30th July, 2015
Migrants from war-torn African and Middle Eastern countries are at risk from human traffickers, international organisations said on Thursday, urging measures to tackle the problem.
The Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said it found evidence of forced labour and sexual exploitation of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Libya, Syria and Iraq.
The aid group is one of several international organisations publicly addressing this issue on July 30, the UN World Day against Trafficking in Persons.
“For human traffickers, these hardships present business opportunities. The first step to taking action is taking this crime seriously,” Yury Fedotov, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna, said.
According to the IOM migration expert, Sarah Craggs, African migrants who are in transit awaiting transit to Europe by sea are especially vulnerable.
“In the case of Syrians, traffickers target refugee camps, in some cases forcing women into prostitution.
“Informal settlements and internal displaced persons camps are breeding grounds for trafficking,” Craggs said.
According to IOM, in Iraq, the problem not only involves sexual exploitation by Islamic State extremists but also slave-like working conditions for foreign labourers.
IOM and UN agencies said there was no data on the size of the problem in North Africa and the Middle East.
“It is estimated that 800,000 people are trafficked annually across borders, the figure does not include in-country trafficking,” IOM said.