11-Year-Old Girl, Youngest Known Victim Of Sex Trafficking In Fiji: Homes of Hope

A girl as young as 11 years-old is among sexual exploitation and human trafficking victims in Fiji who is being rehabilitated at the Homes of Hope in Wailoku, Suva.

This was revealed by the Home’s Social Services Team Leader, Inieta Benaca, during the United Nations World Day against Human Trafficking in Persons commemorated at the Holiday Inn hotel in Suva yesterday.

Ms Benaca said the home rehabilitates, counsels and looks after victims of this offence until such time they can enter back into society without stigma.

Sexual exploitation

“The 11-year-old was a victim of sexual exploitation and she was also trafficked by her own relatives who were transporting her to other venues for sexual purposes,” she said.

“We have cases of girls who have been trafficked and all other forms of sexual exploitations.

“The vision of Homes of Hope is to create a culture of freedom where women and children are free from the cycles in stigma for sex.

“When I say for sex it could mean incest, rape, commercial sexual exploitations and all forms of sexual exploitations.”

She said the age range for those who are currently at the home are from 18 to 25 years-old.

However, they had also received cases for those who were below the age of 18 and who had been referred from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Police.

The home looks after 20 women with their children.

“In the recent years, something we have experienced at the care shelter is not only an increase in the number of victims, but the ages of the victims keep getting lower in terms of those who had been sexually exploited.

“As a social worker at the Homes of Hope, the challenges we face is dealing with the trauma, we have to be trauma informed and see things from their lenses while dealing with these issues.”

From left: Pastor Mark Roche, Head of the EU Delegation to the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, Permanent Secretary Defence, National Security and Policing, Manasa Lesuma and Hassan El Maaroufi. Photo: Kelera Sovasiga

Edited By Raboba Baoa

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