Sadly, a recent article detailing the level of human trafficking in Africa ('A living hell': Sudanese women face rape and abuse in Libya, BBC) is not unexpected. The report released in December by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, clearly detailed that known numbers had increased by 25% with child exploitation on the increase.
Unfortunately, for those who work in the aid sector, this comes as no surprise. It is largely expected that the reported numbers are a lot lower than the reality. The question as to why these numbers have increased remains, as does that of how this horrible practice is prevented.
Recent research into the matter leads us to believe that the factors are, in part, driven by the increase in the number of displaced people on the African continent. The reasons for this include extensive conflicts, climate change (creating vast numbers of environmental refugees), poverty and social inequality. These factors have contributed to the reported increase in figures which now sees 38% of all known victims being children.
There are extensive reports to suggest that atrocious human rights violations are taking place in state-funded facilities in countries such as Libya, which are not signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, with support and access to healthcare differing depending on which area of the country the refugee finds themselves in.
Several aid organisations, spearheaded by the UN, are attempting to raise awareness of the issue. However, given that the majority of African victims are trafficked within the continent, facilitating effective support at a local, let alone an international, level is proving challenging. It has been reported that approximately 2,000 victims of human trafficking in Africa have been found in Europe, with South and Western Europe accounting for the highest number of cross-border trafficking from a global perspective.
The desire to prevent this, to implement change, to prevent harm, to hold perpetrators to account, must come from the wider global community.
With climate disasters forecast to increase in Africa, with regional conflicts still raging, it can only be expected that this desperate situation will continue to get worse. Without a multinational, conjoined initiative to focus on addressing this, I fear that the crisis will not only persist but will get increasing desperate for the most vulnerable individuals on the planet.
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