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| Okah-Donli |
Human traffickers must be crippled economically by
destination countries and International Law Enforcement Agencies if the fight
against human trafficking is to be won.
The Director-General of the National Agency for the
Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli stated
this on Wednesday in Abuja while playing host to the new Ambassador and Head of
the European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Mr. Ketil Karslsen.
‘’We must cripple traffickers economically by tracing and
freezing their accounts for the benefit of victims of human trafficking. We
must take their money and render them impotent’’, she said.
She also stressed the need for destination countries to work
closely with the Nigerian Embassies in the areas of victims’ identification;
language barriers and assistance to victims.
She urged the European Union and her members to consciously
deal with issues of pornographic sites, massage parlours and farms scattered
all over Europe and where victims of human trafficking from Nigeria and Africa
are daily exploited.
‘’What are the destination countries doing about the
pornographic sites, massage parlours, and escort services? You have the
factories, farms, restaurants and you can see them and the exploitations that
go on in such places. Do more investigations in the destination countries and
clamp down on those businesses. Look into yours as we are looking into ours’’,
she stated.
The NAPTIP boss also spoke of the need for equal attention to
be focused on the trafficking and exploitation of boys and men by traffickers.
She said ‘’ the boys and men are even more brutalized and
nobody is doing anything about it. These are the people who when they survive
and are deported back home, they become potential armed robbers, hired
assassins and engage in other crimes. We need to empower them and help them
rather than focus only on the plights of the girls and children’’.
Dame Julie Okah – Donli, also harped on the need for
stakeholders across the world to address the issues of human trafficking from
both source and destination countries.
Speaking further, she said, “We must begin to address the
menace from the situations in both source and destination countries. We must
address those things that make prostitution attractive in the destination
countries. We must take a look at the legalization of prostitution in some
destination countries in Europe and the effect of such legislation on the
global efforts to fight human trafficking.
“On our part, we have launched out to the endemic communities
across the country as part of our massive awareness creation programme to stem
the tide of human trafficking and irregular migration. We are not only
targeting women and girls; we are also taking men and boys into consideration
because they are equally victims of labour exploitation, organ harvesting and
even sexual exploitation”.
In his remarks, the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria said
that the current increase in human trafficking and irregular migration is an
issue of shared common responsibility that must be addressed by all
stakeholders in order to arrive at reasonable results.
He stated further that the European nations are deeply
committed to the eradication of all forms of trafficking and irregular
migration due to its attendant consequences which is always grievous in most
cases.
The Ambassador pointed out that human trafficking and
irregular migration are phenomenon of huge priority to the European Union which
must be addressed from the demand sides.
According to him, efforts must be made to address the
problems specifically from the departure side as part of the comprehensive
approach, adding that inter- countries cooperation as well as adequate
intelligence sharing must be also be encouraged.
While assuring NAPTIP of increased support of the European
Union towards eradication of human trafficking and irregular migration in
Nigeria, the envoy called for a change in the method of fighting the menace,
saying that human traffickers are criminal opportunists.
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