Human trafficking is the worlds fastest growing industry, according to the 2009 State Department Trafficking in Persons Report over 80% of those victimized by transnational trafficking are women and children. According to the International Labor Organization (End of Child Labor Within Reach 2006), each year, some 1.2 million children are trafficked for the purposes of labor, while another 1 million are trafficked into the sex trade.

Do watch the news, read news articles, or my blog posts and question what you can actually do that will make a difference?  Feel you are stretched for time or don’t have any money to give?  Well there is something that you can do today to help end child trafficking.  Help those in the field, and other concerned citizens like yourself to pass the Child Protection Compact Act of 2009 (HR 2737).  The bill was introduced by Chris Smith, U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 4th District, a leader in the fight against modern slavery. However the introduction of the CPCA is only the beginning in what is often a long legislative process, one that can only be successful with a united voice of the American voter.

Now is your chance to use your voice and put your vote to the test, as when it comes down to it the voice that is heard on the hill begins with you. Members of Congress look to their constituents for direction and support, and we need you to take the opportunity now to let your representatives know what matters most not only in your district, but across the country. Therefore let us all unite together to urge Members of Congress to support the Child Protection Compact Act (CPCA)of 2009, and together we can see that we move one step closer to bringing an end to modern slavery.

What does the Child Protection Compact Act (HR 2737) mean?
This groundbreaking legislation seeks to eradicate trafficking in children by focusing on assistance and collaboration with eligible individual countries through the implementation of Child Protection Compacts.  Many countries have passed anti-trafficking, child labor, child marriage, and similar laws to combat modern slavery, however there is not always the means to enforce these laws.  The lack of enforcement of such laws continues to leave children unprotected.  The CPCA would help enforce anti-trafficking laws in targeted countries by providing them with technical assistance and training. These target countries are ones who have shown a level of political will to fight human trafficking, but have been without adequate resources, know-how, and the capacity to follow up with survivors.  Therefore if enacted, the CPCA will offer additional resources for the targeted countries law enforcement, victim protection services, and deterrence through the apprehension and prosecution of human traffickers.

SEC. 6. CHILD PROTECTION COMPACT.

(a) Compact- The Secretary, acting through the Ambassador, may provide assistance for a country only if the country enters into an agreement with the United States, to be known as a ‘Child Protection Compact’, that establishes a 3-year plan for achieving shared objectives in furtherance of the purposes of this Act.

(b) Elements- The Compact should take into account the national child protection strategy of the country and shall contain–

(1) the specific objectives that the country and the United States expect to achieve during the term of the Compact;

(2) the responsibilities of the country and the United States in the achievement of such objectives;

(3) the particular programs or initiatives to be undertaken in the achievement of such objectives and the amount of funding to be allocated to each program or initiative;

(4) regular benchmarks to measure, where appropriate, progress toward achieving such objectives, including benchmarks for each program or initiative;

(10) the strategy of the country to sustain progress made toward achieving such objectives after expiration of the Compact.

What can you do?
Get a meeting with, call, write, e-mail the Congressional Representative and,or Senators in your home state and district. Let them know how important it is to you that we abolish modern-day slavery in our time, and give a voice to children across our country that have been silenced by the invisible chains of modern slavery. This is essential in all 50 states as we work to get this bill to the next stage of life, and closer to being a reality.

If you have reason to suspect that someone is a victim of human trafficking, please call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline on 1-888-373-7888. Multilingual call specialists are on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls are confidential.

Today, 16th June, is the International Day of the African Child, honored worldwide since 1991, the day is set in which to celebrate the life of an African child. The day was founded in remembrance of the massacres of the innocent children and adults  who participated in the June 16th  Soweto Uprising, in South Africa in 1976, when some ten thousand children marched in protest of the  quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their native languages.  During the Soweto Uprising hundreds of those children marching were shot, another hundred plus  people were killed and thousands injured over the following weeks as protests continued.  The day was thus established to mark not only the courage and sacrifice of those in Soweto, but to give a voice to the plight of all African child.  Thirty-three years later the day still gives continued awareness of the still vital need for the improvement of education for all African children.

