6.2.6 Reprisals against underage and adult male victims of human trafficking
Sources did not provide any information about the risk of reprisals against underage and adult male trafficking victims returning to Nigeria. A source interviewed for this report stated that the risk of reprisals is low for adult Nigerian men returning to Nigeria from Europe, as they often pay people smugglers in advance for their passage.1146 This differs from the situation of female trafficking victims, for whom the traffickers advance the cost of the journey to Europe and who are then expected to repay this debt by working in the sex industry. Another confidential source reported having heard of a few cases where men who had returned from Libya were put under pressure to pay smugglers for the Libya-Europe journey even though they had not made the planned crossing to Europe.1147 However, men did become victims of human trafficking/slavery1148 during the journey, especially in Libya, even though they had actually paid for their journey in advance and thus not made a deal to repay the traffickers the cost of the journey through exploitation/unpaid work. No information was available on the extent to which this category of individuals suffered reprisals on returning to Nigeria.
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adopted their own laws to combat trafficking.1156 The Anti-Trafficking Act provided for the creation of NAPTIP, the agency charged with coordinating all actions aimed at eliminating trafficking. NAPTIP is concerned with the prevention of trafficking, the protection of trafficking victims and the prosecution of perpetrators.1157
6.3.2 Capacity of shelters for human trafficking victims
In December 2020, NAPTIP had ten shelters for trafficking victims, at its
headquarters in Abuja and at the nine zonal command offices in Lagos, Benin, Uyo, Enugu, Kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Osun and Makurdi.1158 NAPTIP had space for a total of 314 people in 2020,1159 but was not using this capacity to the full.1160 Its shelters take in victims for up to six weeks, unless there are special
circumstances:1161 extra vulnerable victims and victims who are cooperating in the criminal prosecution of traffickers are allowed to stay at NAPTIP shelters for longer.1162 NAPTIP also coordinates with NGOs that provide shelter to trafficking victims. A confidential source indicated that there are a total of about 100 places available for trafficking victims in Edo state. According to this source, this was enough because none of these shelters took in victims permanently, so places were always becoming available.1163 However, the UN Special Rapporteur expressed concern during the reporting period that some NAPTIP shelters were taking in victims of other forms of gender-based violence. This reduces the number of places available for trafficking victims. She also indicated that the length of time that victims were allowed to stay at the shelters was too short.1164
6.3.3 Nature and quality of protection at NAPTIP shelters
The quality of NAPTIP facilities does not meet international standards for the shelter of human trafficking victims.1165 Sources indicated that many trafficking victims refuse to stay in NAPTIP shelters because the living conditions are so low.1166 NAPTIP centres have a policy of remaining closed to prevent those staying there from becoming victims of trafficking again. During the six weeks that victims stay at a NAPTIP shelter, they are allowed no contact with the outside world, including their families. It is not clear to what extent this policy actually protects victims from retrafficking. Experts such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children claimed that closed shelters violate the human rights of trafficking victims.1167 Various sources revealed a range of other abuses in
NAPTIP shelters.1168 Trafficking victims in NAPTIP shelters also indicated in interviews with HRW that they had no contact with family and did not know when they would be allowed to return home.1169 The UN Special Rapporteur complimented NAPTIP for running ten shelters for human trafficking victims, but also expressed
1156 Pathfinders Justice Initiative, Edo state human trafficking bill signed into law by governor Obaseki, 2018.
1157 It has its own website: www.naptip.gov.ng.
1158 NAPTIP, Organizational Structure, accessed 1 December 2020.
1159 Confidential source, September 2020.
1160 Confidential source, September 2020.
1161 EASO, Country Guidance Nigeria, p. 95, February 2019.
1162 Okoli and Idemudia, ‘Survivor’s Perceptions of Human Trafficking Rehabilitation Programs in Nigeria:
Empowerment or Disempowerment?’, Journal of Human Trafficking, 2020.
1163 Confidential source, 21 October 2020; Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1164 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, End of visit statement, Nigeria (3-10 September) by Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 10 September 2018.
