Human trafficking transverses cultures and nationalities. It affects children, youths, and older adults where traffickers take advantage of poverty, ignorance, deceit to lure their victims in the nefarious trade.
This necessitates the global community to set aside 30th July to elicit renewed advocacy against the ugly trend to protect the rights of trafficking victims.
“They go dey maltreat us like animal, they go dey beat us anyhow, na wood they go chuk for woman body take disvirgin am”.
A victim of human trafficking who has decided to remain anonymous, narrating her experience.
Human trafficking is an act of deceiving, coercing, threatening, intimidating, to recruit, move, receive, shelter, or maintain control of people for the purpose of exploiting them.
It could be in the form of force labour, prostitution, slavery, and organ harvesting.
The psychological effects of human trafficking include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, lack of trust and self-confidence as explained by, a psychologist Precious.
“The second effect is depression and anxiety, this is very common among survivors. Some even have suicidal thought because of what they have had to survive and endured.
The third effect is disassociation, victims disconnect themselves mentally from the reality of what is happening around them”, she said.
One of the reasons for human trafficking is the search for greener pasture due to economic challenges.
In this regard, a human rights advocate, Mr. Henry Ekine warns youths to be mindful of mouth-watering offers.
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“The trafficking of person prohibition law exists not only in Nigeria but even in other countries and have become a global concern that human beings should not be dealt as commodities.
My advise to young persons is if you are intent and desirous to leave Nigeria to another country for lawful purpose let it be done according to procedures and laws that are laid down look inwards there are a lot of opportunities in Nigeria for young persons to explore”, he stated.
On the theme of the year’s observance, ‘Human Trafficking is Organized Crime-End the Exploitation’, the Head of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons, NAPTIP in Rivers State, Nwamaka Ikediashi called on the stakeholders to redouble efforts to eradicate human trafficking.
“When you keep silent or feel burdened you find out that people are exploited and dehumanized. So that is why we call on all, it is an organized crime and it involves more than one person when it comes to crime of human trafficking. So that is why we call on people to be able to say something so that they can help rescue the victims of human trafficking”, she noted.
In his words the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres “human trafficking as a horrific crime and gross violation of human rights”, that should be stamped out in human society.