Today’s major event is the 11th session of the Children’s Parliament, held in Cameroon. This years focus is on child and maternal mortality, according to the United Nations (UN) Millennium Campaign some 50,000 African children under five years old die from preventable and, or curable diseases. Yesterday the campaign called on all African states, civil society organizations and the private sector to not only tackle the issues of; child and maternal mortality, high school dropout rates and poor quality standards of Universal Primary Education. According to the campaign 38 million children of primary school age in Africa continue to remain out of school.

“Child survival, protection and development are not only universal aspirations enshrined in the MDGs; they are also human rights issues ratified in the International Convention on the Rights of Children and the African charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,” said the UN Millennium Campaign Communications Coordinator for Africa and Acting Deputy Director for Africa, Ms. Sylvia Mwichuli. “Investing in the health and education of African children and their mothers is a sound economic decision and one of the surest ways for a country to secure its future. Reducing child mortality and ensuring universal primary education requires strong political commitment.” (Day of the African Child: The Unending Plight of African Children)

Children of Africa’s 54 countries are all unique and diverse, nonetheless they share the same struggle for daily survival, as disease often run rampant, child labor and the use of child soldiers impacts most of the continent. Their diversity aside the children of Africa are more often displaced by force or urbanization than another continent, they suffer more than any other nations from HIV/AIDS, education is a right all too often missed, while child labor and trafficking often surpass it in demand.  The Day of the African Child leaves one to reflect on the often dire needs of children across Africa, and give focus on the need to increase equal access to suitable education, health, and the protection against abuses such as physical and sexual abuse, trafficking, the recruitment of child soldiers, child labor and child marriages.

While  children across the vast expanses of the Africa continent have received an international day of recognition, the true day of recognition has yet to be seen.  Recognition and value for the true worth of the African child will come only when their voices are truly heard and an investment in their collective future is seen; when one sees and end to gender inequality,  when their little bodies are no longer seen as disposable and an end to demand is seen for their use as tools of the sex trade, labor and weapons of war.  Until that day children across the continent of Africa continue to suffer unjustly, their abusers receive little recourse for their actions, and the majority of the governments sit idly by.  Therefore take a moment  today to share their stories of suffering and hope, for then tomorrow may be a better day for children around the globe.

For more information on the legal framework regarding child participation see Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes the right of the child to be heard and have his or her view given consideration in all judicial and administrative proceeding affecting him or her. For further information please see the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child, for which article 4 states, how is in the best interest of the child and thus provides for the right of the African child to have his or her view considered in all proceedings affecting him or her.

Bound to tradition, some families, communities and leader’s around the globe, hold steadfast to the practice of child marriage.  One in seven girls in developing countries, with the exception of China, is married before their 15th birthday.  The practice of child marriages is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, however child marriage continues in other parts of the world, including South America, Middle East and among the Roma populations of Europe.

Child marriage has once again entered the media spotlight, as international uproar has stirred over the marriage of an eight year-old Saudi girl to a sixty year-old man.  The case has prompted Saudis ‘to regulate’ child brides , leaving the state to say it will now begin monitoring the practice of child marriages.  The Saudi government stated that the Justice Ministry desired to end the “arbitrary” way in which children are married, however they left no idea as to how they plan to work towards an end to the practice.

Last month attention was brought to the difficulties in ending the practice of child marriages in Burkina Faso despite efforts by the government and NGO’s, as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has given some $7 million dollars to the fight since 2002, however NGOs have stated that that in 5 of the country’s 13 regions, child marriages continue in spite of efforts. To increase efforts against the practice the UNFPA, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the governmental National Population Advisory Council launched a two-year $1.6 million peer education, job training and health services project to bolster girls’ overall security- both before and after marriage in February 2009 (Child brides fight child marriage).

