United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in J

United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children JOY NGOZI EZEILO ORGANISES EXPERT MEETING ON

THEME: Human Trafficking & Global Supply Chains: TITLE: Understanding

the Challenges & Risks for Business & Workers

PRESENTED BY BISI OLATERU-OLAGBEGI LLB. B.L. MCI (ARB) U.K.

Executive Director Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON ) 12-13 NOVEMBER 2012 ANKARA -TURKEY

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Introduction/ Background The nature of human trafficking in global supply chains to Business in Sub- Saharan Africa: Profile of Business in Sub Saharan Africa  Most countries in the Region are developing Economies or under-developed constituting over two-thirds for the poorest countries in the World  Few large corporations in the Region- Mostly Small and medium scale businesses.  Few formal and regulated industries largely informal and unregulated. 

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Human trafficking and businesses in Africa 

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Human trafficking especially the trafficking of women and children is a global phenomenon that has impacted disproportionately on countries depending on the economic level of the countries. The adverse tolls not only on the victims majority of whom are women and children but also on the entire society.

Until the last decade or two human trafficking was not recognized as a major problem in Africa. Over the years and in recent times the reality and enormity of the global criminal activity of human traffickin becoming more apparent especially in the socio economic lives of Africans in general. 

Using Nigeria as a classic example being the most populous in sub Saharan Africa with a population estimated at 150 million (NPC 2006) a country of source transit and destination for human trafficking. (See 201 Trafficking in Persons Report- Nigeria available at http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/ ). 3 

Situational Analysis 

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Millions of African children and Thousands of women are victims of internal and cross- border trafficking. Nigerian women and girls for example constitute the largest single source of trafficked victims for prostitution and domestic slavery to Europe, (See the article “Nigeria is the largest African source of trafficked women to Europe and Asia” Available at http://www.naijafeed.com/naijafeed/2009/8/23/nigeriais-the-largest-african-source-of-trafficked-women-to.html) Within the Sub Saharan Africa, there is the trafficking of persons especially women and children though men are not exempted. West Africans are mostly trafficked to North Africa for various forms of exploitative labour such as domestic slavery and prostitution. There is also intra trafficking within West and Central African subregions where Nigerians are trafficked to countries like Cote D‘Ivoire , Mali, Gabon & Cameroon to work in farm lands and in Brothels while the nationals from Benin Republic , Togo , Ghana, Niger are trafficked to Nigeria predominantly for domestic slavery , begging and prostitution. Nigeria has been the largest recipients of nationals from other West African countries in the last two decades 4.

Situational Analysis contd.  

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Internal Trafficking from rural Communities to urban /city centers also abound in the countries within the Region. Millions of women and Children especially girls have been trafficked and are being trafficked to urban areas for domestic slavery, illegal Mining,, begging and prostitution. Recruitments of potential trafficked victims are done and could be through various categories of people who may be members of syndicated crime gangs or just individuals. Family members have also been found to be engaged in trafficking transactions. Vulnerable people mostly from poor socio economic situations or rural communities are deceived with promises of work , education, better life and various forms of deceit according to the dynamism of the traffickers/ agents. The recruitment particularly in Nigeria is sealed with the subjection of victims and families to juju or voodoo traditional oaths of secrecy involving the use of their blood and other body parts , to instil fear in the victims .

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Culled from NAPTIP FIDA presentation 2012

The Juju 0r Voodoo influence. The Juju or voodoo dimension

peculiar to the Nigerian . According to publication of Europol “Nigerian trafficking groups rely heavily upon contracts with their victims that have been reinforced by a voodoo or Juju ritual. The ritual process is both a controlling element for the traffickers, pimps and madams and one which acts as a significant obstacle in dealing with victims who have been subjected to this process” ( See KNOWLEDGE PRODUCT “Trafficking in Human Beings in the European Union O8 OC Networks in the South-East European Sphere O2 Analysis and Knowledge The Hague, 1 September 2011 FILE NO: 2565-84)  Juju creates fear in the minds of victims and prevents the revelation of the details of the trafficking transactions as well as fear of reprisal attacks from the traffickers. 7

RISKS-Forms of Transportation   

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Transportation of victims could be by air but this form is reducing due to the vigilance of Border agents. By sea or water in overcrowded boats that are mostly not sea worthy. By road through hazardous routes sometimes in the desert where the victims are deprived of food and water –forcing them to drink their urine or blood from their menstrual cycle. While en-route to destination victims suffer various forms of physical mental and often times sexual abuses. The abuses may lead to loss of life or serious health hazards such as unwanted pregnancies, forced abortion and contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases ( STD) including HIV and AIDS. 8

