Global crises, conflicts, and the climate emergency are escalating trafficking risks, the UN warned on Sunday, the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. People lacking legal status, living in poverty and without decent work often become the primary targets of traffickers.
Human trafficking is a horrific crime and “an all-out assault on people’s rights, safety and dignity,” Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday, the eve of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
A Gambian woman who was tricked into being trafficked to Kuwait in 2015 has shared her story of abuse and subsequent activism, in the hope others will be spared the “hell” she went through.
Fatou Jagne studied pharmacy at university and was working at the biggest hospital in The Gambia. However, the salary was low, so a friend’s cousin offered to help her find a job in Kuwait.
When Fatou arrived at the airport, her documents were seized and she was immediately sold into domestic slavery.
Marking World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the United Nations sheds light on the plight of millions of children, women and men – especially migrants – who, every year, fall prey to traffickers across the world.
Ahead of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on Monday, the UN human rights expert on the issue has emphasized that both victims and potential victims’ rights must be upheld – especially women and children – and appealed for all States to prevent and combat the global scourge.
50% of children born each year “not being put to the breast soon enough”
Victims of human trafficking can be manipulated to believe that they love and need the person trafficking them, according to one survivor.
Sheila McClain, who is from the United States, ran away from home as a young girl after being abused.
By the time she was 18, she was being prostituted and was subsequently trafficked across the country.
She recently attended an event ahead of the UN World Day against Trafficking in Persons marked on July 30th.
