Elizabeth Bainbridge
10-14-10
10:07 pm
The International Organization for Migration is declaring that there is a need for greater crackdown on human trafficking in Eastern Africa. All east African countries have been noted for their participation in human trafficking. Human trafficking, although commonly thought of as just sex trade, can include various types of exploitation. For example, even grown men are sometimes targeted and then forced to do hard labor with no pay, and severe abuse. As with most cases of trafficking, most of the victims have been lured by deceptive traffickers who promise them good jobs, or an education. It’s hard to estimate how many people are being trafficked in east Africa. Kimani, who works for IOM in Nairobi , says, “Because of lack of identification techniques or a centralized way of collecting data, a lot of this information gets lost in the way. So the victims may get assisted or they may not get assisted and we’ll never know their numbers.” Because of this, government officials have met and decided that a regional trafficking network would solve a lot of problems, which could “eventually lead to a centralized database that could be shared with law enforcement agencies.” Kimani says that they have also suggested a 116 hotline for trafficked individuals. This is a “child-friendly” line that has already been established in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and can provide support in vulnerable times.
This article was interesting to me. It’s so good to hear that the human trafficking problem is being recognized and addressed by some countries. I am glad that there are individuals and groups that will fight for these people’s freedom. I liked how the article included quotes to make it more credible. Also it did a good job of showing that trafficking is diverse and not limited to the sex trade or just to women and children. I wish the article had been more specific about certain things, such as which countries are included in “Eastern Africa,” but I still learned a lot from reading it.
1 comment:
It sounds like the article is just summarizing the methods and motives of human traffickers; I agree that "East Africa" is a bit vague, though. Who's included? Is it only Mozambique, Kenya, and Zimbabwe that are involved in addressing human trafficking occurring within their borders? I would also have been interesting to add what authorities are doing to stop human trafficking- are local police being trained to assist victims, are regional borders being more closely patrolled, are there education programs available to vulnerable populations about human trafficking?
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