Human Trafficking and Trauma in the Digital Era

Eritrean refugees crisscross between countries in the Horn of
Africa and North Africa in search of a safe place. Along their journeys,
they are looted, threatened, intimidated, violated, and held for
ransom.

This book revisits the human trafficking crisis that first
emerged in the Sinai at the end of 2008 and examines the expansion of
human trafficking of Eritrean refugees and other forms of exploitation
beyond the Sinai. It focuses on the modus operandi of these practices
and on identifying their key facilitators and beneficiaries. The book
locates the origin of these practices within Eritrea; it reveals how a
deliberate policy of impoverishment and human rights abuses has driven
the people out of the country, and how individuals within Eritrea, and
particularly within the ruling party, benefit from the smuggling and
trafficking of Eritrean refugees. The use of information communication
technologies (ICTs) is identified as key to the new modus operandi of
this criminal business and is found to further facilitate widespread
collective trauma amongst Eritreans, who witness the abuse of their
family members and fellow nationals through digital networks. An entire
section in this book is dedicated to assessing the extent and effects of
individual and collective trauma caused by Sinai trafficking and to
examining potential approaches to healing. Other sections discuss the
vulnerabilities of Eritrean minors and women, and the connections
between human trafficking, terrorism and organ trafficking. The last
section of the book raises the question of accountability. It examines
and evaluates international responses to this forgotten crisis, and
discusses the need for policies that tackle the problem where it
emerges: in Eritrea.