Hope for the exploited

Amtissal Aboulissan – Now Lebanon News – Friday, 26 August 2011 (originally published 15 Aug)

Silhouette of children in front of posters against sex trafficking

Children are silhouetted in front of posters displayed during a prayer for Justice and protection against Sex trafficking of Children and Young People in the Philippines. Many cases of human trafficking in Lebanon are sex-related, involving women and children from Eastern European and Asian countries. Image: Jay DIRECTO / AFP Photo

“The lack of awareness of human trafficking makes it difficult to combat the issue in Lebanon,” said Rola Abimourched, project coordinator of the Exploitation and Trafficking Unit at KAFA.

Every nation in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether it is a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. Lebanon is often a destination country. KAFA, an NGO that works to end all forms of violence and exploitation against women and children, started focusing more closely on trafficking in 2010 when it started its own unit within the organization. It began by identifying two potential target groups for traffickers: women for the sake of prostitution and women for the sake of domestic work—though the group notes that men are trafficked through the country as well.

But while many Lebanese have heard of human trafficking, few people actually know what it means. Human trafficking is, in essence, the recruiting, transportation and harboring of a person through force for the purpose of exploiting them. The main reasons traffickers abduct victims is for sexual exploitation, forced labor, removal of organs, forced military service and forced marriage. Women and children are the most common victims . . .

. . . read complete article . . .

___________________________