Because child trafficking, exploitation and abuse are serious offences against children's rights Terre des homes (Tdh) is carrying through in Togo a project for the reintegration of hundreds of children.

Solutions proposed by Terre des hommes

Combating the exploitation of and trafficking in children – Since 2001 Tdh has been managing an ongoing project called "Vixoasi" ("precious child" in the local language) for the prevention of child trafficking and for the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims. It has opened the emergency and reintegration centre "Oasis" in Lomé, where each year several hundred children receive accommodation, care and education. They are prepared for their social, school and vocational reintegration. Further aspects of this project include external rehabilitation and the strengthening of traditional protective social mechanisms or customs.

Special medical care – Tdh assumes the care of children suffering from serious illnesses which cannot be treated locally. They can be operated in Togo, thanks to foreign know-how, or may be transferred to a neighbouring country or to Europe. Tdh strives furthermore for an improvement in local medical competence (further training, surgical missions).


Results achieved in 2008

Combating child trafficking – 712 children were taken care of in the Oasis Centre, over 1000 received individual attention and were trained or informed on apprenticeship opportunities. Tdh was strongly involved in the launching of the free telephone number "ALLÔ 111", where children can report on abuse they have suffered. In cooperation with national partners and government Tdh was able to contribute to the development of measures for the protection of children throughout the country.

Special medical treatment – Twenty Togolese children were operated in the course of a Tdh surgical mission in Benin. Thirty children suffering from cardiac defects or malformations (orthopaedic or digestive problems, defects of vision, cleft lip) and who could not be treated locally were transferred to Europe to undergo the operations necessary for their recovery.


Challenges to be taken up

In rural areas children must work to provide for their future and to contribute to the livelihood of the family. One encounters them in markets, in stone quarries and as household help, and ever more become victims of abuse at their place of work. Tdh strives continually for an improved prevention and detection of abuses and the better protection of the children. The authorities are increasingly willing to involve themselves, but nevertheless the implementation of public promises on child protection is seldom effective, and the national social services remain inadequate.


Testimonies - The central marketplace in Lomé

A good example of Tdh's efforts to improve the living conditions of working children can be illustrated in the central marketplace in Lomé. The children employed there as salesgirls are in great danger of being exploited and maltreated, and the working demands often exceed their physical capabilities.

The presence of Tdh in the central marketplace is the result of two years of negotiations with the employers and the market management. Finally Tdh could open a meeting point where a social worker is constantly available and to where educators or teachers come regularly to take preventive action and to give classes in reading and writing. These take place in an improvised classroom, which the girls assemble and dismantle every day. The central effect of this meeting point is to offer somewhere where the young girls can pour out their hearts freely. Some use it as a place to rest or sleep, a place where they can relax and chat or discuss problems.
For Tdh this presence in the central marketplace is significant for finding children in crisis situations, and for being able to contribute immediately to their protection. It gives the children a "Room of Hope" where for a short while they can be children and where a door is opened through which they can, even if for only a few moments, escape the central marketplace. Tdh uses this presence to advance the case for children's rights among the employers. The medium term aim is to ban child labour from the central marketplace in Lomé – an ambitious aspiration, but one which must be achieved.