PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Government Urges Nigeria To Increase Prosecutions And Convictions Of Traffickers In Persons

June 6, 2006

The sixth annual Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report was released on Monday, June 5. Nigeria is categorized in the report as Tier 2. The report said the Government of Nigeria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but it is making significant efforts to do so. It said the government continued to strengthen and institutionalize Nigeria's response to human trafficking over the last year, showing substantial commitment to the issue.

The report advised that the government should increase prosecutions and convictions of traffickers and strengthen protection efforts in order to strengthen its response to trafficking. It said Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Victims are trafficked for domestic servitude, street hawking, agricultural labor, and sexual exploitation. Within Nigeria, women and children are trafficked from rural areas to urban zones.

Internationally, they are trafficked to the Central African Republic, Mali, Gabon, Sudan, North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. Women and children are also trafficked to Nigeria from Togo, Benin, Chad, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Ghana. Follow this link for the full report: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2006/65989.htm

In 2005, the U.S. Government praised Nigeria for implementing the 2003 anti-trafficking in persons' law. That year, the U.S. Government commended the federal government and all the state governments, organizations, and individuals who have worked to fight the scourge of trafficking, especially the Nigerian Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

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