Thus is an end to child marriage in sight?  The end is undoubtedly not one we will see in the near future, however the end is a shadow in the horizon, which can be reached in time with increased efforts and sustainable initiatives.  The battle to end the practice of child marriage across the global is long, however it is not an impossible battle if the international community and individual states step forward to ensure that the rights of children, especially girls, are ensured and protected. Gender discrimination must be put on the forefront of the agenda in order to see an end to the cycle of abuse and poverty, that continue to fuel child marriages.  States must ensure that individual communities are adequately educated on the long-term effects of child marriage,and gender discrimination, and see that sustainable solutions are then put in place. Such solutions include; making a education a priority and ensuring girls have equal access, seeing families have alternatives to pay debts, and providing health education on HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

See previous posts for more on Child Marriage.

One doesn’t have to think hard about how difficult life can be when you do not have access to appropriate healthcare services and facilities. The developing world and countries at war are continually burdened and the ones who pay the heavy price for this strain are most often women and children. In many societies an added problem comes from gender inequality and a lack of adequate education on healthcare, in particularly female issues, including childbirth. On such preventable and treatable medical condition that thus plagues many women and girls is fistula.

Fistulas, is abnormal connection or passageway between two epithelium-lined organs or vessels which normally are not connected. The types of fistulas that most commonly are faced by women and girls are vesicovaginal and rectovaginal, which most often occur in the case of violent or gang rape, very often done with objects, such is so commonly seen by victims of the use of rape as a weapon of war. The second type is obstetric fistula, which develops when blood supply to the tissues of the vagina and the bladder, and/or rectum, is cut off during prolonged obstructed labor, this is most often due to the mother having a small or under developed (flat) pelvis, thus occurs frequently in the case of child mother and thus is most common in countries with a higher level of child marriages. Fistula which is caused when tissue dies, thus causing a hole to form from the vagina to the rectum, which then causes urine and/or feces pass through uncontrollably. According to the World Health Organization some 2 million women are living with untreated fistula, and around 100,000 women will develop fistula each year.

The effects of fistula are harsh on it’s victims both physically and psychologically, as victims are often abandoned and social ostracized. Many women and girls also suffer additional verbal and physical abuses by their husbands, families and communities. The main reason for such sever reactions from the condition are based on sheer misunderstanding of the condition, which has led to its continued silence. The first battle to be won against fistula is that the silence against fistula must be broken, for only then will the feeling of shame be lifted from the shoulders of 2 million women and girls and treatment for the condition be increasingly sought.  The second battle against fistula is to see that the 100,000 women and girls who are afflicted by this preventable condition are saved from the burden, by increasing education and awareness on women’s health and gender issues, increasing access to adequate healthcare facilities and services, and preventing gender based violence and rape warfare.  Thus gender equality is at the forefront in winning the battle against fistula, and freeing millions of women and girls from a life of needless shame.

Related News and Resources:
Campaign to End Fistula
The Fistula Foundation
Women’s health care in war zones neglected: Red Cross
UN campaign helping global South combat obstetric fistula receives award
The Info Project - Fistula
Education key to preventing fistula
Saving lives with trained birth attendants

YEMEN: Threat to legislation outlawing child marriage
Although Yemen’s parliament has agreed to set the minimum age for marriage at 17, there are concerns the decision may be rescinded as some members of parliament (MPs) say the amendments violate Sharia (Islamic) law.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban forces students out of schools into madrasas
The closure of schools and continuing attacks on students in the southern Helmand Province forced Abdul Wakil’s parents to send him to a madrasa (Islamic school) in neighbouring Pakistan. “In the madrasa we were taught to sacrifice ourselves for Jihad in Afghanistan and were told to do suicide attacks,” the 14-year-old told IRIN in Lashkargah, centre of Afghanistan’s insurgency-torn Helmand Province.

