Human Trafficking in [Nigeria Street Children in [Nigeria] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Nigeria] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early
years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Nigeria.htm
Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for
women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial
sexual exploitation. Within Nigeria, women and girls are trafficked primarily
for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. Boys are
trafficked for forced labor in street vending, agriculture, mining, stone
quarries, and as domestic servants. Religious teachers also traffic boys,
called almajiri, for forced begging. - |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Babies bred for sale in Nigeria Agence France-Presse
AFP, www.mg.co.za/article/2008-11-09-babies-bred-for-sale-in-nigeria [accessed 13 December 2010] Neighbours were suspicious of the daytime
silence at the maternity clinic that came to life only after nightfall,
though never suspected its disquieting secret -- it was breeding babies for
sale. But recent police raids have
revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or
"factories" in the local press, forcing a new look at the scope of
people trafficking in The doctor in charge, who is now
on trial, reportedly lured teenagers with unwanted pregnancies by offering to
help with abortion. They would be
locked up there until they gave birth, whereupon they would be forced to give
up their babies for a token fee of around 20 000 naira ($170). The babies would then be sold to buyers for
anything between 300 000 and 450 000 naira ($2 500 and $3 800) each,
according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip). Allan Little, BBC correspondent news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3632203.stm [accessed 13 December 2010] It starts with the promise of a
better life. The parents are taken in.
The children are persuaded. When they leave home they do so willingly, with
some excitement, not trepidation. The
trafficker has promised a good job, a schooling, a
regular income. But that is not how it works out. Daily Champion, allafrica.com/stories/200708160019.html [accessed 30 November 2011] Head of National Agency for the
Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP), The victims
who are mainly teenagers, he added, engaged in prostitution overseas. WANTED: the right to refuse Maffie Black, New Internationalist 337,
August 2001 www.newint.org/features/2001/08/05/wanted/ [accessed 13 December 2010] Take a look at article one of the
Supplementary Convention on Slavery and you will see as one definition: ‘Any
practice whereby a woman, without the right to refuse, is given in marriage
in payment of a consideration in money or in kind ...’ How about a story? Just one, about
Hauwa Abukar, a Nigerian
girl who died aged 12. Her family had married her to an older man to whom
they owed money. She was unhappy and kept running away, but because of the
debt her parents were obliged to return her. Finally, her husband chopped off
her legs with an axe to prevent her absconding again. She died from
starvation, shock and loss of blood. No legal action was taken. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/nigeria.htm [accessed 13 December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - The country is a source, transit, and destination country for
trafficked children. Children from Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61586.htm [accessed 13 December 2010] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS –
Nigerians were trafficked to Europe, the Middle East, and other countries in Women and children were most at
risk of being trafficked. Boys were trafficked primarily to work as forced
bondage laborers, street peddlers, and beggars, while girls were trafficked
for domestic service, street peddling, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Trafficking in children, and to a lesser extent in women, occurred within the
country's borders. Children in rural areas were trafficked to urban centers
to work as domestics, street peddlers, merchant traders, and beggars. The United Nations Office of Drugs
and Crime (UNODC) reported that individual criminals and organized criminal
groups conducted trafficking, often involving relatives or other persons
already known to the victims. Traffickers employed various methods during the
year. Many were organized into specialties, such as document and passport
forgery, recruitment, and transportation. To recruit young women, traffickers
often made false promises of legitimate work outside the country. Traffickers
also deceived child victims and their parents with promises of education,
training, and salary payments. Once away from their families, children were
subjected to harsh treatment and intimidation. Traffickers subjected victims
to debt bondage, particularly victims forced into prostitution. In some
cases, traffickers employed practitioners of traditional magic, or juju, to
threaten victims with curses to procure their silence. NAPTIP estimated that
90 percent of the girls trafficked through Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 28 January 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/nigeria2005.html [accessed 13 December 2010] [76] The Committee notes with
appreciation the serious and exemplary efforts undertaken by the State party
to combat child trafficking, including establishment of bilateral
anti-trafficking agreements and introduction of joint border controls. The
