A new Somali data report helps address the lack of available information on human trafficking in the country
The Somali CSO Coalition, GIZ and Freedom Collaborative release a new report on trafficking and risky migration, Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation finds that ethnic minorities are most at risk of trafficking in Viet Nam, and the U.S. bans imports from another Malaysian glove manufacturer.
The anti-trafficking Somali Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Coalition, Freedom Collaborative and GIZ, working under the Better Migration Management (BMM II) programme, are pleased to share a new report on Somali human trafficking and risky migration experiences. The group has been working together since early 2020, when they jointly set out to gather information based on CSO’s data.
As stated in the 2021 U.S. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which lists Somalia as a Special Case for the 19th consecutive year, information regarding trafficking trends and victims in the country remains challenging to obtain or authenticate.
We are therefore particularly pleased to share this final report, which brings together data on routes and migration experiences from cases and information that Somali CSOs have obtained since the beginning of 2021. The coalition, supported by BMM, submitted 206 trafficking routes and related data points – a considerable number.
The submitted routes refer to a total of 28 countries as origin, transit and destination locations. Eight countries have been mentioned as countries of origin. As destinations, 25 countries have been identified and five countries – Afghanistan, Chad, Egypt, Malta and the United Arab Emirates – have been cited as transit locations. The most reported origin and destination combinations include: Ethiopia to Yemen, with Somalia as a transit location; Somalia to Italy; Somalia to South Africa; Somalia to Germany; Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia, with Somalia as a transit location; and Somalia to Saudi Arabia.
Analysis of the collected data shows significant variation in the length of the migration journeys and their cost – this was not only attributable to the different destinations involved but also to the individual experiences of migrants travelling to the same destinations. When looking at the correlation between the length of the journey and cost, a relationship between the two could not be identified.
In the majority of cases, the migrants received help from at least one other person when planning or making their journey, with the most commonly identified facilitators being recruitment agencies. Other types of facilitator included labour brokers/agents, smugglers, friends, family members and the employer themselves.
Within the data set, a wide range of industries of exploitation are mentioned. The most referenced industry is domestic work, followed by agriculture, construction, commercial sex and begging. Forced labour is the most commonly cited type of abuse or exploitation in the submissions, followed by physical violence and sexual violence.
The Somali CSO Coalition brings together 11 Somali CSOs working on anti-human trafficking efforts and the protection of vulnerable migrants in South-Central Somalia, Somaliland, Jubaland and Puntland. Its members have referred victims of trafficking (VoTs) to each other and implemented joint interventions on the ground. Formed as a loosely organised group of like-minded CSOs, the coalition has met on a quarterly basis since 2020 to coordinate responses to common challenges. The Somali CSO Coalition is embedded in the wider Regional CSO Network of more than 60 anti-trafficking groups from the Horn of Africa.
This is the first time that the participating organisations have contributed to a structured data collection exercise concerning human trafficking and risky migration routes that relate to South-Central Somalia, Somaliland, Jubaland and Puntland. The collection helps to address the lack of consolidated credible data and information on current trends and risks for human trafficking and other forms of exploitation across the region.
Congratulations to all the participating CSOs and thank you to all the participants who joined our launch events last week. The final report and interactive version of the map are now available here.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation’s newest report, which analyses the profiles of victims of human trafficking in Vietnam, found that ethnic minorities are more than three times more likely than Kinh people to be victims of trafficking. The H’mong are most at risk of being trafficked if population size is taken into account, and the majority of victims are from either mountainous regions along Vietnam’s northern border with China or southern Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta region.
UN human rights experts last week called on Saudi Arabia and Viet Nam to crack down on human trafficking, after documenting the abuse of women and girls recruited in Viet Nam to serve as domestic workers in the kingdom. The experts said they had received “truly alarming allegations” that some companies in Viet Nam recruited girls as domestic workers and forged their age on identity documents to hide the fact they were children.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on Thursday, prohibiting imports from Smart Glove and its group of companies, and citing what the CBP called reasonable evidence which indicated that “Smart Glove production facilities utilise forced labour”. The ban makes the firm the fifth Malaysian company to face U.S. sanctions related to labour rights issues in the past 15 months.
Three Cambodian workers trafficked in Phnom Penh and taken to work in an illegal Chinese-owned casino in the resort town of Sihanoukville are being illegally detained by their employer, while police have yet to investigate the matter despite the filing of an official complaint against the owner, a relative of the workers has told the media.
Authorities have rescued 17 Paraguayan nationals and one Brazilian who had been kept at an illegal underground cigarette factory in Triunfo, Brazil. Groups involved in the illegal cigarette trade are often involved in other criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering, and the proceeds from contraband cigarette sales may be used to fund these illicit operations.
In a webinar on 15 November, the Avery Center for Research and Services and ALIGHT (Alliance to Lead Impact in Global Human Trafficking) will continue to discuss the findings of The Legal Deserts Report, namely specific areas of survivors’ legal needs, gaps in the provision of appropriate legal services, and additional opportunities for legal services organizations to meet the needs of survivors.
The Freedom Fund is hiring a Program Manager (based in Indonesia, closes 17 November), Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager (based in London, closes 22 November), and a Research and Evaluation Manager (based in London, closes 29 November).
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