When Africa rises against trafficking in persons

The Guardian

Wednesday, July 26, 2006—The Joint ECOWAS/ECCAS Ministerial Conference against Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children held in Abuja recently. COLLINS OLAYINKA of the Abuja bureau who was at the event writes.

PERHAPS the best victory for trafficked persons was won early in the month, when governments of West and Central Africa signed a mutually binding agreement on the control of the menace that is fast becoming the highest incidence of crime on the continent.

In recognition of the imperative to adopt a regional approach in combating the menace of human trafficking, especially children and women, the governments of West and Central Africa, on July 6, signed an agreement to tame the ugly trend.

The agreement is a product of a process, which began with the Libreville Consultation (2000 and 2002). The joint Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS)/ Economic Community of Central African States, (ECCAS) Conference of Ministers to combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children held in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja.

The Nigerian government and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) host the event.

It includes all countries in both West and Central African regions. It is the first time ever that so many countries would agree on a common regional strategy and action plan to fight human trafficking. All signatory countries are bound by the multilateral agreement.

In his opening speech, the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas lamented that though the crime is very pervasive across the continent, there appears to be a dearth of data with which to determine its widespread.

Ibn Chambas said, "no concrete data exists about the scale of the phenomenon of human trafficking in Africa, partly because of the illicit nature of the practice.

"Nevertheless today, no country in West and Central Africa can claim to be free of the problem of trafficking in persons, especially of women and children."

UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa Esther Guluma, argued that "Internal and international human trafficking is a critical issue in most, if not all, the countries in the West and Central African region. Invariably, most countries in the regions are countries of origin, transit and destination for trafficked persons."

While poverty is often attributed as the most visible cause for trafficking, it is really, one part of the picture. According to her, "trafficking occurs when the protective environment collapses and is often based on traditional labour migration." Hence, said Guluma, a holistic approach would be required to address the issue.

"We have to make sure that we act on the prevention side to make children less vulnerable to trafficking. Those children that have been trafficked need to get economic and social support that is consistent with their cultural context to successfully reintegrate them into their societies and homes when they are being repatriated."

Senior Advisor on human rights of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Lee Swepston, observed that while most of identified cases of trafficking occurred within a specific region and even within a country, there were also many cases of trafficking flow that transcended a specific region.

He said, "International trafficking of girls and women fuels prostitution rackets in Europe while in the Middle East boys are often enlisted in drug trafficking and the illicit sale of arms. And many thousands of people are trafficked around the world into simple slavery for economic exploitation."

The 2006 Global report on child labour pointed out that Sub Saharan Africa has the highest rate of children engaged in economic activities of all regions of the world.

The came about as a result of a long process of several years, characterised by increasing regional and sub-regional political commitments to fight trafficking.

The two Libreville consultations between 2000 and 2002 which brought together government officials, Non Government Organisations, regional and international organisations, adopted a common platform against child trafficking.

At national level, numerous governments in the region have been involved in a process of legislation review and reform related to child trafficking, and of drafting or updating a national plan of action. Bilateral agreements of co-operation against child trafficking have also been signed between several countries in West Africa.

The ECCAS Executive Secretary, General Louis Sylvain Goma, stressed that "for the fight against trafficking in persons in the region to be effective, we have to go further. We have to co-ordinate among all states in West and Central Africa around a common definition, perception and understanding of trafficking in persons and a joint regional action plan to be implemented by strong institutional instruments.

For him, the signing of the multilateral agreement and the regional action plan at the ministerial conference on trafficking in persons is a major step in the protection of persons against trafficking. "The agreement and its implementation through the regional plan of action, puts in place a holistic approach to fight trafficking in persons, especially women and children."

The NAPTIP Executive Secretary, Ms Carol Ndugba noted that her agency has been one of the inspiring experiences for the regional action- plan. 'We have done a lot of work in dealing with the issue of trafficking. Our approach includes prevention, prosecution of traffickers and support to victims of trafficking in their reintegration process,' she explained.

