Abstract
Organisations such as the United Nations and the United States Department of State have noted that child trafficking in Ethiopia is a very serious problem. Famine, war and disease have devastated many Ethiopian families and children are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking that is internal and external in nature. This qualitative exploratory research examined the perceived effectiveness of the agency and organiational responses to the problem of child trafficking in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. A total of 13 child care organisational managers and directors were recruited from the Tigray regional capital of Mekelle. They were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The interview transcriptions were analysed using thematic analysis. The thematic analysis pointed to challenges and difficulties in funding childcare organisations, problems in identifying victims, poor coordination between agencies, and a lack of leadership from the Mekelle Child Centre Forum.
Introduction
This research examined child trafficking and the responses of Ethiopian child protection organisations in Tigray region. Although the problem of child trafficking is very serious in Ethiopia, there is little evidence to suggest that existing anti-trafficking measures have been effective. The Ethiopian government developed child centre forums to educate and coordinate agencies and organisations responsible for combatting child trafficking, but the current initiatives largely place the responsibility for the problem in the hands of individuals and regional governments. There is a need for greater international, national and regional cooperation. There is also a need to understand how internal domestic agencies and organisations charged with addressing the problem of trafficking undertake this responsibility. Are they aware of legal provisions and responsibilities? Do they have adequate resources and training to address the problem? These are some questions that need to be explored if the trafficking of children is to be addressed and eliminated. This a serious crisis that results in physical and psychological harm to children.
In this study, representatives from child protection organisations were interviewed to determine their level of understanding and the extent to which they felt supported in their work. The research concentrated on the Tigray region of Ethiopia in order to gain a deeper understanding of obstacles faced in combatting this problem.
The Problem of Child Trafficking
Human trafficking represents a modern form of slavery, and it is becoming more widespread (Perrin, 2010). Climate change and the large numbers of people fleeing war and conflict have produced the highest recorded levels of global displacement with more than 65.3 million people forced out of their homes (United Nations High Commission on Refugees, 2015). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) notes that more than half of the displaced people are under the age of eighteen years. Human disaster on this scale increases vulnerability for affected people, and the vulnerable, especially children and youth, are most susceptible to human trafficking. Given current events, there is danger that the problem of child trafficking will become less visible. Floods of refugees to Europe, weekly reports of boats capsizing with major loss of life, Brexit, instability within the European Union, terror attacks and the rise of reactionary, right-wing, anti-immigrant, political parties occupy much of the media and public attention.
However, human trafficking, especially child trafficking, remains a serious problem that has been recognised for some time. The first international agreement on human trafficking was introduced by the United Nations on 15 November 2000 (United Nations, 2000). There were some difficulties in defining human trafficking as the nature of the activity involves a range of things such as smuggling, illegal immigration, slavery and prostitution. The United Nations defines human trafficking as:
… the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs (United Nations, 2004, p. 42).
All countries face challenges associated with human trafficking but some are especially vulnerable. In a 2005 report, the United Nations Children’s Fund noted that there were approximately 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia, representing 13 per cent of the country’s children (UNICEF, 2005). The report further stated that Ethiopia is perhaps the most challenged country when it comes to human trafficking. This concern was echoed in a US Department of State report which said that the problem of child trafficking in Ethiopia was pervasive and represented one of the highest levels in the world (United States Department of State, 2014). The report noted that girls as young as eight years of age were forced into prostitution in brothels in Addis Ababa. An earlier report in 2000 (Williamson, 2000) noted that 620,000 Ethiopian children had lost their mothers due to HIV/AIDS and that up to 200,000 children were working full-time or living on the streets.
Many Ethiopian children are victims of internal trafficking and enter what might be described as servitude and even slavery within Ethiopia. Ethiopian children are also victims of transnational trafficking and are sent to Djibouti, South Sudan and other countries throughout the Middle East. In 2013, the Saudi Arabian government deported over 8,000 Ethiopian children who worked as domestic servants and cattle herders (United States Department of State, 2014). The Ethiopian government suspected that many of these children were victims of child trafficking who worked under conditions that approximated slavery.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Ethiopia experienced extensive internal and external conflict. By 1983, an estimated 90,000 Ethiopian soldiers had been killed or wounded and approximately 250,000 civilians were dead (De Waal, 1991). This misery was further exacerbated by drought and famine during the mid-1980s. Alexander de Waal notes that it is difficult to determine the exact number of people who died due to famine but between 1982 and 1985 it is estimated that 320,000 deaths could be directly attributed to the famine (De Waal, 1991, p. 175). Northern Ethiopia and the Tigray region were particularly hard hit with an estimated 1,500 people dying each day at the height of the famine (De Waal, 1991, p. 175).
