index of 2005 conference papers

HUMAN TRAFFICKING: The Nigerian Woman an Endangered Species

Halima Oyagbola

For as long as there have been people there has been migration. People have always sought to move to better their lot. Many people have willingly sought new lives many have had little option when faced with violence, terror or economic doom to seek a new life.

For a large number of people somewhere else looks better. It is said that if you live in Somalia , Egypt looks pretty good. If you live in Egypt , Greece looks pretty good. If you live in Greece, Belgium looks pretty good. If you live in Belgium , Canada looks pretty good.

Of course, not everybody thinks this way, but for many, the grass is greener elsewhere, and a significant political challenge for most countries is to run an immigration programme that meets that country’s objective and allows that country sovereignty over an important set of decisions the ability to choose who may not enter and the right to maintain the integrity of the immigration programme.

The International Organisation for Migration estimates that there are in the order of 100 million migrants worldwide. Of these, about 20 million are “undocumented migrants”. It estimates that of these about 4 million are smuggled or trafficked, according to definition used by IOM, and this generate revenue of 5 – 7 billion.

Undocumented migration involves person entering a country that is not their country of origin, without proper authority. When migrants are assisted in this process by a third party or parties, it is generally referred to as smuggling or trafficking. There are various definitions of these terms. United Nations in the Global Programme Against Trafficking in Human Beings defined smuggling as the procurement of illegal entry of a person into a state of which the latter person is not a national with objective of making profit, while Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation or receipt of persons through deception or coercion for the purposes of prostitution, other sexual exploitation or forced labour (UN 1999, 3).

In 1994, the United Nation General Assembly defined human trafficking as the “Illicit and Clandestine movement of persons across national and international borders, largely from developing countries and some countries in transition with the end goal of forcing woman, girl and children into sexually or economically oppressive and exploitative situations for the profit of recruiters, traffickers, crime syndicates, as well as other illegal activities related to trafficking, such as forced domestic labour”.

Smuggling is clearly concerned with the manner in which a person enters a country, and with the involvement of third parties who assist term to achieve entry.

Trafficking is a more complicated concept, in that if requires consideration not only of the manner in which a migrant entered the country but also their working conditions and whether the migrant consented to the irregular entry and or the working conditions. Trafficking and more voluntary forms of undocumented migration are best thought as a continuum with room for considerable variation between the extremes. It is frequently difficult to establish whether there were elements of deception and/or coercion, and whether these were sufficient to elevate the situation from one voluntary undocumented migration, to trafficking.

The International Organisation for Migration has noted that the issue of voluntariness is complicated by the realities of poverty and political upheaval. The IOM notes that:

…. In many instances, trafficked migrants are lured by false promises, misled by misinformation concerning migration regulations or driven by economic despair or large-scale violence. In such cases, the migrant’s freedom of choice is so seriously impaired that the “Voluntariness” of the transaction must be questioned (IOM 1997, 2).

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN WEST AFRICA NIGERIA INCLUSIVE

Introduction and Background

As at the time of the Beijing Conference in 1995 the issue of human trafficking was not regarded as an issue of concern for Africans. It was a problem considered as that of the Asians and Latin American people. The unfolding events since the almost ten years after Beijing have proved otherwise to show that human trafficking is ripe in the continent and that most West African Countries have been found to be source, transit and destination country for the crime of human trafficking.

The incidents of trafficking in women and children in West Africa date as far back as the 60s. However, the significant public recognition and focus on the issue only came since the mid 90s. Although there are no exact figures and data on the number of trafficked victims there are indicators to show that the trend is assuming an alarming rate in the sub region. One of such indicators is the growing population of women and children particularly children in West African City centers and European countries as a result of urban migration and illegal trans-border migration coupled with exploitative labour.

Records show that over 400,000 children work in Benin and approximately 625,000 children from Cote D’ivore are in the labour force. Most of the children are under the age of 15years. In Nigeria for example according to an ILO estimate over twelve (12) million children are engaged in child labour and from WOCON’s experience in executing projects for the elimination of children labour it has found that a large percentage of there children in the labour force are trafficked victims.

TREND AND FORMS OF TRAFFICKING IN WEST AFRICA

There is abundant evidence that internal and external forms of trafficking is going on in the West African sub region. Internal trafficking is the forms of trafficking that takes place within the country borders especially from the rural to the urban centers, while the external is that which involves the trafficking of persons from their home countries to other countries.

Millions of women and children have been trafficked from the rural communities to the cities and from their countries to neighbouring West and Central Africa , Europe and the Middle East are subjected to exploitative labour, some of which are the children victim of the worst forms of labour in negation of ILO convention 182.

