Legal Framework for Combating Human Trafficking In Nigeria: The Journey So Far

Abstract

Human trafficking is a major global challenge confronting the world today. This ugly development pervades nearly all African countries including Nigeria. In recognition of the fact that human trafficking is not only a violation of human rights but a crime that is against all laws, efforts have been severally made by bodies at both domestic and international levels to contend with this insolent and dehumanizing practice. To this end, at the international level, several treaties, Protocols and Conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory to have been negotiated.^[1] In Nigeria, the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003/2005, the Child Rights Act, 2003/2005, were enacted in addition to extant laws of different states dealing with Trafficking in Persons. This work, therefore, is a modest attempt at assessing the efficacy of these various legal regimes in curbing the menace in Nigeria. To this end, the researchers have carefully x-rayed the strength and weaknesses of the various legal regimes and made suggestions on how to better tackle the scourge of human trafficking. The work ends with the recommendations on the need to overhaul the legal regimes and its enforcement mechanisms.

KEY WORDS: Institutional, Framework, Combating, Human, Trafficking, Nigeria.

[1] United Nations Convention on the Declaration of Human Rights 1948, the United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially on the Sales of a Child, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, 2002.