Hepburn
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posted on April 16, 2001 12:20:33 PM new
An nobody is stopping it?
COTONOU, Benin - A ship at the center of an international hunt and suspected to be carrying 180 West African child slaves has been spotted off Equatorial Guinea, a Benin government minister said Monday.
Police along the coast have been hunting for the ship since officials in the West African state of Benin said Friday they believed it was carrying 180 children, sold by poor families into lives of slavery on plantations or as servants.
``According to the information we received today, the boat would be off Equatorial Guinea, off Malabo,'' Social Protection Minister Ramatou Baba Moussa told Reuters in Cotonou.
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea's capital on the island of Bioko, is little more than 60 miles from Cameroon's port of Douala, which the Nigerian-registered MV Etireno left Thursday after being turned away.
Port authorities in Malabo told Reuters they were not aware of the presence of the boat. Malabo is about 500 miles from Cotonou, where the boat had been expected to dock Sunday after a voyage of more than two weeks.
INTERNATIONAL ARREST WARRANTS
International arrest warrants have been issued against a businessman from Benin, Stanislas Abadtan, and at least two others alleged to be organizing the child-trafficking operation on board the boat.
It sailed from Cotonou March 30 with its suspected human cargo bound for Libreville in oil-rich Gabon. But it was turned back there and again in Cameroon.
Despite international efforts to curb the trade, child slavery persists in West and Central Africa, from where slave traders shipped millions of people to the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Aid workers had reports from police in Douala, the last to see the ship before it set out for Cotonou Thursday, that some children on board were sick.
``By the fourth day I have started to get seriously worried, and we are going to send, both to Malabo and Douala, officials from the child protection unit,'' Baba Moussa said.
Initial reports put at 250 the number of children on board the ship, described as a trawler that usually carries cargo within the region. But officials in Benin said they believed there were 180 children.
Many child slaves from countries such as Benin, Togo and Mali end up working on plantations producing cocoa and other cash crops in Gabon and Ivory Coast.
Anti-child labor campaigners say the youngsters are often forced to work up to 12 hours a day and are sometimes subjected to physical and sexual abuse.
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zoomin
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posted on April 16, 2001 12:57:20 PM new
OMG!
I had no idea about this! Does our government do anything to intervene?
Can you imagine how many childless couples would scoop up those innocent little people and love them forever?
Send that boat to the States!
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Hepburn
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posted on April 16, 2001 03:22:35 PM new
This boat has been turned away from shores, knowing what is IN it. And what I want to know is WHY there is a blind eye concerning it, and super powers dont do a damn thing to do something about it. As far as the US is concerned, why not confiscate it and get those children??
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nettak
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posted on April 16, 2001 03:30:08 PM new
I did hear on the late news last night that an international arrest warrant has been taken out for the ships captain. So I am not sure why the ship has been turned away from some ports. Presumably they are going to board the ship some time soon.
At least I hope to god that they do it soon, because those babies lives are a stake, and the longer it takes the worse it gets for the children involved.
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inside
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posted on April 16, 2001 03:41:43 PM new
Hepburn,
It is terrible. Remember, I started a thread about these kids just a few days ago. I've been trying to keep up with the fate of these children but news has been sketchy. I fear now for their lives. 
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MeYa
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posted on April 16, 2001 03:42:48 PM new
NBC news did a story on it on the evening news. There are current updates on MSNBC.com as well.
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Hepburn
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posted on April 16, 2001 03:49:50 PM new
Inside, I knew there was mention of it a few days ago, but couldnt remember who posted it, so thanks for verifying I wasnt crazy
I dont get it that the two countried who turned it away didnt bombard it with force to get those children OUT of there. In this day and age, for this to be going on, makes me sick.
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toke
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posted on April 16, 2001 03:50:36 PM new
Also on NPR. Sadly in the USA, we seem to have been fixated on the past...19th century slavery...not those in desperate need today...this minute.
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Hepburn
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:00:59 PM new
Where are the proponents of slavery? Where are the diplomats screaming for the release of those children who are being tortured and abused on a floating slave ship? Where are the super powers with their might of arms to rescue those children at any means possible?
