Congo Sinks Deeper Into The Mire

Congo is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Despite incredible richness in natural resources, it has been plagued by internecine conflicts, poverty, unawareness, child abuse and slavery. I have little or no knowledge of what the government is doing, its ability or inability to prevent child labour. Hence, I will not write about the government’s strengths or principles until I research further. However, watch the video below, it is self explanatory.

The Child Workers of Afghanistan

Thousands of children as young as four are being forced to work in brick factories in Afghanistan. Some of them work up to 12 hours a day, to help pay off debts owed by their families.






Source: Al Jazeera

Project Niger (1)

Exploitation of Children - "The enslavement and trafficking of Africans are disturbing and persistent problems for a continent already battling political, economic and health concerns. But growing international awareness of the crisis, and new laws, may limit the exploitation of Africans."

The problem of child labour, slavery and exploitation of labour in general is getting worse particularly in the developing countries. As earlier stated, the main aim of this blog is to increase awareness and help in the fight to wipe out child mining and child labour in general. Today I want to focus on a particular country. This post attempts to point out and discuss child mining in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries.


Republic of Niger: the basic facts

• The Republic of Niger is a multi party republic that returned to democracy in 1999 following coups in 1996 and 1999.



• Located in West Africa, bordered by Burkina Faso and Mali (West), by Algeria and Libya (North), by Chad (East), and by Nigeria and Benin (South);



• Niger had a population of 11.3 million. Niamey is the country's capital and its largest city.



• The United Nations Development Program has listed Niger as the least developed country in the world.









• Being one of the world's poorest countries, sixty-three per cent of the population lives below the absolute poverty level with an average life expectancy of just forty-two years.



• President Mamadou Tanja was elected to his second fiver year term in December 2004. Slavery was officially banned five years ago, but Human Rights groups say about 43,000 people remain in bondage including women and children.

A thumbnail sketch

'Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging, domestic servitude, mine labor, sexual exploitation, and possibly for agricultural labor.

Nigerien children are also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with Nigeria and are trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor.

Women and children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo are trafficked to and through Niger for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced labor in mines, on farms, and as mechanics and welders.

Nigerien women and children are trafficked from Niger to North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.

Caste-based slavery practices rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships continue in isolated areas of the country.

At least 8,800 Nigeriens live in conditions of traditional slavery. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [full country report]

Niger mining industry

A boy holding a flashlight climbs out of a mining hole, bearing a sack of excavated dirt on his back, in the eastern mining town of Durba in Ituri Province.

Niger, one of the poorest countries in Africa, provides a typical example of child exploitation. Uranium, gold, phosphates, tin, coal, limestone, salt and gypsum mining are prominent in Niger. In Madaoua, a major gypsum mining town in Niger, 43 percent of the mining workers are children. Of these 6.5 percent are 6 to 9 years of age and 16 percent are of 10 to 13 years of age. These children are exposed to innumerable safety hazards. During extractions they are at risk of injury from their tools and from exhaustion as they have to cover a huge area in search for gypsum. Other risks are snake and scorpion bites and foot injuries, as most of them are barefoot, from stones and wood splinters.

Holding a dog in her arms, a girl stands looking out of the window of a bus wreck in the former mining town of Llallagua in the department of North Potosi. With most mines in the smaller towns now closed, the region suffers from chronic underemployment.

Liptako is a major gold mining area in Niger. Gold ores are obtained in difficult and dangerous conditions, as the method of work is primitive without any source of mechanical or electrical or any other power. Children are fully involved in most of the activities in gold production. 17 percent of the workers are children. They are also involved in related activities like transport, drug selling and prostitution. In the extraction phase, children are used as carriers of ores and waste products to the surface.

A jerrycan on his shoulder and a pail on his arm, a boy carries water in the gold mining area of Mollehuaca, in the southern district of Arequipa.

The child laborers manually carry sacks that weigh 5-10 kg. In addition to the danger of falling rocks, the children can also fall down mine shafts. They are exposed to risks such as explosions, asphyxiation, dust, dermatoid, flooding and drowning in the mines. They also face very high or very low temperatures, dangerous air and space, bilharziosis due to polluted water where they wash gold ores and dangerous materials used in mining and processing. The nearest medical facilities are 60 km away. [full report]

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words!

The photograph abstracts from, and mediates, the actual - Victor Burgin

Windows Live Spaces

What can we do to help?

