Nigerian government treats human trafficking survivors like slaves

The Federal Government has failed to help human trafficking survivors and sexual abuse victims re-integrate into the society and enjoy freedom, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed.

This was contained in HRW’s recent report titled ‘You Pray for Death: Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria released’ in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to the group, the report was based on interviews with 76 trafficking survivors in Nigeria, as well as government officials, civil society leaders and representatives of donor governments and institutions supporting anti-trafficking efforts.

“Women and girls trafficked in and outside Nigeria have suffered unspeakable abuses at the hands of traffickers, but have received inadequate medical, counselling, and financial support to reintegrate into society,” a HWR senior women’s rights researcher, Agnes Odhiambo, said.

“We were shocked to find traumatised survivors locked behind gates, unable to communicate with their families, for months, in government-run facilities.”

The report further disclosed that many survivors of sex and labour trafficking struggled with unaddressed health challenges, poverty, and abhorrent conditions upon their return to Nigeria.

“Nigerian authorities have failed to provide the assistance that survivors need to rebuild their lives and have unlawfully detained many of the already traumatized women and girls in shelters,” it said.

It stated, “Nigerian authorities have also detained trafficking survivors in shelters, not allowing them to leave at will, often for many months, in violation of Nigeria’s international legal obligations.

“Protection should not be an excuse to arbitrarily detain women and girls and deprive them of their liberty and freedom of movement; Such detention conditions risk their recovery and well-being.”

While acknowledging the efforts taken thus far, the group tasked the government to address the serious health conditions, social exclusion and poverty faced by survivors, and stop further traumatising them by detaining them in shelters.

However, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in a reaction by its Director-General, Julie Okah-Donli, said the agency observed “best practices in victims handling as enshrined by the Palermo protocol which includes that no victim shall be kept in a shelter against their will.”

She said, “After going through the report, we found out that it is a mere figment of the imagination of the writers as the narratives fall below the standards in the operation of our shelters as well as the standards for our victims’ support and assistance.”