Migration from anywhere involves a certain amount of risk, and migration routes across Africa are some of the most dangerous. In pursuit of safety, security, and a better life, African migrants travel across oceans and deserts to reach Europe. Many run out of money before they reach their destination, beginning a vicious cycle that sometimes ends in trafficking. Threatened with abduction and forced labor, or, for girls and women, forced prostitution and forced marriage, the risk of becoming trapped in modern slavery looms large over each journey as unscrupulous smugglers and criminals turn a lucrative profit.
Thousands of migrants trapped in modern slavery or worse
In recent years people from Nigeria, Mali, Niger, and Senegal have been undertaking a perilous journey away from their homes in greater and greater numbers to find a better life in Europe or elsewhere. However, before they even reach the Sahara Desert or the Mediterranean Sea, many fall into the hands of traffickers and criminals waiting along the route.
Joyce Vincent, a Nigerian woman who barely survived her migration journey said:
“These thieves…if they catch you, they will either sell you into prostitution or they take your organs,”
Driven by a shortage of food, housing, and jobs as well as worsening security due to various regional crises, African migrants are desperate to find safety and security.
Scammers and traffickers exploit this desperation, turning it into a lucrative profit that costs migrants their freedom and sometimes their lives. According to human rights NGO Walk Free, across Africa, an estimated seven million people were living under conditions of modern slavery in 2021. Additionally, a recent International Organization for Migration (IOM) report found that at least 8,565 people died on international migration routes in 2023, making it the deadliest year for migration since IOM began keeping records.
Controversial agreements encouraging human trafficking
Leonie Jantzer from the human rights organization Medico International suggests that in a global context, particularly migration on the African continent is being criminalized by controversial partnerships between the E.U. and African states that sit along popular migration routes. In Jantzer’s opinion, current policies don’t stop migration and only encourage more human trafficking.
Jantzer said:
“If migration were legal, the traffickers’ business wouldn’t work at all,”
The controversial partnerships between the EU and African security forces were first launched in the early 2000s. Pressured and sanctioned by the E.U. which provides millions of Euros each year, these agreements allow African states to send migrants back to the places they fled. This, coupled with a lack of criminal prosecution for unscrupulous actors found along popular migration routes, is allowing human traffickers to turn a huge profit from modern slavery and to continue their exploitative activities with little concern of being caught or punished.
Migration should not cost your freedom or your life
Freedom United stands with those organizations demanding that governments cooperate more closely to catch the villains instead of criminalizing innocent migrants fleeing violence, exploitation, and unrest.
We call on governments everywhere to improve and implement existing laws against human trafficking to bring perpetrators of modern-day slavery to justice instead of criminalizing migrants. If you haven’t already, act and sign our call for genuine anti-trafficking immigration policies.
Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.
Migration is something that needs addressing on an international scale and the failure of national governments and the UN to respond adequately to this is nothing less than scandalous. If migration continues without any active monitoring, these traffickers continue to get away with murder, as they are already doing. We all talk about it but do very little. I am grateful that you are drawing our attention to this inhuman scandal.