During a search on a property in Johannesburg, South Africa, 90 Ethiopian migrants were rescued after being held against their will at the property. The search originally began after there was a report of a person that was believed to be kidnapped and discovered the migrants. Subsequently, two people were arrested with the submission of the kidnapping and human trafficking 90 Ethiopian migrants. Authorities have raised concerns over the continued trafficking of Ethiopian migrants throughout a variety of southern African countries, as many migrants are ultimately attempting to reach South Africa. This instant of Ethiopian migrants found as a victim human trafficking is not new. For example, in 2020, at least 64 ethiopians were found dead inside a freight container in Mozambique, most likely the victim of human trafficking. In another instance, 30 Ethiopian migrant bodies were found in a mass grave in Malawi in 2022. In the same year, 27 Ethiopian men’s bodies were dumped in Zambia.
In this instance, it is not just important to address the issue of human trafficking of migrants attempting to reach South Africa, but why people are emigrating out of Ethiopia. There are obvious internal issues, most likely economic that are causing the mass immigration of Ethiopians into South Africa, a more economically developed country. It is also crucial to point out the issue with other countries on the “path” to South Africa that “allows” or more accurately, doesn’t have control over the organized crime organizations that fuel on Human trafficking. This is not just an Ethiopia and South Africa issue of security of migrants, but a regional wide issue, involving all states that have contributed to horrible actions of human trafficking.
This story impacts South Africa significantly, as it is one of the more powerful countries in the region. South Africa has a moderately successful/stable economy that is an incentive to migrants, a possibility of migrating for more economic success. Though, the migration process for many people, and in this case, Ethiopian migrants have to travel across at the least 3 countries to travel to South Africa on foot. There is the possibility for those to travel via airfare, but plane tickets aren’t often a realistic option for migrants in need of economic possibility. If these actions of human trafficking continues to cause more death, or more kidnapped migrants are found, this could possibly lead to intervention from a IGO, such as humanitarian aid from the U.N., or a NGO, such as Oxfam. IGOs are intergovernmental Organizations that are multinational political unions where negotiated power is delegated to an authority by governments of member states. The U.N. is the largest IGO, and serves many roles of providing peace keeper, humanitarian aid, as well as international-political platforms. NGOs are non-governmental organizations that are private, nonprofit organizations, that focus on humanitarian, technical, political, and economic efforts. These interventions could possibly elevate the issue of human trafficking of migrants with both political diplomacy as well as humanitarian aid.