ASABA CONFERENCE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: DAY THREE – Panel Blames Transnational Crimes on Globalization, Technology, Free Trade, Others
Participants at the fifth panel discussion session of the 5th NBA Criminal Justice Reforms Conference blamed a multiplicity of factors for the global scourge of human trafficking and transnational crimes. Among them were globalization, the impact of technology in daily life and transactions, open borders and liberalization of trade, and a global tourism industry enabled by open borders, less restrictive visa regimes and cheaper air fares. While they agreed that these factors have gone a long way to engender prosperity around the world, they have also combined with negative factors such as unstable or failed states, institutional weakness and illegal migration to fuel the menace.
Under the chairmanship of Prof. Joy Ezeilo, a former UN rapporteur on human trafficking, the session, which was titled, ‘Human Trafficking and Transnational Crimes: Institutional and Legal Remedies,’ the session kicked off with a presentation by Abdulrahab Shuaibu, who represented the director-general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dr. Julie Okah-Donli. Describing human trafficking as a heinous form of human slavery, the speaker identified the various methods used by traffickers to lure (or force) their victims into a life of forced labour, prostitution or drug peddling, etc, often in countries far from home – especially in Europe. Describing the practice as the second most lucrative international crime (at an estimated annual turnover of $150bn, second only drugs), Shuaibu went on to list the ways in which the Nigerian government, through NAPTIP, has worked, in concert with both local stakeholders such as communities, and with international partners, to combat the scourge – as well as rehabilitate victims and punish offenders. He ended by praising members of the bar and bench who have taken up the fight against human trafficking as personal crusades, as reflected in their advocacy and judgments.
The second lead speaker, Brig. Gen. Yusuf Shalangwa, head of the Nigerian Army’s legal department and representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. T. Y. Buratai at the conference, added a military dimension to the issue, describing transnational criminals as multinational in the planning, coordination and execution of their nefarious activities, as well as in their impact thereof. He also blamed the menace, along with other crimes such as terrorism, gun running and cattle rustling on what he called ‘diplomatic apathy’ among the countries of the Lake Chad basin, which is made worse by Nigeria’s historically porous borders and ungoverned territories. In finding solutions beyond the enforcement of UN resolutions and global best practices, Brig-Gen. Shalangwa called on corporate Nigeria and multinational corporations to step up their corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligations as far as transnational crimes were concerned. He also advocated greater community involvement to detect potential traffickers and potential victims.
The concept of greater community-level action and local advocacy was also dwelt on at length by the next two lead speakers – Mrs. Carol Ojukwu and Mrs. Sadat Hassan, both of them officers of the Nigerian Immigrations Service who represented the Comptroller-General of the NIS, Mohammed Babandede, MFR. In their respective presentations, they also made the distinction between consensual and non-consensual trafficking, and how this distinction impacts on restitution for victims and punishment for offenders – including traffickers who operate under the guise of child adoption agents and facilitators. They called for the harmonization of adoption laws in Nigeria and other UN member nations.
A panelist, Prof. Ogugua Ikpeze, a professor of law at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State called for a CIA-type intelligence-gathering apparatus to be set up to infiltrate and bust trafficking syndicates, as well as special anti-trafficking courts (much like the anti-corruption ones being discussed at an earlier session at this conference). She identified poverty as a key factor in victims’ vulnerability to trafficking, and called on government to create jobs to stem the tide. Not all trafficking, she also reminded participants, is to foreign lands, and called on relevant agencies like NAPTIP to look into the problem of ‘domestic trafficking.’
Another panelist Onyeka Ehiwogu, who represented Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, began by asking for the true meaning of ‘child’ when prosecuting child traffickers – a question that arises because of the ambiguity of relevant laws in that regard. He also questioned why the repatriated or rescued victims of trafficking have to wait until the trafficker is convicted and his assets seized before they can get their due compensations? And why punish only the trafficker even the victims willingly consented ab initio to be trafficked abroad – like the undergraduate who reportedly made the trip to the Sahara on his own before coming into contact with traffickers? Why not punish them, too?
In view of the disproportionate (and unenviable) role Edo State has played in the history of trafficking in Nigeria, the presence on the panel of the state’s attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe was apt. In her contribution, she listed recent measures the state government has taken to ensure that future trafficking of Nigerians would exclude Edo victims or perpetrators – who hitherto constituted about 70% of traffickers and victims. Disclosing that a significant percentage of victims from her state are men (contrary to the general tendency to feminize the menace), Prof. Omorogbe also said the Godwin Obaseki-led government in Edo State has adopted a wide range of rehabilitation measures, in concert with bodies like NAPTIP, to ensure that there were no more victims from Edo State.
In the interactive session that followed, a number of conference delegates expressed concern on issues such as the ‘feminisation’ (and trivialization) of the phenomenon of trafficking, especially among the men-folk, and called for a change of attitude. They also called on government to make our borders less porous and to invest more on intelligence-gathering, as suggested by Prof. Ikpeze, as well as to pay greater attention to domestic trafficking.
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