Our contribution to the fight against human trafficking in the Gulf of Guinea involved mobilizing Communication for Development (C4D) to support anti-TEH committees in Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Between 2020 and 2021, a program financed by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France has enabled us to implement control strategies. We’ve drawn 10 lessons for all organizations working to combat this scourge.
Lesson no. 1: The so-called “inter-ministerial” committees must be inclusive, bringing together most of the players involved in the fight against terrorism, from international organizations like the IOM to the relevant ministries, civil society organizations and even the media.
Lesson no. 2: The latter have a crucial role to play in investigating and informing about the realities of trafficking without taboos. From this point of view, press analysis enables us to better target actions with the media.
Lesson 3: C4D strategies must reinforce the impact of the committees’ action plans and be built around the 4 M’s (Show actions, Conduct targeted awareness campaigns based on priorities, Mobilize for the protection of victims and Implement the strategy).
Lesson no. 4: An alliance of organizations and individuals is very important for strategy implementation (task-force communication), as scattered actions and isolated initiatives have limited impact. Similarly, awareness-raising moments have more resonance than others. Such is the case of the International Day against Human Trafficking (July 31).
Lesson no. 5: The battle is also (and sometimes above all) waged on the Internet, a hotbed of misinformation and recruitment. Ghana is planning to set up a cybercrime unit in this area. In all 3 countries, traffickers recruit victims with the promise of huge salaries as models, actresses or footballers. (See examples of our social networking campaign in Côte d’Ivoire below).
Lesson no. 6: Awareness-raising must precede mobilization, as some forms of trafficking (such as entrustment or begging for others, for example) are not necessarily considered a crime.
Lesson no. 7: Children, public transport drivers and teachers are important targets, as they can act as whistle-blowers.
Lesson no. 8: There’s a clear benefit in making victims’ voices heard, while preserving their anonymity. The actions that concern them must publicize their rights and rescue possibilities.
Lesson no. 9: Advocacy actions must target the actors in the judicial chain.
Lesson 10: In the end, all actions should be considered in the form of a campaign to create synergy and collaborative, coordinated implementation.
Com4Dev rounded off its presentation with international benchmarking, analyzing campaigns in other countries such as Colombia, which is very active against trafficking, and the actions of former victims in France.