The implementation of the action plan is to be guided by the Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights of Child Victims of Trafficking developed by UNICEF and the Child Trafficking Monitoring System proposed by ILO confirmed by all partners.

Although a major step has now been taken in West and Central Africa to fight trafficking in persons, a lot remains to be done. Mr. Antonio Mazzitelli, UNODC Regional Director noted that ECOWAS and ECCAS would have a crucial role to play supporting and guiding governments in the region to implement the agreements that have been reached.

The UN family will also continue to provide all support they need in their fight against the trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who was represented at the occasion reiterated the central role of regional collaboration in combating human trafficking in the two regions.

President Obasanjo, who spoke through the Minister of Integration and Cooperation in Africa, Lawan Buba stressed that the eradication of incidences of human trafficking especially that of women, children and other vulnerable groups depends largely on the adoption of multi-sectoral approach.

He informed the gathering, that the establishment of NAPTIP and promulgating enabling law that prescribe punishment for those that engage in the criminal act were part of efforts by the Nigerian government to confront headlong the menace of human trafficking. He observed that such regional agreements would lead to trans-border solution, while also raising awareness on the evil inherent in the practice but gear governments in the region to devote more resources towards curbing the trade.

Underscoring the importance of laws to checkmate the practice, Nigeria Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo quoted relevant UN Conventions.

He noted that the conference could not have come at a better time than now that the whole world had risen to the challenges of the gross abuse of human rights, especially of children and women. According to him, any nation that pretends to be free from the effects of trafficking in persons would be shirking in her solemn responsibility to humanity and her citizenry. "The crime respects no national borders which is the reason why nations must come together to jointly tackle the scourge. It is for these reasons among others that Article 9 (4) (5) of the United Nations' Trafficking Protocol supplementing the Transnational Organized Crime Convention encourages state parties to adopt measures such as legislative, bilateral and multilateral agreements to combat trafficking in persons in all its manifestation and ramification," Ojo said.

He provided more insight into Nigeria's effort at combating the ignominy engagement thus: "The challenges posed by human traffickers are what we as a nation has taken seriously. We are not only one of the first countries to sign and ratify the Transnational Organised Crime Convention (TOC) and its supplementing protocol in 2000 when it was open for signatures, but the first to domesticate the law.

"Nigeria also criminalise the conducts set forth in Article 3 of the trafficking protocol and set up a specific multi-dimensional jurist agency to enforce the law. Our national anti-trafficking in person's law domesticated all the constituent elements of trafficking in persons as contained in the trafficking protocol.

"The law views Trafficking In Persons (TIP) as a serious offence and provides stiff penalties. It provides for active personality jurisdiction to punish

Nigerians or persons who have right of residence in Nigeria that commit any of the offences outside the shores of Nigeria. Such a person is liable to prosecution on return to Nigeria."

Both ECOWAS and ECCAS, also describe the agreement as a major milestone at combating trafficking at regional level.

The agreement is historic as it includes all the countries in West and Central African regions. It is the first time ever that so many countries agree on a common regional strategy and action plan to fight human trafficking.

The UNICEF, ILO and the UN Office against Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provided technical support to the conference.

But beyond the signing of agreement lies the challenge of making the agreement work for the purpose for which it is meant to serve. Observers posited that perhaps what is needed most at this point in time is the will to find the political capacity to implement the tenets of the agreement by the various governments that are involve in the signing of agreement.

Individual countries should therefore move from public declaration to the realm of implementation by providing the necessary logistics for the success of the campaign.

The ball, as the saying goes, rest squarely in the quarters of the West and Central Africa national governments to rise above the euphoria of agreement and take concrete steps towards eliminating human trafficking from the shores of the two regions.

ECOWAS and ECCAS spearheaded the joint effort in recognition of the transnational nature of the issue, while UNICEF, ILO and the UNODC provided technical support to the conference and the process leading to it.