Hundreds of thousands of families were affected by these events and many children became orphans. Kubai (2015) notes that Ethiopia has experienced waves of migration, especially the movement of women and girls. The loss of a parent or parents, the general chaos, violence, famine and extreme poverty have created a fertile environment for exploitation of vulnerable and desperate people who may lack strong family connections and supports. Child trafficking is one of the significant aspects of this vulnerability and exploitation.
The Research Questions and Context
This qualitative exploratory research study sought to examine a number of questions, including:
What is the level of awareness of childcare and child protection organisations in the Tigray region regarding the problem of child trafficking? How effective is interagency collaboration among Tigray childcare and child protection organisations in addressing child trafficking? What barriers or problems do the organisations of Tigray face when attempting to address child trafficking?
The research took place in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Tigray is the most northern region of Ethiopia’s nine regions with a total population of 4,316,988 people (Zekaria, 2007). Approximately 95 per cent of Tigrayans are Orthodox Christian. As noted, this region was particularly hard hit by war and famine. There was tremendous loss of life with many families and children rendered destitute. The capital Mekelle is strategically located for human trafficking as it provides a convenient route to Addis Ababa. Mekelle is the largest city in northern Ethiopia with a population of 275,000 people (Millennium Cities Initiative, 2012).
Methods
Purposive sampling (non-probability) was employed to recruit participants who had direct knowledge of child protection concerns and procedures. Information about the study was sent to 82 childcare and child protection organisations in Mekelle and the immediate surrounding area. People holding organisational leadership positions in childcare agencies were invited to participate as they had direct knowledge of policies and procedures. A small sample consisting of 12 males and one female agreed to participate in the research. All 13 participants were Tigrean with an average age of 44; 11 held a baccalaureate degree and 2 held a master’s degree. Most had a background in social work. As noted, the participants were in leadership positions within their organisations such as managers, programme coordinators, directors and deputy directors. The research was approved by the National Ethics Review (FDRE Ministry of Science and Technology, 2014).
Information was gathered with the help of a semi-structured interview guide consisting of 20 core questions that could be expanded to gather greater clarity and additional information. The interview questions were pilot tested with a non-participant to ensure understanding and to be certain that the questions were effective in gathering the required information. Participants signed an informed consent, and interviews took place in a location chosen by each individual participant. The process of consent also involved a discussion with the participants regarding the purpose of the research, the reason they were selected, the risks and benefits of participation and the terms of termination by both parties. Participants were advised that they could withdraw from the research at any time without penalty. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The interviews were conducted in Tigrigna (the official language of the region) and later translated into English. During the interviews, some hand-written notes were also used to keep a record of key points raised by the participants. A copy of the typewritten transcription was sent to each participant for review and comments. This member-checking process ensured that the interviews were accurately represented and approved by the participants. All the participants agreed that the transcripts accurately represented what they said. A further process of member checking took place when the preliminary analysis was sent to the participants for their comments and feedback. Again, the participants agreed that the analysis was a fair reflection of their viewpoints.
Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data (Boyatzis, 1998; Braun & Clarke, 2006; Guest, MacQueen, & Namey, 2012). Thematic analysis is a research method used for interpretation of the content of text data through a systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Initially, the interview transcripts were read to develop familiarity with the data. Braun and Clarke (2006) suggest that this first phase builds a solid foundation for the data analysis process. The second phase involved a generation of initial open codes. Statements, ideas and experiences of the participants were summarised and arranged into meaningful segments. According to Guest and MacQueen (2008), this requires systematic arrangement or classification and this process was helpful to simplify and focus on some specific characteristics of the data. These data segments were then sorted into what Braun and Clarke (2006) refer to as ‘theme piles’ (p. 89). The themes were then refined ensuring that there were sufficient data to identify the particular themes. Finally, the themes were named.
Limitations
Males accounted for 12 of the 13 thirteen participants. While this is not unusual given the patriarchal structures apparent in Ethiopian society, it does lead to a particular perspective. Only one female participant was in an organisational leadership role.
The participants were highly critical of the role of leadership of the Mekelle Child Centered Forum (MCCF), but the research did not gather information from senior MCCF leadership. It is entirely possible that senior leaders may have had a counter-narrative to that of participants.
