The Nigerian Girls Fighting Human Trafficking With Their Fingers

Philip Obaji Jr.

 

Not many have the courage to report cases of sex trafficking around them not to talk of taking action against it. But in a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) near Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, a group of nearly a dozen teenage girls are making their voices heard.

 

Inside the Madinatu IDP camp, where cases of sex trafficking have been widely reported, about a dozen girls are making effort to prevent more women and children from becoming victims, using a rather unorthodox method.

 

“We have gone round the camp and have dropped a notepad and a pen in every tent where there are women and children,” said 17-year-old Hadiza Alooma, who is coordinating the outreach. “Anyone who comes in contact with someone he or she suspects to be a human trafficker is expected to write down his or her experience or meet the leaders of the camp to assist them in putting down their comments.”

 

Concerned about growing reports of sex trafficking in Madinatu, the girls, who all reside in the nearby Maiduguri, sought assistance from the Caprecon Development and Peace Initiative, a non-governmental organization which educates girls in IDP camps on how traffickers approach their victims, and the huge risks involved. They got donations of books and pens which they had requested, and educational manuals on human trafficking to aid them in their outreach.

 

“The idea behind having IDPs write about their encounters with suspected human trafficking is to enable us properly documents incidents of trafficking in the camp,” said Alooma. “The experiences of these IDP will be the tool we will use to reach out to the government on the need to protect Internally Displaced Persons.”

 

Human trafficking is a huge concern in virtually all IDP camps in Borno state. The United States Department of State revealed in its 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report that “sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking, of IDPs in camps, settlements, and host communities around Maiduguri remained a pervasive problem”.

 

The situation appears to be worse in Madinatu, where displaced persons rarely benefit from government assistance including provision of social services and security personnel. The young girls campaigning against human trafficking are hoping that their efforts will help draw attention to the plight of persons in the camp.

 

“We believe our work help convince those who can help to look into the situation in Madinatu.” Salome Gambo, who is part of the campaign, told Opera News. “The people here seriously need help.”

 

Culled from Opera News