The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP said human traffickers have devised new tricks to perpetrate their crimes.
While speaking on Thursday in Asaba, Delta State, Mr. Josiah Emerole, the agency’s Director, on Public Enlightenment, who represented Director General, Dr. Fatima Waziri-Azi pointed out that illegal orphanages are conduit of such clandestine activity.
According to him, “Because some owners of illegal orphanages want to make money for their facilities, they prey on families with children, take their children into the orphanages and then begin to use them to solicit for funds.”
He said the bait they employ is to approach parents with the pretence to sponsor their children’s education, only to end up either giving the children out for child labour or selling them.
He also alerted individuals who are eager to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays to be wary of approaching illegal orphanages to do this as they could be indirectly promoting crime through donations they make to criminals.
Mr. Emerole while presenting a paper on Emerging Trends, Routes and Tricks in Human Trafficking during a 3-day training and capacity building workshop for journalists funded by European Union, EU, and FIIAP (Ibero-American Government and Public Policy Foundation) implemented by Action against Trafficking In Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in Nigeria, A-TIPSOM, noted that the agency rescued no fewer than 75 children out of over 140 children who were sold from orphanages.
He disclosed that the children were rescued seven years ago in Abuja, in a case that involved somebody who took children in the name of trying to help. But when the parents were looking for the children, they could not be seen anymore. The number of children involved was over 140. So far, in that particular case, we have been able to rescue no fewer than 75 of them from different states, with some of them sold and re-sold. The case is in court right now.”
Orphanage trafficking is all over the whole place. We also implore people to alert us when they see such orphanage homes.
Dr. Ajibola Abayomi, President, Journalists International Forum for Migration, JIFORM in his presentation urged the media to sustain quality reportage with human face laced with facts.
Stating that “Words like ‘harlot’, ‘illegal migrants’, ‘swamp migrants’ ‘fucked ladies’ and other derogatory descriptions should be avoided.”
“There is also need to dig deep into the causes of human trafficking through investigative journalism and working assiduously to orientate the public against the antics of the human traffickers.”
Ajibola also charged the Federal Government to re-evaluate the NAPTIP closed shelter policy and ensure authorities take a victim-centered approach by building more care centres and rehabilitation units for the victims.
“There should be more collaboration between the NAPTIP and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to adequately monitor the activities of job recruiting agencies in Nigeria to forestall labour trafficking and exploitation both within and outside the country at interval,” he said.
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