Eritrean refugees crisscross between countries in the Horn of Africa and North Africa in search of a safe place. Along their journeys, they are looted, threatened, intimidated, violated, and held for ransom. This book revisits the human trafficking crisis that first emerged in the Sinai at the end of 2008 and examines the expansion of human trafficking of Eritrean refugees and other forms of exploitation beyond the Sinai. It focuses on the modus operandi of these practices and on identifying their key facilitators and beneficiaries. The book locates the origin of these practices within Eritrea; it reveals how a deliberate policy of impoverishment and human rights abuses has driven the people out of the country, and how individuals within Eritrea, and particularly within the ruling party, benefit from the smuggling and trafficking of Eritrean refugees. The use of information communication technologies (ICTs) is identified as key to the new modus operandi of this criminal business and is found to further facilitate widespread collective trauma amongst Eritreans, who witness the abuse of their family members and fellow nationals through digital networks. An entire section in this book is dedicated to assessing the extent and effects of individual and collective trauma caused by Sinai trafficking and to examining potential approaches to healing. Other sections discuss the vulnerabilities of Eritrean minors and women, and the connections between human trafficking, terrorism and organ trafficking. The last section of the book raises the question of accountability. It examines and evaluates international responses to this forgotten crisis, and discusses the need for policies that tackle the problem where it emerges: in Eritrea.

Forced migration has become an inescapable reality of our world in the 21stcentury. Why? The traumatic experiences of refugees are key to understanding why people keep on the move despite enormous risks. This book sheds light into the psychological impact entailed in refugee trajectories. With findings mainly from Eritrean refugee communities in multiple locations, the underpinning research reveals alarming levels of individual and collective trauma. The book outlines a new approach for treatment: Trauma, Recovery, Understanding, Self-Help Therapy TRUST. The intervention was developed as a practical and low resource support to traumatised vulnerable refugees. TRUST utilises information technology to reduce levels of trauma, enabling refugees to build social and economic resilience as an alternative to pursuing risky migratory trajectories. The study concludes that providing psycho-social support is a more prudent alternative to managing forced migration and avoiding the use of hostile refugee polices that expose refugees to more trauma and put them at risk of heinous organised crimes including human trafficking. TRUST resulted in significant positive outcomes for refugee wellbeing even in deprived refugee camps.

What happens at the nexus of the digital divide and human trafficking? This book examines the impact of the introduction of new digital information and communication technology (ICT) – as well as lack of access to digital connectivity – on human trafficking. The different studies presented in the chapters show the realities for people moving along the Central Mediterranean route from the Horn of Africa through Libya to Europe. The authors warn against an over-optimistic view of innovation as a solution and highlight the relationship between technology and the crimes committed against vulnerable people in search of protection. In this volume, the third in a four-part series ‘Connected and Mobile: Migration and Human Trafficking in Africa’, relevant new theories are proposed as tools to understand the dynamics that appear in mobile Africa. Most importantly, the editors identify critical ethical issues in relation to both technology and human trafficking and the nexus between them, helping explore the dimensions of new responsibilities that need to be defined. The chapters in this book represent a collection of well-documented empirical investigations by a young and diverse group of researchers, addressing critical issues in relation to innovation and the perils of our time.

Eritrean refugees are being trafficked and enslaved in Libya, where they are tortured to force relatives to pay a ransom for their release. Labelled with a digital code, they are moved along in the possession of the traffickers through a series of black holes, in which their access to digital technologies and connectivity is highly controlled. They are tortured, abused, extorted and subjected to sexual violence. Many die along the way. If they make it to the Mediterranean Sea, they risk being intercepted and returned to Libya or dying at sea. Over the period of this study (201721), it is conservatively estimated that at least 200,000 men, women and children have fallen victim to human trafficking for ransom in Libya, and the cumulative value of this trade for that period is estimated at over 1 billion USD. This detailed ethnographic study identifies the routes, modus operandi, organisation, and key actors involved in the human trafficking for ransom of refugees and migrants, who are desperately in need of protection. The book is part of the GAIC Research Network and African studies series published by Langaa RPCIG and makes an important contribution to the literature on human trafficking, migration studies, African studies, modern slavery, social protection and governance.

Human Trafficking: Global History and Perspectives argues that, far from being a recent development, human trafficking is rooted in the history of the human condition and has only been amplified by globalization. Using a multidisciplinary approach that traces the historical roots of human trafficking in global history, the chapters explore case studies from different parts of the world to show that human trafficking is not only a global phenomenon but a localized enigma. The contributors contend that the causes, and thus, the solutions, are rooted in local and regional social, cultural, political, and economic conditions of victims. The case studies include global, regional, and local examples to analyze the complex causes and effects of human trafficking as well as the legal ramifications.

Trafficking in human beings (THB) has been described as modern slavery. It is a serious criminal activity that has significant ramifications for the human rights of the victims. It poses major challenges to the state, society and individual victims. THB is not a static given but a constantly changing concept depending on societal changes and opinions, economic situations and legal developments. THB occurs both transnationally and within countries. The complexity of THB is such that it requires a wide range of expertise fully to address the phenomenon. Edited by a team of leading international academics, the Routledge Handbook of Human Trafficking will provide an interdisciplinary introduction to THB. It is aimed at academics, students, research universities and non-governmental organisations, as well as policy makers. It will review THB through the lens of law, anthropology, social and political science and will address statistical, data protection issues and showcase the most effective research methods, analyse the various actors and stakeholders and the different types of exploitation of trafficked persons. It will critically highlight and analyse the most pressing current challenges posed by THB.

The Tigray War (2020–2022) may have claimed as many as 700,000 lives. Fought between the national defence forces of Ethiopia and Eritrea and the Tigray Defence Forces, the conflict unleashed horrific atrocities on civilians, including widespread massacres. The war was shrouded in secrecy due to a communications blackout and a siege on Tigray, making it nearly impossible for people in the region to report on events and for the outside world to grasp the scale of the tragedy. This book, the first in a three-part series, uncovers Eritrea’s concealed role in the war, including its involvement in massacres and particularly cruel and inhumane sexual violence. These acts were designed not only to terrorise, but to break the spirit of the Tigrayan people, with the aim of erasing Tigray as an ethnic and cultural group. This book also explores how the war has fundamentally altered the Tigray region—a transformation that may be difficult to reverse—described through the lens of the concept of hysteresis. Drawing on a collaborative investigation between universities inside and outside Ethiopia, and primarily employing an ethnographic approach, the study concludes that genocide may have occurred in Tigray. The international community, it argues, has a duty to investigate these claims.