False Promises Of Brokers
False Promises of Steady Employment in Arab countries, Middle East, European countries… is another issue identified in the study as a factor contributing to trafficking of innocent individuals. Brokers use different methods to encourage destitute individuals to migrate to another place and improve their life. They often promise the victims that they will get them employed in hotels and other service offering industries. Such false promises of steady employment as housemaids, nannies, car drivers, and hotel service positions or attendants, motivate individuals to migrate to those places and are become a very common method of taking victims from their homeland to a place that they know nothing about. Thus, poor individuals who seek work abroad are often misled by false promises of steady employment in developed countries, which is often given by the brokers.
In certain cases, success stories told by formerly trafficked or migrated persons have tended to encourage young women and children to attempt the same. Sometimes, formerly trafficked people go into the trafficking business and tell good stories and pressurize friends, neighbors and relatives to do the same. In other circumstances, they collaborate with their former traffickers and serve as recruiting and supply agents. The success stories told by formerly trafficked individuals tend to be even more convincing as they have been there themselves and talk positively about human trafficking. Of course, what is often discussed in those success stories is not the subject matter of trafficking in itself. Rather it is more business, employment, opportunities and rewards that are discussed in positive and attractive terms.
Typically the facilitators are neighbors or other person who knows the targets. This can also include close relatives and family members. The main tasks of the facilitators in the recruitment process are to seek out potential victims, convince victims and their families of the benefits of working abroad and arrange a meeting with the broker. They are beneficial; actually they receive commissions from brokers for each successfully trafficked person. Working through facilitators benefits the brokers in many ways. Since the facilitators are known and trusted by the potential victims, there is a better chance of engaging the victims while at the same time reducing suspicion of active recruitment. The arrangement also makes it easier for the broker in communities where he or she is not known. Additionally, the brokers are not held responsible for the victim’s exploitation in the eyes of the community (Wegayehu, 2014).
According to the key informants in this study, brokers use different methods to communicate with migrants. The migrating story of the participant informants of this study presented as follows;
My friend told me there is better job opportunity in juba (the capital city of South Sudan) after my parents denied covering my expense to Saudi Arabia. She promise me to introduce a man who knows how to get employment there, after saw him I was shocked because he is my relative. When I ask him not only to send me to South Sudan but also to cover my journey expense he laughed at me and he told me that he don’t know anyone in South Sudan. However, when I ask him repeatedly, he agreed with my idea and told me not tell this to anyone including my parents. I promise him to pay the overall cost for transportation service after I reached South Sudan from my wage. He told me that you will reach South Sudan safely and you can change your life in a short time. He gave me nine hundred Birr and phone number and ordered me to go to the border of Ethio-Sudan. When I reach the Border and call with that number, somebody receive me and took me to South Sudan without any payment even for transport. My employers in South Sudan didn’t give my salary for six months when I ask them to pay me they replied me that I agreed to pay the brokers my six month salary for the transportation and other services they offered to me. When I realize this now, they shared my salary to all of them including the relative of mine.
This shows that, the irregular migrant girls didn’t know whether they are trafficked, smuggled or not. They have no awareness about the network of brokers and how they deceive them after their destination. Moreover, this shows that how irregular migration ends with trafficking in persons. According to the Palermo Protocol; the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any means such as deception, coercion, use of force, or consent.
Thus, even though the migration started with the full consent of the migrant, it lasts by making the girl a slave for debt bondage. In addition to deception, some of the brokers do not open themselves to all the potential migrants, instead they accomplish every activity to transport the migrants through some potential migrants and/ or their relatives who they think are trustful to them.
The result of the FGD also indicated that the false promise of brokers about attractive jobs in host countries have influenced them to decide to migrate to abroad through their attractive words. In addition, they mentioned that beside their own interest of migrating, friends who are working outside Ethiopia have encouraged them to decide up on migrating to their intended destination countries. Moreover, families also have a significant contribution in facilitating the pace to migrate through motivation, covering the cost of transportation and giving money for the smugglers and brokers.
Besides, during interview with key informants of employee of custom and revenue office of the study area about the main causes of illegal migration and facilitators for illegal migration. Accordingly, they have told that, in our area, illegal migration expanded by smugglers. They are still playing a great role to displace the youngsters from their areas. They are giving the false promise for the targets that are voluntary to migrate.
Brokers give false promises so as to illegally migrate the potential migrants. The brokers or smugglers act and approach the potential migrant just seems as humanitarians. Especially for females in their work place like those who employed in different hotels and cafeterias as waitress the brokers approach and communicate with the waiters just seems as customers of the hotel or cafeterias so as to falsely extract the waitress from their work by saying there is high salary in middle east countries, and why don’t you go there and you will rich and prosperous in short period of time and if you are voluntary I can contact you persons take you there… The family also appreciated the illegal migration by accepted the false promise of illegal migration.