The West African sub region appears to provide a fertile environment for the scourge of human trafficking for social and economic factors. The countries of the sub-region operate essentially agrarian economy with some few mineral resources and have been assessed as very poor with an average per capital income below $500.

Thus, traffickers have bastardized age-old cultural practices of fostering to suit their illicit business. Traffickers have capitalized upon, for example the culture of the extended family system where poor family members send their children to rich family members to be cared for and educated by the rich family members in the cities which in essence was to break the cycle of poverty in the family. Over the years the children who are fostered to their rich relatives are no longer cared for but rather placed in various forms of labour or used as domestic servants.

Children are not the only victims of human trafficking in the sub-region. Women also constitute a large percentage of trafficked victims while there are recent revelations that men are also falling victims of this heinous crime. As source countries West African Women and children predominantly from Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana are trafficked to each other and to other countries such as Gabon, Cameroon, Cote D’ivoire, Burkina Faso, Fernandopo Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorials Guinea (West and Central Africa sub region to Libya, Algeria (North Africa) Middle East especially Saudi Arabia and to European Countries notably, Italy, Spain, Germany and United Kingdom.

As destination countries the West Africa Countries receive trafficked victims from each other as for example women and children are trafficked from neighbouring countries of Benin , Togo and Ghana to Nigeria , Gabon and Cote D’ivoire .

As transit countries in the sub region use some of these West African Countries such as Nigeria , Benin and Togo as transit to Central Africa , Middle East and Europe .

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES EXPERIENCED BY TRAFFICKED VICTIMS

In order to discuss the efforts at protecting trafficked victims, it is important to highlight some of the human rights abuses suffered by victims. It is pertinent to note that these women and children are the most vulnerable to being trafficked, thus putting a gender dimension to the issue.

Most victims are deceived, coerced or through deceit cajoled to leaving their destination with the traffickers or their agents with the hope of better opportunities or their educational or economic empowerment.

These victims are trafficked for domestic work farm labour and commercial sexual exploitation to mention a few. At their destination, they are treated in slave with their movements curtailed and placed under some form of bondage. The situation is far worse for trafficked children who are usually not part of the decision relating to the transaction to traffic them. The victims are forced into traffickers with heavy repayment bondage.

For example the victims forced into prostitution in Europe and Middle East is forced into repayment bonds of amounts ranging between $200,000 - $500,000 U. S. Dollars.

In a report in the African Women Journal by Alex Matua a dismal picture is also painted of the plight of trafficked victims for prostitution. The report says:

“The international sex industry is a multi-billion dollar industry but trafficked women are not the real beneficiaries. African Women lured into the sex trade in Europe and the Middle East with very little of the money they earn. Many of them have to spend much of the little money they get for drugs. Some reportedly live before reaching their destinations.

Usually when they arrive in the country of destination their travel documents are confiscated so that they cannot escape. They have to pay up to us $50,000 redemption fee to liberate themselves.

Although statistics on the number of Nigerians involved in Women Trafficking vary widely, it was reported by the Nigerian Police Force and the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) that between March 1999 and April 2000 about 1126 women trafficked out of the country were deported from various countries. This figure excludes dead, the maimed, and those that sneaked into the country. It also does not include hundreds stranded in the streets of Europe and Asia . Further statistics released by WOTLEF, put the figure of trafficked Nigerian women deported at December 2001 at about 5000.

WOTCLEF, which was founded by Amina Titi Abubakar, wife of Nigeria ’s Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, estimates that “an average of 4 Nigerian girls are deported every month”. The effect of human trafficking especially on the victims is better told than experienced. An interview with one of such victims revealed that in Italy Nigerian women forced into prostitution are compelled to have sex with anything from four to twelve men in a day. Put crudely these women, unlike drugs that are used once only, can be used repeatedly before they are ultimately discarded.

For traffickers, the profits are too low, to resist the trade, and the penalties too low, to resist the trade. Many of the women arrested and repatriated were trafficked mainly to Italy , Belgium , Holland and France . Others were known to have moved to the Arab world and the far East in search of greener pastures but were eventually lured into prostitution. At a March, 2002 seminar organized in Lagos by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) WOTCLEF reported that there are about 20,000 Nigerian women involved in the sex industry in Italy . The Daily Champion of 12 July, 2002 reported that 80% of foreign prostitutes in Italy were Nigerian women. (One question many Nigerians ask is why trafficked women manage to find their way to Italy when under normal circumstances; it is very difficult for the average Nigerian to obtain a visa to travel to Italy ). Information available revealed that most of the trafficked girls were from Edo , Delta and Lagos States with an average age range between 15 and 35 years. It should be noted that this is normally a highly productive in terms of economic and social labour (like motherly) age range in all societies.

