Trafficking in Human Beings &
Smuggling of Migrants
An African Perspective
Update by:
Social Affairs Department
African Union Commission (AUC)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
People tricked, lured, coerced or otherwise removed
from home/ country, forced to work on exploitative terms.
Victims used in a variety of situations:
prostitution, forced labor, involuntary servitude, including
the sale of infants for adoption and trafficking in body
parts.
Migrant smuggling refers to facilitating illegal entry of a
person into a State
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SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS
•As border controls have improved, migrants deterred and
are diverted into the hands of smugglers
•Highly profitable business
•Modus operandi of migrant smugglers is diverse and
constantly changing, often dangerous
•Gaps in knowledge about migrant smuggling highlight need
for research and analysis
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WHY THE GROWTH IN TRAFFICKING AND
SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS?
• Push factors:
Ignorance
Exposure to “outside world”
Poverty
• Pull factors:
Demand for cheap labour
Demand for commercial sexual exploitation.
• Negative consequences do not trickle back
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CHILDREN – OUR FUTURE
• 80 million or 41% African children 5-14 years old work
• ILO: 200,000 to 300,000 children trafficked and/or
smuggled each year in West &Central Africa
• UNICEF: 10,000 to 15,000 children work on cocoa
plantations in Côte d’Ivoire, price ±$340 pp
• UNICEF: 25,000 children working in Gabon
• IOM: Ethiopian girls trafficked/smuggled to Middle East
to work as domestic servants
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SEXUAL EXPLOITATION INCREASING
• Africa has source, transit and destination countries for
commercial sexual exploitation
• Controlled by organised criminal gangs from Bulgaria,
Russia, Thailand, China and Nigeria
• ILO: Child prostitution increasing
Problem in Tanzania
The Gambia, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa
are becoming increasingly known as destinations
for sex tourists.
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CONFLICT ZONES
• Increased vulnerability due to:
civil unrest
internal armed conflict
natural disasters
• Human Rights Watch estimates over 120,000
children used in armed conflicts in Africa.
• All sides involved in abductions, used as:
porters
forced labourers
sex slaves
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WHY TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING
• UN estimates are TIP and smuggling generate $7 to
$10 billion p/a
• Can provide repeated income
• Minimal risks
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The impact of trafficking
• Violating human rights
• Social exclusion and crime
• Undermining public health
• Undermining government authority
• Sustaining illicit activities and organised crime
• Eroding human capital
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WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
•Legislation
•Capacity building
•Shelters
• State programmes to combat human trafficking and
smuggling in migrants
•Improve cooperation
•Contact points or units
•Establish databases
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Thank you for your attention
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