Trafficking amongst all other social
problems has put Africa in a sorry state when it comes to human development.
This practice of modern slavery does not only apply to the able bodied adults
but in fact, targets a higher percentage of vulnerable children as well.
Surprisingly, trafficking does not only expose its victims to hard labour and
prostitution but it also brings about their untimely deaths especially where
there are “heartless trafficking agents” involved. As much as the United
Nations believe that 6 out of every 10 people are being trafficked annually, it
is also unfortunate to know that some of the victims get trafficked without
even knowing it. This is so because a trusted family member is the disguised
trafficker who must have promised the family of the trafficked person a better
life in an unfamiliar environment.
However, some people voluntarily allow themselves to be
trafficked as a result of their current life situation. In Nigeria for
instance, girls are being convinced of getting a better life for themselves and
their families in places like Italy, Malaysia, China but to mention few in
which some African neighboring countries are not spared only to find out that
they had been tricked into a life of misery and agony through sex slavery while
most traffickers see this as a full time job, they continue to hunt for and
entice these vulnerable children who are usually easier to convince and extort
money from their poor families in the name of travel expenses.
Just last month, a
friend of mine who serves the Nigerian Navy aired out his frustrations about
this particular menace. He spoke about how some Nigerian citizens numbering up
to 1,000 or more took their chances to “risk their lives on a journey with the
possibilities of no return”. He said that the Dakar Immigration office
had sent for the Nigerian Naval officers to come pick Nigerians who were trying
to cross the Atlantic Ocean into either Malaga or Sicily in which these men
also held a workshop for the refugees, giving them a reason why they should not
risk their lives for “Greener Pastures”. At
some other times, they go from Dakar (Senegal) to Tripoli (Libya) where they
will now cross over to Spain or Italy by boat which of course is very risky.
After the workshop/counseling session, only 200 people or less agreed to go
back to Nigeria especially those who were financially stranded. He talked about
how there were more of pretty teenage girls and young adults of both sex. There
have been recorded traumatic experiences of survivors who escaped a wicked act
by traffickers who off-loaded people into the sea when the journey became
tough. i.e there might be marine govt. officials on patrol or the traffickers
are fake at being a travel agent. Worse case scenarios holds that some people
especially children are being transported and treated like cargo in cargo ships
as they are being lined up like inanimate objects in a container while on
transit for several hours. This is why some of them suffocate to death. And
families continue to loose their precious ones to harsh conditions worse than
death all in a bid to travel abroad.
