Human trafficking has become a major challenge in Liberia, with children being brought from rural to urban areas for domestic labour and sexual exploitation, a Christian charity has said.
The Country Director of World Hope International, Wellington A. Kollie told www.newspublictrust.com this week that many of the children are being trafficked from Bong, Nimba, Margibi and Grand Bassa counties and other parts are being trafficked to the capital, Monrovia.
Kollie said this is due to the prevailing socio-economic disparity between rural and urban communities.
Many of the trafficked kids are used as bread winners for their wards as they are engaged in street selling and other activities to bring income to homes, whilst their right to education is being denied.
Liberia is on the Tier 2 Watch list of the US State Department office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Person. And in its 2017 report it said “the government of Liberia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however it is making significant efforts to do so.”
Efforts made by the Liberian government include providing emergency funding to temporarily shelter 25 potential child trafficking victims and prosecuted one trafficking case, the US State Department report said.
The head of the faith-based faith based relief organization that caters to the need of poorest in society said his group has been actively involved in the fight against human trafficking in Liberia.
“In 2016, World Hope International established and supported the launch of Liberia’s first governmental anti-trafficking hotline for the potential identification of labor and sex trafficking victims or at risk persons in the country,’’ Kollie explained.
According to him, the project code-named, “Enhancing Trafficking in Persons victims services program,” is intended to provide short-term emergency shelter, holistic case management and reintegration assignment for up to 50 victims of human trafficking.
Despite all the efforts made by his group and other international supporters in the fight against human trafficking, this practice is still on the increase in the country, he said.
He blamed this partly on lack of proper public awareness or intervention by other state institutions.
Back in 2014, the Liberian government a 5-year National Action Plan on Human Trafficking.
“President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf alerted the world and would be perpetrators that the government of Liberia is ready for the fight against trafficking in persons, especially women and children,” a statement from the Ministry of Information said at the time.
In another development, the World Hope International Country Director has decried the plight of African migrants in Libya and other parts, but asked Liberians and other Africans to always travel to Europe or any parts of the world through legal means.
Kollie said disturbing reports of human slavery and torture in Libya is due to Africans’ attempt to unlawfully enter Europe.
He urged the Liberian Government to engage the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help repatriate Liberians trapped in Libya.
Hundreds of Africans have reportedly died in deep sea on attempts to enter Europe in search of a better life.
An AU official recently said 400 to 700 thousand African migrants are living in camps in Libya often under inhuman conditions.
World Hope International says it believes in God’s desire for freedom and justice for the oppressed, the downtrodden, the abused and exploited in society.
“We believe in mercy and compassion for the last, the least and the lost and healing for the broken, in recovery and restoration for the victims of human trafficking and sexual predation,’’ the organization’s Director said. Report by Alfred Kollie