Human Trafficking III: Effects & Consequences – SS3 Civic Education Lesson Note (Second Term)

The effects of human trafficking are the harm that trafficked people, their families and the nation suffer because people are recruited, moved and exploited for profit.

Behavioural objectives

1. State the effects and consequences of human trafficking.
2. Explain how trafficking leads to physical and psychological abuse and the abuse of fundamental human rights.
3. Describe how trafficking affects the education and health of victims.
4. Explain why trafficked persons are stigmatised.
5. State the effects of trafficking on families, society and the nation.

What are the key terms in human trafficking?

Key terms are the words a student must know before studying the effects of trafficking.

• Human trafficking: recruiting, transporting or selling people by force, trick or pressure in order to exploit them.
• Trafficker: a person who engages in the trafficking business.
• Victim: a person who is trafficked. Victims are mostly women and children.
• Exploitation: using a person for gain, for example through forced labour or forced prostitution.
• Stigmatisation: treating a person with shame, rejection or disgrace because of what they have been through.
• Deportation: sending a person back to their home country from abroad.

What are the effects and consequences of human trafficking?

There are seven main effects of human trafficking on victims: abuse, loss of rights, delayed education, disease, unwanted pregnancy, stigma and death.

1. Physical and psychological abuse

Physical and psychological abuse is the bodily and mental harm done to victims by traffickers and employers.

• Physical abuse: trafficked people suffer rape, beating and torture.
• House help: children used as house help are often beaten.
• Girls: female children are raped and sometimes starved of food and other basic needs of life.
• Psychological harm: constant fear, shame and trauma affect the mental and emotional growth of such children.
• Long-term effect: some victims remain anxious, withdrawn or afraid of people long after they escape.

2. Abuse of fundamental human rights

Trafficking abuses fundamental human rights because victims are controlled and sold like goods.

3. Delay in education and human capacity development

Trafficking delays education because trafficked children work instead of going to school.

• Child labour: trafficked children are forced to work instead of going to school.
• Denied right to education: this education would help them become useful to themselves in the future.
• Few skills: victims grow up without the training needed to get good jobs.
• Lost skills: the nation also loses the skills these children could have developed.

4. Vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases

Victims forced into prostitution are at high risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

• Risk: girls forced into prostitution are prone to infection with diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoea and HIV/AIDS.
• Shortened life: these diseases are capable of cutting their lives short.
• Lower output: sick victims cannot contribute fully to society.
• Higher medical expenses: treatment costs the victims, their families and the government.

5. Unwanted pregnancy

Unwanted pregnancy is pregnancy that a victim did not plan for and often cannot support.

• Cause: victims are mostly faced with unprotected sex.
• Result: unwanted pregnancies follow.
• Child abandoned: some girls throw the child away when they give birth.
• Child neglected: others leave the child with their parents without adequate care.

6. Stigmatisation

Stigmatisation is the shame and rejection that victims face from people around them after trafficking.

• Who: trafficked people are usually stigmatised.
• When: it is worse when they are deported back to the country from abroad.
• Why: some people wrongly blame victims, link them with prostitution or disease, or see them as a disgrace to the family.
• Result: victims may be shunned or blamed, which makes it hard to settle back into normal life.

7. Death

Death is the worst effect of trafficking, and it happens in three main ways.

• Violence: some children used as house helps are violently beaten to death.
• Neglect: some die of ill health because they are not properly taken care of.
• Disease: some victims die from infections such as HIV/AIDS.

Who suffers the effects of human trafficking?

Three groups suffer: the victim, the family, and society and the nation.

Effects on the nation in detail

• Loss of manpower: young people who should build the country are lost to traffickers.
• Health cost: the government spends more on treating diseases among victims.
• Bad image: the country is badly regarded abroad when its citizens are trafficked.
• Crime: trafficking encourages other social vices such as prostitution.

What happens to traffickers?

Traffickers face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment because trafficking is a crime in Nigeria.

• Law: trafficking is a crime in Nigeria, and a federal law on trafficking in persons is in force.
• Enforcement: the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) investigates cases and helps victims.
• Penalty: traffickers who are caught can be arrested, prosecuted and sent to prison.

How are rescued victims helped?

Rescued victims need care, counselling and support to rebuild their lives.

• Medical care: victims are treated for injury and disease.
• Counselling: trained persons help victims recover from trauma and shame.
• Return to school or training: victims can learn a skill or continue their education.
• Acceptance: families and communities should welcome victims and avoid blaming them.

Evaluation

1. What is human trafficking?
2. State five effects of human trafficking.
3. Explain how trafficking delays the education of children.
4. Why are trafficked persons stigmatised?
5. Name two sexually transmitted diseases that trafficked girls may contract.

Assignment

• Task: explain five effects of human trafficking on the victim and on the nation.
• Reading: Fundamentals of Civic Education for Senior Secondary Schools Book 3, Sola Akinyemi. Pg 111.