North Africa: Awah Francisca Mbuli
- Hayeon Kwak
- Jan 22
- 2 min read
North Africa has been the hot point of human trafficking by being the meeting place of human smuggling for many continents, including Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South Asia migrating to other continents like Europe. It is not surprising that all countries and regions in North Africa have reported that they were affected by human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Modern-day slavery in this region can even be expressed as child soldiers and organ trafficking. North African governments have been attempting to solve this issue by cooperating with supranational organizations such as the United Nations or the United Nations University. However, despite these actions, countries in North Africa are criticized for not doing enough action to stop human trafficking and not having enough information to penalize labour violations.
Awah Francisca Mbuli
Awah Francisca Mbuli was a young woman in Cameroon who had an opportunity to travel abroad. There, she became a victim of human trafficking where she did not know anybody and had no one to help her. In Europe, she was sexually exploited for several years. However, Francisca herself didn’t realize that she was being human trafficked when she had to be sexually assaulted to survive in Europe. Thinking this happened because ofa lack of education and information in Africa, she started to help people in her country when she returned to Cameroon.
Francisca acknowledges that many victims of human trafficking are deluded by traffickers when they offer education opportunities abroad for young children, whereas the reality is that the children are sold to be trafficked. Francisca also highlights the hardships that come when someone shares that they are victims of human trafficking in African society. Sadly, Francisca stated that the victims are “stigmatized” by others.
To help out the female victims of human trafficking in various African countries, Francisca is passionately active in a non-profit organization called Survivors' Network. The organization opens worship services in local communities to educate people so that there would not be further victims like Francisca. Survivors' Network focuses on empowering women in the society.
The organization provides temporary shelters for survivors of human trafficking, as well as “economic empowerment” for them. The survivors are also trained in groups, so they can become financially independent once they enter into society. Emphasizing the importance of hearing from survivors and victims of human trafficking, she demands that they be included and heard in the development of anti-human trafficking policies.
Fransica says that she was a victim of human trafficking on three different continents. Despite her terrifying experiences, she says that survivors like her “play an essential role in assisting other victims to leave their exploitation” and change their situations. Fransica says that people will not experience human trafficking as long as she is alive. Her eagerness to save people from human trafficking would contribute gradually to decreasing human trafficking in this world.
Written by Haeum Lee
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