Cameroon: Poverty, unemployment among top drivers of human trafficking

Experts have attributed Cameroonians’ growing vulnerability to human trafficking schemes to conflict, poverty, and unemployment as the country joined the world to commemorate the International Day Against Human Trafficking.

Earlier this year, two Cameroonians, Ananfac Joseph and Atemkeng Narcisse, were lured into lucrative jobs in the Benin Republic by a Cameroonian woman named Stephanett.

Due to growing hardship and unemployment in Cameroon, the two expressed interest in traveling to Benin.

They were charged over one million FCFA, which they paid, unaware that the job offers were part of a Ponzi scheme.

Their employer directed them to Abuja, Nigeria, from where she was supposed to take them to Benin.

Once in Abuja, their identification documents were confiscated, making it difficult for them to leave.

Realizing they had been trafficked, it took the intervention of family members back in Cameroon, who paid a significant amount of money to secure their release.

The situation of Atemkeng and Ananfac is one that many Cameroonians face, attempting to improve their lives elsewhere but ending up as victims of human trafficking.

In 2023, the US State Department published a report attributing the causes of human trafficking in Cameroon to poverty and unemployment.

During this year’s commemoration of the Day Against Human Trafficking, Cameroonian University Don Dr. Beatrice Titanji, founder of Women’s Guilt for Empowerment and Development, emphasized that the search for greener pastures makes human trafficking prevalent.

She highlighted the Anglophone Crisis, unemployment, and poverty as the main drivers of human trafficking in Cameroon.

“This is driving many people to go to places they wouldn’t otherwise have gone. The young people, especially, just wish to leave the country,” Dr. Titanji said.

She also pointed out the issue of domestic human trafficking, where many young girls work for long periods without pay, with traffickers showing little concern for their well-being.

Speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Service, Dr. Titanji said the government still has a lot of work to do.

“One of them is having shelter or a place of refuge where these frustrated girls can start life anew.”

She noted that her organization conducts a lot of advocacy, talking to teenage girls and young mothers to show love.

“When love does not come from the home, the children run away, and while on the street, they are picked up by anybody. And the people who pick them up are the perpetrators of human trafficking,” she added.

In March, the Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs and the International Office of Migration carried out sensitization on human trafficking and smuggling at the Douala and Yaoundé Nsimalen Airports, placing posters strategically to denounce such acts.

“The new awareness-raising posters will serve as a constant reminder of the government’s and IOM’s commitment to protecting human rights and guaranteeing the safety of all,” said Pauline Irine Nguene, Minister of Social Affairs.

The posters displayed a toll-free number, 1,523, to call when such situations are noticed.

According to the UN Office for Migration, Cameroon serves as a transit and destination country for traffickers and victims of various nationalities (Chadian, Central African, Sri Lankan, Indian, etc.) who often transit by air.

Marking World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30, 2024, the UNOM highlighted that over the past 15 years, the proportion of identified child trafficking victims has tripled, with the number of boys among them increasing fivefold.

In regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, children account for 60 percent to 73 percent of known trafficking victims.

Globally, 35 percent of all detected victims of trafficking are children, with girls representing 18 percent and boys 17 percent.

This year, the day was marked under the theme, “Leave no child behind in the fight against human trafficking.”

©Mimi Mefo Info