In a bid to better respond to trafficking in persons in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, where 7.1 million people need humanitarian assistance, twenty organizations joined forces in a new Anti-Trafficking Task Force (ATTF) in humanitarian action.
Heartland Alliance International (HAI), jointly with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), launched the Task Force in July of 2019 in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno. The Task Force will advocate for the inclusion of anti-trafficking measures in the regional humanitarian response and will operate under the Protection Sector Working Group (PSWG).
Humanitarian actors face many obstacles in uncovering violations, identifying victims and quantifying the overall scale of Trafficking in Persons (TiP). Victims of trafficking rarely self- identify or self-report, for fear of stigmatization or lack of access to reporting mechanisms. A fear of repercussions also often deters people who witness trafficking.
Photo: Task Force members at a camp for internally displaced persons in Maiduguri.
The ongoing conflict and displacement exacerbate the risk of trafficking, especially for female and child-headed households, unaccompanied, and separated children and youth. These groups are vulnerable to gender-based violence, abduction, and recruitment in armed groups.
More than 130,000 people have been displaced in northeast Nigeria since January 2019, increasing the population of already stretched camps. As thousands of people lack shelter, they are forced to sleep in the open air in overcrowded camps which further increases their vulnerability to protection risks and exploitation.
The ATTF will be co-chaired by the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development. Its 20 member organizations include government, UN agencies, international NGOs and civil society. HAI, together with IOM and UNHCR, will provide technical support.
HAI has more than a decade of global experience in rights-based and victim-centered approaches to countering human trafficking, including in the context of humanitarian crises in Iraq, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Additionally, HAI has implemented counter-trafficking programming in Cameroon, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Swaziland.
IOM Press Release: Humanitarian Actors Establish First Anti-Trafficking Task Force in North-East Nigeria
