescue such children and bring their traffickers to account. 00.29.49 Aston BABA APOUDJAC ILEDA Voice over This man is not the father of these children. There's no doubt. There are unmistakable signs – the way he's arranged the children. If they were brothers and sisters there would be an automatic solidarity, they'd be sitting together; they'd want to play together. They wouldn't be sitting looking totally miserable and isolated. So these children are not brothers and sisters. There's no doubt he's a trafficker. 00.30.26 Music 00.30.37 Olenka Frenkiel Welcome to Gabon, Africa's richest country. Oil has given its people the highest per capita income on the continent. 00.30.44 Music 00.30.47 Olenka Frenkiel Everyone here speaks French. Literacy is high. Children go to school. Education is compulsory. Compulsory for the Gabonese that is. 00.31.00 Olenka Frenkiel Not for the Beninese nor any of the foreign children who sell and cook and clean in Gabonese homes. 00.31.06 Music 00.31.16 Olenka Frenkiel The economy's grown accustomed to these little slaves who, once bought and paid for, solve the labour shortage and who are lucky merely to be fed. 00.31.26 Olenka Frenkiel Even here in sophisticated Gabon there's no law against trafficking children. 00.31.30 Music 00.31.34 Baba Apoudjac Voice over These children can be found everywhere, in every household – Gabonese as well as foreign. No social classes are exempt. People from all social classes use them. There are no exceptions. 00.32.08 Olenka Frenkiel In the markets cameras aren't welcome and filming can be dangerous. Baba and I had bodyguards in case of trouble. But with our secret camera we did manage to film children working. 00.32.15 Aston Hidden camera 00.32.20 Olenka Frenkiel Unless we caught them unawares they hid, frightened by threats from their owners. 00.32.31 Olenka Frenkiel Each time they saw us filming openly they ran. 00.32.38 Baba Apoudjac Voice over These children are terrorised. You've seen how difficult it is to speak with them in the market. A simple look is enough to stop the child from saying anything. 00.32.56 Olenka Frenkiel Gabon does nothing to protect these children. A democracy for a decade, a signatory to the Rights of the Child, the government has yet to legislate against trafficking. Foreign children have even worked in the homes of government ministers. 00.33.14 Aston PAULETTE MISSAMBO Minister of Labour Voice over The traffickers of these children are foreigners from West Africa who use them for their own businesses and in their own houses. They're now trying to get the Gabonese to use them. I think you have to accept that Gabon is a victim of this phenomenon. It's easy to accuse Gabon and put us in the dock. This phenomenon comes from outside, we're the victims of immigration from everywhere. 00.33.45 Olenka Frenkiel A young girl from Togo's been waiting all night outside the Togolese Embassy, frightened and desperate. Runaways like her come here all the time; they've nowhere else to go. 00.33.58 Olenka Frenkiel Alice, one of Baba's trouble-shooters, has arrived to help. 00.34.10 Olenka Frenkiel Her name is Chou Chou. She fled the house of her tormentor but had to leave her younger sister behind. 00.34.17 Chou Chou Voice over They beat me and cut off all my hair. 00.34.21 Alice Voice over Don't cry, your hair will grow again. Don't worry. 00.34.25 Chou Chou Voice over But my little sister. 00.34.30 Alice Voice over Your little sister is still there. 00.34.33 Chou Chou Voice over Yes, she's in Glass. 00.34.38 Alice Voice over Don't worry we're going to find your little sister. Do you understand? 00.34.49 Olenka Frenkiel While the Gabonese government washes its hands of these children, the Togolese Embassy in Gabon does try to help. 00.34.58 Olenka Frenkiel Baba takes Chou Chou to meet the Charge D'Affaires. He wants to know about her trafficker. 00.35.09 Charge D'Affaires Voice over So they took you from your sister's house? 00.35.13 Chou Chou Voice over Yes. 00.35.14 Charge d'Affaires Voice over To do what? 00.35.15 Chou Chou Voice over To go to school. 00.35.18 Charge d'Affaires Voice over To go to school. 00.35.19 Chou Chou Voice over Yes. 00.35.19 Charge d'Affaires Voice over And did you go to school? 00.35.20 Chou Chou Voice over No. 00.35.21 Charge d'Affaires Voice over What did you do? 00.35.23 Chou Chou Voice over I baked cakes every morning. Then I'd sell and cook. 00.35.29 Olenka Frenkiel Three years ago Chou Chou was brought to Gabon by boat and sold by one Togolese woman to another. She was one of eight. 00.35.39 Olenka Frenkiel The team have a plan – to track down these women and free Chou Chou's sister. 00.35.49 Olenka Frenkiel There's one refuge for runaway girls in Gabon. 00.35.55 Olenka Frenkiel Alice is unusual; she's only eight. Most runaways are older; their childhood's gone, used up, like Fatou who was nineteen before she had the courage to flee the constant beatings. 00.36.11 Olenka Frenkiel The children here want to go home but after years of slavery they often don't know where they came from. 00.36.18 Olenka Frenkiel The centre has helped send many back to Togo and Benin but often they don't know their real names – some have forgotten their own language. 00.36.38 Olenka Frenkiel Baba is bringing Chou Chou from the Embassy. 00.36.47 Olenka Frenkiel The refuge will be her home for the next few weeks. It'll take her a while to recover, she's been given no food for five days. 00.36.55 Olenka Frenkiel She's just in time for breakfast with her new room mates – all runaway slaves like her. 00.37.04 Olenka Frenkiel The centre's run by Spanish nuns. They get no funding from Gabon. 