10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

The increasing movement of young Africans from the continent in search of better living conditions has increasingly transformed into horrible life experiences, as many fall into the hands of transnational human trafficking networks that exploit young Africans for profit across international borders. This has become one of the most disturbing challenges of the 21st century. The activities of these unholy traders (Trafficking Chains) have transformed youthful aspirations in Africa into experiences of exploitation within global migration and trafficking chains. Young Africans are subjected to dehumanizing life and modern-day slavery. To human trafficking cartels, trafficking is a lucrative and profit-driven transnational industry, in reality it is an abuse of human rights and dignity. It is an organized crime against humanity. It is based on this premise that this paper seeks to x-ray the root causes of human trafficking. World-system theory, Human Security theory and migration network theory were adopted as theoretical framework for the study. The study reveals that unemployment, poverty, conflict, political instability, perceived economic opportunities are the reasons why young Africans migrate from the continent and their youthful bodies become commodified in the hands of traffickers. Previous and extant counter measures to address human exploitation have not yielded the desired expectations. It is pertinent to review the existing counter measures currently being deployed in the fight against human trafficking. The paper further suggests practical routes and measures to curtail the dehumanizing trade undertaken by human traffickers. The paper relies extensively on secondary sources of data as framework of analysis.