Human Trafficking and Poverty in South-south Nigeria

Abstract

Sex trafficking is an aspect of human trafficking which has come to be seen as a serious global problem. Women and young girls are exposed to the danger of maternal mortality, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases like HIV aids and other health and social consequences. Many victims suffer a wide variety of human rights abuses including confinement and effective captivity, physical and sexual assaults. More broadly, through human trafficking and sex trafficking, a nation’s active population is threatened and exploited with young people unable to attain their full potential. This has significant implications for development challenges especially for developing source countries like Nigeria in Sub Sahara Africa where a large number of young girls and women are recruited for sex work in Europe annually. The activity of sex trafficking syndicates represents a flourishing area for organised crime which has proven resilient to law enforcement and other attempts at control. This research thesis uses qualitative research methods to explore the relationship between sex trafficking and social and economic conditions in the South-south region of Nigeria, with a particular focus on poverty. In doing so, it also examines the adequacy of official understandings and responses to, the problem and explores tensions between Western framings of the phenomena and the lived experience of populations exposed to human trafficking in the region.