The Dark Side of Japa: How Human Trafficking is Fueled by Mass Emigration
According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, it was discovered that human trafficking has become endemic in all 36 states across Nigeria. This statement comes after the recent take-down of the socialite pimp and trafficker “Christy Gold” who had been declared wanted since 2020. She was granted bail after being charged to the Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State; and despite being on bail, she absconded to Dubai to circumvent the consequences of her actions. As at today, Christy has been chased down, re-arrested and convicted for her crimes. Consequently, today’s article will focus on emigration aka the Japa Syndrome and how it has led to false promises and lost lives for numerous individuals.
The topic of Human trafficking is often seen as a social and humanitarian issue; however, I argue that it is also a political and economic one with several types and methods of engagement. Dear reader, I am sure that you are familiar with the most popular form of human trafficking — for the procurement of persons for sexual exploitation. However, some other types include trafficking for use in armed conflict; an action that is encouraged by major terrorist bodies such as Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda, trafficking for forced labor/slavery, and lastly, the very elusive and insidious trafficking for the employment of a child as a domestic worker and inflicting grievous harm. Unlike the others, the employment of a child as a domestic worker is very common and overt, thus, it is quite rare for its victims to find justice or respite.
How does Human trafficking affect the Economy?
Erosion of Human Capital: It goes without saying that human capital is one of the major drivers of economic prosperity and productivity. To understand the significance of this factor, one can look to the Japanese economy which comprises of an older population that has adversely impacted the productivity in the country.
When citizens are trafficked in their pursuit of a better life, they are unable to contribute positively to the development of their country. Human exploitation dampens one of the sources of Foreign Exchange in less developed nations; that is, remittances sent home by migrant laborers in more developed nations. According to the World Economic Forum, migrant workers sent home an estimated 800 billion US dollars in 2022 globally. Hence, because trafficked individuals are typically deprived of an income, they are unable to invest in their nations through this means.
Diminishing and Weaking of Political and Economic Institutions: It takes many players across several sectors for human trafficking to remain unchecked. To procure and sell an individual, officers in border control must turn a blind eye, workers in the financial sector must look away from money washing and laundering schemes, unscrupulous politicians must accept donations to hinder laws that could upend criminal activities, and law enforcement agencies must cover up and protect all those involved.
Resultantly, over time, the system deteriorates and decays until caution and consequences are thrown to the wind. This has negative ramifications on the general economy as bribery and corruption become the norm and citizen no longer reap the benefits of having a working, reliable system.
领英推荐
Contortion of Labor Markets: Slavery provides an unfair economic advantage to the nations that participate in it. It goes without explanation that a company is able to make more profit when they have very low personnel costs; in fact, it is for this very reason that many global industry players are tending towards a more technologically reliant business model. Why employ an individual that can only work a few hours every day when you can simply buy a machine? And if you can’t afford a machine why not buy a few hundred slaves to take up the work for a few cents or nothing at all? This distortion undermines the effort of companies that are trying to do things the right way; and creates an unfair global economic landscape.
Terrorism and Human weaponization: A key method of recruitment for terrorist bodies includes the trafficking of young women who have been withheld as sex slaves for militant bodies such as Al-Queda and ISIS. Apart from the subjugation of women by such organizations, there also exists the forcible recruitment of teenage boys who wage wars against various communities around the world; thus, disrupting economic activities in any given area. The young men, learned and unlearned, are used to gather critical economic information that can be used to hold nations at ransom. As at 2014, the Cameroonian police stated that “there have been more than 500 new recruits in villages along the border with Nigeria, some of whom were ‘drugged or manipulated’ in training camps”.
In conclusion, although emigration has proved to be the start of a new beginning and a positive life for many individuals, it remains a vehicle for human trafficking globally. Thus, it is important for nations to look within and uproot the enablers of human trafficking as it encourages the proliferation of several negative consequences as listed above.
Sources
Fixed Income Dealer at Union Bank of Nigeria
4 周This was a very good read, Ife. Human trafficking is a burning issue which needs to be addressed with all available resources.