Child Trafficking

The Modern Day Slave Trade

Two hundred years after the enactment of the law abolishing the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the trafficking of African children continues unabated. Nigeria acts as a source, transit and destination country for trafficking women and children to Europe, the Middle East and other countries in Africa for forced labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Indeed the National Agency for Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) estimate that more than 15 million Nigerian children are being transported from rural to urban cities for child labour and slavery.

The State where Stepping Stones Nigeria works, Akwa Ibom State, has the highest rates of human trafficking and child labour in Nigeria. Indeed of 104 victims rescued by NAPTIP in the last quarter of 2006, 53 were from Akwa Ibom State. Many children are shipped from this area to work on plantations in the nearby Gabon and Equitorial Guinea.

Young boys on the streets of Akwa Ibom State are vulnerable to becoming victims of child traffickers

Stepping Stones Nigeria believes that the plight of children who have been trafficked in the region is horrifying. We also believe that there is a strong link between the abandonment of children due to witchcraft stigmatisation and children becoming victims of traffickers. To this end we are committed to developing our working links with international agencies that work in this field and feeding back our findings to them. Stepping Stones Nigeria will also continue our advocacy work at a local, regional and national level through the Prevent Abandonment of Children Today (PACT) campaign.

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