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Recruitment and abuse of trafficked children in south-west Nigeria

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10246029.2014.922107

2154-0128

Oludayo Tade,

Sex work and related issues

AbstractThis article examines the recruitment and transportation of internally trafficked children from Benue State in the north-central geo-political zone of Nigeria to Oyo State in the south-western zone of Nigeria. The study is essentially qualitative: with the aid of the snowball sampling technique, in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted with drivers, employers and trafficking agents in two recipient communities in Ibadan. The findings show that human rights abuses manifest at the recruitment, transportation and destination phases. The human rights abuses include the recruitment of underage children for domestic work outside their immediate family environments; transportation under inhumane conditions; restriction of movement at traffickers' 'warehouses'; non-disclosure of amount payable for the services of domestic servants by agents/traffickers; exclusion of domestic servants in wage negotiations; and violence by employers. In view of these, there is a need for the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons to strengthen its internal trafficking campaign.Keywords : internal traffickingdomestic servantshuman rightsNigeria AcknowledgementsFor their roles in improving the quality of this paper, the author acknowledges Professor A A Aderinto, Drs Oluwatosin Adeniyi, Samuel Adejoh, Ayo Osisanwo and the two anonymous reviewers.Notes1 Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for eight years (1999–2007).2 This act was loosely developed after the Palermo Protocol (2000:13). The Protocol defines trafficking in persons as 'the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. … The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article'; see United Nations (UN) Convention against transnational organized crime, Trafficking Protocol, article 3(c) New York, 2000.3 It is important to state that trafficking suspects in Nigeria are prosecuted under the NAPTIP Act. Thus, I rely on specific provisions of this Act to buttress claims in this paper. Section 10, subsection (d) of the NAPTIP amended Act (2005) expatiates on the provisions on forced labour to include child domestics outside the child's family environments, stipulating a fine not exceeding N100 000 (about $700) or five years' imprisonment or both. Section 274 of the Child Rights Act defines a child to mean a person under the age of 18 years. Although the Labour Act (1990), section 91 defines a child as a person under the age of 12, Section 274 of the Child Rights Act voids any other contrary definition of a child in any other enactment (see also section 29 of the Child's Rights Act as it relates to sections 59, 60, 62, and 63 of the labour Act). Internationally, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery and servitude are defined in international law and refer to extreme cases of exploitation. They are characterised by the use of threats, coercion or restrictions on freedom (UN Child Rights Convention; International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 29; UN Slavery Convention, UN Supplementary Convention). When one of these is present, there is trafficking; see Mike Dottridge and Ann Jordan, Children, adolescents and human trafficking: making sense of a complex problem (Issue paper 5), Washington, DC: American University Washington College of Law, 2012. The UN Child Rights Convention defines child forced labour as '… any substantial work or services that a person is obliged to perform, by a public official, authority or institution under threat of penalty; work or services performed for private parties under coercion (e.g. the deprivation of liberty, withholding of wages, confiscation of identity documents or threat of punishment) and slavery-like practices such as debt bondage and the marriage or betrothal of a child in exchange for consideration'; see UN Revised Guidelines, Annex, 12. This definition is based on ILO Convention No. 29, articles 2 and 11, and UN Supplementary Convention, article 1. The ILO (2011, 17) defines forced labour as work performed by children under coercion applied by a third party (other than by his or her parents) either to the child or to the child's parents, or work performed by a child as a direct consequence of their parent or parents being engaged in forced labour. The coercion may take place during the child's recruitment, to force the child or his or her parents to accept the job, or once the child is working, to force him or her to undertake tasks which were not part of what was agreed at the time of recruitment or to prevent the child from leaving the work. If a child is working as a direct consequence of his or her parents being in a situation of forced labour, then the child is also considered to be in forced labour; see also Dottridge and Jordan, Children, adolescents and human trafficking.4 NAPTIP Act, Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 as amended Act with Trafficking in Persons Protocol, 2003.5 Article 3 of the ILO (1999) Convention 182 defines the worst forms of child labour as: '(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children'. See Oludayo Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2010. 