Committee further welcomes the enactment of the law prohibiting human
trafficking in July 2003, the creation of the National Agency for Prohibition
of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), and the Presidential appointment of the
Special Assistant for Human Trafficking and Child Labor in June 2003. The
Committee also notes the signature of the Convention for the Suppression of
the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
in 2003, and the ratification of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2002, by
the State party. Francis Onoiribholo, Daily
Independent ( allafrica.com/stories/200812220165.html [accessed 13 December 2010] Babies bred for sale in Nigeria Agence France-Presse
AFP, www.mg.co.za/article/2008-11-09-babies-bred-for-sale-in-nigeria [accessed 13 December 2010] Neighbours were suspicious of the daytime
silence at the maternity clinic that came to life only after nightfall,
though never suspected its disquieting secret -- it was breeding babies for
sale. But recent police raids have
revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or
"factories" in the local press, forcing a new look at the scope of
people trafficking in The doctor in charge, who is now
on trial, reportedly lured teenagers with unwanted pregnancies by offering to
help with abortion. They would be
locked up there until they gave birth, whereupon they would be forced to give
up their babies for a token fee of around 20 000 naira ($170). The babies would then be sold to buyers for
anything between 300 000 and 450 000 naira ($2 500 and $3 800) each,
according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip). How immigration officials and voodoo aid human trafficking
business in Nigeria Musikilu Mojeed,
The Punch, 24 Oct 2008 www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200810243203246 [accessed 13 December 2010] VOODOO AND THE TRAFFICKING BUSINESS - Another major factor oiling the
wheel of trafficking in the country is voodoo. Insiders in the trafficking
business say once arrangements for victims’ trips abroad are completed,
traffickers seal the deal by taking the victims to shrines of voodoo priests
for oath taking. There, victims are made to swear that they would never
reveal the identities of their traffickers to anyone if arrested whether in
the course of the journey or in the destination countries. A repented former trafficker
confirmed that voodoo, known as juju in the Nigerian parlance, is playing a
great but nauseating role in the human trafficking business. When traffickers are arrested in Inside the Nigerian transnational human trafficking
industry Musikilu Mojeed,
The Punch, 16 Oct 2008 www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200810152335195 [accessed 13 December 2010] The last people in the chain are the
big madams based in the destination countries. On arrival in the destination
countries, they seized the passports of the victims and give the boys out as
domestic servants to patrons who need their services while the girls are made
to work as prostitutes. The traffickers receive payments from patrons while
the girls are made to sleep with them. Our source said the girls pay between
60 and 80,000 Euros to their madam to get their freedom. Dr. Esohe
Aghatise, who has done extensive work on
trafficking, said when Nigerian girls arrive in Also, according to Aghatise, the girls are expected to pay about 516 Euros
to their madams per month to rent the roadside spot there they wait for
clients in extreme weather conditions. They are also expected to contribute
about 36 Euros weekly each for their feeding and buying of provocative
clothing. ”When we don‘t earn the money our madam wants, she presses a hot
iron on our chests,” Aghatise quoted one Stella, a
former victim, who was rescued by an NGO, Associatione
Papa Giovanni, as having revealed. Between 1994 and 1998, about 116 Nigerian
girls are said to have died on the streets of 45-yr-old woman arrested over alleged child trafficking Nigerian Tribune, July 29, 2008 www.tribune.com.ng/29072008/news/news21.html [access date unavailable] The officer of the NSCDC in charge
of Ekiti axis, Mr. Jolayemi
Samuel, told newsmen that the suspect claimed that the 26 children were
pupils and students in However, he said some of the
children said they were being taken to A tortuous tale of human trafficking Clare Short, [accessed 13 December 2010] I asked what her problem was, and
she said it was very complicated. She then started to weep quietly, big
silent tears sliding down her cheeks. More than ten years ago, she was
offered a job in When she got to Back home, the gang that trafficked her said she must repay $45,000. She explained
that she had no money. They then burnt down her father’s house and later beat
her so badly that she spent three months in hospital. She then escaped by
coming to the Poverty, responsible for human trafficking – Imoke Leadership ( allafrica.com/stories/200805270509.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] According to her, various
researches indicate that the root cause of the phenomenon of trafficking is
poverty, ignorance, civil strife, and greed. She also said that one of the
causes identified in Human trafficking endangers Nigeria's future — Immigration John Ighodaro, Vanguard, allafrica.com/stories/200805270077.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] Speaking on the occasion of a
workshop on human trafficking convened by Nigeria Immigration Service, Cross
River State Command and the Calabar Municipal
Government, Dr. Popoola said, “Trafficking in
