📢 Education · Advocacy · Global Collaboration
Operation Restore began as a Somali community initiative — because Somalis are among the most frequently trafficked people on earth. But we cannot fight this alone, and we don't want to. This page is for every community, every diaspora, every individual who believes that human dignity is non-negotiable.
"Your loved ones were not forgotten. We took their names. We built the cases. We are delivering justice — one arrest at a time."— Operation Restore
Why Awareness Is Our Most Powerful Weapon
The single most effective prevention tool is information. Traffickers rely on ignorance — on victims not recognizing a false offer, on families not knowing what questions to ask, on communities staying silent out of shame or fear. Breaking that silence saves lives.
In Puntland, Somalia, an IOM-led awareness campaign reached over 40,000 people through open-air speeches, performances, and community radio. It resulted in more trafficking reports being filed in a single year than in the previous five years combined. [IOM / EU, Somalia Project]
The Somali diaspora sent $1.7 billion home in 2023 alone — making Somali families a high-value target for traffickers demanding ransom. [The New Humanitarian, 2025] The more our community knows about trafficking tactics, the harder it becomes for criminal networks to exploit our people's trust and generosity.
Traffickers increasingly use social media to recruit. They post fake job listings, fake visa assistance offers, and fake EU relocation schemes in Somali, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Hausa. Your share of this page could reach someone the moment they're being targeted.
For the Somali Community
Operation Restore was founded by members of the Somali community who were no longer willing to watch their people disappear into Libya's trafficking networks in silence. Somalis are specifically targeted because traffickers know about diaspora remittances.
Somali trafficking networks are organized "by a combination of Somali, Djiboutian, Eritrean, and North African traffickers." [US TIP Report — Somalia, 2025] This means some of the people luring Somalis speak Somali fluently. They may appear to be friends, distant relatives, or trusted community figures.
What Somalis Can Do Right Now
Masjids and community halls are the most trusted spaces in the Somali community. Bring this conversation there. Print this website's key facts. Ask an Imam to dedicate a khutbah to the dangers of irregular migration and trafficking. The IOM Somalia program specifically engaged religious leaders as key messengers — because it works.
Traffickers use WhatsApp. So should we. Share this website in family groups, diaspora community chats, and youth networks. Translate the key warning signs into Somali and post them. If you see a suspicious job offer being shared, screenshot it and report it to us immediately.
If a family in your community is currently paying ransom, they need more than money. They need legal support, reporting channels, and contact with international organizations. Help them contact us. Help them contact UNHCR, IOM, or local authorities. Paying in silence only funds more trafficking.
Many Somali young people who end up trafficked were heading toward what they believed was a better life. Reach them before the journey. Share survival resources, legal migration options, and the documented reality of what happens to those who fall into traffickers' hands in Libya.
We need translators, community organizers, social media advocates, and people who can run awareness events in Somali diaspora cities — Minneapolis, Toronto, London, Oslo, Nairobi. Email us: info@operationrestore.org
For Every African Community — A Call to Collaborate
The same networks that traffic Somalis also traffic Nigerians, Eritreans, Ethiopians, Ghanaians, Guineans, and Malians. The same routes. The same warehouses. The same WhatsApp ransom calls. By raising awareness within your own community — in your language, through your trusted channels — you become part of the solution.
Nigerians are among the most frequently documented victims in Libyan slave markets — sold for as low as $400 in the 2017 CNN investigation. Nigerian trafficking networks are also documented as recruiting women into sex exploitation across North Africa and Europe. The Nigerian diaspora is one of the world's largest and most organized. [CNN, Nov. 2017; US TIP Report, 2023]
Eritreans are the second-largest documented refugee group in Libya and among the most heavily targeted by ransom trafficking networks. Some of the most notorious trafficking operators are Eritrean nationals exploiting their own people. [US TIP Report — Libya, 2025; Tilburg University, 2023]
Ethiopian migrants form a major portion of the trafficking victim population on the Libya route. Ethiopians have also been documented working as co-perpetrators inside detention houses — often former victims themselves, trapped in the network. [Tilburg University, 2023; Inkyfada, 2020]
Ghanaian migrants regularly appear in documentation of irregular migration through North Africa. Traffickers specifically target migrants from countries perceived to have wealthy diaspora communities who can pay ransom. [US TIP Reports; Global Initiative, 2022–2024]
Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Gambia consistently appear in trafficking victim documentation on the Morocco and Algeria routes toward Europe. West African diaspora networks — particularly in France — have strong capacity to amplify awareness. [Global Initiative; NAS-Obs Reports, 2022–2023]
Wherever you are from — Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo, Chad, Sudan — your community likely has members who have been touched by this crisis, or who are vulnerable to it. The steps are the same: educate, translate, share, report. Your language and cultural understanding are tools no outside organization can replicate.
What Anyone — Anywhere — Can Do
The most immediate action: share this site on social media, in community groups, with journalists, with local officials. Each share potentially reaches someone who needs this information at the exact moment they need it.
Journalists amplify stories governments ignore. This story is underreported in every market — African, European, and American. Connect them with us. We have survivor contacts and verified documentation.
Write or call your parliament member, congressman, or representative. Ask what their government is doing to address trafficking on the Libya route. Demand support for UNHCR, IOM, and anti-trafficking operations.
If you see posts advertising jobs in Libya, "safe passage" to Europe, or suspicious recruitment — screenshot, report to the platform, and report to us immediately at info@operationrestore.org.
Donate to or volunteer with IOM, UNHCR, Human Rights Watch, and survivor-led organizations operating in North Africa. Funding gaps are one of the primary reasons trafficking continues unchecked.
Request that your school, university, or student association include human trafficking in Africa in its curriculum. Organize a documentary screening. Invite a survivor speaker. Awareness in the classroom becomes advocacy in the world.
Education — Recognize Trafficking
Safe Migration — Legal Options
Apply through official UNHCR offices in your country. Free of charge.
Safe repatriation for those stranded in transit. Contact IOM in-country.
Official employment programs and bilateral labour agreements through embassies.
Through embassies, legally and safely. No fees, no middlemen.
Become a Partner
We are building a formal coalition of community organizations across Africa, Europe, North America, and Australia. Whether you run a diaspora association, a mosque network, a refugee support group, or a civil society organization — your participation matters.
No organization is too small. A community group of 50 people that knows the warning signs and knows to contact us can save lives.
Tell us about your community and how you'd like to collaborate.
Key Resources & Organizations
Operates migration response centers in Somalia, Libya, Niger, and beyond. Provides emergency assistance, voluntary repatriation, and anti-trafficking training.
iom.int →The UN Refugee Agency operates registration and resettlement programs. If you are a registered refugee facing trafficking threats, contact your nearest UNHCR office.
unhcr.org →Publishes detailed investigative reports on trafficking in Libya, Egypt, and Sudan. Has documented torture methods, ransom mechanisms, and perpetrator networks.
hrw.org →Publishes the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons — the most comprehensive international dataset. Provides technical assistance to governments for anti-trafficking legislation.
unodc.org →Research network monitoring organized crime — including human trafficking — across Africa. Published the January 2025 report on the Magafe group targeting Somali refugees in Kenya.
enactafrica.org →Founded by South Sudanese activist David Yambio, this network receives direct WhatsApp video evidence from traffickers and survivors, and coordinates emergency response.
@RefugeesInLibya →To report trafficking, volunteer, or become a partner — reach out now.