An Evaluation of Human Trafficking Among Our Youth in the Society
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The report will be directed towards achieving the following objectives about the causes and consequences of human trafficking on the youth of Edo state.
General Objective
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the Causes and Consequences of Human Trafficking: Case Study of the Youth of Edo state.
Specific Objectives
The study will be conducted to achieve the following specific objectives of this research:
- Identify the major cause of human trafficking in Nigeria;
- Portray the various consequences of human trafficking on the youth of Edo state;
- Identify the stakeholders of human trafficking; and
- Propose suggestion on how to tackle the issue
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
History of human trafficking
human trafficking which is a modern method of slavery has been with us from time immemorial. Thus from Roman times, children were sold, battered, mutilated, abandoned and maltreated at the pleasure of the father. Children were used as tools when necessary and at the pleasure of their parents and care takers.
Nigeria has a similar history. Children were sold depending on what society or the parents felt about them. Ojomo (2000:18) explains further that Nigerians, traditionally, farmers are known for their trade and travel in west and Central Africa. This propensity for travel encouraged easy migration across the borders. For many Nigerians, especially those from the Southeast, the civil war (Nigeria – Biafra) of 1966 – 70, created conditions that made migration to neighbouring countries very attractive. In addition, the oil boom of the 1970s saw many other West African nationalities migrating into Nigeria. In northern Nigeria, close ties with the Arab world have seen people move freely to and from the Middle East for trade and religious pilgrimages. This has created avenues for migration that have begun to be exploited for International trafficking in children for labour and prostitution.
However, it was the lack of appropriate legislation to punish offenders that constituted a major challenge in the fight against traffickers in the interim, the police and the court resorted to using portions of the country’s penal code. This was the situation until the anti – human trafficking law was enacted in 2003. The law is known as the trafficking in persons (prohibition) law enforcement and Administration Act. The Trafficking in persons (prohibition) law enforcement and administration Act created the National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in persons and other related matters (NAPTIP). This government agency has been in the forefront of the fight against human trafficking. In fact, Nigeria became the first country in Africa to enact such law and establish a special agency to complement it. By November 2005, the High Court in Benin in the south of the country, handed down the first conviction under this law. NAPTIP also investigated a number of law enforcement officials suspected of complicity in trafficking. In 2006, NAPTIP, Nigeria police and the Immigration service formed a compact coalition pact’ to fight human trafficking in addition to involving other Non-governmental organizations like the India renaissance and WOTCLEF. Memorandum, of Understanding (MOUs), according to Idowu (2003:119) was also signed with destination and transit countries like Britain, Italy, Republic of Benin and Spain.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Research Methodology is the systematic theoretical analysis of the methods applied to the study. It is the procedure through which explanations and predictions of the phenomena (which is human trafficking) will be organized. For this study, both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be employed for the collection and analysis of the data.
- Quantitative Research Method will be used to collect and analyze the accurate measurement of phenomena and often the application of statistical analysis. It will involve the use of Questionnaire for the collection of data, which will be distributed to victims of human trafficking and law enforcements and institutions concerned with human trafficking.
- Qualitative Research Method is less concerned with numbers and quantitative measurement and more concerned with the depth of data. It will involve the collection of data through Case Study and Interviews, which will be concerned with the victims of human trafficking, law enforcement agencies, and institutions involved in tackling the issue of trafficking
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND FINDINGS
Major Causes of Human Trafficking in Nigeria
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, 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. A combination of different economic, social and other factors operate behind human trafficking and are responsible for the trafficking of thousands of individuals from less developed countries to the developed ones.
This chapter presents accounts of informants who participated in this study especially in relation to various factors contributing for human trafficking. Identifying the causes is a prerequisite to understand the challenges faced by victims of human trafficking. As it has been presented under chapter two, human trafficking researchers attached different push and pull factors to trafficking in human beings. These factors will be discussed in this chapter with giving due emphasis to the experiences of the informants. Following this informants’ reason for choosing illegal ways of migration will be also discussed in this chapter. Therefore in this chapter an attempt is made to answer some of the research questions, which are related to causes of trafficking.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
Human trafficking is the practice of people being tricked, lured, coerced or otherwise removed from their home or country, and then forced to work with no or low payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. The practice is considered to be the trade or commerce in people, which has many features of slavery, and which is illegal in most countries.
This study was conducted for the purpose of exploring and understanding the causes of human trafficking and the multifaceted challenges faced by trafficked persons during the trafficking process, by stressing on the cases of trafficking victims in Edo state.
Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were applied to obtain data from the victims at the study site. The study has identified different economic, social and cultural factors as main causes of trafficking. Such factors as poverty, the desire to improve one’s life, lack of opportunity and low payment for domestic work were mentioned by the informants as main causes of trafficking in Nigeria. Added to this, migration policy of countries, promises of steady employment, pressure from the society, success stories told by migrants, low level of education, failure in education, forced marriage and abusive family conditions were also among the socio-cultural factors identified in the study as contributing factors to trafficking.
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