6 NAPTIP Act (2003).7 NAPTIP Act (2005).8 Ifeany P Onyeonoru, Push factors in the political economy of international commercial sex work in Nigeria, African Sociological Review 8(2) (2003), 115–135; Nsimba M Sita, Trafficking in women and children: situation and some trends in African countries, Nakawa: United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI), 2003; S Afonja, An assessment of trafficking in women and girls in Nigeria, Unpublished mimeo, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 2001; Aderanti Adepoju, Review of research and data on human trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa, International Migration 43 (2005), 76–99; F I Omorodion, Vulnerability of Nigerian secondary school to human sex trafficking in Nigeria, African Journal of Reproductive Health 13(2) (2010), 33–48; A U Ofuoku, Human trafficking in Nigeria and its implications for food security, International Journal of Rural Studies 17(1) (2010), 1–6.9 L Veil, The issue of child domestic labour and trafficking in West and central Africa, Report prepared for the UNICEF Sub-regional Workshop on Trafficking in Child Domestic Workers, Particularly Girls in Domestic Service, in West and Central Africa Region, Cotonou, 6–8 July 1998.10 UNICEF, Atelier sous-régional sur le trafic des enfants domestiques en particulier les filles domestiques dans la région de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre, Cotonou, Bénin, 6–8 juillet 1998; UNICEF, Child trafficking in West Africa: policy responses, Florence: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2000; L Akor, Trafficking of women in Nigeria: causes, consequences and the way forward, Convinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 2(2) (2011), 89–110.11 Adeyinka A Aderinto, Socio-economic profiles, reproductive health behaviour and problems of street children in Ibadan, Nigeria, Paper presented at the Fourth African Population Conference: Population and Poverty in Africa, Facing up to the Challenges of the 21st Century, UAPS, Tunis, 8–12 December 2003.12 E E Osaghae, Exiting from the state in Nigeria, African Journal of Political Science 4 (1999), 83–98; Oludayo Tade and Adeyinka A Aderinto, Factors influencing the demand for domestic servants in Oyo State, Nigeria, International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies 3 (2012), 521–545.13 Mike Dottridge, Trafficking in children in west and central Africa, Gender and Development 10 (2002), 38–49; Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria; Oludayo Tade and Adeyinka A Aderinto, Socio-demographic predictors of domestic out-sourcing among working women in Ibadan, Nigeria, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences 8 (2011), 198–204.14 S E Findley, Migration and family interactions in Africa, in Aderanti Adepoju (ed), Family, population and development in Africa, Zed Books: London, 1997, 109–138; Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria.15 R Salah, Child trafficking: a challenge to child protection in Africa, Paper presented at the Fourth African Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Enugu, March 2010.16 UNICEF, Human trafficking in Nigeria: root causes and recommendations (Policy paper series No 14.2 (E)), Paris: UNICEF, 2006.17 UNICEF, Human trafficking in Nigeria: root causes and recommendations (Policy paper series No 14.2 (E)), Paris: UNICEF, 2006.18 Of 'baby farms' and child trafficking, Nigerian Tribune, 27 September 2011, 10.19 Idowu Adelusi, Child trafficking: NAPTIP takes over case, move suspects to Lagos, Nigerian Tribune, 6 November 2011, 7.20 Yekinni Jimoh, Parents sell children for N4,000 in Makurdi, Nigerian Tribune, 29 July 2012.21 It is important to stress that confessional statements may be extracted through the application of force and torture, which may make suspects confess to the crime. Although illegal, and often denied by the top echelon of the Nigerian security agencies, my interactions with discharged suspects show that force and torture is still adopted by law enforcement agents (agencies) in Nigeria in extracting confessional statements from suspects; see also Aniedi J Ikpang, Criminalization of torture in Nigeria: a desideratum, Sacha Journal of Human Rights 1 (2011), 1–13. This, however, does not erode the importance of the information supplied by the trafficker, especially when validated by the interviews of the children being trafficked.22 Success Nwogu, Army rescues 300 human trafficking victims, The Punch, 30 July 30 