00.37.10 Baba Apoudjac Voice over You have to eat. There's plenty of food here, you must eat. 00.37.30 Baba Apoudjac Voice over She's in shock. For the moment she won't be able to eat. She needs time. She has to get used to the others. Everyone's staring at her so she's a bit self-conscious. She's a bit disoriented. 00.37.59 Olenka Frenkiel Chou Chou's ready to show her rescue squad the house of her Togolese trafficker. 00.38.05 Olenka Frenkiel Baba's been sent by the Embassy of Togo with a message for the women who traded and abused her. 00.38.11 Olenka Frenkiel Chou Chou will wait in the car while he goes in. 00.38.16 Aston Hidden camera 00.38.17 Olenka Frenkiel Inside there are children everywhere, among them Chou Chou's little sister. 00.38.25 Olenka Frenkiel Normally in Gabon children should be in school but these are foreign children. They're Chou Chou's fellow slaves from Togo - all captive in this house. 00.38.37 Olenka Frenkiel They never play. This is the only life they know. They work fifteen hours a day. None of the children has ever been paid. 00.38.47 Olenka Frenkiel Eventually Baba's ready to deliver his summons. 00.38.52 Baba Apoudjac Voice over Bad news I'm afraid. The Embassy of Togo wants to see you about little Chou Chou. 00.39.09 Olenka Frenkiel They've come. 00.39.11 Olenka Frenkiel The trafficker on the left – Chou Chou's owner on the right. 00.39.16 Charge d'Affaires Voice over According to our reports the child was a slave. You have to get her a plane ticket and a suitcase and not like the one over there OK? Everything must be in it. 00.39.36 Olenka Frenkiel He has few powers but he's dealt with traffickers before and he's managed to scare them. He demands new clothes for Chou Chou. The last trafficker just left rags. 00.39.46 Olenka Frenkiel And they're to bring Chou Chou's little sister. But for the trafficker that's too much. 00.39.53 Trafficker Voice over Excuse me, I understand what you've said and I thank you. First we'll let Chou Chou go. As for her younger sister I'll have to let you know when she can leave. Right now times are bad. 00.40.11 Charge d'Affaires Voice over But wasn't she earning money for you? 00.40.15 Trafficker Voice over Excuse me, I can't argue with you. 00.40.21 Olenka Frenkiel He won't budge. The women finally agree and promise to bring Chou Chou's sister in a week. 00.40.35 Aston GASPARD VEDOME Chargι d'Affaires, Togolese Embassy Voice over It isn't easy because the child is a source of revenue for them. That's why people speak of commerce. The children are their livelihood. So to prevent the child's departure they play games and try all kinds of ruses. They say; 'oh this is my sister's child' or 'there's no one to take care of her back home', 'where will she live'. But I say no, no, no. 00.41.11 Singing 00.41.16 Olenka Frenkiel The runaways enjoy a taste of freedom. 00.41.18 Singing 00.41.21 Olenka Frenkiel But almost as a final insult before they leave they'll have to find a hundred and thirty five pounds, exit tax to leave the country where they were enslaved and where the authorities turned a blind eye. 00.41.32 Singing 00.41.39 Aston BABA APOUDJAC ILEDA Voice over Everybody knows that what's happening is slavery. We have to avoid hypocrisy so we can face up to the situation and find a solution as quickly as possible. We're getting used to seeing tears. These tears we see express the pain, the despair of a generation that has suffered too much from the inhumanity of adults. 00.42.29 Olenka Frenkiel Back in Benin, on the old slave coast, there's a monument. 00.42.32 Singing 00.42.41 Olenka Frenkiel It's a memorial to the torment of millions of Africans bought and sold and shipped in chains to work as slaves – all in centuries past. 00.42.52 Olenka Frenkiel Yet here on this same coast today, humans are traded. 00.42.55 Singing 00.42.59 Olenka Frenkiel But African governments insist, the slave trade is history, it has nothing to do with what happens today. 00.43.12 Aston IDJI KOLAWOLE Minister of Foreign Affairs, Benin They do not sell their children, no. They know, they might know that the children will work there but it's normal for them that the child works and if they receive some money from that it doesn't appear like a crime for them. It looks like something normal, that's something good even, good for them and good for the children and they have the hope that the children will come back better from, grown up, like a man, maybe rich. They have that hope, they have that hope. It is not the same thing as what we saw in the nineteenth century, it is not the same thing. That's why I'm not really ready to follow you when you say it's slavery, it's slavery. 00.44.06 Olenka Frenkiel The government has now accepted that children on the Etireno were being trafficked. 00.44.11 Olenka Frenkiel But no one's been charged with any offence. 00.44.14 Music 00.44.15 Olenka Frenkiel The world's attention has gone away. 00.44.17 Music 00.44.19 Olenka Frenkiel The traffickers are back at work. And supplies of their lucrative commodity – childhood – are unlimited. 00.44.26 Music 00.44.32 Olenka Frenkiel For now the Etireno children have been spared. But today's slave traders know - with children you don't need chains. 00.44.40 Music 00.44.48 Voice over For more information on tonight's programme please visit our web site at: www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent 00.44.48 Credits Reporter OLENKA FRENKIEL Camera MIKE SPOONER Dubbing Mixer PHITZ HEARNE VT Editor JASPAL BANGA Graphic Design NICOLA OWEN Production Team LAMBERT BOTON SARAH BRODBIN NILA KARADIA JULIA DANNENBERG ANJANA SHARMA Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager IRENE OZGA Film Research NICK DODD Picture Editor PHIL CLEMO Series Producer SIMON FINCH Producer / Director GISELLE PORTENIER Deputy Editor FARAH DURRANI 00.45.18 Editor FIONA MURCH BBC © BBC MMI End BBC Correspondent 1 23