Human Trafficking in [Ethiopia Street Children in [Ethiopia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Ethiopia] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the
early years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Ethiopia.htm
Ethiopia is a source country for
men, women, and children trafficked primarily for the purposes of forced
labor and, to a lesser extent, for commercial sexual exploitation. Rural
Ethiopian children are trafficked for domestic servitude and, less
frequently, for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor in
agriculture, traditional weaving, gold mining, street vending, and begging. -
U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The bride was 7 - In the heart of Paul Salopek, Tribune foreign
correspondent, Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2004 www.aegis.org/news/ct/2004/CT041206.html [accessed 4 February 2011] Tihun Nebiyu
the goat herder doesn't want to marry. She is adamant about this. But in her
village nobody heeds the opinions of headstrong little girls. That's why she's kneeling in the filigreed
shade of her favorite thorn tree, dropping beetles down her dress. Magic
beetles. "It doesn't work!" Tihun says, disgusted. She heaves an exaggerated sigh and
squints out across the yellow-grass hills surrounding her world: "I will
just have to run." But this is
childish bluster. Tihun's short legs can't carry
her away fast enough from the death of her childhood. Her wedding is five
days away. And she is 7 years old. But child marriage ruins lives in
other ways too. Often treated like indentured servants, young brides are
subject to beatings by their grown husbands and in-laws. And thousands of
girls end up trapped in the sex trade, whether through organized child bride
trafficking rings in countries such as China or, in Africa, by simply
drifting from abusive marriages into street prostitution, social workers say. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/ethiopia.htm [accessed 4 February 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61569.htm [accessed 4 February 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The International Organization for
Migration (IOM) reported in 2004that trafficking was "increasing at an
alarming rate." A 2003 study by a foreign government on the problem of
internal trafficking of women and children confirmed that the problem was
pervasive. The overwhelming majority of respondents confirmed that traffickers, typically unorganized petty criminals,
lured women and children from rural areas to Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC)[DOC] UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1 November 2006 [accessed 4 February 2011] [8] The Committee notes that some progress has been
made by the State party in the effort to bring domestic laws into compliance
with the Convention, e.g. by criminalizing harmful traditional practices and
child trafficking in the revised Criminal Code of 2004. However, the Committee remains concerned at
the lack of a systematic legislative review and adoption of a comprehensive
Children’s Code. The Committee regrets
that the Convention has not yet been published in the Official Gazette as
previously recommended. [71] The Committee is deeply concerned at the
prevalence of child labour among young children including as young as 5 and
that the State party has not taken comprehensive measures to prevent and
combat this large-scale economic exploitation of children. Hundreds of thousands of children forced to work in
Ethiopia EITB 24 News – www.ephrem.org/dehai_news_archive/2006/sept-oct06/0576.html [accessed 4 February 2011] Some of the trafficked children are
employed as domestic servants and kept within Fifteen-year-old 'Dina', whose
name has also been changed, says she was just eight when she was trafficked
from her home in northern 'Dina' says she worked seven days
a week cooking, cleaning and taking care of children, often for families who
had children her own age. Finally, after being kicked out by her employer,
she managed to contact police who sent her to OPRIFS in Babies are booming export in the land of 5m orphans Jonathan Clayton in www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1083164.ece [accessed 4 February 2011] Organisations such as Unicef,
the United Nations’ children’s agency, are concerned that the Ethiopian
Government does not have the staff or resources to monitor orphanages to
ensure that children are cared for and safe from abuse. They also suspect that many children are
being trafficked to work in weaving factories or as servants, and some are
being smuggled out of the country. One
child protection specialist says: “We have heard stories of children being
taken by ‘brothers’ and ‘uncles’ to neighbouring
countries. Once there, they could be easily transferred. It is a huge
problem.” - htsccp Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 5 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7606 [accessed 4 February 2011] Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide [accessed 4 February 2011] Library of Congress Call Number DT373 .E83 1993 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ettoc.html [accessed 4 February 2011] The bride was 7 - In the heart of Paul Salopek, Tribune foreign correspondent,
Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2004 www.aegis.org/news/ct/2004/CT041206.html [accessed 4 February 2011] Tihun Nebiyu
the goat herder doesn't want to marry. She is adamant about this. But in her
village nobody heeds the opinions of headstrong little girls. That's why she's kneeling in the filigreed
shade of her favorite thorn tree, dropping beetles down her dress. Magic
beetles. "It doesn't work!" Tihun says, disgusted. She heaves an exaggerated sigh and
squints out across the yellow-grass hills surrounding her world: "I will
just have to run." But this is
childish bluster. Tihun's short legs can't carry
her away fast enough from the death of her childhood. Her wedding is five days
away. And she is 7 years old. But child marriage ruins lives in
other ways too. Often treated like indentured servants, young brides are
subject to beatings by their grown husbands and in-laws. And thousands of
girls end up trapped in the sex trade, whether through organized child bride
trafficking rings in countries such as China or, in Africa, by simply
drifting from abusive marriages into street prostitution, social workers say. WANTED: the right to refuse Maggie Black, Issue 337, New Internationalist, August 2001 www.newint.org/features/2001/08/05/wanted/ [accessed 4 February 2011] Take a look at article one of the
Supplementary Convention on Slavery and you will see as one definition: ‘Any
practice whereby a woman, without the right to refuse, is given in marriage
in payment of a consideration in money or in kind ...’ At the beginning of the 21st
century being a child wife, even if it’s illegal, puts you in a limbo. You
are invisible as either child or woman, because you have been married. What a
man does to you once, if you are underage and single, is statutory rape. What
he does to you night after night, if you are underage and married, is fine.
In rural ACLU Defends Ethiopian Woman Kept in Forced Labor in The American Civil Liberties Union ACLU, December 21, 2004 www.aclu.org/womens-rights/aclu-defends-ethiopian-woman-kept-forced-labor-new-jersey [accessed 4 February 2011] According to the ACLU lawsuit, Chere was kept under conditions of involuntary servitude
for almost one and a half years-working for as much as 100 hours per week for
no pay. Chere's responsibilities included serving
as the primary caretaker for the couple's toddler, cooking for the family, cleaning
and maintaining the home, doing the family's laundry and cleaning the
exterior of the house and driveway. She was not given any food other than
leftovers and bread and water and was forced to sleep on the floor of the
child's bedroom. UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, At one time this article had been archived and may possibly
still be accessible [here] [accessed 5 September 2011] The first-ever centre to help
victims of trafficking opened in the Ethiopian capital, "The victims have suffered
quite a lot of abuse," said Rakeb, the centre's programme coordinator.
"Often when they return they are traumatised,
depressed, and some have mental-health problems and need someplace to stay.
Some of those who are deported have not even had time to gather their
possessions and don't have anything, so they need some reintegration
assistance." IOM press briefing notes 23 Apr 2004: Haiti, Ethiopia,
Zambia Spokesperson: Jean-Philippe Chauzy,
International Organization for Migration IOM, 23 Apr 2004 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 5 September 2011] Five hundred thousand exercise
books and ten thousand T-shirts containing simplified messages illustrated by
cartoons warning students of the risks of migrating for work using illegal
channels, unprotected sex and dropping out of school were distributed in the
185 schools since September 2003. UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=44305 [accessed 4 February 2011] The IOM says that illegal
traffickers who prey on women could make up to 7,000 Ethiopian Birr (more
than US $800) for each victim they send overseas. The IOM say women aged
between 18 and 25 are targeted by traffickers at colleges and in poor
districts in towns and cities. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
Human Trafficking in [Ethiopia Street Children in [Ethiopia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Ethiopia] [other countries]