Forced child labour remains a source of concern in Nigeria, according the International Labor Organization, the number of children working under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. These jobs include street vending, begging, car washing and shoe shiners, while a large number work as domestic servants and farm hands. According to UNICEF, causes of child labour include widespread poverty, rapid urbanisation, breakdown in extended family affiliations, high school drop out rates and lack of enforcement of legal instruments meant to protect children. Hanou was trafficked at 9 years old when her parents sent her to Nigeria to work as a servant.

Forced child labour remains a source of concern in Nigeria. According the International Labor Organization, the number of children working under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. These jobs include street vending, begging, car washing and shoe shiners, while a large number work as domestic servants and farm hands. According to UNICEF, causes of child labour include widespread poverty, rapid urbanisation, breakdown in extended family affiliations, high school drop out rates and lack of enforcement of legal instruments meant to protect children. Bella was trafficked at 9 years old to Nigeria for domestic work. She was eventually helped by Plan International and is now learning to become a hairdresser.

Forced child labour remains a source of concern in Nigeria, according the International Labor Organization, the number of children working under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. These jobs include street vending, begging, car washing and shoe shining, while a large number of children work as domestic servants and farm hands. According to UNICEF, causes of child labour include widespread poverty, rapid urbanisation, breakdown in extended family affiliations, high school drop out rates and lack of enforcement of legal instruments meant to protect children. Dede was trafficked to Abuja, the Nigerian capital when she was 13 years old. Forced to sell petrol under the threat of physical danger. Dede was able to leave her situation, however remains in the capital working as a porter girl.

Forced child labour remains a source of concern in Nigeria, according the International Labor Organization, the number of children working under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. These jobs include street vending, begging, car washing and shoe shining, while a large number of children work as domestic servants and farm hands. According to UNICEF, causes of child labour include widespread poverty, rapid urbanisation, breakdown in extended family affiliations, high school drop out rates and lack of enforcement of legal instruments meant to protect children. Rachida was trafficked into domestic work at 10 years old in Nigeria by her mother. One day when she saw her brother, she decided to run away. Now, with the help of Plan International, Rachida is training to be a seamstress.

Forced child labour remains a source of concern in Nigeria, according the International Labor Organization, the number of children working under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. These jobs include street vending, begging, car washing and shoe shining, while a large number of children work as domestic servants and farm hands. According to UNICEF, causes of child labour include widespread poverty, rapid urbanisation, breakdown in extended family affiliations, high school drop out rates and lack of enforcement of legal instruments meant to protect children. Esther was trafficked to Nigeria at 13 years old after her sister told her they were going on holiday. When she didn’t return, Plan Togo alerted the police to her disappearance and she was eventually rescued and returned home. Esther is now pursuing her dream of becoming a midwife.

Uganda remains a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Ugandan children as young as seven are exploited in forced labour in agriculture, fishing, forestry, cattle herding, mining, carpentry, bars, restaurants and domestic service. Girls and boys are also exploited in prostitution, with recruiters targeting girls and women between the ages of 13 and 24 for domestic sex trafficking. 54,000 girls under 18 are sex workers in Uganda. Lured by false promises of education and good jobs. Others are escaping poverty, sexual abuse and child marriage. Jacqueline was 11 years old when her parents sent her to the city to get an education. However, the person she was living with was not working and she found herself forced to work as a sex worker in the evenings in order to pay for school.

Uganda remains a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Ugandan children as young as seven are exploited in forced labour in agriculture, fishing, forestry, cattle herding, mining, carpentry, bars, restaurants and domestic service. Girls and boys are also exploited in prostitution, with recruiters targeting girls and women between the ages of 13 and 24 for domestic sex trafficking. 54,000 girls under 18 are sex workers in Uganda. Lured by false promises of education and good jobs. Others are escaping poverty, sexual abuse and child marriage. Aisha was 13 years old when she was first forced to provide sexual services for men by her employer. Aisha travelled to Kampala City under the promise that she would be working in a bar and using her salary to pay for school. However, instead she was forced in to child prostitution. Aisha became pregnant less than a year after she had been trafficked, and rather than pay for her education, all the money she earned she sent back to her mother who was caring for her children. Aisha was finally able to escape her situation with the help of Plan International’s programme to help and train young girls exploited in sex work for a better future.

