Human Trafficking

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Welcome to class! 

In today’s class, we will be talking about human trafficking. Enjoy the class!

Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the recruiting, transporting, receiving and harbouring of people in exchange for money.

People who are most vulnerable to human trafficking are women and children and they are subjected to forced labour, slavery, servitude and prostitution. The people who engaged in the human trafficking business are called human traffickers.

Human trafficking is a violation of human rights and the traffickers use their wealth and power to deceive and force the poor, less privileged, ignorant and vulnerable people in the society into all kinds of human exploitation that violate the fundamental human rights of the people involved.

Human trafficking could be done domestically or at the international level. Most international trafficking activities are targeted towards taking young ladies abroad through illegal means to force them into prostitution.

Domestic trafficking is targeted towards bringing young boys and girls into cities for forced labour as house helps. It is important to know that human trafficking is both a domestic and international crime.

Causes of human trafficking

1. Poverty:

Poverty is a state of being poor or lack of necessities of life. Poverty can make people vulnerable to human trafficking and child labour. Parents may give up their children to be taken to cities and work as house helps. Some parents may even sell their children totally into slavery while others go to cities or travel abroad to engage in prostitution to make money.

2. Greed:

People who are not contented with what they have or those who want to accumulate fast wealth may find themselves engaged in human trafficking.

3. Low-self esteem:

Some people due to low self-esteem or loss of sense of worth and self-confidence may fall victim of human traffickers who will promise to help them but what they actually do is to exploit them.

4. Corruption:

Human traffickers bribe government officials with money and material things so that they can continue to carry out their business without being caught or hindered by government agencies.

5. Ignorance:

Vulnerable members in the society can easily be deceived by human traffickers who will promise them greener pastures and better lifestyles in the cities or abroad and because everybody wants a better and improved life, they innocently follow these traffickers only to discover that they intended to exploit and use them to make money. Some of these people may even be forced to take oaths not to disclose their secret or try to escape.

6. War:

During a prolonged war, children are forced to join the army and are trained to carry guns and ammunition. Although this may not be done for money, it is also a form of human trafficking e.g. during the Second World War, some Africans were trafficked to Europe to fight in the war.

Evaluation

1. Define human trafficking.
2. State the causes of human trafficking.

Effects and consequences of human trafficking

1. Physical or psychological abuse:

People who are being trafficked are subjected to all form of physical abuse such as rape, beating and torture. Children used as house help are often time beaten and the female ones are raped and sometimes starved of food and other basic needs of life. This affects the psychological growth of such children.

2. Abuse of fundamental human rights:

Human trafficking leads to abuse of fundamental human rights because they are often denied their right to free thought, conscience and decision.

3. Delay in their education and human capacity development:

Children who are trafficked and forced into child labour are usually denied their right to education to become useful to themselves in the future.

4. Vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases:

Girls who engage in prostitute are prone to be infected with sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoea and HIV/AIDS. These diseases are capable of cutting their lives short and can reduce their productive contribution to society and increase medical expenses.

5. Unwanted pregnancy:

Victims of human trafficking are mostly faced with unprotected sex which could result in unwanted pregnancies. Some of these girls when they give birth will throw the child away or abandon the child with their parents without adequate care.

6. Stigmatization:

People who are trafficked are usually stigmatized especially when they are deported back to the country from abroad.

7. Death:

Some children who are used as house help are violently beaten to death while some die of ill health because they are not properly taken care of.

Evaluation

What are the effects of human trafficking?

General evaluation

1. What is human trafficking?
2. Explain the causes of human trafficking
3. State the effects of human trafficking.
4. What is rule of law?
5. Who propounded the principle of rule of law?

Reading assignment

Fundamentals of Civic Education for Senior Secondary Schools Book 3, Sola Akinyemi. Pg 111.

Theory

1. Outline five causes of human trafficking.
2. Explain five ways of preventing human trafficking in Nigeria.

 

In our next class, we will be talking about Government and Individual Effort Geared Towards Combating Human Trafficking.  We hope you enjoyed the class.

Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.

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