Culled from NAPTIP FIDA presentation 2012

Culled from NAPTIP FIDA presentation 2012

Risks at Destinations

Trafficked victims in Hospitality, Tourism industry  Suffer: Discrimination,  Debt Bondage: At destination the traffickers unilaterally impose debt bondage as for example between 4000060000 Euros for victims of sexual exploitation,Prostitution & Domestic Slavery Sexual and Physical Exploitation resulting in long time health implications and trauma. Forced labour- low wages below standard regulations and minimum wages Children in mining industries for example, suffer physical abuse, sleep in the open are under fed and suffer various health hazards.  Denied education and protection. 

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How? Forms of Exploitative Labour Skilled Labourers : Very few are trafficked though they could

be victims of human smuggling and suffer exploitation in consequence of such arrangements. –Results in brain drain or loss of expertise in Africa. Unskilled labourers: The large majority of victims are unskilled with little or no education. Though their services are essential especially in the informal sector and in some industries such as hospitality, Tourism , entertainment – such services are not accorded recognition as economic venture.  The British Home Office acknowledged that between 1990 and 2000, migrants (both legal and illegal contributed £31.2 billion in taxes to the British economy. (See Report of ILO at the 92nd session in Geneva titled “Towards a fair deal for migrant workers in the global 12

Supply chain of trafficked persons to businesses in SubSaharan AFRICA

Dearth of Information generally due to few studies on the issue Formal Sector ; Large Corporations are closely monitored by Labour

Ministries in many countries. Small and Medium Scale industries: Most Businesses in the formal sector in Africa are small and medium scale: e.g.. Transport businesses where children especially are used as “Bus conductors”; Catering businesses where women are used as domestic servants especially both within their countries and across borders. Agriculture-Cocoa farms in Cote D’Ivoire. Illegal mining and artisan- Nigeria Ogun State Hospitality industries: Women and children used as cleaners, menial work, Prostitution Tourism industry: women and girls mostly victims in sex tourism and hospitality industries. Informal sector ; Trafficked victims engaged by petty and those in distributive trade, shop attendants, domestic slavery of children a worst form of labour.

Children manually drilling sand for Construction in Ogun State of Nigeria

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Root Causes  Pull and push Factors: Poverty: Underlying factor for the vulnerability of victims to trafficking. Gender :Who are The Victims? Mostly women and children.. Men too

are trafficked but the no of women and children surpass that of men. High unemployment rates for women. High rates of migration -as avenues to escape suffering and violence. Demand for cheap labour. – Outsourcing of Businesses to poor countries . Ignorance: Legal/human rights and Migration Rules and procedure. Need to control workers deny right to voluntary negotiations thereby perpetuating the Bondage. Golobalisation- growth of sex trade. Abuse of the traditional fostering system. High value of foreign currency especially, the euro and the dollar  Corruption and bad Governance. Inadequate protective Labour Laws minimum age for employment according to the Nigerian Labour Act is 14 (See Section 59(3))

Prevention , Protection and Prosecution Government Intervention Legal Frame work  Nigeria - 1st Country in Africa to put in place a comprehensive law against human trafficking fashioned along the Palermo Protocol (Trafficking in Persons Especially women and children, supplementing the Convention on Transnational and Organized Crimes in Vienna in July 2000 and signed in Palermo, Italy in 2000) - Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 as amended in 2005 (NAPTIP ACT)  The Government set up an Agency NAPTIP which has the responsibility to enforce the laws provided in NAPTIP Act i.e  To investigate ,To prosecute trafficking suspects , take charge and co – ordinate the rehabilitation and counseling of trafficked persons and create awareness.  Set –up of Shelters. 

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Legal frame work to address trafficking. Apart from Nigeria a few of the African Countries have comprehensive legislations against human trafficking such as Kenya Uganda, Djibouti Gambia Senegal , Sierra Leone, Ghana while some of them have laws to prohibit child trafficking ( Togo, Mali, Bukina Faso & South Africa) only or trafficking for sexual purposes (Guinea & South Africa) only  Its noteworthy to mention that the NAPTIP Act of Nigeria covers “Attempt” to traffick which is not in the Palermo Protocol  Most countries in Africa have endorsed the Palermo Protocol and the various ILO Convections on forced labour and worst forms of labour. 