Uganda remains a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Ugandan children as young as seven are exploited in forced labour in agriculture, fishing, forestry, cattle herding, mining, carpentry, bars, restaurants and domestic service. Girls and boys are also exploited in prostitution, with recruiters targeting girls and women between the ages of 13 and 24 for domestic sex trafficking. 54,000 girls under 18 are sex workers in Uganda. Lured by false promises of education and good jobs. Others are escaping poverty, sexual abuse and child marriage. Regina had a child through sex work and was forced to leave her with a friend or by herself while she went back out to work. It wasn’t until she came in to contact with Plan International that she was able to obtain child care for her daughter and leave sex work, learning skills to become a hairdresser.

Uganda remains a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Ugandan children as young as seven are exploited in forced labour in agriculture, fishing, forestry, cattle herding, mining, carpentry, bars, restaurants and domestic service. Girls and boys are also exploited in prostitution, with recruiters targetting girls and women between the ages of 13 and 24 for domestic sex trafficking. 54,000 girls under 18 are sex workers in Uganda. Lured by false promises of education and good jobs. Others are escaping poverty, sexual abuse and child marriage. Janet was 15 when she was forced to marry a man who was 36 years old. Her husband infected Janet with HIV and, ostracised by her family, she ran away to Kampala city. Upon arriving in Kampala, Janet was forced to undertake sex work in order to survive. With the help of Plan International, Janet was able to escape sex work and train to become a hairdresser.

Despite signs of progress, Bangladesh continues to have one of the highest child marriage rates in the world.66% of girls in Bangladesh are married under 18 with the average age of marriage for girls in the country being 15. As well as deeply embedded cultural beliefs, poverty, is also a driving factor for child marriage, with parents’ seeking to obtain economic and social security for their daughter. Dowry also continues to be a driving factor, with prices often increasing the older a girls gets. Sonhita was 10 years old when she was forced to marry her cousin. As a result Sonhita has had to give up her education and dream of becoming a teacher. She is now 13 years old with a 6 month old daughter.

Malawi is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking is believed to be more prevalent in the country, with people being subjected to forced labour in agriculture, animal herding, and domestic servitude. Girls and young women are trafficked internally for forced labour and prostitution at local bars and rest houses. Moreover, Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world with approximately 1 in 2 girls being married by the age of 18. Child marriage is closely linked to poverty in the country, with girls being married in order to improve a family’s financial status. The government is working to combat child marriage, with the President having signed a constitutional amendment in April 2017 increasing the legal age of marriage to 18 years old. At the age of 15 Dorothy was forced to marry by her mother who thought it would be a solution to their financial problems. However she was mistaken and Dorothy continued to live in poverty, with little food and was locked in her own house so that her husband could see his ‘girlfriends’. Dorothy came in to contact with a youth group supported by Plan International and was able to divorce her husband. She now helps other young girls escape their forced marriages.

While bonded labour has been outlawed for decades, survey data and pre-existing research confirms that this practice still persists. Bonded labour is not only illegal, research confirms that it has serious negative health impacts for those affected, who typically work in unsanitary and dangerous working conditions with no access to health care. Naganna was 10 years old when he started working as a bonded labourer, inheriting his grandfather’s debt. Naganna was forced to work long hours without rest and subjected to physical violence. It was with the help of Jeevika charity that Naganna was able to escape his situation and is now working with the charity.

UK children continue to be subjected to sex trafficking within the country. Children in the care system and unaccompanied migrant children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. The United Kingdom remains a significant destination for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour. The latest government statistics derived from the UK National Referral Mechanism in 2014 reveal 2,340 potential victims of trafficking from 96 countries of origin, of whom 61 percent were female and 29 percent were children. At least one child a day is trafficked into Britain according the to the Human Trafficking Foundation, with children forced to work in the sex industry, domestic service, cannabis cultivation or as criminal on the streets.  Child victims of human trafficking primarily originate from Romania, Vietnam, Nigeria, and from within the UK itself.     Sarah was 10 years old when she began buying illegal cigarettes and alcohol from a gang in the UK, often not having to pay because they were her 'friends'. After 2 years, the gang told Sarah that she had a £75,000 debt that she would have to pay for by transporting drugs and providing sexual services. Despite being in the care system, at school and having a social worker, it wasn't until a police officer looked further in to Sarah's case that she was rescued from her situation. Sarah talks about the system failures that led to her trafficking. 

