“Human Trafficking in Mozambique: Root Causes and Recommendations” is a policy paper developed by the research team of UNESCO as a powerful tool in order to analyze the situation with human trafficking in Mozambique and attract the attention of the government, as well as the representatives of international and local organizations. The authors of this paper introduce trafficking in human beings as a demand-driven global type of business.1 Mozambique is an African country with a rich history of trafficked citizens. Its total population was about 19 million people in 2005, and more than 600,000 women and children were trafficked in one year. As a rule, South Africa is the main destination for Mozambique girls and women being trafficked for such purposes as sexual exploitation, forced labor, and even organ transplantation.2
At the beginning of this article, UNESCO pays much attention to the statistical data. Such decision serves as one of the main strengths because the reader gets a clear idea of why the chosen topic has to be discussed and continues bothering a number of people worldwide. The authors improve their project by dividing the paper on certain sections and clarifying the goals of the work done. Definitions, explanations, and examples are perfectly combined in the article. Poverty, migration, gender-based discrimination, and low living standards are the main causes of human trafficking in the country, and UNESCO representatives aim at exploring these causes in order to reduce the number of trafficked citizens and improve the quality of life in Mozambique.
It is not enough to say that human trafficking should be stopped and forbidden legally. It is necessary to investigate the reasons for why people are under a threat of being trafficked. In the article, enough information, including the intentions of women to find good jobs or the legal support of organ transplantation is given. Such facts prove that the citizens of Mozambique are actually aware of the problem. The only thing is they remain to be unable to comprehend how dangerous and disappointing their expectations could be. There are many foreign traffickers, who provide the local people with hopes and possibilities to change their lives.3 People give their agreements without knowing what they involve themselves in. The authors of the article do not try to convince the reader to avoid human trafficking or to be careful with the offers from strangers. The author’s intention is to describe the current situation in Mozambique and explore the topic of human trafficking with its outcomes and threats.
In general, the article has a good and clear structure. The reader comprehends what to expect from the paper and is free to make personal conclusions and develop own evaluations. Statics, real-life examples, and the absence of a personal opinion are the strongest aspects of the article. Still, there are several ways to improve the already offered report. In fact, there are many people, who survived trafficking and are lucky to return home. They are eager to share their experience in order to protect other citizens and help to avoid their mistakes. Further similar projects could be improved by means of describing personal experiences in order not only to describe the situation in the country, but also to make the reader believe in the seriousness of the issue and the necessity to develop new projects and protect people around the whole world.
Bibliography
UNESCO. Human Trafficking in Mozambique: Root Causes and Recommendations. Paris: UNESCO, 2006.
Footnotes
1. UNESCO, Human Trafficking in Mozambique: Root Causes and Recommendations (Paris: UNESCO, 2006), 9.
2. Ibid., 10.
3. UNESCO, Human Trafficking in Mozambique, 24.