Blogs
July 30, 2024 • 3 min read
GOAL is committed to preventing and mitigating the risks of human trafficking in the 14 countries where we operate. Our multi-pronged approach combines immediate support with long-term strategies to prevent trafficking, ensuring that vulnerable populations receive the protection and opportunities they need to thrive.
What is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception to exploit them for profit. Traffickers often use fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of job opportunities to manipulate their victims, while others use violence to coerce vulnerable individuals into trafficking.
A 2022 report estimated that on any given day, 50 million people were victims of modern slavery (a term used interchangeably with “trafficking in persons” and “human trafficking”).
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reports that sexual exploitation is the most common form of human trafficking, with women and girls representing the majority of victims. The second most common form is forced labour, although its true scale is difficult to gauge due to severe underreporting. Globally, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. In West Africa, trafficking of children makes up nearly 100% of victims.
What are its causes?
Risk factors for human trafficking include:
- poverty,
- conflict,
- inequality,
- discrimination,
- and a lack of social support or
- viable employment opportunities
Individuals living or seeking refuge abroad are especially vulnerable to traffickers. Armed conflict exacerbates these vulnerabilities, leading to an increase in sexual and labour trafficking in conflict-affected communities and fragile contexts.
GOAL’s Approach to Prevention
GOAL is committed to preventing and mitigating the risks of human trafficking in the 14 countries where we operate. Our resilient health, nutrition security, and sustainable livelihoods programmes reduce vulnerability, improve self-reliance, and foster resilience, which can mitigate the risk of human trafficking.
GOAL’s Impact in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, an estimated 600,000 children and teenagers are homeless due to severe poverty or family-related challenges, making them highly vulnerable to human trafficking.
For over a decade, GOAL has worked with local partners to transform the lives of homeless and at-risk children and teenagers. Homeless children are at a significantly higher risk of exploitation and human trafficking, especially young girls.
To combat this, GOAL teams in Ethiopia provide support to young people who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness in Addis Ababa and Hawassa.
Through counselling, material support, and vocational training, these children are empowered to support themselves using sustainable income-generating activities, making them less reliant on potentially high-risk, informal employment solutions.
ChildSPACE: Mitigating Trafficking Through Economic Security
GOAL’s ChildSPACE project has had a profound impact on the lives of vulnerable children and youth in Ethiopia.
Maheder, a 23-year-old woman from Hawassa, was able to secure fulfilling employment that alleviated the financial pressures that made her more vulnerable to trafficking.
When Maheder and her family were at risk of homelessness, a social worker from GOAL’s local partner, Centre of Concern, approached Maheder and her family, offering support.
She received skills training in a profession she adored – hairdressing. Maheder was eventually hired as an assistant trainer, teaching hair styling to beginners. Now, Mahedar studies accounting in a distance degree programme while supporting her mother and brother with the income she earns from hairdressing.
“I am so grateful to GOAL and Centre of Concern for their support and encouragement. I don’t take what was done for me for granted. I am empowered to dream big, and I am sure I will make you all proud.”
Economic security reduces the need for people like Madeder to resort to unsafe work solutions, mitigating the risk of trafficking.
Read more about how GOAL’s ChildSPACE project supported Maheder and many others in their journey to a safer and more secure future.
GOAL’s Commitment
GOAL’s commitment extends beyond Ethiopia. Across all our operational countries, we continue to address the risk factors for human trafficking. Our multi-pronged approach combines immediate support with long-term strategies to prevent trafficking, ensuring that vulnerable populations receive the protection and opportunities they need to thrive.
