Protection services are severely lacking for refugees and migrants - including survivors of human trafficking - making perilous journeys from the Sahel and Horn of Africa towards North Africa and Europe, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns. In a report released 29 July 2022, the eve of World Day against Trafficking in Persons, UNHCR mapped protection services available to asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants as they travel along these routes.
The report says each year, thousands of refugees and migrants are subjected to horrific abuse as they move along different routes within the Sahel and East Africa, and towards North Africa and sometimes on to Europe. This includes being subjected to repeated gender-based violence (GBV), kidnappings for ransom, being left for dead in the desert, and many forms of physical and psychological abuse by a range of perpetrators including smugglers, traffickers and sometimes State actors.
The UN Refugee Agency highlights the gaps in available protection services, notably in shelter, access to justice, identification of survivors and the provision of responses to gender-based violence, trafficking, and for unaccompanied and separated children. The report covers 12 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Somalia, and Sudan.
The UNHCR report provides tailored information for refugees and migrants on services that are currently available on the different routes. UNHCR urges the introduction of community-based shelters and safe spaces, better access to legal services; and differentiated services for children and female survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence to support and assist survivors.
UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, is a global organization working to save lives, protect rights and build a better future for refugees, displaced persons and stateless people. Each year, UNHCR helps millions of refugees and displaced persons worldwide and maintains offices in 134 countries.
Further information
Full Report: Mapping of Protection Services for Vulnerable People on the Move, Including Victims of Trafficking, UNHCR, released 29 July 2022
https://reporting.unhcr.org/mapping-of-protection-services-central-west-med-and-atlantic
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