The 13 participants represented an equal number of different agencies, which is just below 16 per cent of all childcare agencies in the city of Mekelle and the surrounding area. Clearly, not all agencies were represented in this research sample but the people who chose to participate were able to provide a detailed commentary regarding their knowledge and beliefs about child trafficking in Mekelle and the surrounding area.
Results
Completion of the thematic analysis generated five main overarching themes regarding the issue of child trafficking. The themes were:
Awareness of the problem Causal factors Challenges Policy issues Collaboration and partnership
Awareness of the Problem
The participants were all aware of the problem of child trafficking but ten described their level of awareness as low while three indicated a moderate level of awareness. For example, one respondent who noted a low level of awareness seemed to minimise the problem. The respondent said:
I don’t think that it [trafficking children] is a serious problem compared to other problems that we deal with that require urgent attention. For example, youth employment, HIV/AIDS, and other issues related to the scarcity of infrastructure, and social amenities in our region.
In some cases, participants with a low level of awareness blamed parents for children living on the street and begging as stated by a participant:
I think parents of the children are not concerned or bothered about the future of their kids when it comes to using their children as beggars to generate income. As a result, this forces the children to drop out of school for the sake of meeting their family’s daily living expenses.
Another participant blamed the mothers for the problem:
Oh, yes … I think I see that youngsters, including children, may be lured by traffickers and end up trafficked either for sex, labour, or domestic chores. I observe that children are coming into begging, even accompanied by their mothers. I mean it is a pity that one’s mother makes use of her child to enter into the trafficking ring. Mothers as traffickers is becoming a common phenomenon in our region, which is disgusting.
In reality, while some parents may encourage or force their children to beg on the street, many children have been trafficked by non-relatives. They also generate income through begging for an unrelated adult who lives off of a child’s exploitation. Famine and war have created many single-parent households where the family struggles to survive and the child is forced into begging for the survival of the family.
Most participants who indicated a low level of awareness still understood the nature of the problem and observed its consequences within their community. In the words of a participant:
From my understanding, there is a media report out there that says the regional State of Tigray is one of the places where trafficking is thriving and as a result some people who were luring children were not prosecuted or arrested for lack of tangible evidence and the victims lack the commitment or fear to speak out about the experience they undergo against their traffickers.
Another participant said:
I think when I see many of the youngsters and children around the night clubs flocking together and rambling in the streets of Mekelle, we can safely say that sex trafficking is rampant and run by the domestically organised criminal groups. It is difficult to trace their whereabouts but the local brokers who are in charge of lobbying and enticing the children are always behind this activity.
The participants understood that exploitation and trafficking of children were manifested through various activities such as street begging, prostitution and domestic servitude. One participant offered the comment:
Similar to the urban centres all over Ethiopia, child domestic work is an issue in the Mekelle zone too and constitutes a serious problem. As there is the trafficking of young girls who, you know, are supposed to work and are hired in restaurants, households, bars, and hairdressing salons with no prior experience and training and this angers the employers because the children lack the minimum skill and experience that enables them to offer the needed service.
The participants had no idea about of the number of children involved in child trafficking, but most of them believed the problem to be extensive. One respondent was aware that children were not only trafficked locally but that many were also trafficked in neighbouring countries such as Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya. (Although ten of the thirteen participants said that their level of awareness of child trafficking was low, their responses indicated that all were aware of the problem and they could identify the various activities in which trafficked children are involved. The participants also felt that child trafficking was not given as much attention as required.) One participant even summed it up this way:
This is because child trafficking is a new phenomenon hence a lot of awareness creation, research, education, and training are needed to bring the problem to the attention of the public and the frontline responders. Unless people and communities become aware of and react negatively to child trafficking, traffickers will always take advantage of these vulnerable groups.
Causal Factors
The participants’ responses were mixed in their analysis of causal factors. As previously noted, at least one participant blamed the problem on poor parenting and especially mothers as being at fault. However, many participants were able to point to factors that indicated a thoughtful structural analysis of the problem of child trafficking. One participant attributed the growth of child trafficking to the legacy of war and conflict. In his words:
This is happening mainly because the majority of the households are headed by females who are poor and have limited means. The Tigray region was also a war zone for many years during the military junta administration in which many of the children lost their fathers as a result of the civil war waged between the old regime and the armed groups.
Another participant drew a relationship between economic activity and the need for low-cost labour.
I became aware that trafficking is taking place from east to west in particular around Humera, the major sesame growing area of the region—where the cultivation of sesame is widely practiced and where a huge labour force is needed. I see many children are transported there. They are not physically and psychologically mature enough for that kind of labourious, hard work, and responsibility. They are forced to move there especially during the harvest seasons.