Kenyan school offers Somali refugees a modern – and moderate – education
Hoping to preserve the peaceful tolerance and pragmatism of the Somali culture, the Fathu Rahman Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, offers refugee children an alternative to radical Islamist schools. “This is a battle for the minds of Somali children,” said Principal Sheikh Mohammad Moallem Hussein, a moderate Islamic cleric.

Malaria: Spoonful of sugar could save thousands of children
A teaspoon of sugar allowed to dissolve under the tongue works as well as intravenous glucose to save the lives of children suffering from malaria-induced hypoglycemia, a French physician has found. Hubert Barennes tested the treatment in a pediatric department in Africa, where 800,000 children younger than 5 years old die each year of the disease.

SRI LANKA: Children suffering the most in conflict
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to guarantee the free movement of hundreds of thousands of civilians - including as many as 75,000 children - out of conflict areas in the north.

ISRAEL: New report highlights child abuse risks
Israel’s National Council for the Child (NCC) published a report on 8 February in which it said 309,141 children had been described by social services as being at risk of abuse.

ZIMBABWE: 94 percent of schools fail to open
About 94 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural schools - where most children are educated - failed to open this year, the UN Children’s Fund said on 10 February 2009. The education system, once viewed as the finest in sub-Saharan Africa, has become a casualty of the country’s economic collapse and political infighting.

BANGLADESH: Report blasts primary school education
Around 70 percent of children in Bangladesh who complete their primary education are unable to read, write or count properly, according to an internal report by the Department of Primary Education (DPE).

China Tells U.N. Panel That It Respects Rights
China defended its treatment of its civilians before the UN Human Rights Council, answering questions on a number of grounds pertaining to Tibet, torture, labor camps and other topics. Human rights organizations say China’s answers to the questions whitewashed the reality and that China has not committed itself to advocacy despite its testimony progress on human rights is linked to economic growth. One human rights lawyer noted that 20 years ago, China didn’t recognize “human rights” as a concern at all.

Iran still suffering human rights abuses, says Amnesty
Amnesty International used the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution to note that human-rights abuses in the Islamic nation still proliferate, including arbitrary arrest, torture and a broad application of capital punishment. Iran is one of a handful of countries that forbids Amnesty International and other human rights organizations to perform research within its borders. Recently, Iran closed the Center for Human Rights Defenders, founded by Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

A New Tongue to Win Hearts and Minds
Although it was never pushed as an aspect of efforts by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to spread democracy through the Middle East, Access - a program that teaches English in a Western-style environment to poor teens in Egypt - has had a tremendous, moderating impact on the students who completed it. Access, which has a very small budget but has taught 32,000 students in 50 countries, seeks to reverse misconceptions about America and teach democratic values such as tolerance and pluralism.

WEST AFRICA: When there is no village doctor
An international financial recession threatens to worsen the “severe medical workforce crisis” faced by almost 60 African and Asian countries, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO). The fewer health workers there are, the less chance a woman has to survive childbirth and a child his or her infancy, according to WHO.

A 10-Year-Old Divorcée Takes Paris
A young Yemeni girl’s unprecedented divorce has raised public concern over child brides, led to changes in Yemeni marriage laws and made the 10-year-old a celebrity. As a result of her harrowing ordeal, Nujood Ali hopes to someday become a lawyer and promote women’s rights.

2009 List of Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Unveiled at Davos

U.S. court reinstates Nigerian lawsuits vs Pfizer
A Nigerian court adjourned last month, and will reconvien (WHEN) the multi-billion-dollar suit against U.S. drug firm Pfizer Inc. (PFE) by the Kano state government to allow for more time for an out-of-court settlement… Kano state is demanding $2.75 billion in compensation from Pfizer for the 1996 trial of a meningitis vaccine, Trovan, on 200 children in Kano. Pfizer and Kano state, which have been engaged in settlement talks since November 2007, are due to report to the court on details of their out-of-court deal… Some 11 children are alleged to have died from the drug test which also caused deformities in 189 others.