Child, early and forced marriage is widespread in Cameroon. More than 1 in 3 girls in Cameroon are married before they turn 18 with variations across regions, in the North 73% of girls marry as children as opposed to 13% in the Littoral province. Lack of education is strongly linked to the prevalence of child marraige in the country, with 79% of women aged 20-24 with no education and 45% with just primary education being married by 18. Moreover, like many other countries, those that are forced to marry early are those from the poorest families, girls from the poorest 20% of families are 6.5 times more likely to marry before 18. The Cameroon government in 2016 introduced a new penal code aiming to end the pratice of child marriage, with Section 356 criminalising forced marriage.     Lamana was 15 years old when she was forced to marry a man she did not know. Her husband would not allow her to leave the house and beat her daily. One day, after a particularly bad beating, Lamana left. With the help of Plan International, she is now returning to school to study computer science.  

Despite signs of progress, Bangladesh continues to have one of the highest child marriage rates in the world.66% of girls in Bangladesh are married under 18 with the average age of marriage for girls in the country being 15. As well as deeply embedded cultural beliefs, poverty, is also a driving factor for child marriage, with parents’ seeking to obtain economic and social security for their daughter. Dowry also continues to be a driving factor, with prices often increasing the older a girl gets.    Anita was 13 years old when she was forced to marry a man she did not know. Anita became pregnant 5 months in to the marriage at 14 years old. Her delivery was extremely difficult and the baby died, leaving Anita in severe pain and injured. Anita now worries that if she cannot have another baby, her husband will leave her. 

Across Senegal, an estimated 50,000 boys living in traditional Quranic boarding schools, or daaras, are forced to beg for daily quotas of money, rice or sugar by their Quranic teachers, known as marabouts. Known as talibés, these children are sent by their parents to daaras to learn the holy Coran. Children in these daaras are often beaten, chained, bound, and subjected to other forms of physical or psychological abuse amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment. While in 2016 the government introduced a new programme to 'remove children from the streets', it has done little to reduce the alarming numbers of children subjected to exploitation, abuse and daily neglect.    Moutarou was sent to be a talibé in Dakar by his father during his school summer vacations. Moutarou was forced to beg for food and money daily and provide the marabout with cash under the threat of violence.  

Across Senegal, an estimated 50,000 boys living in traditional Quranic boarding schools, or daaras, are forced to beg for daily quotas of money, rice or sugar by their Quranic teachers, known as marabouts. Known as talibés, these children are sent by their parents to daaras to learn the holy Coran. Children in these daaras are often beaten, chained, bound, and subjected to other forms of physical or psychological abuse amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment. While in 2016 the government introduced a new programme to 'remove children from the streets', it has done little to reduce the alarming numbers of children subjected to exploitation, abuse and daily neglect.     Amadou was sent to a daara to be a talibé in Dakar. After refusing to learn he was locked up for two years, being released once his 'sentence' was over. Once released, Amadou ran away during the hours of begging and sought reguge at a children's centre.   

Across Senegal, an estimated 50,000 boys living in traditional Quranic boarding schools, or daaras, are forced to beg for daily quotas of money, rice or sugar by their Quranic teachers, known as marabouts. Known as talibés, these children are sent by their parents to daaras to learn the holy Coran. Children in these daaras are often beaten, chained, bound, and subjected to other forms of physical or psychological abuse amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment. While in 2016 the government introduced a new programme to 'remove children from the streets', it has done little to reduce the alarming numbers of children subjected to exploitation, abuse and daily neglect.    

Cheikh is an 8 or 9 year old runaway talibé from Saloum. He tells of how he spent two years in a daara in Dakar.     

Across Senegal, an estimated 50,000 boys living in traditional Quranic boarding schools, or daaras, are forced to beg for daily quotas of money, rice or sugar by their Quranic teachers, known as marabouts. Known as talibés, these children are sent by their parents to daaras to learn the holy Coran. Children in these daaras are often beaten, chained, bound, and subjected to other forms of physical or psychological abuse amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment. While in 2016 the government introduced a new programme to 'remove children from the streets', it has done little to reduce the alarming numbers of children subjected to exploitation, abuse and daily neglect.     Ibrahima attended Quaranic school in Kaolack region where the marabout demanded a quota of 150-250 CFA, and subjected to beatings if the quota was not met.

Despite signs of progress, Bangladesh continues to have one of the highest child marriage rates in the world.66% of girls in Bangladesh are married under 18 with the average age of marriage for girls in the country being 15. As well as deeply embedded cultural beliefs, poverty, is also a driving factor for child marriage, with parents’ seeking to obtain economic and social security for their daughter. Dowry also continues to be a driving factor, with prices often increasing the older a girl gets.    Despite wanting to continue on with her education, Azima B was forced to marry as her parents feared river erosion would cause their house to be swept away and make it harder for her to be married later on.