Sex Trade in Ivory Coast

Sex Trade in Ivory Coast

Elizabeth Bainbridge

9-1-10

9:16 pm

The Human Rights Watch has been keeping a close eye on the trafficking of Nigerian women in Ivory Coast. The situation has truly become a social problem as more women are being tricked into the sex trade through promises of a good job in another part of the country. In one village alone nearly 100 women have been lured by traffickers. These women are eager for money and e fall easily into the hands of pimps who force them into prostitution as soon as they arrived at their destination, far from home and stripped of their belongings. Although escape is made difficult when the madams take the women's IDs and travel cards, it’s further discouraged by threats made to the women's families back home should they try to flee. The shocked women are then forced to sleep with up to 30 men per night, for $2 a client, in order to pay off a supposed “debt” to the trafficker, which is usually around $4,000.

This situation in Ivory Coast makes me so angry. To me, it's one of the most blatant violations of human rights that could exist. These women are forced to have sex with men they don't know, and they don't even gain a profit from it. If they refuse, they are threatened and abused. To make matters worse, the girls that traffickers target can be as young as 15 years old. Obviously the issue has been publicized and the government needs to step in and try to find and punish traffickers. Another way the government could help is by encouraging education more. Women who are educated aren't desperate for the jobs that traffickers use to lure them away from their homes, and therefore are less gullible.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/west/Rights-Group-Calls-for-Crackdown-on-Trafficking-of-Nigerian-Women-in-Ivory-Coast--101652248.html