2012, http://www.punchng.com/metro/army-rescues-300-human-trafficking-victims/ (accessed 14 May 2013).23 S Afonja, IOM assessment of trafficking in persons in Nigeria, Unpublished paper, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, November 2001.24 Adepoju, Review of research and data on human trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa.25 Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria.26 Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria.27 Leo A Goodman, Snowball sampling, Annals of Mathematical Statistics 32 (1961), 148–170. For details on the use of the snowball method, see Tom Peters and Robert H Waterman Jr, In search of excellence: lessons from America's best-run companies, New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1961.28 V M Hendricks and P Blanken, Snowball sampling: theoretical and considerations practical, in V M Hendricks, P Blanken, and N Adriaans (eds), Snowball sampling: a pilot study on cocaine use, Rotterdam: IVO, 1992, 17–35.29 J Yelland and S M Gifford, Problems of focus group methods in cross-cultural research: a case study of beliefs about sudden infant death syndrome, Australian Journal of Public Health 19 (1995), 257–262.30 Cohen documented the social organisation of Kola, tribal specialisations, tribal formations and development of tribal networks involving long-distance trade in many parts of West Africa; see A Cohen, Politics of the Kola trade: some processes of tribal community formation among migrants in West African towns, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 36 (1966), 18–36.31 Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria.32 ILO, Global estimate of forced labour executive summary, 2012, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@declaration/documents/publication/wcms_181953.pdf (accessed 15 August 2012).33 This is a local government in Benue State. Most of the trafficked victims interviewed were recruited from this area.34 Tade and Aderinto, Socio-demographic predictors of domestic out-sourcing among working women.35 Fostering, which is seen as 'a strategy that redistributes the costs and benefits of child bearing', is a long-standing tradition across Africa; see U Isiugo-Abanihe, Parenthood in sub-Saharan Africa: child fostering and its relationship with fertility, in T Locoh and V Hertrich (eds), The onset of fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa, Belgium: Derouaux Ordina, 1994. As Wusu and Isuigo-Abanihe observed, these erstwhile strong family ties have been placed under considerable stress, as various child-fostering practices no longer enjoy general acceptance in the communities, and the cost of raising children is becoming the sole responsibility of biological parents; see O Wusu and U C Isiugo-Abanihe, Family structure and reproductive health decision-making among the Ogu of southwestern Nigeria: a qualitative study, African Population Studies 18(2) (2003), 27–45. For an extensive discussion of child fostering, see Isiugo-Abanihe, Parenthood in sub-Saharan Africa; E Goody, Parenthood and social reproduction: fostering and occupational roles in West Africa, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982; E Goody, Delegation of parental roles in West Africa and the West Indies, in Thomas R Williams (ed), Socialization and communication in primary groups, The Hague: Mouton, 1975, 125–158; R Keesing, Kwaio fosterage, American Anthropologist 72 (1970), 991–1020; R Klomegha, Child fostering and fertility: some evidence from Ghana, Journal of Comparative Family Studies 31 (2000), 107–115.36 This area is also called 'Oke-Ogun', meaning a settlement located at the 'upper course' of the River Ogun. The place has been left underdeveloped owing to politicisation in the allocation of infrastructural facilities; see Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria.37 These are people who bring the demands of people to the trafficker. These groups of individuals may be close associates of the trafficker and they are an important part of the recruiting process. In most cases, the trafficker may double as an agent.38 Recruiting communities are mostly rural, so children are enticed with expectations of working in the city with a mental map of great expectations.39 Mike Dottridge and O Feneyrol, Action to strengthen indigenous child protection mechanisms in West Africa to prevent migrant children from being subjected to abuse, Lomé: Terre des Hommes, 2007.40 The New Yam festival is called 'Igede-Agba'. Igede-Agba was reported as the leader or founder of the space currently occupied by the Igede people.41 UNICEF, End child exploitation: stop the traffick, New York, NY: UNICEF, 2003.42 Sometimes the agreements could be in monetary terms, on the amount of money that the child would be paid for working. Some parents, however, are only interested in the entrepreneurial training promised by the relative.43 John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt (eds), Networks and netwars: the future of