Born to be a slave in Niger

By Hilary Andersson
BBC Africa Correspondent, Niger


Slavery continues to blight the lives of many millions around the world. Although officially abolished in some countries two centuries ago, people trafficking, bonded labour and child labour still exist.

There are some places on earth that few outsiders visit or know about, vast empty sections of the earth where time has stood still for centuries.

Niger is one of those places. It is a country that you can drive through for hours without seeing a soul.

A nation of vast, barren and windswept landscapes, a country of people who live almost entirely off cattle, and off the labour of human slaves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4250709.stm

Thanks for posting. Hard to believe we're talking millions of people in slavery and the US corporate media that whips us into a frenzy to bring "democracy" to oil-rich Iraq can't find the time to remind us of this sort of suffering.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3589646.stm

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"Although abolished and penalised in international instruments, is still practised in new forms that today affect millions of men, women and children across the world," he said.

The Anti-Slavery International group - which is working with Unesco to raise awareness in schools globally of the transatlantic slave trade - has described human trafficking as the fastest growing from of modern-day slavery.

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