Citation

Bello PO. Child Abuse Res. South Afr. 2017; 18(1): 11-20.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, South African Professional Society on the Abuse of Children)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of child-victims of trafficking in Lagos State, Nigeria. The phenomenon of child trafficking is a scourge that has undermined the fundamental human rights of several trafficked children across the globe despite the various legal mechanisms put in place to combat it. Trafficked children suffer a great deal in the entire trafficking cycle - right from the point of recruitment, to destination, often in an excruciating and harrowing manner. Whilst some of these children die untimely in the process, others who barely manage to survive the horror are often not relived of it even into adulthood. Efforts to combat this scourge by the Lagos State Government have not been adequate due to certain pressing factors embedded in the milieu within which the State operates. Moreover, the Child Rights Act of 2007 introduced by the State Government has not been effective in combating this menace, given the increasing rate of the phenomenon in the State. This study adopts the qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted with Staff of the National Agency for the Prohibition against Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) and child-victims in NAPTIP's custody. Documents were also analysed to complement the qualitative data.

FINDINGS indicated that despite the various initiatives and attempts at combating trafficking in children by the Lagos State Government, its credibility have persistently been undermined by certain factors in the socio-cultural, economic, political and technological environments of the State. The study further made recommendations from the research findings.

Keywords: Human trafficking

Language: en