In one revealing instance, 12 prominent businessmen suspected of trafficking 13 Nigerian women for prostitution abroad were intercepted at Nigeria ’s Seme border with Benin. Further investigations revealed that 500 of such women were practicing prostitution in Bamako , Male, while more than 500 others were hawking their bodies in Burkina Faso . Those behind this trade trick the young women into traveling outside the country with promises of lucrative jobs in Europe . Once they leave their leaders compel them to into prostitution, ostensibly to fund their journey to Europe . Many of these women never get to the promised destination but are usually abandoned midway.

A report of the International Organisation for Migration noted that in many cases traffickers seize their victims’ travel documents and sell the women to brothel owners. The victims are then told that to recover their document they would have to repay the cost of their transportation and subsistence. Failed escape attempt is usually end in severe confinement and physical assault, and families of those who succeed in running away can be threatened with violence. Because these women are isolated and cannot speak the local languages they are usually vulnerable to abuse.

Moreover, Nigerian traffickers have devised insidious means of carrying out the dangerous trade by one of which is to flood the holy lands of Mecca and the Vatican city of Rome with trafficked victims under the guise of religious pilgrimage.

Reports from the just concluded Hajj and Umrah operation indicated increased trafficking activities under the cover of pilgrimage. For instance the records show that over 1000 Nigerians were deported from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia between January and March 2004 for trafficking offences. Among the deportees were over 370 minors between the ages of 8 to 14 years according to NAPTIP – National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in persons. The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Mrs. Carol Nduguba said that this was because the routes to Italy , Spain and Belgium had become more difficult for the criminals. Nduguba disclosed that in April 2004, 386 Nigerians were deported from Saudi Arabia Including 9 traffickers who she promised would be charged to court under the Nigerian law.

Unfortunately, law enforcement agents in whom women should place their trust do not make things any easier. Sometimes, law enforcement officers become part of the syndicate. In Bosnia , Human Rights Watch found evidence of Visa and immigration officials visiting brothels for free sexual services in exchange for ignoring the doctored documents produced by traffickers to facilitate transport through the country. In 2001 a former police officer and 50 other Nigerians were arrested in Conakry by Guinean authorities.

According to the Nigerian ambassador to Guinea , Abdulkabir Sani, of the 51 detainees, 33 were young women between the ages of 18 and 20, while 17 others were men suspected of being behind the trafficking of the girls. The report disclosed that 95 percent of those being held were from Benin , Edo State and that the former police command. Fake Guinean passport booklets, fake flight tickets, and American dollars were recovered with the 17 suspected traffickers. The human trafficking unit of the Nigerian Immigration services identified some countries as what may be termed consumers of human trafficking. These include Italy , Saudi Arabia , Gabon Macedonia and India . Whilst the link between procurers of victims within Nigeria and their external collaborators has not been properly established, it has been revealed that the Nigerian police, instead of counseling and enhancing the rehabilitation of the victims further aggravate the predicament of these women by subjecting them to persecution and extortion while they are in holding cells. This development can only be counter productive to the effort at curbing this crime against humanity. These point to the fact that some collasion exists between the traffickers and certain government agencies; how else could the women have successfully traversed the various borders without being detected. The volume of human trafficking correlates, I would suggest, with the level of corruption in the agencies that directly deal with immigration and organized crime.

Trafficking in women for prostitution is a strange issue in that it is both huge and growing and underground and invisible. In that it has many similarities to issues like domestic and sexual violence, but it is different in that it is not simply a global issue in terms of affecting many women from all over the world, but in that it also moves women around the world. It has all the hidden-ness of a ‘domestic’ issue, with the complexities of a cross-border, international one. Trafficking for prostitution is clearly a money maker particularly, but not only for organized crime.

EFFORTS AT COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Besides global interventions, both Nigerian NGOs and the government are involved in efforts to combat human trafficking. Worthy of mention amongst others are the National Council of woman Societies (NCWS), FIDA, and WOTCLEF. The activities of the NGOs, especially WOTCLEF, go a long way in exposing the dimensions of this trade in Nigeria and bringing succor to many of the victims. Also worthy of note is the government’s interest in fighting corruption on all fronts. However, it seems Nigeria ’s laws cannot effectively control corruption for the simple reason that they were not designed for the kind of societies existing now. There are problems with the adversarial criminal justice system not the least of which are its technicalities and inadequate enforcement agencies.

