Child prostitution, trafficking in Ethiopia reaches epidemic levels

45,000 children and young women are now being exported every month to Saudi Arabia alone. While Ethiopia’s leaders cook up fantastic numbers to show double digit growth, the realities on the ground are more sobering and depressing.  The political elite is addicted to foreign handouts and human trafficking. In an economy where unemployment runs as high as 50% and foreign exchange is continuously in short supply, the regime has embarked on a major initiative to export young women for profit. Ethiopia’s women in the Middle East are treated as slaves, with many losing their lives as the recent death of Alem Dechasa in Lebanon showed.  Within Ethiopia itself, poverty, bad cultural practices and the presence of so many alms givers in a destitute country is exposing poor and vulnerable children to exploitation.

Source: Ethiopian Review