Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published
reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Liberia.htm
Liberia is a source,
transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the
purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Most victims are
trafficked within the country, primarily from rural to urban areas for
domestic servitude, forced street vending, forced begging by religious
instructors and sexual exploitation in brothels or private apartments.
Children may also be trafficked for labor on rubber plantations and in
alluvial diamond mines. Some children in Liberia are subjected to sexual
exploitation by international peacekeeping troops and personnel from
international organizations. - U.S.
State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out ta later country report here and possibly a later, full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The Promised Land Ira Berlin, The New
York Times, May 02, 2004 -- Review of the book, MISSISSIPPI IN AFRICA by Alan
Huffman www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/books/the-promised-land.html [accessed 8 September
2011] Of the many
tragedies set in motion by the enslavement of African people in the Rather than ending
slavery, ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Liberia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/liberia/
[accessed 14 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Forced labor,
including forced child labor, occurred. Families living in the interior of
the country sometimes sent young women and children to live with relatives,
acquaintances, or even strangers in Monrovia or other cities with the promise
the women and children would pursue educational or other opportunities. In
some instances these women and children were forced to work as street
vendors, domestic servants, beggars or in commercial sexual exploitation.
There were also reports of forced labor on small rubber plantations and
artisanal mines. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Child labor was
widespread in almost every economic sector. In urban areas children assisted their
parents as vendors in markets or hawked goods on the streets. There were
reports that children tapped rubber on smaller plantations and private farms,
which exposed them to hazardous conditions involving use of machetes and
acids. Children also worked in other conditions likely to harm their health
and safety, such as rock crushing or work that required carrying heavy loads.
Children were engaged in hazardous labor in alluvial diamond and gold mining,
which exposed them to heavy loads and hazardous chemicals. Children were also
engaged in agriculture, hunting, and fishing. Some children in Monrovia,
particularly girls, worked in domestic service after being sent from rural
communities by their parents or guardians. There were also reports of
children working in auto shops. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/liberia/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 8 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Human trafficking
for the purpose of forced labor and prostitution remains a problem, with most
victims trafficked from rural areas to cities. Many trafficking victims are
children, who can be found working in diamond mines, agricultural operations,
or as domestic laborers, or engaged in forced begging or prostitution. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 18 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 1 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 613] Liberian children
are sometimes victims of human trafficking for commercial sexual
exploitation, domestic work, forced begging, and forced labor in street
vending, alluvial diamond mining, artisanal gold mining, and in the
production of rubber. Children are also trafficked from Liberia to Côte
d’Ivoire, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. (6; 8) Research found that there
is a difference in child labor activities in rural communities, compared to
urban communities. (13) Children in rural communities, like Margibi County, engage in rubber tapping and coal burning
activities to a greater degree, whereas children in cities and surrounding
urban communities, particularly Monrovia and the communities in Montserrado County, crush rocks, work in homes, and sell
goods. (13) The government has yet to collect comprehensive data on child
labor activities to inform policies and social programs. (7). A Study on Human Trafficking
for Sexual Exploitation within th Gulf of Guinea
countries James Okolie-Osemene PhD, Department of International Relations
and the Director of Research and Linkage Programme,
Wellspring University, Nigeria [Long URL] [accessed 14
February 2022] The objectives of
this study are to situate and examine the context, nature and networks of
human trafficking for sexual exploitation around the Gulf of Guinea in order
to identify the intersection between the sources, transit and destinations of
the illicit trade, interrogate the human rights implications of human
trafficking for sexual exploitation around the countries of the Gulf of
Guinea on the one hand, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats to the anti-trafficking activities on the other hand. Amnesty
International Calls for UN Resolve, Sufficient Peacekeeping Presence to
Ensure Fulfillment of Liberia's Peace Accords Amnesty
International www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=CA35D7502760C1B285256E00006D40B0 [Last accessed 18
February 2011] Only the deployment
of sufficient numbers of troops with logistical support by UN member states
will provide the protection that civilians so
desperately need. An Amnesty
International delegation that traveled to The Guns are in the
Bushes - Continuing Abuses in Liberia [PDF] Human Rights Watch
Briefing Paper, January 2004 www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/liberia0104_0.pdf [accessed 29 August
2011] IV. ABUSES BY ALL
THREE FACTIONS - FORCED LABOR - An employee of a church group noted that There’s a
lack of food in the area to feed the fighters, that’s why this forced labor
is happening. If people refuse, they are humiliated, beaten, tied, and
tortured. Amnesty
International Report 2008 - Liberia Amnesty
International www.amnesty.org/en/region/liberia/report-2008 [accessed 18
February 2011] SECURITY SECTOR
REFORM
- Deficiencies in the judiciary remained a huge challenge. Court officials
administered rules and procedures in an inconsistent manner, failed to
observe basic human rights standards and engaged in corrupt practices.
