Financial Crime World

Title: Eritrea’s Shadow Economy: Unraveling Human Trafficking, Arms Smuggling, and Financial Crimes

Eritrea, a country troubled by political instability, armed conflict, and severe economic restrictions for decades, shows an active shadow economy thriving on its margins. This article explores the human tragedy unfolding through forced labor, human trafficking, arms smuggling, and illicit trade, creating a complex web of criminal activities.

Human Trafficking and Forced Labor

  • Thousands ensnared in compulsory national service and citizen militia [1]
  • Desperate citizens traveling through Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti [1]
  • High-ranking military officers implicated in human trafficking activities [1]

Arms Smuggling

  • Longstanding isolationism fuels illicit arms trade [2]
  • Eritrea serves as a trans-shipment point [2]
  • State-embedded actors involved for control over all enterprises [2]

Natural Resource Crimes

  • Flora crimes: occasional military involvement [3]
  • Eritrea a hotspot for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing [3]
  • Eritrean army involved in elephant poaching and ivory trafficking [3]
  • Gold smuggling due to international sanctions [4]

Cyber-Dependent Crimes

  • Economic restrictions push people to hawala and black market [5]
  • Eritreans involved in black market exchanges in neighboring countries [5]

Criminal Actors and the State’s Response

  • State-embedded actors, including the military and PFDJ [6]
  • Institutionalized corruption and the lack of rule of law [6]
  • Limited transparency and responses to combat organized crime [6]
  1. Forced labor and human trafficking reports
  2. Arms traffic reporting from Small Arms Survey
  3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report
  4. Global Witness report
  5. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report
  6. Amnesty International report [1]: Compulsory national service and human trafficking [2]: Arms smuggling and state-embedded actors involvement [3]: Natural resource crimes and ivory smuggling [4]: Gold smuggling and international sanctions [5]: Cyber-dependent crimes and hawala exchanges [6]: State-embedded actors, corruption, and the lack of rule of law