The impoverished children were taken from families in Benin who were told they would be educated and found good jobs. Instead they were destined to be sold into slavery as unpaid domestic staff and plantation workers. The ship set off from Benin 10 days ago but was turned away from Gabon, a relatively prosperous country to the southeast of Benin, where authorities believe it was originally intended to sell the children. Port officials in Douala, Cameroon, refused to allow the vessel into harbour for similar reasons, according to UN and Benin officials. Aid workers have also expressed fears that the ship's captain, who has a criminal record in Nigeria, and has in the past been accused of trafficking in child slaves, could dump his human cargo overboard.
Girls often end up as domestic workers or prostitutes.
Foreign Office minister Brian Wilson urged British confectionery companies to ensure that child slaves were not involved in producing the raw materials for their chocolate bars. Mike Dottridge, director of British human rights organisation, Anti-Slavery International, rejected the idea of sending ships from Europe to save the children. It depends very much on what is being done locally, but I do not think there is any point in sending European boats. There is a perfectly good Nigerian navy and various others in the area. The difficulty with human trafficking is that those in charge of it are likely to avoid arrest by going to various places where they will remain undetected.