UN urges better built schools after 2008 collapses
The United Nations called on Tuesday for action around the world to build safer schools after natural disasters killed thousands of children from China to Haiti in 2008 because of poor construction. “Safe schools don't just save children's lives, they can also serve as temporary shelters for communities in times of disasters.” said UNICEF education chief Cream Wright.

Up to 6,000 child soldiers recruited in Darfur - U.N.
Thousands of children are being recruited by rebel and government forces in Darfur even though Sudanese law forbids the use of child soldiers, UNICEF said. “All the armed factions and groups in Darfur have used children … We have seen children in uniform and children carrying weapons with virtually all the forces. An 11-year-old in this sort of situation basically looses their childhood. It dehumanises them.”, head of the U.N. children's fund (UNICEF) in Sudan Ted Chaiban told reporters.

Saudi girl, eight, married off to 58-year-old is denied divorce
A petition for divorce in Saudi Arabia between an 8-year-old girl and a 58-year old man filed by the girl's mother was dismissed after the judge ruled that only the girl can file for divorce and only after she has reached puberty. Although senior Sunni clerics have denounced child marriage, human-rights watchers say that it is common in conservative parts of Saudi Arabia. Shariah law does not provide a clear definition of adulthood and gives great discretion to judges, who frequently rule that women cannot bring forth cases to court except through male guardians.

Nothing But Nets delivers 740,000 bed nets to the Central African Republic
The UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign, a global, grassroots initiative to prevent malaria, announced today the distribution of nearly 1 million bed nets to children and their families throughout the Central African Republic. The nets will be distributed as part of an integrated measles immunization campaign led by the government of CAR with support from the Measles Initiative. The bed nets contributed by Nothing But Nets will provide full coverage for 740,000 children under the age of 5 who are being targeted in this effort.

Angry Youths Become a Force in Darfur
The youngsters of Darfur, who have grown up in Sudan's refugee camps, have become a political force of their own, challenging traditional tribal systems and adopting a pro-rebel position. The younger generation has expressed a more hard-line position, which may complicate efforts to strike a peace agreement with Khartoum. The New York Times (12/20)

New target for Mexico's drug cartels: schools
Mexico's drug war has heated up in the past year increasing in violence, as related deaths have doubled, and now the drug cartels are expanding their targets to include children, as was seen in Ciudad Juarez. Fear has increased as threats have now been left at schools, including Kindergartens, threatening to harm the children. Ricardo Ravelo, an investigative journalist with Proceso magazine, says that children in states torn apart by the drug war now idolize and imitate narcoculture. “The narcos are powerful, untouchable, undefeatable,” he says. “For these children, it's not very important to them to study or imagine themselves on a career path. For them, the attractive path is drug trafficking and its personalities.”

When one mentions war ones first thought drifts to Iraq, and then one may think of the DRC thanks to recent media coverage, however the continual plague of war in many countries, including Afghanistan, continues. While attention has long since faded since the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the country remains engrossed in conflict, and the bright lights of peace seem far away. While many parts of northern Afghanistan remain somewhat stable, the southern part of the country continues in conflict, leaving the country in an overall state of instability. As with all war's it is the children of Afghanistan who have had to pay the ultimate sacrifice for the conflict, and while aid and restructuring have occurred, they have only shown a mild improvement in many children's lives.

In previous posts one may recall stories about the egregious violations against children in Afghanistan. Stories which included; the increase of child marriages often been fueled by the poppy debts, the rise of child soldiers, the use of children as suicide bombers, lack of suitable and accessible education, gender inequality, malnutrition and detrimental effects on children's health and mortality. All of these issues remain on the forefront for children's rights and welfare in the country.