Although state prosecutors are assigned to every circuit court, the majority
of the circuit courts did not have defence
counsels. Trial by ordeal – a practice by which the guilt or innocence of the
accused is determined by subjecting them to a painful task – remained in wide
practice in rural areas. Few improvements were made in the juvenile justice
system during the year. Amnesty
International Report 2004 - Amnesty
International, Annual Report, Report 2004 -- Covering events from January -
December 2003 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 8
September 2011] CIVILIANS TARGETED
IN ARMED CONFLICT
- Civilians lived in constant fear of undisciplined armed groups who killed,
raped, forcibly recruited children and looted. After the peace agreement,
violence increased in some areas as command structures broke down and
combatants made last-ditch attempts to seize territory and property before
deployment of UNMIL forces. The gravity of abuses against civilians prompted
an emergency report by the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 8
August which described the grievous abuses against civilians and called for international
support in bringing the perpetrators to justice. Rape and other
forms of sexual violence against women and girls, including those who had
been internally displaced and Sierra Leonean refugees, by government, LURD
and MODEL forces were widespread. Young women and girls were abducted and
forced into sexual slavery. UNMIL’s Crackdown
on Trafficking Puts Women at Risk Refugees
International, 05/10/2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] In Child Soldiers of Liberian Educational
Achievement Foundation LEAF At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8 September
2011] The people of Stories Liberian Educational
Achievement Foundation LEAF At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] Robert (14 years old)
- ``I became a combatant in 1991 when I was 8 years old. I became a fighter because I felt that my
friends and my parents were suffering Tom - ``I joined
when I was 13 years old. I was just forced to fight because I was separated
from my parents and the rest of my family. I had to fight for my own
survival. Mr. George (13
years old) - ``I joined by force. I was living with my parents in the village
and one of the factions captured the village and said all the young boys in
the town should join them. Some of us
said we didn't want to join them, but they started to hit us with a gun. Most
of them were very, very, very bad people. US names human
trafficking offenders BBC News, 12 June,
2003 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2983222.stm [accessed 18
February 2011] FORCED INTO
PROSTITUTION
- He added: "It is... morally unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of
men, women and children are exploited, abused and enslaved by peddlers in
human misery." Apart from Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 4 June 2004 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/liberia2004.html [accessed 18
February 2011] [58] The Committee
notes that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 18 August 2003 recognizes the
special demobilization and reintegration needs of child combatants. However,
the Committee expresses its extremely deep consternation at the very high
number of children who have been forcibly recruited into armed forces and
armed groups by all parties involved in the conflict, including children as
young as nine years old. The Committee is also concerned that these children
have been forced to carry goods and weapons, guard checkpoints and often
fight in the front line, while girls have been raped and forced to become
servants of the soldiers as well as combatants. The Protection
Project – Liberia [PDF] The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The
Johns Hopkins University www.protectionproject.org/country-reports/ [accessed 13
February 2019] A Human Rights
Report on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61577.htm [accessed 9 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– NGO estimates of the number of persons trafficked to the country during the
year ranged between 20 and several hundred. Victims were trafficked within the
country and from neighboring countries for prostitution and labor. Young
children were at a particularly high risk for trafficking, especially orphans
or children from extremely poor families. Trafficking victims were often
subjected to harsh living and working conditions. There were reports
of forced labor; however, none had been confirmed. There also were reports of
the recruitment of child soldiers, but the reports had not been confirmed,
and the matter was under investigation at year's end. Traffickers enticed
their victims with promises of a better life. Parents of trafficking victims
were persuaded that their children would have better food and educational
opportunities in another country and that they would eventually return home. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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