A number of participants saw the relationship between child trafficking and the extreme poverty experienced by many people in the region. For example, one participant stated:
Lack of family support and extreme poverty are factors in trafficking. Poor people are more vulnerable when it comes to bartering one’s child with illegal brokers. People are simply not aware that this type of activity goes on and it is difficult to deal with traffic- king when there is this lack of public awareness.
Challenges
The need for greater public awareness and education were identified as the key challenges and obstacles in dealing with child trafficking. A number of participants pointed out that it is not just the lack of broad public awareness of the problem that is a challenge but also the fact that many victims do not understand that they are being exploited in a criminal manner. One participant said:
Lack of awareness is also another problem. People who are exploited do not know that trafficking is affecting them, so if you do not know that is happening and you are unsure of what to look for, then certainly it is going to be hard to tackle and curb it. Sometimes, there is even difficulty differentiating victims of domestic violence from trafficking victims.
Another participant lamented the overall lack of awareness of the problem and saw this as a major challenge in that public awareness and support is necessary if the problem of child trafficking is going to be effectively addressed.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness that trafficking is a problem in the Tigray region. If you aren’t connected and have no access to that information it is important to educate people so that they develop an awareness of this problem.
One participant suggested that there are different levels of awareness of the problem based on where people live. The participant suggested that urban dwellers were more likely to realise that child trafficking is an issue whereas rural people, those who live in the villages, were less likely to understand the nature of the problem. According to him:
More work needs to be done in rural areas. The further you move away from the cities, the more people have a degree of ignorance that trafficking could actually be occurring in their own villages. Still the public awareness is not there.
Lack of government support and funding was also revealed as a key challenge in the struggle against child trafficking. One participant responded:
Human trafficking does not appear to be of great concern for the political authorities of the state. They are not allocating sufficient funds from the national treasury to rescue victims and run anti-trafficking campaigns to create awareness at the grassroots level. There is government inactivity in fighting the crime and it seems like human trafficking is not really a priority within the regional state of Tigray despite the complaints about this trade in human beings.
The major challenges pertained to education and awareness. Education and awareness need to be developed at a broader level but this also applies to the victims themselves. Some participants believed that many children caught up in human trafficking did not realise that they were being exploited in a criminal manner. A further challenge in educating the public pertains to a lack of adequate government support. In order to deliver effective public education, organisations that fight child trafficking need appropriate levels of funding and the work needs to be seen as a priority.
Policy Issues
Three participants were unaware that there is Ethiopian legislation and policy pertaining to child trafficking. Another five participants believed that trafficking policy and laws were not clearly defined or at least they did not have a clear understanding of their application. The remaining participants were aware of policies and legal statutes but they believed there were problems with implementation. One participant stated:
I think laws are well written and theoretically sound at least. And I think they do a good job if proper law enforcement is granted for all victims vulnerable to trafficking in the region and to ensure that traffickers are prosecuted and trafficking is illegal. I think that is the most important aspect of policy implementation. But there is more room for policy implementation and improvement in the region.
Another participant noted that the policies were fine, but the process for accessing funds to deliver services was not good. One can have excellent written policy but if the policy application does not extend to accessing funds then it is of little value. The respondent said:
Difficulties accessing any federal grant designated for policy implementation seriously impacts the services we provide for trafficking victims and their destitute parents who are incapable of supporting their kids. This is mainly because we do not have any other specific funds in our program as a budget dedicated for assisting trafficking cases.
It was apparent that participants did not have a good understanding of international and domestic policy frameworks and the relationship between the two. While Ethiopia is a signatory to international agreements regarding human trafficking and while there is clearly written domestic policy and legislation, it does not appear to translate effectively at the local agency level.
Collaboration and Partnership
The MCCF was established in 2001 to bring together various NGOs to better coordinate and address problems experienced by children in Mekelle. One aspect of the work is combatting child trafficking. The research participants generally described this forum as ineffective. There was limited coordinating function and apart from an invitation to attend an annual meeting, they believed that the MCCF had very little to offer. One participant had this to say about the Forum:
We joined the Forum in good faith because having an organised forum or coalition is preferred to you know, acting independently on our protective endeavors to rescue the children who are in difficult circumstances. After we joined we were not very aware of the work and I can safely say that we are detached and we don’t have much contact or information except about the annual meeting day. Every year we do not have any platform other than that, I don’t know what else they do—nothing?
