Despite attempts by the Nigerian government to
combat human trafficking and provide support for survivors, care for
victims is still severely lacking, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW)
says.
According to the report, the Nigerian government is
illegally detaining survivors of human trafficking, inhibiting the recovery of
the traumatised survivors from the experiences they went through.
"The Nigerian authorities are actually
detaining trafficking survivors in shelters, not allowing them to leave at
will, in violation of Nigeria’s international legal obligations," the New
York-based rights body said.
"The detentions overwhelmingly affect women and
girls, and put their recovery and well-being at risk."
The report is based on interviews with 76 survivors,
20 of them girls between the ages 8 and 17, who either were trafficked out
of Nigeria and later returned, or were trafficked into the country.
They were often promised well-paying jobs as
domestic workers, hairdressers, or hotel staff but were then tricked and trapped
in exploitation and forced to pay back a huge "debt" for their
travel.
Often, the people who trafficked them were people
they knew personally.
"My aunt brought me here. She said she will
help me. When I got here, she said I had to work before the apprenticeship,"
one of the survivors told HRW.
"She took me somewhere to work as a house girl….
I was mistreated. She did not give me food; I washed cars, cleaned the house
and the compound," the 14-year-old, who is one of several victims quoted
in the report, said.
"My aunt used to collect the money. Their kids
were too hostile to me. I decided to leave."
'Closed shelters'
Over the last couple of years, the Nigerian
government has introduced several anti-trafficking laws and started the
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), which
runs shelters for trafficking survivors.
However, those shelters are severely lacking, HRW
said
"Some survivors in the NAPTIP shelters
complained about not being able to receive visitors or contact their families,
not having clear information about when they would reunite with their families,
monotonous daily schedules, or boredom from doing nothing," the report
states.
"Those referred by NAPTIP to private shelters were unhappy about poor
conditions and services, including inadequate food, lack of soap or body
lotion, lack of medical and psychosocial care, and lack of job training,"
it added.
The survivors often suffer from depression, anxiety,
insomnia, flashbacks, aches and pains, and other physical ailments as a result
of their ordeal.
Despite attempts by the Nigerian government to help
them reintegrate, the so-called "closed shelters" do not provide
enough support for the survivors to reintegrate into Nigerian society, HRW
said.
"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," senior HRW 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 on
end, in government-run facilities."
HRW has called on Nigeria to better listen to the
experiences of survivors and offer more room for community services, health
workers and other organisations to play in a role in their recovery.
"Nigerian authorities are struggling with a
crisis of trafficking and working under challenging circumstances, but they can
do a better job by listening to what survivors have to say about their own
needs," Odhiambo said.
"To end trafficking and break cycles of
exploitation and suffering, survivors need the government to help them heal
from the trauma of trafficking and earn a decent living in Nigeria."
