Introduction
It takes a collective effort to fight theevil of human trafficking. In 2022 through 2023 JDPC Ibadan in collaborationwith the Religious Sisters of Charity, we lunched a project on awarenesscampaign against human trafficking in Oyo State. The Mesean Cara sponsored theproject.
The awareness campaign took place in 11 outof the 33 Local Government Areas in Oyo State. Till date, we are not resting onour oars on the fight against human trafficking because many of our brothersand sisters are still in captivity!
The project on human trafficking wasconducted in IbarapaNorth, Ibarapa Central, Lagelu, Akinyele, Oluyole, Ona-Ara, Ibadan South East,Ibadan North, Atisbo, Saki West And Ogbomoso North)
Consultative Visits
Consultative Visits to 21 key stake holders; traditional leaders, community leaders, religious leaders, traders, artisans, park managers, okada riders, youth, women leaders, the executives of the people living with disability and market leaders.
Consultative Visits to 9 relevant agencies; Women Affairs, NAPTIP, Nigerian Police, Ministryof Education, SUBEB, Nigeria Immigration Services, National Human Rights Commission, NSCDC and TESCOM.
Advocacy Visits to 48 stakeholdersacross the 11 LGAs and agencies including Olubadan of Ibadan
Training of Trainers (TOT) for 383 conductedin 6 batches key representatives of the LGAs
Step-Down Training Done By TOT:
Out of the 383 participants trained from the 11 LGA including women and peopleliving with disability, 286 participants stepped down the training across the 11 LGAs in churches, mosques, marketplaces, schools
Market Rallies:
in 8 market rallies in 8major markets in the Target areas. They include;
· Saki West market with over 50 TOT participantsof the TOT took part in the rally.
· Bodija market and Oja Oba market over 60 participants
· Ojo market with over 40 participants
· Igboora main market with 52 among others
Consultative Meeting with stakeholders, community leaders, traders, artisans, park managers, okada riders, youth, women leaders and the executives of the people living with disability and market leaders.
Awareness Creation in 63 (both in2024) Schools to student and pupils reached in secondary and primary schools, 53 schools in all 40, Awareness Creation in Schools, churches, mosques, market places etc. reached over 20,000
Radio Programs:
· Radioads: over 1,500 times within 200 slots on Splash FM radio, Ibadan
· Jingles:3 jingles, in three different languages
· Radiodrama: 13 episodes, with
· Phone-inradio program: 13 weeks; with ongoing with
Reported Cases:
· Totalcases thus far: 20
· Humantrafficking related: 16
· Casesof abuses: 3
Prevented Cases:
· 7 prevented cases by our TOT in Saki West and Atisbo Local Government areas in collaboration with the Police.
Rescue cases:
· Caseof two siblings moved to Ibadan from Taraba State
· Caseof a woman dumbed in a nearby bush in Igboora, discovered by the Amatekunpersonnels and handed over to the king of Igboora through one of our traineesin Igboora. Currently undergoing psychosocial support.
Introduction
Human Trafficking is a menace to the sanctity of human life. It is evil in all ramifications because it negates the purpose of God’s creation of the human person. Sadly, Human Trafficking maims and destroys life on daily basis.
The social reality of this evil and crime against humanity prompted the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan to conduct research on Human Trafficking in Oyo State between 2021 and 2022.
KEY FINDINGS FROM OUR SURVEY ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN OYO STATE IN 2022
o There is high prevalenceof human trafficking in Oyo state, the hub area being Ibadan and Oke Ogunareas.
o The cases of Human Trafficking are poorly or under reported. Also, lackof good reporting system, communication gap, etc.
o Majority of thosetrafficked are womenand children. Sadly, majority of the traffickers are also women.
o The generalfeelings among the populace towards Human Trafficking victims are that ofindifference, nonchalance, blaming, etc.
o Many people are aware ofthe consequences of Human Trafficking on individual persons but cannot easilyrelate it to how it affects individuals and the people collectively in thesociety.
o There is an urgent needto tackle the causes of poverty, economic hardship and unemployment, which hasleft the people of Oyo state vulnerable to Human Trafficking.
o There are limitedintervention plans for victims especially from government agencies, and evenfrom community, traditional and religious groups.
o Many people are ignorantof the existing laws on Human Trafficking and there is also poor implementationof the laws.
o 81% of the respondentswere of the opinion that ignorance of the issues of Human Trafficking was amajor challenge in the fight against Human Trafficking.
OURINTERVENTIONS so far.
· Focus areas: 11 LocalGovernment Areas in Oyo State - Ibarapa North,Ibarapa Central, Lagelu, Akinyele, Oluyole, Ona Ara, Ibadan South East, IbadanNorth, Atisbo, Saki West and Ogbomosho North.
· Held 21 Advocacy and ConsultativeVisits to traditional, religious and community leaders in the 11 LGAs.
· Organized 6 Training of Trainers (TOT) with383 participants from across the 11 Local Government Areas. Women and Peopleliving with Disability in attendance.
· Organized PublicEligntehment Rallies in 9 Major Markets inthe focused government areas: Adabo MainMarket in Saki West, Bodija Market in Ibadan North; Oja-Oba Market in IbadanSouth East, Ojoo Market in Akinyele, Igbo-Ora Market in Ibarapa Central,Oja-Jagun, Oja-Igbo, Old-Waso Markets in Ogbomoso North and Arada Market inOgbomosho South.
· Conducted awareness campaigns in 53 schools,reaching 40,661 people including teachers, students and pupils.
· Producedradio jingles (in English, Yoruba and Pidgin) and aired 1,500slots spread over8 Radio stations in Oyo state.
· Currentlyairing a 13-week editions of Phone-in Radio programme / Drama on FederalRadio Cooperation of Nigeria Ibadan (covering South West except Lagos andLagelu FM Ibadan on Mondays and Tuesdays respectively).
