Organized exploitation, systemic injustice: ending sex trafficking in Africa demands urgent action

This year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, observed under the theme “Human Trafficking is Organised Crime – End the Exploitation,” spotlights a hard truth for the continent. From bustling urban hubs to remote rural areas, girls and women are being subjected to both physical and digital forms of sexual exploitation. The systems intended to protect them legally and socially remain fragmented, grossly under-resourced, and dangerously slow to respond. 

Sex trafficking doesn’t happen in isolation — it’s rooted in structural injustice

Sex trafficking in Africa does not happen in isolation. It is a manifestation of deeply embedded structural inequality, entrenched patriarchy, and the feminisation of poverty. As recognised in General Recommendation No. 38 of the CEDAW Committee, the trafficking of women and girls is deeply linked to systemic injustice. These issues are made worse by weak laws, poor enforcement, conflict, and harmful social norms.

The digital age has also added a new and alarming layer to trafficking. The widespread availability of online platforms, often unregulated, has allowed trafficking networks to extend their reach, further compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities.

Crisis upon crisis: climate, conflict, and cuts

Environmental disasters like floods and droughts, driven by climate change, are pushing families into poverty and displacement, conditions that traffickers quickly exploit. For example, Cyclone Freddy in Malawi made many girls more vulnerable to sexual exploitation as families lost their homes and incomes.

Layered on top of this are the enduring impacts of protracted conflict, inadequate education systems, discriminatory migration laws, and harmful gender norms. These overlapping problems create conditions for traffickers to continue operating, especially where laws are unclear or not enforced. 

At the same time, donor fatigue and austerity are undercutting the already limited resources available for anti-trafficking responses. The UK’s 40% cut to its foreign aid budget is just one example of how international disengagement threatens frontline services, leaving girls and women even more exposed to exploitation.

Organised crime, border exploits, and digital harm

Sex trafficking across Africa is increasingly orchestrated by sophisticated criminal syndicates. These groups exploit porous borders, gaps in surveillance, and poorly coordinated cross-border intelligence. A 2023 EU-funded ENACT report documented entrenched trafficking routes from countries like Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique into South Africa, and from Uganda into Kenya. These routes are reinforced by weak governance and a lack of systemic collaboration.

Meanwhile, traffickers have embraced digital tools as a means of recruitment and abuse. Social media platforms and encrypted messaging services are used to lure girls with false promises of work or education. Detection and content removal mechanisms are grossly inadequate, leaving survivors with little recourse and perpetrators unaccountable. A rights-based approach to technology is urgently needed — one that compels tech companies to prioritise safety, transparency, and accountability.

What works: rights-based, survivor-centred solutions

At Equality Now, our work is grounded in the belief that dismantling sex trafficking requires a coordinated, multi-sectoral, and transnational approach, drawing on several strategies:

Legal and Policy Reform Advocacy

We work to align national laws with global and regional human rights treaties like the Maputo Protocol, CEDAW GR38, and the UN Palermo Protocol. Our advocacy supports legal reforms that recognise all forms of exploitation, both online and offline, while applying a gender-responsive lens that addresses the structural and systemic drivers of sex trafficking. 

We also collaborate with key partners such as judges through the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) to strengthen judicial capacity through the development and dissemination of interpretive tools such as the Bench Book on Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, aimed at strengthening legal responses. 

Policy Advocacy and Research

By producing regionally grounded reports and policy briefs, we expose legal gaps and highlight systemic drivers of sex trafficking. Our engagement with institutions like the African Union ensures that this evidence informs regional and continental decision-making.

Survivor Centred Approach

Equality Now centres survivors by ensuring they are recognised not just as witnesses, but as rights-holders and agents of change. We support their participation in legislative reform processes, regional dialogues, and international forums in line with global human rights principles on remedy and reparation.

Community-Led Interventions

Working through partners in Malawi and Kenya, we support local partners to operate Safe Sisters Clubs, peer-led safe spaces where adolescent girls build psychosocial resilience, digital literacy, and rights awareness. 

Digital Safety Advocacy

Recognising the intersection of offline and tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), we convene dialogues with government, tech companies, civil society, and the judiciary. These high-level conversations push for rights-based reforms in digital governance aligned with CEDAW GR38 and the CRC General Comment No. 25.

Coordinated Action for Systemic Change

To dismantle the systems that enable sex trafficking in Africa, coordinated and sustained action is required from all sectors of society.

Governments must take the lead by enforcing anti-trafficking laws and ensuring that prevention efforts are embedded within education and health systems. This means creating environments where girls and women are informed of their rights. At the same time, governments must invest in comprehensive, survivor-centred services such as safe shelters, accessible legal aid, and psychosocial support to ensure that survivors can recover and seek justice. Strengthening border governance and improving intelligence-sharing between countries is also essential to disrupt and dismantle the transnational criminal networks that traffic women and girls across regions with impunity.

Regional institutions and human rights bodies, such as the African Union, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), should support the full implementation of binding instruments, including the Maputo Protocol and CEDAW GR38.

Development partners and UN agencies must maintain, and where possible, scale up their financial support for anti-trafficking programs. This includes prioritising investments in prevention, survivor reintegration, and the development of systems for collecting and analysing disaggregated data. Building evidence-based policymaking remains an integral foundation of any meaningful intervention.

The private sector, particularly technology companies, also has a significant responsibility. Digital platforms must proactively detect and remove trafficking-related content, using both artificial intelligence and human moderation. These companies should work hand-in-hand with women-led civil organisations to co-design safer digital spaces, and commit to transparency and accountability in how they address online abuse and exploitation.

Finally, civil society and local communities are crucial in shifting cultural and social norms. Challenging harmful gender stereotypes through rights-based education and awareness campaigns can help foster environments where exploitation is no longer tolerated. 

Ending sex trafficking will take more than individual efforts. It requires a united, sustained, and intersectional response that addresses both the symptoms and the structural roots of exploitation.