For the Government, tackling human trafficking means engaging corruption directly. Drawing inspiration from the Corrupt Practices and Economic Crime Draft Decree of 1990, the Obasanjo Government has put in place the legal framework encapsulated in the corrupt practices and other Related Offences Act, 2000, signed into law on June 13, 2000 . This bill seeks to prohibit and prescribe punishment for the hydra-headed problem of corrupt practices and related offences. To this end, the Act establishes an independent Corrupt practices and other Relate Offences Commission (ICPC). The effort of the Obasanjo Government in tackling corruption, though not very satisfactory, should be recognized. Already stolen funds totaling about N 84 billion as at 2001, had so far been recover from the family of the late head of state, Sani Abacha, and returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria . This was part of the monies stolen and stashed away in foreign bank accounts by Abacha and his family members. According to the Obasanjo administration, the recovered monies will be channeled towards the funding of development project.

It is widely believed that the present anti-corruption law, being a federal legislature, has positioned government in a better position to confront corruption generally. Keen observation also shows that most common forms of corruption are criminal offences. Problem associated with undue technicalities and unnecessary delays during regular trials of corruption crime are now largely eliminated because the new law stipulates that trial must be concluded within 90 working days. The new law provide for the seizure of movable and immovable property suspected to have been acquire through corrupt means forfeiture of same following conviction. The legal framework for preventing corruption is quite adequate in its objectives, whether it will achieve its aim will, however, depend on other variables. Since a realistic way to combat corruption is to reduce or eliminate opportunities for corrupt practices, one could take the risk at this juncture to say that the political will is there on the part of the government. The only way the government can convince the people of its seriousness about fighting corruption is to enforce the law in instances where corruption has been clearly established. Unfortunately, it cannot be said that the government has done this.

From the civil societies, WOTCLEF initiated an “anti-trafficking bill drafting committee” in June 2000. The committee has drafted a bill that, if passed into law, will help harmonize the existing laws, prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers, and protect the trafficked. The bill is still before the National Assembly. The foundation has also been in the forefront of advocacy aimed at education the Nigeria public, especially vulnerable groups, about the extent of this problem and the need to check its continued rise. It has so far visited eleven state in the country and established vanguards/clubs secondary schools and institutions of higher education.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

By and large, we have seen that any effort at addressing the problem of human trafficking would just have to revisit the issue of corruption in high and low places especially in Government bureaucracy and other relevant agencies. Personnel of these agencies have to be made to understand the implication of their action and inaction on issue pertaining to trafficking in women and children. Quite often, we forget that corruption in the public sector is in fact induced by private sector corruption. There is a need to address corruption in both the private and public sectors.

Set below are some useful ways of tackling corruption and human trafficking:

• Incorporation human rights and development perspectives into anti-corruption work.
• Enacting a comprehensive law that will cover most aspects of human trafficking, specify severe punishment for traffickers, rehabilitate victims, and give law enforcement officers adequate investigate tools.
• Increasing security at border posts, and adequately equipping law enforcement agencies to check the schemes of trafficking.
• Capacity building at all levels for the eradication of human trafficking.
• Public enlightenment through regular workshops, seminars, conferences, and through print and electronic media. Schools religious bodies, traditional institution, and the family should be sensitized on the evils of this abominable trade.
• Education and some form of employment for the teeming youths.
• Discouraging excessive materialism and the culture of ‘get rich quick’.
• Ensuring proper coordination of efforts between the police and other state security services.

In short, combating human trafficking should be located within the larger context of underlying social and economic problems. Efforts aimed at remedying the low status of women - particularly the –poverty, anti-corruption framework at national and global levels.

BIBILOGRAPHY

Ayua, 1. (ed.): Proceeding of the National Conference on the problems of

Corruption in Nigeria , 26-29March 2001, Abuja .

Daily Times, 14 June 2001 .

Daily Champion, 5 April,2001 .

Ebirim, Innocent. “Human being trafficking: Economic implications”, New Nigerian,

25 February2002

Ike Benjamin. “The corruption practices and other Related Offences Act”, 2000, New

Nigerian , 15 September, 2000 .

International center for Economic Growth, Information Brief 6, Causes and effects of

Corruption, Nairobi , 1999.

Lyday, Corbin B. The Shadow Market in Human Beings: An Anti-Corruption

perspective. Paper Presented at Transparency international’ October 7-11, 2001 .

Odunuga, Yomi. “Ex-police Chief, 50 others arrested for human trafficking” punch,

August, 2001, p.3.