United States’ government has accused Civilian JTF of recruiting children to fight Boko Haram insurgents, adding that Nigeria also remains a source, transit and destination country for women and children that are being subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking.
The latest report on Trafficking in Persons released by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, described Nigeria as a transit point for West African children subjected to forced labour.
The report also stated that West African women were taken through Nigeria to other destinations in Europe and the Middle East, where they are forced into prostitution.
“Nigerian women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution throughout Europe. Nigerian women and children are also recruited and transported to destinations in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, where they are held captive in the sex trade or in forced labour. Nigerian gangs subject large numbers of Nigerian women to forced prostitution in the Czech Republic and Italy,” the report said.
Similarly, the European Police Office TIP document also added that Nigerian organised crime related to trafficking in person was one of the greatest law enforcement challenges to European governments.
“Nigerian women are transported to Malaysia, where they are forced into prostitution and to work as drug mules for their traffickers. West African women transit Nigeria to destinations in Europe and the Middle East, where they are subsequently subjected to forced prostitution. Children from West African countries are subjected to forced labour in Nigeria, including in Nigeria’s granite mines. Nigeria is a transit point for West African children subjected to forced labour in Cameroon and Gabon,” it stated.
According to the report, children who are trafficked are also being used as child soldiers in the fight against Boko Haram, calling on the Federal Government and Borno State to stop provision of “financial and in-kind support ” to the Civilian Joint Task Force, which it accused of using children to fight against Boko Haram.
The report however commended the Federal Government for its fight against trafficking, urging President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to investigate and prosecute individuals suspected of recruiting and using child soldiers and perpetrating other trafficking abuses against women and children.
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