FIDA Nigeria Press Release on World Day Against Human Trafficking 2019

FIDA Nigeria lends her voice to mark the World Day Against Human Trafficking 2019. Today serves as a prime opportunity to draw the attention of the world at large and especially Nigerians to the menace of human trafficking. It is impossible for you not to have heard the stories about the young children that are sent from their villages to live and work with their relatives and strangers in town, or the young woman that is smuggled into a foreign country in hopes of a better life, only to find out that she will have to spend the rest of her days paying for the price with her private parts. All too often the stories end like that of little ‘Ochanya’, sorrow, pain, exploitation, abuse and sometimes death.

FIDA Nigeria is definitely no stranger to these stories, we have handled too many cases and as an organisation with a mandate to promote, protect and preserve the rights of women in Nigeria, we loudly lend our voice to call on all to act against human trafficking. The UNODC reports that 70% of human trafficking victims are women and girls and that 30% of human trafficking victims are children, of this, 23% are girls and 7% are boys. The exploitation of human beings is an abhorrent crime that humanity has sought to abolish since the days of the slave trade. Various international conventions, of which Nigeria is a signatory, guarantee the freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment and the freedom from trafficking and exploitation.

Article 3, paragraph (a) of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the ‘recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.’ In Nigeria, human trafficking is specifically criminalised under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003. Despite these provisions, human trafficking remains the second most lucrative form of organised crime in the world and the worst part is that human trafficking is a dynamic crime that often results in other crimes. For instance, if a child is trafficked and forced into a marriage, the trafficking is a crime and the forced marriage is a crime.

This year, the UN has chosen to use the day to encourage all to call government to action. FIDA Nigeria joins this move and calls the Nigerian government to action, to put greater protective and security measures in place to curtail the crime of human trafficking. State borders and national borders need to be better regulated to ensure that humans are not subject to illegal transportation and exploitation.

FIDA Nigeria however, goes a step further to call all Nigerian citizens to action. The truth is that there would be no supply if there was no demand. We all have a role to play in identifying victims and not using their services. Next time you want to get a ‘cheaper’ house help from the village, think about it and ensure that no one will be exploited in the process. It’s not just a global problem or a national problem, it is a local problem and so we all need to be conscious about the role we play.

FIDA Nigeria will continue to do all it can to fight against human trafficking and we will continue to partner with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to ensure that women and children can live in a society free from exploitation and abuse.

FIDA NIGERIA stands against all forms of trafficking humans, let’s put an end to it.

Every human being matters, respect their dignity.

Rhoda Prevail Tyoden
Country Vice President/National President
Fida Nigeria

Eliana martins
National publicity secretary
Fida nigeria