Women

Nigeria is a major recruitment, transit and destination center for the trafficking of women and young girls in West Africa. However, it is only recently that the problem has attracted serious public concern. Every year, thousands of Nigerian women and girls are forcibly engaged in prostitution and sexual slavery as a result of trafficking. WOCON has been working on protecting the rights and the welfare of these women since 1997 and has also played a prominent role in increasing public awareness on the issue.

Promises of Greener Pastures

The young girls are recruited mainly from Edo and Delta States and are trafficked mainly to European countries, especially Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. Traffickers easily lure them away from their homes with promises of employment, vocational training and above all, the opportunity to travel abroad: travel to Europe or other Western countries means the potential of earning foreign currency, which is highly valuable, especially now with the devaluation of the Naira and the increase in the poverty level. On the other hand, some traffickers use the pretext of performing the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, an important Islamic injunction, in order to attract Muslim women who are then trafficked to Saudi Arabia.
 

Many traffickers require the women to undergo oaths of secrecy in an attempt to prey on local superstitious beliefs and to further insure that the girls will not abscond or fail to repay. It forbids them from revealing the identity of the sponsors and nature of the transaction. It also binds them emotionally into compliance with the agreed terms and conditions. The girls are usually taken to local shrines where oaths of secrecy and traditional rituals are administered on them. The victim’s body parts like pubic hairs; blood, fingernails and personal items such as pants are collected and used for the oath taking rituals.  Oath taking ritual has a multi-purpose effect on the victims, some of which are “to instill fear of terrible reprisals such as death or madness if the oaths are broken by the victim;” “to attract customers for the victims” and “to protect the trafficked victims against HIV/AIDS diseases.”

The Harsh Reality

However, on getting to their destination, the trafficked women quickly discover that the promised jobs are non-existent, and that the entire arrangement was just part of an elaborate scheme to trap them in a foreign land. Their personal belongings, including travel documents and all other forms of identification, are confiscated and they are forced into prostitution and repayment bonds of amounts raging between $30000 and $50000 U.S. Dollars. This repayment schedule sometimes compels them to engage in unprotected sex with up to 10-20 partners in a day. An average repayment lasts from 3-5 years, but some victims, especially those trafficked to Saudi Arabia never recover freedom from the bondage. The "Madams" may terminate the transaction prematurely to her benefit by alerting the European Authorities that the victim is an illegal immigrant, if the victims fall ill or contracts HIV/AIDS, or if the victim has almost completed the repayment schedule. In addition, the trafficked victims are subjected to physical abuse resulting in serious bodily harm or death by their trafficking Madams. Between the 1994 and 1998 about 116 Nigerian Prostitutes were reported dead in Italy from the hands of their customers or through their Madams.

 

Tackling the Problem
The victims of trafficking in women are usually transported across the Nigerian borders by road into neighbouring countries from where they are taken to their final destinations. This movement is facilitated by the Economic Council of West African States (ECOWAS), which facilitates free movements within the West African countries. However, with the increasing global concern, traffickers now use different routes and have developed intricate structures and processes in order to avoid detection. Some are taken by road through African countries such as Burkina Faso or Mali where they are issued new passports to assume other nationalities. The women are usually transported under inhuman conditions.