Last March in the post, The State of Afghanistan's Children Almost Seven Years After the Invasion, the serverity of the situation for children in the country was illustrated by a number of shocking figures and reports, including; Taking Stock: Afghanistan Women and Girls Seven Years On. The report showed that little had improved in Afghanistan for women and girls, and that the country remained one of the most dangerous places in the world to be female. According to the report, 8 out of 10 women are affected by domestic violence; over 60% of all marriages are forced; and half of all girls are married before the age of 16. Maternal mortality rates are one of the highest in the world and sadly in the last 8 months little positive change has been seen on any of these figures.

Poverty has become the shackle holding many children into forced labor, to help pay off family debts. A report in showed the grave extent of child labor and its impact on one province in Afghanistan. “Children work 8-12 hours a day to help their parents meet their financial needs,” said Mohammad Afzal, the head of Wadan Afghanistan in Nangarhar Province (IRIN). Key findings of the report on 38 brick-making factories showed;

Total families - 556
Total children - 3,456
Child labourers - 2,298
Children going to school - 257
Children not going to school - 2,071
Children with disabilities - 51
*Source: Wadan Afghanistan/ CAPN Survey 2008

Last Monday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued his first report to the UN Security Council on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan. In his report the Secretary-General called for more focus and attention on the issue of sexual abuse of children by members of the armed forces and other armed milita groups especially that of boys, including the practice of “bacha bazi”, a practice of keeping young boys being kept as sex slaves.

“The report really shows how difficult the situation is and to some degree it is worsening. This goes for several of the violations in particular attacks against schools and health centres, killing and maiming and grave sexual violence and to some degree recruitment of children (to armed groups),” Hilde F. Johnson, deputy executive director of UNICEF (Reuters).

It is apparent that while progresses in Afghanistan have been made since 2001, that many violations against children continue with impunity or little sight of change. While more girls may now be in school, attacks on schools have increased. Sexual abuse against boys and girls continues to plague children and parents as impunity for such crimes runs rampant. Additionally child marriages in the country continue, and are increasing in many areas, a fight against which is not aided by the fact that the age at which one is deemed an adult in the country is 15, in violation of international law.

These violations are compounded by other effects of the war including the high numbers of children which have been killed or disabled due to the conflict. Disability has been a large cause for strain on the healthcare system, and a huge impediment to access of education for children. According to a 2005 survey by Handicap International, there are at least 200,000 children in 2005, a number which has only since increased and will continue to do so, the country with permanent disability (physical, sensory and/or mental impairment), all of which have limited to no access to an education. Physical access to quality education for all children in the country is often difficult; however those with disabilities' are additionally disadvantaged as the government has no clear policies on disability rights.

It is all too clear that Afghanistan, and the international community, has been losing the battle to protect the country's children, and while the continued conflict and instability make securing children's welfare difficult, it is not impossible and improvements can be, and must be made. Increasing awareness on these issues is step one; this must be followed by an end to the impunity of many crimes against children including all forms of sexual abuse. Aid and sustainable development programs must be increased in the country, including microenterprise and financing, combined with education, must be put into place, to ensure that families see that their children are placed into school and not early marriages and child labor. The increasing of access to adequate healthcare and education must continue, as should disability access and rights. The list of 'to do's’ is a long one; however a necessary one and it is up to the international community and the government of Afghanistan to see that the future for both the children and the country are secured.

What is Shari'a law? Shari'a literally translates as "way " or "path to the water source". Shari'a law is derived from the Qur'an (Koran), the Muslim holy book, and Sunna or hadith, which means example and is derived from the sayings and practices of the prophet Muhammad. Therefore Shari'a law is often derived from what Muslim leaders believed Muhammad would do. Simply Shari'a is the divinely revealed law, or way of life which has been determined for all who practice the Islamic faith. Thus Shari'a law encompasses various aspects of daily life, including family, sexuality and social issues.

The practice of Shari'a law has frequently left women and girls with legal shortcomings or forced them to live in fear, especially in instances of rape. Rape is often treated as instances of adultery, traditionally criminal sanctions for sexual relations outside of wedlock are death by stoning if the accused is married and 100 lashes if they are unmarried or 80 lashes if there is an accusation not being chaste which is unable to be proven. Under Sharia law it is often required that the crime be validated by witnesses, in the case of rape it is to be witnessed by four Muslim-Males, or there is a fear or risk that the victim may be charged with adultery.