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toke
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:15:35 PM new
Hepburn...
I think those bitter opponents of slavery need a huge public outcry to remind them of how they feel... It's all politics. And of course, there's no money in the opposition of it at this point.
When we all start screaming...donations will flood in...then all those good people will find a sudden need to activate.
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inside
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:21:03 PM new
Hepburn,
I don't know where the outrage is.
When my thread was shut down four days ago and I was accused of "baiting and disruption", I thought surely someone would speak out and say that the children were really being abused and sold.
Then I decided that if nobody cared enough to even talk about the subject, then probably nobody in power would care enough to do anything about it.
I really don't know????
But I have to say that I was glad to see this thread. As long as people keep talking about it, the problem will remain in the open. Once people stop talking, it is back to business as usual in Africa.
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Hepburn
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:23:04 PM new
Inside, I dont think people believe it, so they assumed what you posted wasnt really going on. Its going on all right. And it doesnt need to be on the back pages of newspapers either. It needs to be on the FRONT page, and those children taken off that ship NOW.
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toke
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:23:25 PM new
inside...
It's finally hit mainstream broadcast news. Surely the powerful will now find it to their advantage to speak. Hey...any minute now, even Jesse may find it worth his while.
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Hepburn
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:26:44 PM new
No, Toke. Jesse wanted to rush off on his white horse and TAKE the men and women home from China. Those children on that boat wouldnt get near as much idolization (at that time). Now that it HAS hit mainstream, Im sure he will focus on "getting those chilrun safe and sound". He makes me sick.
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Borillar
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:29:30 PM new
Slavery is Alive and Well.
Surpizing how many folks aren't aware of this.
In Africa, Slavery is still widespread. When I was in the US Navy, I was lucky enough to have our ship pull into the port of Alexandria in Egypt in 1979. I saw slaves there and was shocked, and a trip to the Pyramids was fine, except we went to the markets of Cairo nearby to shop and I noticed more slaves. That really ruined it for me.
Surprizing how many Americans also believe that America was the only country to every have Slavery and that black folk were the only ones ever enslaved.
Slavery also still exists quite a bit in the orient, including Japan.
*edited to add*
You might be even further surprized that Slavery is also Alive and Well in America today! Many poor women and young boys are being sold into slavery in Eastern Block countries of the former Soviet Union and shiopped illegally here to America as workers and prostitutes. There has been darn little of it in the media and Congress won't issue a whisper on it. I wonder how George Bush would feel if he knew about it? George Bush supporters -- can you tell us?
[ edited by Borillar on Apr 16, 2001 04:32 PM ]
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toke
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:32:30 PM new
Me too, Hepburn, me too.
That's why I say he'll be on it now. Now that the people have been made aware. I have no doubt he knew about it from the moment it started...but, at that time, no advantage to him.
Now, let's watch that little old crusader...that fine humanitarian...go...heh.
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toke
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:36:17 PM new
Oh Borillar...
For the past 8 years...what did Clinton do about it? Do you imagine it all started in January, 2001?
None of these turkeys want to deal with it. It's not a party thing.
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jamesoblivion
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:36:41 PM new
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/28619.htm
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MeYa
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:38:10 PM new
Well, how many times did Clinton mention slavery in the US?
As far as those children go, the one thing that was said on one of the news stories is that the captain could throw the kids overboard if he feels threatened.
Lovely...
From msnbc:
ARREST WARRANTS ISSUED
Advertisement
Benin has issued arrest warrants for the ship’s Nigerian owner, captain and crew, as well as three Beninois businessmen.
The businessmen, led by Stanislas Abatan, are accused of organizing and profiting from the illegal human trade, police said Sunday. Abatan was believed to be living in Gabon while the other two were in Benin’s capital.
Nicolas Pron, a senior U.N. children’s agency official in Benin, said the organization was “really very frustrated” and increasingly worried about the safety of the children. Because of the length of time the ship had been at sea, it was “doubtful” the passengers had enough food or water, Pron said.
