[ Human Trafficking, Country-by-Country ]

SOMALIA (not rated) – Extracted in part from the U.S. State Dept 2023 TIP Report

Somalia remains a Special Case for the 21st consecutive year. The country continued to face protracted conflict, insecurity, and ongoing humanitarian crises, which impeded government, international community, and NGO operations. The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) controlled its capital city, Mogadishu, and Federal Member State (FMS) governments retained control over their respective capitals. The FGS had limited influence outside Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab, an al-Qa’ida-affiliated terrorist organization based in Somalia, continued to occupy and control many rural areas and maintained freedom of movement in other areas, including southcentral Somalia. Al-Shabaab exploited the local population by collecting illegal “taxes” from businesses, conducting indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure across the country, and perpetrating human trafficking. The sustained insurgency by al-Shabaab continued to be a significant obstacle to the government’s ability to combat human trafficking. Overall, the government demonstrated minimal efforts on prosecution, protection, and prevention of human trafficking. The government continued nascent improvements to civilian justice systems and criminal investigation programs to address most crimes; however, it also conflated human trafficking and migrant smuggling, hindering the effectiveness of its anti-trafficking efforts. The government disproportionately focused on transnational trafficking crimes related to immigration violations and did not take adequate action to address trafficking crimes within its own borders, including sex trafficking and domestic servitude. Government complicity in trafficking crimes continued to hamper anti-trafficking efforts.

Trafficking Profile

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Somalia, and traffickers exploit victims from Somalia abroad. Information regarding trafficking trends in Somalia remains challenging to obtain or authenticate. Anecdotal evidence indicates al-Shabaab continues to facilitate human trafficking crimes through deception, infiltration of madrassas and mosques, coercion or harassment of clan elders or family members, school raids, and abductions to recruit and use victims – including children – in direct combat and military support roles. Al-Shabaab exploits women and girls in sexual slavery and forced marriage to al-Shabaab militants. Criminals involved in terrorist networks may lure and recruit Kenyan and Ugandan adults and children to Somalia to join non-state armed groups, primarily al-Shabaab, sometimes with fraudulent promises of lucrative employment.

IDPs, minority populations, people residing in al-Shabaab territory, and Somali children working in informal sectors remain the most vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor. Some Somalis willingly surrender custody of their children to people with whom they share familial ties or clan linkages who may subsequently exploit some of these children in forced labor or sex trafficking. Traffickers may exploit children in forced labor in agriculture, domestic work, herding, selling or portering khat, crushing stones, fishing, forced begging, or construction. Most trafficking networks continue to be organized by a combination of Somali, Djiboutian, Eritrean, and North African traffickers. Somali economic migrants sometimes incur debts under the “go now, pay later” trafficking scheme or through economic exploitation. Traffickers also target and recruit children using false promises that no payment will be demanded until they reach their targeted destinations. According to an international organization, traffickers extort payments from families left behind or exert threats if they refuse or are unable to pay. Traffickers increasingly recruit individuals through social media platforms and travel agencies, which at times may facilitate trafficking crimes. Traffickers, smugglers, and dubious employment agencies reportedly take advantage of the vulnerability of internally displaced women and children, mostly from southern and central Somalia, at times using false promises of lucrative jobs in Europe and North America. Traffickers transport Somali women, sometimes via Djibouti, to the Middle East, where they frequently experience conditions of forced labor, particularly in domestic service, or sex trafficking. Traffickers exploit Somali men in farming and construction in the Gulf states. Traffickers transport Somali children to Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates and force them to beg on the streets.

Traffickers exploit victims from Somalia and neighboring countries along cross-border routes, mirroring migration flows: a northern route to Europe via Libya; an eastern route to Europe via Turkey; a southern route to Kenya, Tanzania, or South Africa; and a route from south-central Somalia through Puntland onward to Yemen via the Bab el-Mandeb strait. An international organization reported previous COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions and border closures increased the number of migrants stranded in Somalia while in transit to their destination, leading migrant smugglers to charge higher fees for their services and increasing migrants’ vulnerability to labor and sex trafficking. Between the beginning of the conflict in northern Ethiopia in November 2020 and the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front in November 2022, and as pandemic-related restrictions in Somalia and Yemen ease, observers report an increasing number of Ethiopians transiting through Somalia to Yemen; many Ethiopians remain stranded in Somalia, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking.