Victims from Africa

This data story presents key characteristics from the Global Victim Dataset of almost 3,500 victims with Africa as their region of origin, and there are some key statistics for the ten countries within the region where the largest amount of data is present. The subset comprises mainly data from IOM's counter trafficking activities, and therefore some data is largely reflective of IOM's programming within the region. Regions and sub-regions are defined according to the official UN classification.

TYPE OF EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS

Over half of victims from Africa are victims of trafficking for labour exploitation, while around a quarter are victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

GENDER OF VICTIMS

Among identified cases of victims from the region of Africa, there is a slightly higher proportion of female victims.

AGE OF VICTIMS

Notably, just over half of identified victims from the region of Africa are children. This is in contrast to the Global Victim Dataset at large, of which only one fifth of victims are children.

REGION OF EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS

Three quarters of identified victims from Africa are exploited in Africa, representing the intra-regional nature of trafficking.

GENDER AND AGE OF VICTIMS

Whilst within Africa the proportion of male and female victims is almost equal, the genders are not equally distributed across age categories. There is a higher proportion of boys (children under 18) in each of the children's age categories. The reverse is true for categories over the age of 18, with higher proportions of females.

Traffickers use many means of controlling their victims, and each victim can be subject to several means of control during the course of their trafficking experience. Adult victims from Africa tend to be controlled much more through debt bondage, restrictions on movement, and restrictions on necessities than children. Children are controlled most through threats, false promises, and psychological or physical abuse.

MEANS OF CONTROL USED ON ADULTS

Traffickers use many means of controlling their victims, and each victim can be subject to several means of control during the course of their trafficking experience.

MEANS OF CONTROL USED ON CHILDREN

Similarly to adults, Identified children from Africa are controlled most through threats, false promises, and psychological or physical abuse.

MARITAL STATUS

EDUCATION LEVEL

Almost three quarters of victims from Africa are single. This may be a reflection of the high number of children among identified victims.

Over 50% of victims from Africa have completed primary or elementary education, but beyond that very few have completed any higher level of education. Again, this may be reflective of the age of identified victims, rather than victims from the African region in general.

WORK SECTOR FOR VICTIMS OF FORCED LABOUR

RECRUITER RELATIONSHIP

Available data shows victims largely trafficked into domestic work and begging. While this may be reflective of general trends, it should be noted that data here largely reflect IOM's programming and there may be a high number of individuals trafficked into certain sectors in certain places.

The majority of identified victims were not recruited by someone close to them.

SUB-REGION OF ORIGIN OF VICTIMS

Within available data, which mostly comes from the IOM caseload, almost two thirds of victims are from Western Africa. A third of victims are from Eastern Africa, almost ten percent from Middle Africa and the remainder are from either Southern or Northern Africa.

DURATION OF TRAFFICKING

Almost 80% of victims from Africa were trafficked for between 0-2 years. From there, the frequency for number of years trafficked decreases steadily, with the longest recorded trafficking duration for a victim of trafficking at 20 years.