OUTCOMES/ A true life story
28 reported cases of human trafficking
Rescued 3 victims
On June 20 2023, one of our trainees from Ibarapa area informed us of Funmi, avictim, of Human Trafficking who was dumped in their area. Funmi was traffickedby her friend to Dubai in November 2022 for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation/slavery. Before leaving Nigeria, she was made to swear an oathwith several incisions made on her body during which she was made to swearallegiance of absolute obedience to her end-users. She recounted her ordeal ofhow she was consistently drugged while being rapped countless times, leading toseveral abortions, including an abortion of a set of twins.
§ Shedeveloped psychosis; with several incidences of mental breakdown whicheventually led her traffickers to deport her back to Nigeria in February 2023.
§ Whenthe news of the incidence reached one of our trainees, she intervened and tookFunmi to the king’s palace and then contacted us. We linked Funmi with a memberof Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON). She is impressively improvingand will be given economic empowerment as soon as she is more stable.
§ Funmiis one of numerous victims of such fate. Indeed, every stakeholder needs tocome on board, the government and families, religious and educationalinstitutions must get involved to salvage humanity from the bane of humantraffickers.
OurKey working Partners
§ Ministryof Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Oyo State
§ NigeriaImmigration Services
§ NationAgency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NATIP)
§ NationalHuman Right Commission
§ Ministryof Education, Science and Technology, Oyo state
§ CounsellingAssociation of Nigeria (CASSON)
§ Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)
§ MuslimGroups
§ ChristianAssociation of Nigeria (CAN)
NOTE:Report any case or signs of Human Trafficking to any of the above agencies/
What you must know about Human Trafficking.
§ Who is a TRAFFICKER?
Trafficker is anyone involved inthe movement of persons by means of deception, physical or psychologicalcoercion for the purpose of exploitation in order to obtain an economic gain orother profit. They are can be found everywhere AND IT CAN BE ANY OF YOUR FAMILYMEMBERS OR RELATIVES!
§ Who is a victim?
Anyonewho has been exposed to the exploitations of the human traffickers
§ Elements of HumanTrafficking – M.A.P
The MEANS of Human Trafficking - refers to how the movement isachievedsuch as the use of deception; abduction; fraud; threat; sometimes oat taking;intimidation; force; secrecy; withdrawal of one’s fundamental human right,especially that of freedom of movement; abuse of power or taking advantage ofthe vulnerables; etc.
The ACT entails illegalMovement of a person including recruitment (one on one,online, etc), illegal transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt ofpersons.
ThePURPOSE of Human Trafficking is the motive-behind the ACT such as economic gain, sexual exploitation, forced labour orservices, practices similar to slavery, servitude, removal of organ(s) and debtbondage.
Consequences of HumanTrafficking
Ø On the Victims
a. Exposure to various health risks/diseases: Infections from sexual exploitation and hazardous working conditions.e,g. STDs such as Gonorrhea HIV/AIDS.
b. Physical deformation: exposure of victimsto various physical abuses, including bruises, scares, loss of eye or damage ofany part of the body
c. Stigmatization and suicidal urges.
d. Identity crises.
e. Most victims of HT are traumatized: mostvictims live in fear, suffer from insomnia, anxiety, PTSD, even mental healthissues.
f. Lack of trust.
g. Victimization
h. It leads to the death of some victims.
Ø On the Victims Family andSociety
a. Conflictand confusion in the family
b. Despair:e.g. resulting from:
· notbeing able to reach a family member;
· feelingof disappointment of not achieving supposed greener pasture;
· betrayalfrom a trusted one (sometimes close friends and family members); and
· thehope of getting out of poverty being aborted.
c. It candiversify into other crimes like; drug trafficking, smuggling of ammunitions,etc.
d. It cancause increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
e. It canlead to insecurity and social breakdown and exclusion.
f. It canlead to loss of human capital for economic development.
g. Victimsof Human Trafficking who do not get proper assistance can become vengeful andalso become traffickers.
§ Laws Prohibiting HumanTrafficking in Nigeria?
a. Traffickingin Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 asamended (Act No. 4 of 2015).
b. TheChild Rights Act 2003
c. ChapterIV (6), Section 34 of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution as amended.
§ Questions to ask in orderto ascertain if people were victims of Human Trafficking
· Were they promisedpayment? Did they have the ability to access the payment or is someonecollecting the money on their behalf? Are they denied their money?
· What was the nature orconditions of the job? Was the job condition different to the expected orpromised?
· How were they made tofeel scared or unsafe at the workplace?
· Were they tricked orforced to do something they did not want to do?
§ Interview process ofvictims (watch out for the three elements of Human Trafficking)
· Indicate the purpose ofthe interview.
· Ask the individual ifthey agree to participate in the interview or not.
· Assure the victims thatinformation shared will be kept strictly confidential.
· Give them a listening earusing all the skills of active listening.
· Tell the individuals thatthey can take time to answer questions and may take a break at any time ifnecessary.
· Explain that the moreinformation that can be provided, the better you may be able to help.
· Explain that if you arenot able to provide assistance, you will try to help and identify someone whocan.
· Establish a rapport.
· Ascertain that theindividual has clearly understood all of what has been explained
· Ask the individual ifthey have any questions at this stage
§ Individual Actionsagainst Human Trafficking
o Learnthe facts about human trafficking
o Bealert to the signs of human trafficking
o Reportcases, even sign(s) of human traffickers
o Supportsurvivors
o Networkwith individuals, groups, human rights organisation and relevant governmentministries and agencies
o Useyour social media platforms to raise awareness about human trafficking, usingthe following hashtags: #endtrafficking, #freedomfirst.
o Takecare of home
o Be contented with what you have
