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Human trafficking: Nigeria’s efforts, not good enough
In spite of its efforts, on eradicating
the scourge of human trafficking, Foreign Affairs correspondent, CHINWE MADUAGWU,
reports that Nigeria seems not to be doing enough, going by the recently
released Trafficking in Persons Report, 2004.
Trafficking has been described by many as
a form of modern day slavery with women and
children being sold as commodities for commercial labour and sexual
exploitation.
Available statistics show that trafficking
is currently the third most lucrative trade in Africa, after drugs and
ammunitions.
Several reasons have been adduced as to
why this multi-billion dollar business thrives.
For the united states Agency for
International Development (USAID) trafficking thrives because of "women and
children vulnerability and the low status of females, combined with corruption,
poverty and expanding global markets for sex and cheap labour."
The Agency also believes that "the
acceptability of violence against women within many societies contributes to a
dynamics through which traffickers and clients see women as expendable."
Whatever be the reason, the sad truth for
Nigeria is that many of her young women and children are being trafficked yearly
to countries in European and Saudi Arabia for the purposes of prostitution and
forced labour.
It is in recognition of the damage being
done to the country’s image as well as to the well-being of those trafficked
that the wife of the vice president, Chief (Mrs) Titi Abubakar and the wife of
Edo State governor, Chief (Mrs) Eki Igbinedion set up women Trafficking and
Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) and Idia Renaissance respectively.
The two non-governmental organisations are
established to help facilitate the repatriation of Nigerian girls prostituting
abroad as well as rehabilitate, empower and resettle them so they can have
meaningful lives.
The Nigerian government also on its part
last year brought into law the Trafficking in Persons (prohibition) law
Enforcement and Administrative Act which in turn created the anti-trafficking
agency the National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in persons and
other Related Matters (NAPTIP).
While the law was enacted the punish those
involved in the trafficking business, NAPTIP is saddled with the responsibility
of checking the influx of Nigerians to Europe for prostitution as well as
rehabilitating those repatriated.
Recognising the fact that trafficking is a
global problems the United States government in 2000 enacted the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act (TVPA) which was amended by the Trafficking Victims
Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA).
The TVPRA strengthens the tools US law
enforcement authorities use to prosecute traffickers and enhances assistance to
Victims of trafficking.
It also requires the US Department of
States to scrutinise and evaluate more closely the efforts of governments to
prosecute traffickers.
To help in monitoring governments, the law
created the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (CMTP) which
publishes the report of its work annually.
In its fourth annual report "Trafficking
in Persons Report." released recently, the CMTP noted that Nigeria’s efforts at
combating trafficking are not good enough.
The report described Nigeria as "a source
transit and destination country for trafficked women and children," noting that
Nigerians are trafficked to Europe, the middle East and other countries in
Africa for the purposes of forced labour, domestic servitude and sexual
exploitation.
It also described Nigeria as a destination
country for Togolese, Beninoise, Ghanaian and Cameroonian children trafficked
for forced labour.
The report indicted the Nigerian
government for not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking.
The Minimum Standards include the
prohibition of severe forms of trafficking in persons and the prescription of
punishment commensurate with that for grave crimes such as forced sexual
assaults, for the knowing commission of any act of sex trafficking involving
force, fraud, coercion, or in which the victim of sex trafficking is a child
incapable of giving meaningful consert, or of trafficking which includes rape or
kidnapping or which causes death.
The government of a country is also
expected to prescribe punishment that is sufficiently stringent to deter and
that adequately reflects the heinous nature of the offence for the knowing
commission of any act of a severe form of trafficking in persons, as well as
make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in
persons.
In addition to the above, the minimum
standards also considers:
•Whether the government of a country,
consistent with the capacity of such government systematically monitors its
efforts to satisfy the criteria described above and makes available publicly a
periodic assessment of such efforts;
•Whether the government of the country
achieve appreciable progress in eliminating severe forms of trafficking when
compared to the assessment in the previous year, and,
•Whether the percentage of victims of
severe forms of trafficking in the country that are non-citizens of such
countries in insignificant.
The report further condemned "the
continued significant complicity of Nigerian security personnel in trafficking
and the lack of evidence of increasing efforts to address this complicity.
