Topic: 2024-Human Trafficking
Country: Sudan
Delegate Name: Matthew Seshul
Sudan has been plagued by many issues in recent years. Among them, internal conflict due to rebel groups, economic difficulties, and the refugee crisis all point towards the issue of human trafficking. These internal conflicts have provided greatly for the demand of trafficked children. This is due the government and rebel groups having child soldiers fight in various internal and external conflicts. Sudan has also seen large economic difficulties including high unemployment and inflation. This has resulted in many people being trafficked to work in manual labor positions like gold mining, brick making and agricultural work. The refugee crisis has done nothing but fan the flames regarding this issue. Many children from other nations seeking a better life in Europe stop through Sudan. These children are often taken advantage of in the busy streets of Sudan’s cities.
The government of Sudan has pushed halt the spread of human trafficking. In 2021 the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking was launched. This program sought to stop human trafficking in Sudan by making policies to help with the protection of the millions of refugees that live in Sudan’s borders. Although moves have been made, there have been internal conflicts that have slowed progress. Sudan is overwhelmed with uprisings and rebel groups which don’t abide by the laws and policies of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking. This has resulted in the government of Sudan losing focus on the issue of human trafficking and rebel groups continuing to increase the amount of human trafficking occurring through demand for child soldiers to fight in these uprisings.
Sudan requires assistance from the United Nations in many areas that all point towards the issue of human trafficking. Firstly, many Sudanese people are not well educated with the average amount of time spent in school being 7-8 years. This has limited the success of many young people in Sudan and has left many vulnerable to being human trafficked. Another issue that has lead to human trafficking is the number of refugees in Sudan. The immense amount of refugees has lead to many getting taken advantage of. Sudan simply doesn’t have the capacity to host all of these refugees safely. There has also been political instability in Sudan for decades. This has caused recruitment of child soldiers and a lack of stability in efforts in stopping the issue of human trafficking. There have been solid efforts to stop human trafficking in the past including the founding of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking. These efforts have not been consistent. Sudan needs increased education, less refugees or better protection of refugees and most importantly a stable plan to help end human trafficking within Sudan’s borders.