1. Small donations can make a world of difference for children living in poverty and working in situations of child labour. According to "Free The Children":

- $1 can buy $10 worth of medical supplies for people in developing countries
- $50 can buy a goat that will provide a source of income for a family in a developing country
- $100 can provide a clean water system for a family in a developing country
- $5000 can build a school in a developing country

2. Get together with friends who share your passion and organize a fund raiser at your school or church, or in the community. Car washes, bake sales, garage sales, bbq's and dress-down-days at school or work are great ways to raise money.

3. Contact government officials. Your provincial MPP's and Federal MP's simply love receiving strongly-worded, passionate letters outlining issues that concern you. Be straightforward and to-the-point, but do not be offensive or insulting. Make sure to be clear and concise when outlining the issue and include your contact information so that they may respond back. If you receive a response that you are not happy with feel free to write back again. Government officials are elected to serve the people whom they represent, so don't be shy!

4. Raise Awareness. Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. The more people know about the issue, the more people can help.

For more information, visit www.freethechildren.org

Child Miners

Jorge would like to be a lawyer but has no choice other than to work all day until his back hurts. Alex works in the mine because he has nothing to eat. He doesn’t tell his mother about his work because it makes her cry.

These thirteen year old boys sneak into mines that the adults find too dangerous or too unproductive for the back-breaking labour it entails. For the small amounts of tin left in the exhausted mountains of the Andes the boys have to work in silence in case the rocks fall on them. If there is an accident the managers at the mine don’t want to take responsibility for it.

Film-maker Rodrigo Vazquez found children too young to work mining for tin in Bolivia. Trade Union managers turn a blind eye to assist the children's families but dangers due to illness and accidents condemn these kids to short lives of back-breaking labour.

Source: Al Jazeera - Witness

Watch Part One here:




Watch Part two here:




Add your comments on this film

Child Labour - Child Miners

"The change starts within each one of us, and ends only when all children are free to be children." - Craig Kielburger, Free The Children

Children should be playing baseball, soccer, gymnastics or at school learning algebra not working in mines. However, millions of children around the world work in damaging and hazardous industries like forestry, brick making, charcoal burning, mining and explosives manufacture.

On a daily basis, some of these children die, fall ill with industrial diseases or are injured by accidents. Even if they survive, each day's work significantly reduces their life expectancy.

Statistics show that there are over 300 million of these children across the globe. They are not fortunate enough to experience the life of a normal child. In extremely harmful environments like mines, fields and quarries, under very harsh conditions, they work and dig for ridiculously low wages which are usually less than a dollar. They are deprived of a childhood and basic freedom.

Again, more than one million of these children work in mines and quarries. This is one of the most dangerous forms of child labour – exposing children to severe occupational hazards.
Moreover, this is child slavery. We have to do something to eliminate these hideous acts because there is nothing worse than the exploitation of children, and it breaks me to pieces to think that they might never experience a real childhood or the beauty of life itself. WE have to end this.

A lot of people look me in the eyes and say “Mariam, no one can change the world.” my response has and will always be “just because WE think WE can't change the world doesn’t mean WE can’t make a difference.”

Many times, I have been called a leftist, a liberal freak and everything in between. But what they fail to understand is that, this is not about me. This is about children being treated in the most awful ways.

WE all have a heart and a brain. I choose to give my heart out to these kids and my brain to think of ways to eradicate their pain.



This has brought about a tremendous change in my life. Never again can I continue living my normal life with what I know today. These children are not invisible and if they are to you then I will keep on making noise and bringing this to your face until they become visible; until WE all acknowledge and do something about their appalling conditions.
They are as real as reality can ever get. They have rights to education, to expand their imagination. They have the right to be free!

The website which I plan on dedicating to this cause is still under construction. Nevertheless, you can Subscribe because I need YOUR help.
My goal, as of now, is to get the attention of as many people as possible. So please help me Raise Awareness. Forward this blog to everyone you know. Awareness is the first step.

Nelson Mandela once said,

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.

The more people know about the issue, the more people can help.
I encourage everyone to continue spreading the word. Making a difference starts with raising awareness.

Subscribe to this blog. Be part of the movement.

Under construction

If you’re reading this and you’re not me, then welcome!

I’m sorry this blog is still under construction, but shortly it will become very coherent with stories, news, updates and a lot of variations on the theme Child Miners.