A new study is providing critical information about a largely unrecognized form of human trafficking and the population of people most at risk: the trafficking of people with disabilities for forced begging.

The freshly published report specifically discusses how people with disabilities are at increased risk of human trafficking for begging. Sadly, this issue has received very little attention. While these findings will help develop evidence-based interventions to combat forced begging globally, researchers interviewed survivors in Ethiopian cities where large numbers of beggars congregate.

The findings

Population Council, the organization that released the report, found that all survivors had been trafficked for begging as children or teenagers. Some youths were even given to traffickers by their parents. Sadly, many survivors gave testimony of facing extreme violence. And due to their young age, and dependence of the trafficker, many were trapped for years. The findings reveal that while some victims were targeted due to having disabilities, some children were deliberately made blind by traffickers for the purpose of begging.

One male survivor with visual impairment stated:

He burned me and said if you don’t collect good money next time, I will burn you again. Then I started practicing what to say and collecting more money for him.

Another male survivor with visual impairment explained that his trafficker manipulated his parents to gain control of him:

He told my parents that he would send me to school and get treatment (for my eyes)… After he brought me, he didn’t keep his promise and sent me to beg. I was totally controlled by him, and I couldn’t leave his sight. He took all the money I was given, and he used the money for himself.

A female survivor with physical disabilities recounted:

I would go out crawling on my hands since I didn’t have a wheelchair… if I came home with a small amount of money, he insults me and hits me. Also, he used to follow me at a distance to know where I go—he used to spy on me. He had no job… he used to closely follow me because he didn’t want to lose me.

Survivors who took part in the study provide critical insights into how persons with disabilities enter this type of trafficking. Their stories reveal their living conditions, the extreme violence they experience while under control of their traffickers, and their exit from forced begging.

Getachew Teshome Eregata from Population Council commented on the kind of ethical procedures and precautions necessary to undergo this kind of research:

This is a highly vulnerable and at-risk population where extreme violence is the norm. We took a safety-first research approach and worked closely with partners, including local organizations of persons with disabilities, to ensure that we were collecting information from survivors of forced begging sensitively and safely.

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