Stories of Trafficked Children Excerpt (2011)

Excerpt from the documentary Stories of Trafficked Children.

In Ethiopia, slavery was officially abolished in the 1930s. Nonetheless, the local inhabitants still have to contend with it in some form or other to this day. Often, it is the result of extreme poverty, which people try to escape from by moving to large cities, as well as the demand for cheap labour. Both these factors are exploited by traffickers, who primarily trade in women and children. This documentary produced by People in Need looks at the stories of two victims of human trafficking. It shows how easy it is in contemporary Ethiopia for a young person to become a modern-day slave. With the silent consent of families who are accustomed to their hopeless situation, children end up in working in weaving factories or having to sell their bodies on the streets.