1165 Human Rights Watch, “You Pray for Death”: Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria, 27 August 2019; Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, End of visit statement, Nigeria (3-10 September) by Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 10 September 2018
1166 Confidential source, 19 November 2020; Confidential source, September 2020.
1167 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, End of visit statement, Nigeria (3-10 September) by Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 10 September 2018; Confidential source, 21 October 2020.
1168 Okoli and Idemudia, ‘Survivor’s Perceptions of Human Trafficking Rehabilitation Programs in Nigeria:
Empowerment or Disempowerment?’, Journal of Human Trafficking, 2020; Human Rights Watch, “You Pray for Death”: Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria, 27 August 2019.
1169 Human Rights Watch, “You Pray for Death”: Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria, 27 August 2019.
concerns about the inadequate resources NAPTIP has at its disposal to assist
victims, the short time (six weeks) that victims stay at the shelter, and the fact that NAPTIP also uses the shelters for victims of other forms of gender-based violence, thus reducing their capacity for trafficking victims.1170
6.3.4 Nature and quality of protection at other shelters
Some shelters run by NGOs are open while others are closed.1171 There have been reports of NGO shelters withholding food from human trafficking victims as a
punishment for disobedience.1172 During the reporting period, there were indications that victims at these shelters are not fully protected against threats and the risk of retrafficking. In an article for Trouw, an incident was cited in which family members came to collect their daughter/sister from a shelter in order to urge her to return to her trafficker.1173 A confidential source indicated that NGO shelters are not very difficult for traffickers to identify.1174 Resettlement in another region can help protect victims from threats and retrafficking. A confidential source indicated that
resettlement is only a realistic option if victims know that they are supported by an NGO, because if these girls try to withdraw from their family’s sphere of influence, there will be no social safety net to catch them.1175 Some NGO shelters offer the possibility for trafficking victims to settle in another region of the country for a long period (up to one year).1176
6.3.5 Shelter for male victims of human trafficking
The above shelter options only exist for underage and adult female trafficking victims and for underage male trafficking victims. For this reason, both the UN Special Rapporteur and the 2020 USDoS report stated that adequate protection is not provided by NAPTIP or other organisations to adult male trafficking victims. Two shelters for male returnees were set up during this reporting period, according to a confidential source:1177 one in the city of Lagos and one in the state of Edo. Both facilities are run by NGOs. The shelter in Lagos is managed by Patriotic Citizen Initiatives (PCI), and that in Edo by the Society for the Empowerment of Young Persons (SEYP).1178 Male trafficking victims and other returning male migrants can also participate in the IOM and ERRIN reintegration programmes discussed in Chapter Four, and will in some cases be eligible for housing support.
6.3.6 Protection of victims outside shelters and of the family members of human trafficking victims
Several sources stressed the importance of adequate protection for trafficking victims after they have left shelters and for the family members of trafficking victims.1179 This is especially true for families of trafficking victims who have fled their madames/traffickers but remained in Europe. Such protection is almost never provided.1180 When women leave shelters, NAPTIP lacks the capacity to provide protection itself. Coordination with the local police is possible in theory, but rarely if
1170 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, End of visit statement, Nigeria (3-10 September) by Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 10 September 2018.
1171 Okoli and Idemudia, ‘Survivor’s Perceptions of Human Trafficking Rehabilitation Programs in Nigeria:
Empowerment or Disempowerment?’, Journal of Human Trafficking, 2020.
1172 Okoli and Idemudia, ‘Survivor’s Perceptions of Human Trafficking Rehabilitation Programs in Nigeria:
Empowerment or Disempowerment?’, Journal of Human Trafficking, pp. 12, 14, 2020; Human Rights Watch, “You Pray for Death”: Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria, p. 7, 27 August 2019
1173 Trouw, Benin City loopt leeg: waarom de vrouwenhandel van Afrika naar Europa niet te stoppen is, 25 May 2018.
1174 Confidential source, 28 October 2020.
1175 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1176 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1177 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1178 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1179 Confidential source, 28 October 2020; Confidential source, 10 November 2020; The Guardian, Escape: the woman who brought her trafficker to justice, 27 August 2020.
