Mass Media Role in Combating Human Trafficking in Nigeria
Keywords:
Mass Media, Human Trafficking, Nigeria, Organised Crime, United Nations.Abstract
This article reviews how Nigeria has fared so far in the global battle to stamp out the obnoxious and dehumanising trade and the role the mass media plays in the tide of the global scourge. Nigeria is a signatory to the 2000 United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and its Protocol to Suppress, Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children. It was on this basis that Nigeria established NAPTIP in 2003, in fulfilment of its international obligation under the protocol to adopt and review measures to curb the enormity of trading in human commodities. The establishment of NAPTIP was not Nigeria’s only response to the fight against the illicit trade. The federal government also develops policies that regulate and enforce plans to eliminate the scourge. The federal government has developed the national action plan on human trafficking in Nigeria (2022 to 2026), which serves as a roadmap for MDAs, state task forces against human trafficking, civil society organizations, international donor organizations, and the media in the fight against human trafficking. According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, an estimated 50 million people are living in modern slavery, forced by one form of trafficking in persons or the other, with at least 1.6 million of them being Nigerians. Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark the 2023 World Day against Trafficking in Persons.
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