“I am one or two days away from death; they will shoot me dead, thus if you give birth to a son please name him after me.”
----An Eritrean victim of human trafficking from The Sinai Desert

INTRODUCTION
This paper examines the issue of human trafficking as it relates to human security in the Horn of Africa. Trafficking takes place by criminal means through the threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of positions of power or abuse of positions of vulnerability. Further, it relates to all stages of the trafficking process: recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of person.
An agreed definition of human trafficking exists under Article 3 of the “Palermo Protocol” on trafficking in persons which went into effect on 25 December 2003. This internationally agreed definition focuses on exploitation of human beings – be it for sexual exploitation, other forms of forced labor, slavery, servitude, or for the removal of human organs.
Trafficking is not just a transnational crime across international borders; the definition applies to internal domestic trafficking of human beings. In the Horn of Africa (HOA), both cross border and internal trafficking of women and children is prevalent. For example, in Ethiopia, children are being trafficked into armed conflict where it is reported that over 20,000 of them have been victims. Almost all of the countries in the region have been identified as sources, transit points or destination for women and children trafficked within and across these countries or to other regions such as Europe, the Middle East and Southern Africa.
Human trafficking, often described as ‘modern day slavery,’ poses serious threats to global order and human security. It is a violation of numerous international law standards and human rights protocols and is often conducted by criminals and members