By Our Reporter
No fewer than 100 victims of child trafficking were rescued within the South-East between January and June, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTI) has said.
The Enugu Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Mrs Nneka Ajie disclosed this on Friday in Enugu during the celebration of the 2021 World Day Against Human Trafficking.
Ajie said that the victims who were mostly children were victims of sexual exploitation, child labour, violence, baby harvesting and others.
The zonal commander said that a number of the rescued victims had been reunited with their families.
“If you go to our shelter to see some of the rescued victims, you will commend us for what we are doing,” she said.
She, however , said that the issue of reuniting the victims with members of their families was a challenge as the agency would have to empower the victims.
“We are very limited in the area of empowerment and that is why we seek partnership to execute our mandate. We cannot do it alone,” she said.
She also said that no fewer than 50 suspected human traffickers were arrested within the same time, adding that some were being prosecuted.
Ajie said that incidences of human trafficking were endemic in the region, adding that the zone had been recognised as the place of origin, transit and destination for human traffickers.
“We mostly have the preponderance of sexual exploitation, followed closely by baby harvesting offenses and labour exploitation,” she said.
On the event which is celebrated every July 30, she said that it was set aside to commemorate the victim’s rehabilitation and reintegration into the society.
Ajie also said that the ceremony was used to highlight the ills of human trafficking as well as deliberate on the way forward in attempts to curb the crime.
“The agency at the zone is a multidisciplinary outfit for human trafficking matters because we have the investigation, prosecution, counseling and rehabilitation units.
“We also have the public enlightenment, international cooperation and intelligence unit. So, ours is a one-stop shop for human trafficking masters,” Ajie said.
Also, the South-East Regional Director of NAPTIP, Mr Nduka Nwanwenne, said that the Federal Government had put in place enough policies to curb the menace.
Nwanwenne cited the National Policy for the Protection and Assistance of the Victims of Human Trafficking which came into force in 2008 as one of such policies.
“From then, there have been other policies that have been developed and if not for these policies, incidences of human trafficking would have been more serious.
“So, the intervention of NAPTIP has helped to curb human trafficking,” he said.
He, however, said that one of the major challenges militating against the crusade against human trafficking was that the responsibility seemed to have been pushed to the government.
Nwanwenne said that every stakeholder had a duty to contribute in the fight against the crime.
Ikengaonline reports that the theme of the 2021 celebration is ‘Victims Voices Lead the Way’.
