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.

Mobile Africa: Human Trafficking and the Digital Divide

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.

Human Trafficking and Trauma in the Digital Era: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Trade in Refugees from Eritrea

Little is known about the experiences of displaced individuals en route to destination countries. We investigated the reported prevalence of exposure to traumatic experiences during migration among a consecutive sample of adult asylum seekers (n = 895 Eritrean, n = 149 Sudanese) who sought health services in the Physicians for Human Rights Open-Clinic in Israel. Percentage of Eritrean and Sudanese men and women who reported witnessing violence (Eritrea: men: 41.3 %, women: 29.3 %; Sudan: men: 16.8 %, women: 22.2 %) and/or being a victim of violence (Eritrea: men: 56.0 %, Women: 34.9 %; Sudan: men: 51.9 % women: 44.4 %) during migration varied by gender and country of origin. Findings highlight the need for a well-coordinated international cooperation to document and prevent these transgressions.

Exposure to Traumatic Experiences Among Asylum Seekers from Eritrea and Sudan During Migration to Israel.

When the Eritrean war of independence (1961–1991) that forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee in search of international protection came to a victorious end in May 1991, the general expectation was that this would decisively eliminate the factors that prompt people to flee in search of international protection. Paradoxically, the achievement of independence has failed to stem the flow. Since 2002, hundreds of thousands of young men and women have been fleeing the country to seek asylum first in Sudan and Ethiopia and subsequently in the rest of the world. The data on which the study is based is gathered using snowball sampling, focus group interviews and key informants in Sudan, Ethiopia, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, South Africa, Kenya and Sweden, and supplemented by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other secondary sources. Although it is acknowledged that forced migration is the result of inextricably entwined multiple factors, the question addressed in the article is th...

The national service/Warsai-Yikealo Development Campaign and forced migration in post-independence Eritrea

Past research has documented the role acculturation plays in the process of adjustment to new cultures among migrants. Yet little attention has been paid thus far to the role of acculturation in the context of forced migration. In this study we examined the association between acculturation patterns and mental health symptoms among a convenience sample of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers (n = 118) who accessed health services at the Physicians for Human Rights Open-Clinic in Israel. Participants completed measures on sociodemographic information as well as detention history, mental health symptoms, exposure to traumatic events, and acculturation pattern, in their native language upon accessing services. Consistent with our predictions, findings showed that acculturation predicted depressive symptoms among asylum seekers beyond the effect of history of detention and reports of experiences of traumatic events. Assimilated compared with integrated asylum seekers reported higher depressive symptoms. Findings draw attention to the paradox of assimilation, and the mental health risks it poses among those wishing to integrate into the new culture at the expanse of their original culture. Asylum seekers may be particularly vulnerable to the risks of assimilation in the restrictive policies that characterize many industrial countries in recent years.

The association between acculturation patterns and mental health symptoms among Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel.

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/pdf/human-trafficking-in-the-sinai-refugees-between-life-and-2v9ncg26a2.pdf

Human Trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between Life and Death

Inteational Pblic aw & Plitics (Intational) rim nal aw Enironm etal aw Lbour aw Halth aw Contutional & dm intrative aw um an Rghts & um antarian aw Euopean aw Edcation aw Cabbean aw Tenology & aw Pivate aw olf Lgal Pulishers aw sries: Human trafficking in the Sinai started in 2009 and involves the abduction, extortion, sale, torture and killing of men, women and children. This book follows from the publication “Human Trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between Life and Death” (2012). It describes how refugees are abducted and brought to the Sinai and identifies the modus operandi of the trafficking. It also looks at what happens after the hostages are released and where they go. This book introduces the term ‘trafficking cycle’ to describe how refugees become trapped in a vicious cycle of detention, exploitation and abuse, or take risks that may lead to tragedies such as the shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa on 3 October 2013. It also portrays how Sinai survivors remain owners of their own history and keepers of their own dignity. The book is based on interviews with hostages and survivors of the trafficking in the Sinai and others.

/pdf/the-human-trafficking-cycle-sinai-and-beyond-1k0wv2dhhi.pdf

M. Estefanos

Papers

Human Trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between Life and Death

The Human Trafficking Cycle: Sinai and Beyond