Child LaborArchive 2008–2016

Child Labor in Sierra Leone (2003)

A child labor case from 2003 in Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone.

This page describes exploitation and abuse. Need to report something? How to report →

Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

Rebel soldiers came to the village of a ten-year old boy in Sierra Leone. His mother refused to go with them, so she was raped and killed while Jonah was forced to watch. Then he and a group of other children were forced to walk days without food, carrying heavy supplies. When t hey reach the camp, they were trained to kill and taught to loot villages. His friend tried to escape and was killed by the rebels.

Response and intervention

The victim is now 14. The civil war is over, and he lives on the street hawking goods because he has nowhere else to go. More information: www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt2003/21262.htm He got out of forced military slavery only after the war ended.

Nearby cases

All 2 in Sierra Leone →

Child Labor2009

Makeni, Sierra Leone, 2009

Sierra Leone SL

Twenty-two children, aged 4 to 16, were trafficked to the United States allegedly under the auspices of ‘Help A Needy Child International (HANCI), which operates an orphanage and a home for destitute children in Sierra Leone’s northern town of Makeni. During Sierra Leone's civil war, parents placed their children in Cherith orphanage, operated by HANCI, in Makeni and then were flown to the U.S. through neighboring countries (Ghana, Guineau) for the purposes of adoption. It is allegated that the accused traffickers established their organization under the HANCI name; however, HANCI states that they do not have any affiliation with them. Maine Adoption Placement Service (MAPS) in the United States confirmed that they received 29 children from Sierra Leone via the accused traffickers. However, they did not know that the children were not orphans.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016