It noted that "unlike other governments in
the region, the Nigerian Government does not face severe resources constraints,
yet it commits inadequate funding and personnel to the fight against Nigeria’s
serious trafficking problem."
Briefing journalists in Lagos on the
report, the Deputy Director of the Washington DC based Office of CMTP, Ms JoAnn
Schneider expressed particular disappointment with the Nigerian government over
the non prosecution of those arrested for trafficking.
While commending the government for the
enactment of the anti-trafficking law as well as the setting up of NAPTIP, Ms
Schneider noted that "without the extra step of prosecution, laws are just paper
and they really have no enforcement factor and no risk for the traffickers
unless they are implemented by law enforcement officers."
She said her office as well as the U.S.
government were looking for commitment from Nigerian government to prosecute
trafickers and bring them to justice no matter where they are found.
Ms Schneider also expressed the hope that
government would give NAPTIP all the resources it needed to do its job and
coordinate with other stakeholders so that there is a comprehensive way of
combating the scourge.
The 2004 trafficking in persons Report
bemoaned the fact that there were no known prosecutions during last year though
the Nigeria Police reported 98 arrests out of which 44 persons are still under
investigation.
The report pointed to facts indicating
that government officials, particularly police and immigration and border
officials, facilitate the trafficking of women and children.
All these factors, according to Ms
Schneider combined to make the US Department of State place Nigeria on the tier
2 watch list.
Explaining this further, she said Nigeria
was in danger of slipping to Tier 3 at which point she may be sanctioned by the
United States government.
The sanctions will come in form of losing
further non humanitarian aids from United States Agency for International
Development (USAID).
She explained that Tier 1 countries are
those doing all they can to battle the scourge and meeting the minimum standard
of the law.
Those on Tier 2 are countries with
significant progress in coming into compliance with the requirement of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act while those on Tier 2 Watch list (where
Nigeria belongs) are described as week Tier 2 countries that are in danger, in
the coming year, of falling to Tier 3.
Tier 3 countries or governments include
those not making significant efforts to stem the scourge.
Ms Schneider explained that the law which
created her office was not enacted to punish countries, but to encourage them to
take positive steps to stop trafficking adding that although "it (trafficking)
is a complex problem, it can be solved through government and local reforms and
public awareness."
USAID mission Director in Nigeria, Ms Dawn
Liberi who was also at the briefing noted that Nigeria needed to work hard
within the next one year to ensure it did not slip to a Tier 3 country in
Nigeria.
She said her agency will over the next
five years (2004-2009) commit approximately 3 million dollars to support
anti-trafficking efforts in Nigeria.
According to her, the USAID/Nigeria’s
proposed anti-trafficking programme will address three result areas;
•Policy dialogue; she said while Nigeria
has made significant progress in coming into compliance with the requirements of
TVPRA, continued dialogue with government remained essential to moving Nigeria
to full compliance and attaining Tier 1 status.
To achieve this, she said her mission has
programmes with the National Assembly and state legislatures that provide
suitable platforms and points of entry for policy discussion.
•Information dissemination and public
awareness, she said her mission will also engage in publicity campaigns and
sensitization programmes that are needed to educate members of the public,
particularly in sending communities, on child trafficking issues and the
desperate plight of children in domestic service; and
•Direct Support; Ms Liberi revealed that
in 2003 USAID/Nigeria granted 500,000 dollars to the International Office of
Migration (10M) to support a shelter in Lagos of returned trafficking victims,
mostly women deported from European countries.
According to her, future support to
vulnerable and returned victims of trafficking, both children and adults may
include any or all of the following: Secure shelter and protection; access to
medical and legal advice, including HIV/AIDS awareness; Counselling support:
psychosocial, trauma, employment among others.
Such programmes will start in Lagos,
Rivers and Delta, States she described as the epicenter of the trafficking
problem.
Senior reports editor, office of (CMTP)
Nicholas Levintow who was at the briefing noted that poverty, culture and
certain labour laws provided the shield for traffickers but insisted that shield
must be pierced through public education so that people will realise the dangers
in trafficking and what constituted trafficking.
He urged NAPTIP to make the general public
its eyes and ears through public enlightenment campaigns if it wants to succeed.
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