Hundreds of Burundi girls lured into child prostitution

Human trafficking and child prostitution have reached shocking proportions in Burundi, according to Canadian NGO Justice and Equity. The group says traffickers have recruited hundreds of girls, some as young as eight, to lure them into prostitution. "Aunties" promise parents to take children to cities so they can live in a foster home and go to school. Instead the girls are beaten into submission and forced to work as maids or as sex workers. Burundi's police chief, Christine Sabiyumba, says a prostitution ring has been recruiting children "for quite a few years".  Florence Boivin, the president of Justice and Equality in Bujumbura, says organised crime is to blame.

Traffickers promise the parents to take their children to cities...(here Bujumbura) AFP/Esdras Ndikumana

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