Africa, a continent bedevilled by societal ills?

Although Africa is emerging from the image of a troubled continent characterised by violet struggles, lack of modern infrastructure, death, destruction and political unrest, the pace is painfully slow; the continent is still challenged by lots of negative ills.

This state of affairs has created the necessary conditions for crime to thrive. Human trafficking is one of the unfortunate consequences. In the discourse of trafficking, what readily comes to mind is sexual exploitation. But there are diverse crimes that emanates from it. In the case of children, they are used as suicide bombers, child soldiers and the “fortunate” ones end up as servants or cooks of criminals until they can be used for heinous purposes.

In all cases these children are brutally exploited. Women and men are used for unpaid labour, and all they are forced to endure forms of inhuman conditions.

Violent conflict is an acute catalyst that facilitates trafficking; during violent conflicts, trafficking can occur either to people within the zones, people coming into the zones or people travelling through. People displaced due to conflicts are also easy targets for this type of crime. Crises occasion certain kinds of hardship that cause people to flee, aside from the desire to preserve one’s life and that of loved ones, are desperate economic conditions, loss of social cohesion and safety. This too creates victims who are willing to accept illicit options.

Book Haram insurgency has raged on from 2009 since the group first clashed with the Nigeria police in Borno state. The inability of the Nigerian government to quickly and effectively contain the group caused it to gain roots and spread to other parts of Nigeria and neighbouring countries like Chad, Cameroun, and Benin Republic.

This transnational crisis has paved the way for transnational crimes including trafficking. Women and children are the main victims of this situation; they are abducted, married off to insurgents who use them as servants, enslave them, exploit them sexually even force them to denounce their faiths or face death. In Chibok and Dapchi communities of Borno and Yobe states, over 500 girls were kidnapped and as I write this piece some have not made it home and may never be seen or heard of again.

One of the sources of supply that ensured the increasing demand for organs are met, are trafficked Africans. The World Health Organisation estimates that about 7,000 kidneys are traded annually globally. The number of patients on organ-waiting list by far outweighs the number of donors available. Getting a match for patients is another daunting challenge which makes people to patronise the organ market and the evil trade has continued to boom. The immediate victims are the poor, desperate, displaced, and trafficked people, tourists, refugees and the like.

The trade has its roots in the Balkans which began towards the end of the conflict of the 1990s. There are reported cases of civilians being kidnapped and trafficked while trying to cross the border into Albania. They had their organs harvested and trafficked to waiting markets. Chilling and horrific tales have reached us from returnees rescued from Libya about the fate of Nigerians making desperate journeys through the desert to Europe, that fall into the hands of organ traffickers.

Regional integration is an expression of the desire to come together and harness diverse socio-economic potentials, counter challenges together for the betterment of the greater number of people living within the integrating states. It is done on the basis of shared interests. When properly played, this helps to achieve greater power of negotiation through collectivism. This paves the way for transportation of vices like trafficking.

It is a concept that has gained prominence in world politics. Hardly do you see a sovereign state that does not belong to a regional body. In 1996 alone, there were 88 of such agreements worldwide, including several expressions of intent to unilaterally preferential trade agreements, free trade treaties customs and unions and common markets, especially freedom of movement of labour and capital.

One of the bodies that have recorded this is the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS). ECOWAS protocol allows for free movement as persons within the 16 member-nations, in possession of the unified passports. For all of its noble intentions, it is faced with stiff challenges such as inadequate funding, half-hearted commitments, and restrictions in intelligence-sharing. Guarding against the infringement of sovereignty and unmanned borders has hindered the much-needed success of ECOWAS and other regional bodies in Africa.

Human traffickers in Nigeria are leading in Transborder trafficking within the West African sub-region by exploiting the gaps created by the aforementioned challenges to commit all sorts of atrocity.

According to the public relations officer of the Nigerian immigration service (NIS), E.S. King, intelligence from Malian authorities exposed an under-age prostitution cell run by Nigerians; one of such establishments was located in Kangaba village,  Guinea – Conakry road outside Bamako, the Malian capital city. Mama Rose who is a proprietor of a restaurant called “Nigeria” hides under the guise of her business to use young girls as commercial sex workers; her victims were 12 adolescent girls from Delta and Edo states.

Another ring was busted in Senegal, early this year; interviews with the victims revealed that some of them some were kidnapped while others were tricked. A heavily pregnant young victim whose name is Grace speaking from her shanty in response to an interview, said she was promised a better life in Europe as a domestic servant. Most of the victims in Libya, Mali, and Senegal were trapped on their way to Europe.

The Nigeria Immigration Service has proposed a new strategy to the European Union to curb illegal migration and encourage easy management of migrants. The proposal also encompasses what should happen to deported Nigerians given that some had lost contact with their friends and relatives as well as the children born abroad but has no citizenship due to their status their parents as illegal migrants.

Poverty receives the least attention in attempt to resolve the epidemic of human trafficking – every attempt to curb or fully solve the problem, which does not seek to tackle poverty, amounts to treating symptoms while neglecting the disease. Deprivation, lack of economic inclusion and growing inequality give room and accommodate this crime. The least discussed set of trafficked people are those willing to accept the terms of traffickers due to their desperation. We instead view all as victims of deceit, thus tailoring solutions along these lines. According to a University of Washington journal of social sciences published on January 7, 2013, around the globe, human trafficking is the second most profitable underground industry next to drugs. Its yearly earnings are $35 billion to $37 billion, it is estimated that at least one million persons are trafficked every year.

There are a good number of cases where children end up funnelled into the system by their own families due to extreme poverty. Sometimes, the children leave home voluntarily because of abuse or other harmful conditions. The global sex trade is a product of people trying to make ends meet in dire economic conditions exploited by organised criminals. Some adults are rescued against their will. Most children taken off the streets by NAPTIP here in Nigeria are made to return home to the situation they sought to escape from in the first place.

The situation is a cocktail of voluntary prostitution, acceptance of servitude and outright slavery captivity, and as such must be unwoven and tackled individually. This is why it is not strange to see victims falling “prey” to better life abroad, in spite of the information everywhere on the horrors and inhumane treatments meted out to victims. The highly published news by Punch newspaper on their online platform and carried by other news outlets about Benedicta, a Nigerian prostitute killed by her Italian client, Leopoldo Scalici, for failing to satisfy him shall not daunt intending prostitutes from seeking to travel abroad. They may just convince themselves that their lots will be better.

Onido, a public affairs commentator, writes from Abuja

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