Fafo-report 440

Kari Hauge Riisøen, Anne Hatløy, Lise Bjerkan

Travel to Uncertainty

A study of child relocation in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali

ISBN 82-7422-435-3
2004 57 p NOK 157,- Order no: 440 Order

Web edition (pdf 276kb) * More publications on this subject

This report presents the results of the link between child trafficking and child relocation in three West-African countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Mali. The main goal of the study was to detect whether traditional forms of child relocation, such as fostering and child migration, have preventive effect on child trafficking – or on the contrary whether they increase trafficking. Principal findings are that all working children in the three countries are at risk of being exploited, regardless of migration status; that the same children that are more exposed to trafficking are also to some extent more exposed to exploitation in general; and that some arenas and employers are more exploitative than others.

The report is the second in a series of working papers from a Fafo research program on child labour, generously financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affaires.

1 Introduction
Collecting information

2 Arenas of Child Relocation
Households
Muslim clerics
Work places
Conditions in relocation arenas

3 Coping with Perceived Opportunities
Leaving home
Good intentions are not always enough
On the move

4 The Best Interest of the Child?
How and why children end up in various forms of relocation
Relocation, trafficking and exploitation
Actions to be taken