非洲奴隶制度与奴隶交易

African Slavery and Trafficking

非洲奴隶制度与奴隶交易

 

Early in March, the government of the West African nation of Niger canceled a ceremony designed to give 7,000 slaves their freedom. The human rights group Timidria planned to release the slaves in a region near Niger's border with Mali, but none of them appeared at the ceremony. The organization said Niger's government intimidated¹ the slaves to keep them from showing up, a charge the government denies.

 

Niger officially banned slavery two years ago, but human rights groups say about 43,000 people remain in bondage² in the country. And about 200,000 people are believed to be enslaved along ancient Arab-African Saharan trade routes.

 

The London-based organization, Anti-Slavery International, says the problem goes well beyond the borders of Niger. Romana Cacchioli, the Africa program officer, explains how it works:

 

Romana Cacchioli: The issue of slavery, the problem of slavery in Niger, is probably quite unique to West Africa, but also is happening in countries like Mauritania. This type of slavery is an inherited status, where people are born into slavery and have inherited that status from their grandparents and their great-grandparents.

 

Slavery in Niger is now a crime that carries a 30-year prison sentence, and authorities are beginning to prosecute³ those responsible. But Ms. Cacchioli says Niger's government missed an opportunity to publicly show the practice will not be tolerated.

 

Romana Cacchioli: And the message was that slavery is now illegal in Niger, and its newly defined and criminalized in law, and we hoped that the message would be that people who are suffering slavery practices would be able now to access the law and that they are now equal and full citizens in the republic of Niger. Regrettably, due to pressure from the authorities, victims of slavery were unable to attend the ceremony.

 

In addition to Niger and Mauritania, slavery has been documented in Chad, Mali and Sudan. This is accompanied by trafficking of women and children on the African continent.

 

Romana Cacchioli of Anti-Slavery International says poverty often forces parents to surrender their children to traffickers, who often trick them into giving away their children, with the promise of an education or a good job.

Romana Cacchioli: Children are being trafficked from countries like Ghana, Togo, Benin to countries like Gabon in central Africa, and these children, mostly girls, are being trafficked into domestic work, into domestic service. But of course, boys are also being trafficked into the construction industry, into the fishing industry, so it's really affecting children of all ages.

 

Ghanaian lawyer Edna Kuma is executive director of the African Women Lawyers Association and has been working to stop the trafficking of women and children. She says the danger to these victims is considerable.

 

Edna Kuma: A lot of children have been trafficked within Ghana. And we hear there are a lot of children going into the fishing industry to help fisherfolk; I mean help as young as two, three, four, five. And my only appeal is for parents is to do what they can to tell these children, instead of giving them up for trade like fishery or whatever, because a lot of them die in the process.

 

Women are also trafficked, into prostitution. The African Women's Lawyers Association is supporting legislation in the Ghanaian parliament that would ban the trafficking of women to other countries. Edna Kuma cites the problems.

 

Edna Kuma: You go to Ivory Coast, you find a lot of the Ghanaian girls there. Or maybe in the west coast, the sub-region, all over the place. And either for gain, economic gain or whatever, they go there and they practice all kinds of prostitution, and at the same time some also go outside Africa, maybe to Europe, to work, because there's quite an amount of unemployment here, and a lot of them are not skilled.

 

Prostitution also contributes to Africa's enormous AIDS crisis, according to Ms. Kuma. The enslavement and trafficking of Africans are disturbing and persistent⁴ problems for a continent already battling political, economic and health concerns. But growing international awareness⁵ of the crisis, and new laws, may limit the exploitation of Africans.

 

For focus, I’m Sarah Williams.

 

注释：

Mali [5mB:li:] n. 马里

show up 露面

bondage [5bCndidV] n. 奴役

enslave [in5sleiv] v. 奴役

Mauritania [7mC(:)ri5teinjE] n. 毛利塔尼亚

inherited [in5heritid] adj. 继承的

great-grandparents [7^reit5^rAnd7peErEnts] n. 曾祖父母

give away 送掉

traffic [5trAfik] vi. 交易，买卖

fisherfolk 渔民

prostitution [7prCsti5tju:FEn] n. 卖淫，堕落

an amount of 许多

1 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

3 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

4 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

5 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。