terror, crime and militancy, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001, 15. See also Cohen, Politics of the Kola Trade.44 Apata (which in the Yoruba language means 'rock') is located in Ibadan Southwest Local Government.45 This is a pseudonym and not the real name of the alleged trafficker.46 Employers refer to this as 'thirteen-month payment'. This is because they are asked to make a yearly payment for hiring the domestic help and pay the same amount to offset the transportation cost of bringing the domestic servant to Ibadan. The transportation is the same as the monthly labour wage of the hired child.47 This case is unique and uncommon among employers of domestic servants. In a similar situation, employers may ask agents to part with half of the monthly salary of the housekeeper while she adds her money to send the child to learn some vocation. Again, the agents were reported to have objected.48 Not all employers do this. Others insist that they employ the domestic servant to perform domestic duties and not to train her with their money. To them, it is strictly business.49 M Granovetter, Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness, American Journal of Sociology 91 (1985), 481–510.50 C Perrow, Le organizzazioni complesse, Milan: Franco Angeli, 1988.51 Monica Boyd, Family and personal networks in international migration: recent developments and new agendas, International Migration Review 23 (1989), 638–669; Douglas S Massey, Joaquin Arango, Graeme Hugo et al, Worlds in motion: understanding international migration at the end of the millennium, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, 1–59.52 The interviewee used this to describe the optimal utilisation of space in the bus transporting the children. By disregarding and denying the children enough space to stretch out their legs or adjust their position, more children are brought on board for more money to be made. The children are tightly packed, like a commodity.53 Cathy Zimmerman, Ligia Kiss, and Mazeda Hossain, Migration and health: a framework for 21st century policy-making, PLoS Med 8(5) (2011), e1001034, doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001034.54 In the words of the interviewee: 'Mature girls are those who have fully developed the biological features of a woman and are preferred by madams working in brothel houses.' Their age is usually between 15 and 17.55 UN, Resolution A/RES/54/263, UN Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, New York, NY: UN, 2000.56 Adepoju, Review of research and data on human trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa.57 UNICEF, Atelier sous-régional sur le trafic des enfants domestiques, 6–8; UNICEF, Child trafficking in West Africa: policy responses.58 Jonathan Blagbrough and Edmund Glynn, Child domestic workers: characteristics of the modern slave and approaches to ending such exploitation, Childhood 6 (1999), 51–56.59 Jonathan Blagbrough, Home truths: wellbeing and vulnerabilities of child domestic workers, London: Anti-Slavery International, 2013.60 A A Aronowitz, Smuggling and trafficking in human beings: the phenomenon, the markets that drive it and the organisations that promote it, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 9 (2001), 163–195; Guri Tyldum and Anette Brunovskis, Describing the unobserved: methodological challenges in empirical studies on human trafficking, International Migration 43 (2005), 17–34; K Manzo, Exploiting West Africa's children: trafficking, slavery and uneven development, Area 37 (2005), 393–401.61 P S Pinheiro, World report on violence against children, Geneva: UN, 2006; D Tsikata, Domestic work and domestic workers in Ghana: an overview of the legal regime and practice, Geneva: ILO, 2009.62 Human Rights Watch, Bottom of the ladder: exploitation and abuse of girl domestic workers in Guinea, New York, NY: Human Rights Watch, 2007.63 Manzo, Exploiting West Africa's children.64 Anette Brunovskis, Guri and Tyldum, Crossing borders: an empirical study of transnational prostitution and trafficking in human beings, Oslo: Fafo, 2004.65 Afonja, An assessment of trafficking in women and girls in Nigeria, unpublished mimeo, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.66 Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, Brief overview of the situational analysis of human trafficking in West Africa, Paper presented at the Seventh African Regional Conference on Women, Addis Ababa, 6–10 October 2004.67 Adepoju, Review of research and data on human trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa; Tade, Household demand and child trafficking for domestic use in Oyo State, Nigeria.68 Onyeonoru, Push factors in the political economy of international commercial sex work in Nigeria.Additional informationNotes on contributorsOludayo TadeDisplay full sizeOludayo Tade teaches sociology of deviant behaviour and social problems in the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (dotad2003@yahoo.com)