persons, which has received global attention in recent times, is rated the
second largest illegal and organised crime in the
world after drugs in terms of revenue earnings.” He noted that in U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, allafrica.com/stories/200805210663.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] The girls, who are from four
southern Nigerian states Edo, Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Delta, told
the officials that Osagie arranged with their
parents to take them to Libya to work as maids for US$1,272 fees each, which
they would pay in instalments from their
wages. "The work promise is a
ruse. The truth of the matter is that they were going to pay the fees from
the money they would make from prostitution in "Our investigation shows that
40 percent of trafficked girls repatriated to Philip Nyam, Leadership ( allafrica.com/stories/200803281320.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] Despite the fact that Ahmed Mohammed, Daily Trust, 8 February 2008 allafrica.com/stories/200802080545.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] The 'anti human trafficking piracy
special Investigation unit' of the FCT police command has so far rescued 105
teenagers between the ages of five to thirteen years from human traffickers,
in different places in Abuja. He said the children were
trafficked from Nassarawa, Lagos, Kano, Kwara and some villages
within the FCT to be used as sex slaves and child labourers
within the Motor Parks, Markets and restaurants in Abuja, which contravenes
section 19 of the 'Trafficking Act in Persons'. Musa disclosed further that one of the
suspects, Amina Adamu
actually confessed that she kidnapped the victims to the FCT for prostitution
as well as to be used as slaves, for her to get money. Abdullahi M. Gulloma,
Daily Trust, allafrica.com/stories/200711220512.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] The Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal, said
Tuesday that Dr. Lawal
also expressed concern that most anti-trafficking programmes
focus on trafficking for sexual exploitation, saying that the campaigns are
"too narrow in scope." "ILO estimates further
indicate that 80 percent of forced labour in the African region is for
economic exploitation and only 8 percent for commercial sexual
exploitation," he said. Atika Balal,
Daily Trust, allafrica.com/stories/200711191161.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] The phenomenon of human
trafficking in While lots of people blame poverty
or culture as a basis for human trafficking in Accused human trafficker fights extradition Andrew Hough, Reuters, uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL2522605520071025 [accessed 13 December 2010] It was part of an international
police operation that led to another 19 people being arrested in Daily Champion, allafrica.com/stories/200708160019.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] Head of National Agency for the
Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP), The victims
who are mainly teenagers, he added, engaged in prostitution overseas. 95 women arrested for alleged human trafficking The Tide Online, Aug 4, 2007 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] “These teenage girls were brought
into Lawyer jailed for human trafficking BreakingNews.ie,
26/07/2007 www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/lawyer-jailed-for-human-trafficking-320681.html [accessed 13 December 2010] He said taking all this into
account, Ilori’s crime wasn’t at the highest end of
the scale but added that "it was undoubtedly the case" that he
brought twelve Mauritian nationals into the country knowing they were
illegal. Judge Nolan said he accepted
that there was a scheme in place and said that although there were others
involved, Ilori was an actor in it and made
financial gains through it. He said
that these Mauritian nationals suffered because they paid out quite a bit of
money and left their native country believing they had work available here. Curtailing human trafficking in Ebonyi okoroamadi, July 20, 2007 www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-67320.0.html#msg1309114 [accessed 13 December 2010] The question bugging the minds of
many remains, is human trafficking on the increase in It is worthy to note that despite
the effort being made by the Federal Government to stem the rising tide of
human trafficking, the menace has not abated. Voice of www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2007-07-18-voa50-66565717.html?CFTOKEN=90141369&CFID=132078934 [accessed 13 December 2010] The Nigerian police intercepted a
truck in the country's south carrying the potential child laborers to "We have secured 12
convictions; we have not lost any case since this thing started," said Oraukwe. "We cannot let this matter go down like
that, especially when it is not just Rescued human trafficking victims go on hunger strike Nigerian Tribune, July 18, 2007 www.tribune.com.ng/18072007/news/news7.html [access date unavailable] One of the victims, Mr. Godfrey Ayima, said since they were brought in by the police,
they had not been fed or allowed to take their bath, saying they were
detained with hardened criminals and the girls made to pass the night in the
same cells with boys. Media onslaught against child trafficking Ponte, News Agency of At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] In a remote jungle of “Now the land is cursing us, and
we want to return home, but it is becoming increasingly difficult,” says one
of them, amidst sobs, through an interpreter.
