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OPA News Release: [12/19/2003]
Contact Name: Mike
Biddle or Lisa Gates
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Tours Rehabilitation
Centers for Trafficked Children
COTONOU, BENIN—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
visited two centers that welcome and rehabilitate children who are victims of
trafficking. The first site was the Terre de Hommes Center for Trafficked
Children. The second was Carrefour d’Ecoute et d’Orientation. The
tours are part of Secretary Chao’s four-day visit to Africa to highlight
the United States’ continuing commitments to end the worst forms of child
labor—including using children as soldiers and trafficking in children -
and to promote programs in the workplace to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“These centers will provide these children with hope and
opportunity,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao. “These
children have the strength and the resolve to build brighter futures for
themselves and our support can make a difference in their lives.”
The Terre de Hommes “Oasis” Center for Trafficked Children is
run by Terre de Hommes a Catholic Relief Services partner. Operating in Benin
since 1974, its target population is vulnerable children from birth to 14 years
of age. Since 2001, Terre des Hommes has been receiving and reintegrating child
victims of trafficking. This year 1,268 children have been protected at the
Oasis Center, of which 794 are victims of international trafficking. Department
of Labor funding provides additional resources to the Center.
The Carrefour d’Ecoute et d’Orientation (CEO) Reception Center
is partially funded by the Department of Labor through the International Labor
Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.
The CEO reception center is run by a non-governmental organization associated
with the Cotonou Archdiocese. The center was established in 1991 to serve the
needs of older vulnerable children. The primary functions of the center are to
teach boys a trade such as carpentry, electrical or metal work, and to assist
them with reintegration into society. Another center houses young girls.
While in Benin, Secretary Chao also helped launch the $2 million
Department of Labor-fund Education First Project, which will provide increased
access to education for children removed from or at risk of being trafficked
for exploitive purposes. Catholic Relief Services will manage the project.
Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor has received $313 million to
fund international projects aimed at preventing and eliminating the worst forms
of child labor. The department has already obligated $275 million of the money
received for child labor projects in more than 60 countries. These projects are
designed to remove children from hazardous work environments and exploitive
conditions, to provide educational opportunities for child laborers and to
conduct research and raise awareness about the child labor issue.
The United States is a signatory to ILO Convention No. 182, which
condemns the trafficking of children as one of the worst forms of child labor
and calls upon countries to assist one another in eliminating all adverse forms
of child labor as a matter of urgency.
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