Ebook: Modern Slavery in African Land: Situations of Trafficking Women from Ethiopia to Sudan : Situations of Trafficking Women from Ethiopia to Sudan

This study objects to explore the experiences of women who are victims of trafficking, and specializes in women from Ethiopia who are taken to the Sudan, particularly through the Metema trafficking route. The study demonstrates the way how the trafficking women victims were trapped by the web of the traffickers, the means of transportations, the manner of treatment throughout the trafficking process, and the forms of exploitations at the arrival point. Moreover, an endeavor is made in order to point out the human rights violations in the case of trafficking. The study is based on a critical research approach and on in-depth interviews. Moreover, it uses key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and conducts a vis-à-vis analysis of relevant literatures and secondary data sources in order to solicit the necessary information for the research. Auszug aus dem Text Text Sample: Chapter 2.6, International and Regional Instruments: International human rights instruments are useful tools for skirmishing trafficking in women. The most acceptable and contemporary instruments that have set the way for how to define, prevent, and prosecute human trafficking are the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its two related protocols: the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air, which entered into force in 2003/2004. Besides, the fundamental human rights violated in the context of human trafficking are clearly stipulated firstly under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), including the right to life and security of person; right to be free from slavery or servitude; right to freedom of movement; right to be free of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; right to health; and right to free choice of employment. Particularly, a number of international human rights conventions have addressed the right of an individual not to be trafficked, including Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESC). Furthermore, the Supplementary Slavery Convention also calls for the abolition of slavery and slavery-like practices including debt-bondage & serfdom, which are essential elements of trafficking in women practices. In the same way, the UN Conventions on Migrant Workers, UN Slavery Convention, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women In Africa, African Union Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children and ILO Conventions No. 29 and No. 105 are some of the relevant human rights instruments deal with trafficking in women and rights violated in the trafficking process. Thus can be employed to prosecute grave human rights crimes committed against the trafficking women victims. Therefore, at least in principle, states have a responsibility under international law to act with due diligence to prevent and prosecute trafficking and to assist and protect trafficking women victims: the duty to protect, provide and fulfill. Additionally, states have a duty to ensure that counter trafficking measures shall not adversely affect the human rights and dignity of trafficking women victims. However, in practice, the state may act as both protector and violator of human rights of trafficking women victims. Although the development of international instruments in the field of trafficking women rights, critics have noted the predisposition of states to put immigration controls and national security concerns before human rights protection of trafficking victims. 2.7, National Instruments: At national level, the FDRE Constitution specifically insists that ‘No one shall be held in slavery or servitude. Trafficking in human beings for whatever purpose is prohibited”. The Constitution also provides for the rights of women in particular comportment. Trafficking in women is also criminalized under Ethiopian Criminal Law. The new Criminal Code reads: (1) whoever by violence, threat, deceit, fraud, kidnapping or by the giving of money or other advantage to the person having control over a women or a child, recruits, receives, hides, transports, exports or imports a woman or a minor for the purpose of forced labour, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from five years to twenty years, and fine not exceeding fifty thousand Birr; (2) Whoever knowingly carries off, transports or conducts, whether by land, by sea or by air, the victim mentioned in sub-article (1), with the purpose stated therein, or conducts or aids such traffic, is liable to the penalty prescribed under sub-article (1) above; Whosoever, for gain, or to gratify the passions of another: (a) traffics in women or minors, whether by seducing them, by enticing them, or by procuring them or otherwise inducing them to engage in prostitution, even with their consent, or (b) keeps such a person in a brothel or let her out to prostitution, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding ten thousand Birr, subject to the application of more severe provisions, especially where there is concurrent illegal restraint. The Criminal Code also criminalizes attempts to commit an offence (article 27), involvement as a collaborator in an offence (article 37) organizing others to commit trafficking in persons (article 599), and the involvement of judicial person in trafficking transgressions (article 599 (2)). However, the Criminal Code does not provide a clear definition of trafficking in persons. In addition, various articles of the Criminal Code deals with trafficking of persons for particular purposes, for instance enslavement (article 596), forced labour (article 597) and prostitution (article 635). On the other hand, the Palermo Protocol proscribes trafficking in persons for the purposes of 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. Correspondingly, the Employment Exchange Services Proclamation also criminalizes the sending of an Ethiopian for work abroad without having the required license. Proclamation No.632/2009 defines ‘employment exchange’ to mean ‘all the activities of hiring a job seeker and to include advertisement made verbally or in writing, enlistment, recruitment and placement”. Article 25 of the same proclamation further stipulates the unlawful acts for private employment agencies include: (1) It shall be unlawful for a private employment agency to: (a) deploy a person under the age of 18 to work abroad; (b) charge a worker payments in cash or in kind other than provided for in sub article (2) of Article 15 of this Proclamation; (c) present or give false information to recruit and deploy overseas workers; (d) deploy a worker on a job that harms his moral and human rights or disgrace the country’s image; (e) amend any approved employment contract without notifying the Ministry and securing its approval; (f) withhold or deny travel or other pertinent documents of a worker, for any reason, without his consent before or after his deployment; (g) deploy a worker to a country other than that specified in the contract of employment or in its license; (h) transfer its license to another person; or engage in providing services other than the permitted type and place of service. (2) It shall be unlawful for a worker to: (a) present false information for the purpose becoming eligible for recruitment; (b) present false information to be included in the personal data form or contract of employment. Even though the Employment Exchange Services Proclamation does not employ the term ‘trafficking’ throughout the document, the principal aim of Article 5 is to proscribe the act of recruiting and transporting Ethiopians abroad without the appropriate permit even if the purpose of such acts is not exploitation. The Employment Exchange Services Proclamation assumes that the purpose of persons or entities that send Ethiopians abroad for work without securing the relevant license is exploitation. In line with this, the status of ratified international human rights treaties in Ethiopian legal system is open to academic debates. In the one hand, Article 9 (4) of the FDRE Constitution stated that ratified international human rights conventions are an integral part of the law of the country. And so, since the FDRE Constitution is proclaimed as the supreme law of the land, all other laws, including ratified international human rights conventions are void if they becomes contradicting with the constitution. Thus, this makes all ratified international human rights conventions subordinate to the Constitution, as same as the proclamations ratified by the House of Peoples Representatives (HPR). However, the Constitution lacks clarity on which one of them have prevailed, at times a contradiction will occurred between ratified international conventions and proclamations. In other hand, Article 13 (2) of the Constitution stipulates that the fundamental rights and freedoms of the FDRE Constitution should be interpreted in light of the UDHR and norms and principles of international human rights conventions ratified by Ethiopia. This gives them higher or at least equal position with the provisions of the Constitution. Nevertheless, beyond the controversies, ratified international human rights conventions can be used as secondary legal grounds to indict human rights violations as part of the Ethiopian law. To bring to a close, trafficking in persons is a violent kind of pattern threatening the life of many men, women and children throughout the globe. Considering the social inequalities in status and income in various communities around the world, women are particularly vulnerable to these incidents. As reports revealed, East African countries are much known for being source, transit and destination countries for domestic and international trafficking women. Consequently, they are deadly suffering from trafficking problems. In this case, Ethiopia is one of the world’s major source country for many women fled to various destination countries throughout the globe. Biographische Informationen Shewit Gebreegziabher is a lecturer at the University of Gondar, Ethiopia. The author has obtained a BED in Civics and Ethical Education from the Adama Science and Technology University in Ethiopia, and a master’s degree in Human Rights from the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.