Another participant echoed these thoughts:
Somebody, the key person in charge of the leadership of the Forum asked us to join the Forum and use the Forum’s name but you don’t have any say, in what the work is, ownership, commitment, and active engagement. It is simply a membership to participate in the annual meeting.
At least one participant recognised the potential value of the Forum but he saw its current function as weak and ineffective.
Well, I think the objective was very sound as we began it. The intention was to draw actors or players to the agenda and create places at the table but the whole issue required us to educate ourselves first as to how to approach collaboration and talk about some asset mapping to know what resources we could have and identify the gaps very early, what are the next steps … this and that.
The main organisation (MCCF) charged with coordinating and promoting cooperation and collaboration among agencies appears to be largely ineffective, at least from the perspective of these agency participants. One participant attributed poor interagency collaboration to inadequate funding, ineffective leadership and lack of an active, viable agency network.
Some problems include: lack of funds for occasional school fees; the inflation rate for food items; limited funds to address needs of all needy children; lack of an active network and high staff turnover in the agency; and lack of working space for better implementation of the program. An active network and effective leadership could be a panacea for all of the ills that the care and protective organisations are faced with in implementing the trafficking laws in a coordinated manner.
Finally, a participant believed that there was a lack of national and regional planning to address child trafficking. He said ‘There is an absence of a well-developed national or regional coordinated plan for childcare and protective organisations to help them participate in workshops, conferences, and training that will equip them with law enforcement mechanisms for addressing traffic- king issues.’
This lack of coordination was reflected in the comments of other participants but they also tended to put this down to ineffective leadership. If the Forum was effectively led, then there might have been better coordination and cooperation among agencies and organisations.
Discussion
Although ten participants said they had limited understanding of child trafficking, their responses made it clear that they were aware of the problem. The participants understood various forms of child exploitation and how these were manifested in child trafficking. They pointed to street begging, domestic servitude, agricultural labour and prostitution as examples of activities in which children might be trafficked and exploited.
When respondents were asked to identify the challenges pertaining to the problem of child trafficking, all 13 participants recognised that one main challenge was identification of victims. This was attributed to the lack of knowledge about the characteristics of trafficked children and lack of training about the subject of human trafficking. The participants noted that the hidden nature of trafficking (underground work) presents a large obstacle in accessing and identifying victims. This concern is similar to challenges reported in other developing countries such as India (Ray, 2008).
The findings indicated that the organisations charged with assisting trafficked children face challenges or barriers in provision of assistance. The challenges identified by the participants in the present study were related to victim identification, financial resources, lack of coordination and limited political support. In terms of governments’ commitment to support childcare organisations, the participants said that the lack of actual political support for the implementation of anti-trafficking legislation and policy was a challenge to the delivery of effective intervention and prevention. This highlighted the fact that regional and federal government authorities lack the political will to support efforts to combat child trafficking. The problem of coordination between agencies is not unique to Ethiopia. A recent study in the United Kingdom found that agencies had a fragmented understanding of the protocols pertaining to child trafficking and that coordination between agencies was often disjointed (Harvey, Hornsby, & Sattar, 2015). Davy (2014) examined child sex trafficking in Thailand and Cambodia and encountered similar challenges related to inadequate funding for childcare agencies and poor coordination between agencies.
As noted by participants, the MCCF failed to live up to the expectations and mission of its member organisations and the local community. The participants identified issues such as the nominal nature of the partnership, poor leadership, a weak network and the lack of a defined structure. Due to ineffective collaboration and networking the MCCF was unable to bring into effect its mission and vision. A majority of the participating organisations had no active involvement in the work of the partnership in terms of outreach, advocacy and provision of direct service to trafficked children.
According to participants, the leadership was unable to engage in raising awareness in the local community about human trafficking. Because of this, the majority of the participants blamed the MCCF leadership and the regional authorities’ lack of responsiveness for hindering their endeavours to combat human trafficking. The absence of a visionary and committed leader was noted as a major weakness. In connection to this, the participants mentioned that the failure of leadership and the lack of vision were the major problems that contributed to the failure to act on the problem of child trafficking. The poor communication from the MCCF could also be associated with the leadership problems.
Conclusion
Local organisations and agencies in the area of Mekelle are not effectively addressing the problem of child trafficking. Agency managers recognise that there is a very serious problem but they often lack the knowledge, resources and the ability to mount an effective and coordinated response. This is a critical challenge for social workers and childcare agencies as child trafficking remains a major issue in this region. The situation will require a renewed and dedicated effort on the part of the government or children will continue to be exploited and languish in the most difficult circumstances.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.