Empowering Adolescent Girls to Reduce Their Vulnerability to Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is a scourge that disproportionately inflicts untold suffering on marginalized women and girls across the globe. Of the 800,000 people trafficked across national borders annually, 63 percent are women trafficked specifically for sexual exploitation. No less shocking is the fact that of the 250,000 children who have been forced to be child soldiers, 40 percent are girls.

Trafficking is a particularly significant problem in Nigeria, one of the countries in which we run our community-based programs. Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) reports that approximately 1 million people--the majority of them women and children--are trafficked annually within Nigeria. 

Displacement, sexual slavery, economic exploitation (such as domestic slavery), and other traumatic events have left thousands of adolescent girls in countries like Uganda, South Sudan, and Nigeria adrift in the aftermath of war and violence. The United Nations reports that in conflict situations, adolescent girls are especially vulnerable to human trafficking and violence. This is especially the case for girls who lack the basic life skills and education they need to avoid falling prey to exploitation and obtain gainful employment.

At the same time, adolescent girls in developing countries face daunting barriers to education. In sub-Saharan Africa, 49 percent of girls had either limited education or none at all. For those girls who do attend school, such issues as lack of access to menstrual hygiene products make school attendance difficult. 

Empowering these girls so that they can not only avoid exploitation, but lead healthy and productive lives, promises to be one of the keys to ending the cycle of generational poverty that leaves hundreds of thousands vulnerable to human trafficking every year. (In 2011, The United Nations Adolescent Girls Task Force reported that while men reinvest 30 to 40 percent of their income in their families, women and adolescent girls reinvest 90 percent.)

ChildVoice intersects with international efforts to combat human trafficking by empowering vulnerable and marginalized adolescent girls through psychosocial counseling, life skills training, health and hygiene education, vocational education, and other related services. We are also educating girls on how to avoid sexual exploitation. And we work diligently to raise awareness and understanding of the costs of human trafficking within their communities by engaging community stakeholders on human trafficking issues.

War-affected adolescent girls living in refugee camps often do not have access to basic hygiene items—especially menstrual products. Not having these necessities actually can prevent a girl from attending school, which puts her at risk for ending up on the streets and falling prey to human traffickers. It’s a vicious cycle we hope to break with our innovative THRIVE Project. Through our THRIVE programming, we provide reusable menstrual pad kits, teach girls in refugee settlements how to sew and use these kits, and educate them about women's health and emotional wellness. By teaching these young girls how to care for themselves physically and emotionally, as well as giving them something as simple as reusable sanitary pads, they are empowered to attend school regularly, reducing their vulnerability to manipulation and sexual violence.

Taken as a whole, our programs help adolescent girls reduce their risk of falling victim to human trafficking, while opening pathways to a brighter future for themselves and their children.

Special Report for Human Trafficking Awareness Month