UNICEF also worried that the ship’s captain — a man with a criminal record in Nigeria who has been accused of trafficking child slaves in the past — could dump his human cargo.
“When we heard that [the captain] has a criminal past, we imagined the worst, and the worst is that they could have been thrown overboard,” Pron said.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/559683.asp
[ edited by MeYa on Apr 16, 2001 04:41 PM ]
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inside
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posted on April 16, 2001 04:52:42 PM new
toke,
You are absolutely right on all your points so far. The big issues money, power and prestige...if they are not in the mix then there is no interest in the problem.
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zazzie
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posted on April 16, 2001 05:48:38 PM new
The newspaper here calls them "Chocolate Slaves' and mentions that every bite of chocolate you have has come from the back of a child.
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zilvy
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posted on April 16, 2001 08:22:58 PM new
Just reported on the news No children found on the boat...they "might" have mistaken the boat that was boarded with another boat. Good lord, how can you mistake one boat for another when the one in question was turned away from two ports?
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hEpBuRn
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posted on April 16, 2001 09:31:28 PM new
Those children may be at the bottom of the sea if the heat was turned on the captain. No loss to him. He can always get more.
I would really love to cuss up a storm about now.
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zilvy
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posted on April 16, 2001 09:34:26 PM new
Come Hepburn, lets have a walk on the beach and listen to the waves and pray for a better resolve to this by tomorrow.
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zazzie
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posted on April 16, 2001 09:35:01 PM new
Chocolate boycott anyone???
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Borillar
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posted on April 16, 2001 10:00:30 PM new
Toke and MeYa:
>"For the past 8 years...what did Clinton do about it? Do you imagine it all started in January, 2001?"
>"Well, how many times did Clinton mention slavery in the US?"
What's that got to do with the price of peanuts?
Clinton didn't say anything that I know of. And since Bush suporters feel that their candidate is Morally Superior -- PROVE IT! That's what I'm saying! If Bush is such a great guy and BETTER THAN CLINTON WAS, let's see how he's going to handle Slavery in the USA? Betcha he'll just shut-up about it, just like all the rest. Some Moral Compass!!
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krs
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posted on April 16, 2001 10:37:57 PM new
Actually Bill Clinton was very concerned about the problem and did act diplomatically towards the hope of an end to it as evidenced by his remarks before The Indian Parliament excerpted below:
"A fourth challenge we face is to protect the gains of democracy and development from the forces which threaten to undermine them. There is the danger of organized crime and drugs".
"There is the evil of trafficking in human beings, a modern form of slavery. And of course, there is the threat of terrorism. Both our nations know it all too well".
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/home/coparthi/india/clinton2.html
I'm sure that a more extensive research thn my cursory search has produced here would reveal a far more extensive program of global concern.
Now to have demonstrated Republican party supporters voicing outrage or any concern over this boat whatsoever after having so long voiced protectionist statements in support of an administration which promises to chop off the hand that reaches out to aid our neighbors so that there will be more, in terms of benefits and tax cuts for them is not only an irony but an absurdity.
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jamesoblivion
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posted on April 16, 2001 10:41:01 PM new
Golly, a half of a thought dedicated to slavery, delivered before the Indian Parliament no less. Now that's dedication.
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zazzie
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posted on April 16, 2001 10:48:16 PM new
Oh please.......This use of children for the plantations has been going on for LONGER than 8 years...
what's the next question going to be?? Why didn't Reagan do anything?? Why didn't Carter do anything?? Why didn't Truman do anything?? Get on track.......
And if you don't like what is going on---don't purchase the product that their slavery produces---
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hEpBuRn
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posted on April 16, 2001 10:53:04 PM new
Then we may have to cease purchasing apparel because of the children making them in sweat shops. No Barbie dolls either, since children are also making them overseas in squalid conditions. Who picks the coffee beans for that cup of java in the morning? The same kids who are picking the cocoa bean?
I dont think mankind has gone forward. I think its going backwards.
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