These hapless children, adored in the African tradition and seen as a
great asset to the family and the community, have been trafficked internally,
becoming labourers in another man’s empire. Trafficking of African women is thriving Francois Tillinac, Independent
Online (IOL) News, May 10 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/africa/trafficking-of-african-women-is-thriving-1.352453 [accessed 13 December 2010] In January Italian police smashed
several human trafficking rings involving African and eastern European
females and netted some 800 suspects. She said young girls were lured
with fraudulent offers of jobs in Inside Cable News Network CNN, September 16, 2006 transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/16/i_if.01.html [accessed 13 December 2010] Gooday Akhimiona
is a juju or black magic priest, accused of helping traffickers by instilling
fear in human trafficking victims, mostly girls between the ages of 12 and
25. GOODAY AKHIMIONA, JUJU PRIEST: Presenting my power. If I say
something, (inaudible). PUREFOY: Victims say they're forced
through bloody and degrading juju rituals, and made to swear oaths of
secrecy. One victim, rescued by her cousin while on her way to Court jails father of five for human trafficking U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=61221 [accessed 13 December 2010] A court in the southern Nigerian
city of Human Trafficking on the Rise in Bala Muhammad Makosa
(babanjawad), OhmyNews,
2006-09-27 english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=319325&rel_no=1 [accessed 13 December 2010] Despite the effort being made by the
Nigerian government to stem the rising tide of human trafficking, the menace
has not abated. Police authorities
disclosed on Sept. 24 that two people who offered to buy a six-year-old girl
for 600,000 Nigerian naira (U.S.$4,680) were being
questioned in This disclosure followed the
arrest of six people, including a medical doctor, for alleged involvement in
the sale of children. Nigeria/West Adeze Ojukwu,
Deputy News Editor, Daily Champion ( www.stopdemand.com/afawcs0112878/ID=180/newsdetails.html [accessed 13 December 2010] With increasing incidence of
trafficking in children, particularly girls for sex and domestic work, the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that the incidence of child
labour in Nigeria for persons aged 10 to 14 years is approximately 12
million. "In the South-West, a greater
number of girls and women end up in prostitution, while in the East, the
problem affects mainly boys who find themselves
trafficking into agricultural, domestic, trading and apprenticeship
jobs," the report said. Also 60 per cent of women
trafficking victims for commercial sex in Ekemini Yemi-Ladejobi,
Daily Champion ( At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] Clara, 13, was picked up by her
aunty having agreed with her parents that she will work as a house help
somewhere in As agreed, Clara was handed over
in exchange for money, part of which was sent to her parents as salary for
two years. Soon after the deal was sealed, Clara began her journey to Child Traffickers Jailed Yinka Kolawole,
This Day, 20 July 2006 www.childright.nl/en/index2.php?navid=6&newsid=39 [accessed 13 December 2010] Eight child traffickers are
already serving jail terms ranging from three to seven years in different
prisons across the country for child trafficking offences. Head, Investigation and Monitoring Unit of
the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Mallam Mohammed Babandede, said
this in his paper at a one-day workshop on Public Awareness Campaigns and
Advocacy on Trafficking in Women and Children, organised
for Journalists in Osun, Kano
and Cross River by WOTCLEF. Babandede said women and children
trafficking are now serious offences since 2003, when NAPTIP was
established. He said 20 people are now
behind bars, while 25 cases are still on-going in various courts. State leads in child trafficking and prostitution Okon Bassey,
This Day, 9 August 2006 www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9704&flag=news [accessed 13 December 2010] 27 human trafficking victims get vocational training [access information unavailable] The girls, between the ages of five
and 16 years were among the 40 trafficked children intercepted by the Nigeria
Police in a containerized truck in May 2005 from Edati
en-route Immigration service to sensitise
Bayelsans on human trafficking The Tide News, July 24, 2006 nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=8154&z=17 [accessed 13 December 2010] The comptroller expressed dismay
over the rate at which parents and guardians in rural areas gave out their
children and wards to unsuspecting relations and other individuals to serve
as helpers. He explained that the
relations and others who took these children to the urban centres
to help them often ended up enslaving them.
