Creates over 49, 000 jobs for returnees
ADDIS ABABA – The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA) said that it has been streamlining inclusive awareness-raising activities to nip human trafficking.
Approached by the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) MoWSA Human Trafficking Prevention Chief Executive Officer Dereje Tegybelu said that the Ministry has been conducting regular awareness-raising activities with special focus on citizens prone to human trafficking.
Along with the regular sensitization activities various campaigns have also involved elders, religious fathers, public figures (celebrities), political leaders and others.
The campaigns have reached the general public through various channels like public education, information and awareness-raising campaigns examining physical and psychological impacts, he said.
The awareness-raising campaigns are designed to be inclusive as teenagers between the ages 14 to 17 are also victims of human trafficking in addition to youth, he added.
He mentioned that some families, religious fathers and others are involved in human trafficking due to misperception of its future benefits. Hence, families are enticed to sell their valuable properties or take loans to pay for traffickers.
In addition to awareness-raising campaigns, the Ministry has been repatriating citizens who have been in difficult situations in various countries. In collaboration with other stakeholders, it has been supporting returnees to attend various kinds of training, secure seed capital and obtain jobs.
Accordingly, some 49,491 returnees out of about 148,000 have secured jobs over the past one and half year. Some of the returnees are able to generate their own income with the support of various institutions, he stated.
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 7 MAY 2024