It was Shari'a law that was carried out on 13 year-old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow in Somalia after an the al-Shabaab rebel militia group had the girl stoned to death for adultery after her father reported that she was raped by three men.

Reports indicate that she had been raped by three men while traveling on foot to visit her grandmother in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu. Following the assault, she sought protection from the authorities, who then accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death. A child was victimized twice ‚ first by the perpetrators of the rape and then by those responsible for administering justice. UNICEF

Duhulow was stoned in front of a crowed of a 1,000 who filed into the stadium to watch 50 men burry her up to her neck and brutally throw stones at her head until she was finally dead.

 Inside the stadium, militia members opened fire when some of the witnesses to the killing attempted to save her life, and shot dead a boy who was a bystander. Amnesty

The child begged for mercy as she was being burried;

“Don't kill me, don't kill me,” she said, according to the man who wanted to remain anonymous. A few minutes later, more than 50 men threw stones. BBC

Saddly this is not the first report of a child being sentenced to death under Shari’a law, nor is it the first time that the childs age was reported incorrectly to avoid international media attention, in 2004 16 year-old Atefah Sahaaleh sentenced to death for “crimes against chastity” (BBC).

"This was not justice, nor was it an execution. This child suffered a horrendous death… This killing… demonstrates the importance of international action to investigate and document such abuses, through an International Commission of Inquiry." said David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia Campaigner.

Shari’a law often leads to rampid impunity for rapists, and leaves women and girls afraid to report their attacks for fear of deadly retaliation. This recent case has led many to ask the question, “Has Shari’a law gone too far?”

In April this year I brought you news of a former slave who put forth a suit against the state of Niger, which can be seen here. The brave plaintiff in the historic case was, Hadijatou Mani, a former slave who was sold into slavery at the age of 12 for a mere $500. Ms. Mani's landmark suit was based on the legal challenge that the country failed to protect her from being sold into a life of servitude and sexual slavery for 10 years.

Last week Ms. Mani won her battle over the state of Niger, and in doing so not only won a personal battle for freedom and justice, but set a historic milestone for 27 million men, women and children, who are enslaved around the globe. Ms. Mani's case was brought forward due to the efforts and dedication of Anti-Slavery International's West Africa Programme Co-ordinator, Romana Cacchioli.  Anti-Slavery Inernational, the world's oldest international human rights organisation, has worked to ensure the freedom of some 80 women from slavery in Niger alone in last five years.

The judge presiding over the case ordered the government of Niger to pay Ms Mani $19,750, for which she will use to help rebuild her life and ensure her children never have to look into the eyes of slavery.

“I am very thankful for this decision. It was very difficult to challenge my former master and to speak out when people see you as nothing more than a slave,” Ms Mani said (BBC).

Ms. Mani's case will not only have a huge impact on working to ensure freedom and retribution for those who have been, or are, enslaved in the state of Niger, but for all of those in West Africa. The ruling court over Ms. Mani's case was the Community Court of Justice, is the judicial arm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a political and trade group of 15 West African nations. Established in 2000, the court can preside in any member state, including Cote d'Ivoire, but also to Mali, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, and Togo, all of which have known modern slavery problems. In addition neighboring Mauritania, while not a member state of ECOWAS, will surely have a massive impact as the country is still struggling to abolish slavery in the country, following the failed legal banning of slavery in 1905 and 1981, legislation was then passed again in August 2007, which makes the practice punishable by up to a 10 year prison sentence.

While the greatest impact of this landmark case will be felt across West Africa, it will also have an impact and help set a precedent for justice that will be felt across the globe, and Ms. Mani's bravery is one of many keys to unlocking the shackles of slavery once and for all.