“Some of the relations even sell the children out to other countries
without the consent of their parents and guardians,” he said. Jonathan tasks govt on human
trafficking Samuel Oyadongha, Vanguard, Yenagoa, 18 July 2006 allafrica.com/stories/200607180240.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] Vanguard, July 12, 2006 At one time this article had been archived and may possibly
still be accessible [here] [accessed 9 September 2011] A source close to the policeman
said that the modus operandi of most of the
prostitution rings is the same. Usually they would
approach natives of some villages near Abudu
in NASS amends Human Trafficking Law Daily africansinamericainc.org/a/p/news/news0043.html [accessed 13 December 2010] The 2003 law on human trafficking
has been amended by the National Assembly to allow for the prohibition of
domestic labour in the country. Nigerian ladies rescued from prostitution syndicate’s den
in Burkina Faso Chris Anucha and Matthew Dike,
Daily Sun, February 2, 2006 64.182.81.172/webpages/features/crimewatch/2006/feb/02/crimewatch-2-02-2006-002.htm [accessed 29 August 2011] Tony was said to have promised to
take Rita and Lovina to Story that touches the heart : Why prostitution rate is
rising Chioma Obinna,
Vanguard, December 31, 2005 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 9 September 2011] She said at the age of 16, her
aunt came from Dream of freedom turns to prostitution nightmare U.N. Integrated Regional Information
Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=57008 [accessed 9 September 2011] "Two people working in an
apparently-normal travel agency arranged my journey. But once we arrived in Trafficked Women in Catholic News Service CNS, www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2005/06/22/WORLD-5/ [accessed 13 December 2010] Women smuggled into Help Sought to Combat Brian Murphy, Associated Press AP Religion Writer, At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 9 September 2011] Maria's case illustrates one of
the least understood corners of the sex slavery underworld: gangs using the
perceived potency of native West African voodoo and hexes to hold women in
their grip. Recently, however, an unusual alliance has started fighting back. Nigerians Held For Trafficking news24.com, [accessed 13 December 2010] Human trafficking and the sale of
human body parts are rampant in WANTED: the right to refuse Maffie Black, New Internationalist 337, August
2001 www.newint.org/features/2001/08/05/wanted/ [accessed 13 December 2010] Take a look at article one of the Supplementary
Convention on Slavery and you will see as one definition: ‘Any practice
whereby a woman, without the right to refuse, is given in marriage in payment
of a consideration in money or in kind ...’ How about a story? Just one, about
Hauwa Abukar, a Nigerian
girl who died aged 12. Her family had married her to an older man to whom
they owed money. She was unhappy and kept running away, but because of the
debt her parents were obliged to return her. Finally, her husband chopped off
her legs with an axe to prevent her absconding again. She died from
starvation, shock and loss of blood. No legal action was taken. U.N. Integrated Regional
Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46202&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGERIA [accessed 9 September 2011] "While the challenge of women
and children being trafficked to Europe remains in the limelight, a big
problem is the children being used as domestic help in big cities and towns
within Children's Rescue Highlights Joe Bavier, Voice of www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2005-03-08-voa28-67524192.html [accessed 14 December 2010] It was a refrigerated truck,
normally used for shipping frozen fish, that a
police surveillance team stopped in Child Trafficking: Police Go After Victims' Parents Emma Nnadozie and Evelyn Usman, Vanguard, allafrica.com/stories/printable/200503090484.html [partially accessed 9 September 2011 - access restricted] Police in The State Police spokesman , Mr Ademola Adebayo, who took
journalists to the scene of the incident, vowed that the necessary provisions
of the law would be applied on the parents of the rescued children. James Owen for National Geographic Channel, February 10,
2005 news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0210_020510_tv_witchcraft.html [accessed 14 December 2010] In September 2001 a gruesome
discovery was made in Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 5 Civil Liberties: 4 Status:
Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2009&country=7675 [accessed 14 December 2010] Human Rights Overview Human Rights Watch [accessed 14 December 2010] Library of Congress Call Number DT515.22 .N53 1992 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ngtoc.html [accessed 14 December 2010] Container kids 'to be sold as slaves' www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-19036675_ITM [accessed 14 December 2010] Nigerian police found more than 60
children packed into a shipping container in The children were in a container
normally used for carrying fish, said police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo in Human traffickers from Nigeria The Economist, www.economist.com/node/2618421?story_id=2618421 [accessed 14 December 2010] The market in No one knows how many are shipped
out each year, but everyone in Allan Little, BBC correspondent news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3632203.stm [accessed 14 December 2010] It starts with the promise of a
better life. The parents are taken in.
The children are persuaded. When they leave home they do so willingly, with some
excitement, not trepidation. The
trafficker has promised a good job, a schooling, a
regular income. But that is not how it works out. Children in Slavery August 27, 2004 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 9 September 2011] [scroll down] [August 27, 2004] In The long road to freedom Sue MacGregor, The Independent,
April 13th, 2004 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] [scroll down] Thousands of young Nigerians are
sold into slavery every year. Sue MacGregor made a
hazardous journey to meet the victims of this brutal trade, and the
campaigners fighting against it. Each year, more than 200,000
Nigerian children are forcibly taken from their homes to be put to work. Some
go with the permission of their parents, and some do not. Many, especially
boys who may be as young as five or six, end up as household slaves far from
home, or as agricultural workers on smallholdings or in quarries, where they
break large lumps of granite with heavy iron hammers and earn little more
than a few cents a day. The dust they inhale will do them lasting damage.
