Children at Risk: Family Planning and Human Trafficking in Northwest Cameroon

Abstract

��� ameroon, which sits just between West and Central Africa and near the bottom of the Human Development Index, is a classic example of the population dynamics Bongaarts and Sinding describe in their contribution to this issue. Forty-one percent of the population is under fifteen, the total fertility rate is 4.8, 1 and only 12.5 percent of married women use any sort of contraceptive. 2 Not only does this increase pressures on the country’s economy as a whole; it also helps drive a darker economy: human trafficking. Trafficking in Northwest Cameroon The ILO estimates that 84 percent of child laborers in Yaounde, Douala, and Bamenda (the three main cities) are trafficked, mostly from Cameroon’s northern regions. 3 This summer I visited an anti-human trafficking operation in the northwest region and spoke with victims, families, and community groups about the problem. The northwest is one of the poorest regions in Cameroon, primarily based on subsistence agriculture and largely ignored by the government. Fertility rates (including teen pregnancies) are higher than average, which means that many families cannot afford to feed all their children. This makes them prime targets for traffickers, often relatives or others known to the family, who promise a better life. Most Cameroonian parents have no idea of their children’s true destinations; generally, they do not receive a fee from the traffickers. They believe their sons and daughters are on the way to a good job and a chance to make it in the big city. I spoke to a father of six chidren who thought his oldest daughter’s only opportunity was a babysitting job in urban Bamenda where she was promised good pay and job training after two years. Her story is common: she arrived in the city to find an exploitative job, no wages, and no job training. Young children and teens are often forced into manual labor,