Human Trafficking – JSS3 Social Studies Lesson Note (First Term)

Human trafficking is the act of taking children and women out of their homes to work as domestic servants or commercial sex workers, in or out of their country.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Define human trafficking.
2. State six factors responsible for trafficking in children and women.
3. List the consequences of trafficking in children and women.
4. Explain five of these consequences.

What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking is the illegal recruitment, movement and use of people, especially children and women, for work or services against their will.

• Trafficker: a person who recruits, transports, sells or keeps victims for gain.
• Victim: a person who is trafficked, often a child or a woman, who gets little or no pay and has no freedom.
• Legal position: it is a national and international criminal offence.
• Common tricks: false promises of school, a good job or a better life in a city or another country.

What are the types of human trafficking?

There are two types of human trafficking by location: internal trafficking and cross-border trafficking.

Internal trafficking

• Meaning: victims are moved from one place to another inside the same country.
• Example: a child taken from a village to work as a house help in a city in Nigeria.

Cross-border trafficking

• Meaning: victims are taken out of their country to another country.
• Example: a young woman promised a job abroad who is forced into commercial sex work there.

What are the forms of exploitation of trafficked persons?

Trafficked persons are mostly forced into domestic work, commercial sex work and other forced labour.

• Domestic servitude: the victim works as a house help with long hours, little food and no pay.
• Commercial sex work: the victim is forced into prostitution for the trafficker’s profit.
• Forced labour: the victim is made to work on farms, in markets or in small factories without fair pay.
• Forced street trading or begging: children are sent to hawk or beg and must hand over the money.

What factors are responsible for trafficking in children and women?

Trafficking is driven mainly by economic hardship, greed and weak protection of children and women.

• Bad economy: economic challenges push many people into child and woman trafficking because everyone is looking for a way to make ends meet.
• Craving for wealth: the passion for wealth and material things pushes people into trafficking. Many consider it a business, a fast way of making money.
• Poverty: this is the inability of an individual to provide for his or her family’s necessities of life. It has led many people to release their children to traffickers, hoping the income from the children will give the family a better life.
• Unemployment: because of the bad economy, many people have left or lost their jobs, while fresh graduates and other qualified people have no job. Joblessness has pushed some people into trafficking in children and women.
• Peer group influence: many people have been introduced to trafficking by their friends, who take it to be a business.
• Greed: people who are not content with their income often fall into the hands of traffickers. They want to be as rich as others.

What are the consequences of trafficking in children and women?

The consequences of trafficking are harm to the victims, their families and the nation.

Effects on the victims

• Untimely death: children and women are at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases that can eventually lead to death.
• Unwanted pregnancy: if a girl or woman is raped, it may lead to an unwanted pregnancy or an unwanted baby.
• Killing of the child’s initiative: trafficked children cannot take part in or contribute to the development of any society.
• Psychological trauma: children and women given menial jobs, and sexually harassed or abused, can be disturbed psychologically.
• Retarded growth: a child’s physical and mental growth can be hindered by malnutrition and lack of care from the people they serve.
• Sexual abuse and harassment: victims are often forced or threatened into unwanted sexual acts.
• Risk of HIV/AIDS: victims forced into sex work or abused are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS.
• Human rights violations: victims lose their freedom, their right to education, rest and fair pay, and their right to be safe.

Effects on the nation

• Dented national image: other countries view the nation badly when its citizens are trafficked.
• Higher illiteracy: trafficked children are kept out of school, so the number of uneducated people grows.

How can human trafficking be prevented?

Trafficking can be reduced by education, job creation, public awareness and strict law enforcement.

• Reducing poverty: government and communities should support poor families so that they do not give out their children.
• Creating jobs: more jobs for youths and women reduce the need to accept risky offers.
• Education and awareness: schools, churches, mosques and the media should warn people about the tricks of traffickers.
• Punishing offenders: traffickers should be arrested and prosecuted under the law.
• Reporting: citizens should report suspected cases to the police or to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP).

Evaluation

1. What is human trafficking?
2. State four factors responsible for trafficking in children and women.
3. Explain how poverty leads to trafficking in children.
4. List five consequences of trafficking in children and women.

Assignment

Explain any three consequences of trafficking in children and women.