Some, especially the younger ones, die as a result; others end up with
terrible scars, both physical and psychological. The girls who are taken may
end up in domestic service, but many become prostitutes, perhaps in The lost children of Jonathan Clayton in www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1055750.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 [accessed 14 December 2010] Voodoo is used to control children
sold into slavery by their parents. Rita’s eyes opened wide as she
described the voodoo ceremony intended to condemn her to a life of
prostitution. “The witch doctor took
some of my nails, and hair. He cut the heart of a chicken into small pieces
and mixed it all into a potion with a local gin brew. I had to drink it,” she
whispered. “I was so frightened. I knew death would come if I betrayed the
oath.” Rita, then 15, was told that
she must never run away from her “sponsors” or go to the police. “If I did,
the Gods would take advantage of me, or my parents,” she said. Her mother had taken Rita to the
ceremony. After paying for her daughter to be taken to Slavery fears for 'lost' children Matthew Chapman, BBC Radio Five Live, 15 February 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3489935.stm [accessed 14 December 2010] There are fears that large numbers
of children may be trafficked into Campaigners fear thousands of children are being
used as domestic slaves after being brought into 'AUNTS' AND 'UNCLES' - The vast majority of the
children were from Scale of African slavery revealed BBC News, 23 April 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652021.stm [accessed 14 December 2010] The report, which covers 53
African nations, says children are the biggest victims in what is a very
complex phenomenon. It describes how
they are forced into slavery, recruited as child soldiers or sold into
prostitution. And the trade is often in both
directions. COMPLICITY - Much of this trade in children
often has the tacit collaboration of the victims' own families where it is
seen not so much as criminal activity but as a way for a large family to
boost its poor income. Slavery abounds, U.N. 'remembers' From Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin,
WorldNetDaily, January 19, 2004 www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36657 [accessed 14 December 2010] The book also contains interviews
with Arab slave traders, who sustain that the sharia
(Islamic law) authorizes them to enslave children and relatives of men with
whom they are at war. They state that they sell slaves to Arabs in other
countries. Despite concerted efforts by the
Women Trafficking and Child Labor Eradication Foundation to curb the growth
of traffic in persons, it continues to boom with large numbers of victims and
suspects deported to Child slaves rescued from The Associated Press AP, September 27, 2003 www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/child-slaves-rescued-nigeria [accessed 9 September 2011] On this date in 2003 116 Black African
boys were rescued from a slave labor camp in This initial intervention stemmed
from increased international attention to child labor. The attention includes
boycott threats of 120 child workers repatriated to U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, 15 Oct
2003 www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=46718 [accessed 14 December 2010] This was the second batch of child
workers to be repatriated from Child labor on cocoa farms 'tip of the iceberg' Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org/en/news/2003/04/01/west-africa-stop-trafficking-child-labor [accessed 14 December 2010] Young Togolese boys told Human
Rights Watch they could not afford to pay school fees and so agreed to do
agricultural work in Life Sentence for Human Traffickers Toye Olori,
Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19418 [accessed 14 December 2010] More than 45,000 Nigerians are
transported to Child Labour Persists Around The World: More Than 13
Percent Of Children 10-14 Are Employed International Labour Organisation (ILO) News, www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/news/WCMS_008058/lang--en/index.htm [accessed 9 September 2011] "Today's child worker will be
tomorrow's uneducated and untrained adult, forever trapped in grinding
poverty. No effort should be spared to break that vicious circle", says
ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne. Among the countries with a high
percentage of their children from 10-14 years in the work force are: Mali,
54.5 percent; Burkina Faso, 51; Niger and Uganda, both 45; Kenya, 41.3;
Senegal, 31.4; Bangladesh, 30.1; Nigeria,
25.8; Haiti, 25; Turkey, 24; Côte d'Ivoire, 20.5; Pakistan, 17.7; Brazil,
16.1; India, 14.4; China, 11.6; and Egypt, 11.2. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
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Human Trafficking in [Nigeria Street Children in [Nigeria] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Nigeria] [other countries]