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Steps by Business owners to curb the supply chain Some Businesses have codes of conduct: Through the intervention of Agencies such as ILO- and civil societies- Developed Codes f conduct – e.g Hospitality industries , Transport Companies.  Among local mining companies- through sensitisation entered into social contractsenforced by Community monitoring Groups  Large cooporations: respect Government Labour laws for fear of being penalised- but some get away from being penalised as a result of corruption. 

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Challenges Prosecution under the law has not been effective as a result of lack of technical know how, corruption ,lack of witness protection programmes, silence of the victims and intimidation of traffickers.  Apart from National laws there are also various Bilateral agreements among States within the Region and with other countries mostly destination countries outside the Region. Some of them are one sided agreements which favour the destination countries.  The response of destination countries in the developed world has been the imposition of strict migratory rules which have resulted in driving prospective migrants aground creating illegal and unsafe migration which further provides fertile grounds for traffickers and human smugglers who exploit innocent Africans in desperation.  Global businesses which require unskilled labour as a result of the strict migratory rules are denied the opportunity of acquiring legitimate workers and have to resort to the trafficking chain for supplies into their workforce. 

Challenges Contd.  The Language of the Palermo Protocol is too weak in extracting serious commitments from State Parties to addres the Root Causes of trafficking which is Poverty.  Need for review in line with the global Priority commitments under the MDGS to eradicate extreme poverty and women’s empowerment in 2015.  The issue of trafficking has gender dimension that needs to be specifically addressed.  Under representation of women in decision making and underdevelopment of women generally is a challenge to curbing human trafficking especially in Africa. 

Corruption and bad governance undermines the political will of many African countries to bring to justice both small and big corporations tha a engaged in use of trafficked victims in their supply chain. . 20

Recommendations More studies and investigations on the supply chain to businesses in Africa.  Re-designing the global business to recognise the real needs especially of unskilled labour and human resources so that instead of ignoring these needs Countries will put in place migratory rules that do not discriminate on account of skilled and unskilled labour.  Small and medium scale usually ignored in the global sector.  Industries where language will not be a barrier for its operation and which absolve trafficked victims such as Tourism, Entertainment Cleaning business, Sex Tourism, hospitality should be closely monitored by the Labour Ministries and under a transparent procedure. 21 

Recommendations & Way Forward

Increased interventions by civil society groups in creating awareness assisting in the prevention and protection of Victims especially in source and receiving communities.  Education of the populace and law enforcement agencies on the existing laws.  Collaboration among the different law enforcement and security agencies- such as police, immigration, customs.  Inter-Ministerial Collaborations- to implement the respective National plan of Action.  Inter-Governmental collaboration from the human rights perspective taking the interest and protection of victims as paramount.  Need to address the issue from a wholistic point of view- Collaboration towards the elimination of extreme poverty in developing economies and towards the achievement of the Millennium development Goals •

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Conclusion More importantly there is need for all hands to be on deck to address the issue of human trafficking in the supply chains of Businesses, to prevent the crime, protect the victims and ensure that the traffickers do not get away with impunity.  Thank you for Listening 

Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi LLB.B.L. MCI (Arb.) U.K. Executive Director Women Consortium of Nigeria ( WOCON)

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REFERENCES

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2011 US Trafficking Report on Nigeria) http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt 2012 US Trafficking report on Nigeria Olateru-Olagbegi, B, Ikpeme A ( 2005) Review of legislations and policies in Nigeria on human trafficking and forced labour (Available at www.ilo.org/declaration/info/publications ) International Labour Organisation Global Report for 2005 was titled ‘A Global Alliance against Forced Labour” UNESCO Policy Paper No 14.2 ( E) “Human Trafficking in Nigeria: Root Causes and Recommendations ( available at www.unesco.org/shs/humantrafficking) ECPAT International Global Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children Olateru-Olagbegi Bisi -Brief Overview of the situational analysis of human trafficking in West Africa NGO FORUM Seventh African Regional 24

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EU STRATEGY TOWARDS THE ERADICATION OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/1 2/455&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on “Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in Benin, Nigeria and Togo” http://www.unodc.org/documents/humantrafficking/ht_research_report_nigeria.pdf UNESCO publication- Searching for Best Practices to Counter Human Trafficking in Africa: A Focus on Women and Children By Thanh-Dam Truong and Maria Belen Angeles Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi and Anne Ikpeme, Review of Legislation and Policies in Nigeria on Human Trafficking and Forced Labour, ILO, January, 2006, 24; available from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/ – -ed_norm/ – declaration/documents/publication/wcms_083149.pdf. 25