1180 Confidential source, September 2020.
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ever occurs in practice, according to a confidential source.1181 As highlighted in the next section, corrupt police officers sometimes work with traffickers. One
confidential source indicated that if families are not involved in the exploitation of their daughter/sister/niece and are actually threatened, the Nigerian authorities will deploy police to protect them and thus prevent reprisals by traffickers. However, this source also indicated that lack of capacity within the Nigerian police is an obstacle to the use of this remedy.1182 In addition, this type of protection is
temporary, allowing traffickers to wait for their opportunity if they actually do want to take revenge on family members.
6.3.7 Inadequate criminal prosecution of human traffickers
In theory, the criminal prosecution of traffickers could help protect trafficking victims and their families from reprisals and retrafficking. During the reporting period, the number of convictions remained low.1183 In addition, convictions of high-ranking figures within trafficking networks largely failed to materialise.1184 NAPTIP data show that of the 1,076 cases NAPTIP received in 2018, 206 were fully investigated.
Seventy-five cases were eventually brought to trial (including a number of cases from 2017). NAPTIP won 31 cases and lost 1. This resulted in the conviction of 50 human traffickers.1185 In 2019, 203 cases were fully investigated, 701 suspects were arrested and perpetrators were convicted in 18 cases (25 individuals in total).1186 Twenty percent of the 701 suspects arrested were involved in human trafficking abroad. According to a confidential source, the vast majority of human trafficking convictions in Nigeria involved low-ranking criminals, and the leaders of trafficking networks have remained unaffected.1187 There were several positive developments in criminal prosecution during the reporting period. In 2019, several officials were convicted of involvement in trafficking. In Sokoto, for example, three mid-level and senior-level government officials were convicted under TIPLEAA and VAPP for
‘procurement for sexual exploitation’. In Delta, two government officials were convicted of attempted child trafficking.1188 In November 2020, a Nigerian judge sentenced three female traffickers to 10 and 14 years in prison for sexually exploiting a Nigerian woman in Russia. The Director-General of NAPTIP welcomed this conviction on the grounds that penalties had previously been very light.1189 6.3.8 Fear, corruption and inefficiency as causes of limited criminal prosecution
The reluctance of victims to testify against their traffickers, the involvement of government officials/politicians in trafficking and the inefficiency and lack of capacity of the investigation services are the main causes of the lack of convictions of
traffickers. According to various sources, the lack of victims who are willing to testify against their traffickers is the main reason why so few traffickers are convicted.1190 This reluctance is primarily due to fear of the effects of juju or of reprisals by traffickers.1191 Various sources indicate that there is no properly functioning witness protection programme in Nigeria, which means that victims cannot assume that they themselves and their families will be protected if they cooperate in criminal
prosecution.1192 In addition, there is a fear among victims of stigmatisation by the
1181 Confidential source, September 2020.
1182 Confidential source, 9 October 2020.
1183 US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2020: Nigeria, pp. 379-379, 2020; Premium Times, ANALYSIS: Despite successes, NAPTIP investigates, prosecutes only few reported trafficking cases, 2 October 2019.
1184 Confidential source, 21 October 2020.
1185 NAPTIP, 2018 4th Quarter Report, pp. 2-6, 2018.
1186 NAPTIP, 2019 Data Analysis, p. 6, 2019.
1187 Confidential source, 21 October 2020.
1188 US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2020: Nigeria, p. 379, 2020.
1189 Reuters, Nigeria convicts family of sex traffickers with rare jail sentence, 17 November 2020.
1190 Confidential source, 21 October 2020; Confidential source, 10 November 2020; Confidential source, 28 October 2020.
1191 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1192 Confidential source, 10 November 2020; Confidential source, 21 October 2020; Confidential source, 5 October 2020.
family/wider community if they speak out.1193 Victims are also often unwilling to testify because in many cases their family members were involved in the
exploitation,1194 or because they do not see themselves as victims.1195 Corruption is another major cause of the lack of convictions, according to various sources.1196 Other causes for NAPTIP’s problems in prosecuting traffickers are lack of
coordination between NAPTIP and the police and judicial authorities, lack of capacity within NAPTIP and the length of time it takes to process cases.1197