Arrington Joyner
12/11/17
Graves/LCS242
Research Paper
Human Trafficking in West Africa: A Long Walk Home
In recent years the activity of human trafficking has gained international attention and yet
since the 1800s during the times of European imperialism transitioning towards the dominance
of the British colonization throughout the globe, human trafficking has remained a persistent
underlying issue. The primary mode of human trafficking is exploitation; exploitation is
explained as including “at the minimum, induced prostitution and other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery and practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the
removal of organs.” – “Trafficking includes “placement for sale, bonded placement, placement as
service where exploitation by someone else is the motivating factor.” (Lawrence 77) In recent
data reported by The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 71 percent of human trafficking
is attributed to sexual exploitation, the remaining 29 percent identified as forced labor or some
variation of servitude. The human trafficking industry generates an estimated 150 billion dollars
annually according to the reports of the International Labour Organization. There are many
contributing factors regarding human trafficking such as, government corruption, anti-slavery
legislation with limited enforcement efficiency, displacement due to territorial boundaries or
natural disasters, kidnapping and/or discrimination. Though with access to historical data and the
conducting of ethnographic research, results show that the victims of human trafficking have a
tendency to originate from under-developed countries riddled with multiple accumulating causes
proved malignant to its sustainability. Thus subjecting the government and its citizens to
infrastructural instability, most analysts and scholars agree that the restriction and deprivation of
socio-economic growth is considered to be the largest detrimental factor to any oppressed
society.
In this documented paper, the bustling human trafficking industry operating within West
Africa will be the primary focus acknowledging current events regarding the issue in countries
like Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and most recently Libya (though generally labeled as North
Africa). The data and research presented will highlight the perpetuating systemic activity
generating millions in capital (both monetary and physical), holding hundreds of thousands
captive, and creating diasporas of African natives worldwide through a sole act of an injustice
against civil human rights. These diasporas have been located through statistics in areas such as,
the Golden Coast (Ghana), Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Kuwait, and including as far as Europe, and
North/South America. Insight on the challenges and catalysts of human trafficking facing West
African societies and governments will be introduced, in hope to gain perspective of a global
epidemic centuries old taking place often in plain sight.
Human Trafficking became firmly established in West Africa during the early
1800s, when the passage of 1807 prohibited any affiliates of Great Britain in participating in the
slave trade within Africa. Though this legislation was ratified, it was poorly enforced due to the
unwillingness to sacrifice monetary revenue or slaves as they were to be considered as business
investments. Over a gradually period of time, as a result of political pressure from British
Parliament in addition to anti-slavery organizations within Africa advocating for the liberation of
native citizens, their spouses, their children, and members of their community the
transcontinental slave trade ended in the 1860s. This milestone was labeled as a success for
abolitionists but on the contrary created an economic void in several African free markets.
Forced labor and the selling of human beings as property generated most of the workforce and
capital in multiple industries; agricultural (palm oil and cocoa), mining, and exploitation.
The historical data would support that the passage of 1807 reduced the amount of
