NAPTIP: REJOINDER

REJOINDER TO THE NEWS IN THE MEDIA ELECTRONIC AND PRINT TITLED “CONTINUING ANGUISH FOR TRAFFICKING SURVIVORS – END DETENTION IN SHELTERS BY HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NAPTIP, DAME JULIE OKAH-DONLI, ON TUESDAY, 27TH AUGUST, 2019

The attention of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has been drawn to the Human Rights Watch Report entitled: “You Pray for Death’’ Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria ; Nigeria: Continuing Anguish for Trafficking Survivors, End Detention in Shelters, Provide More Support which was released this morning.
2. After going through the report ,we are bold to say that the entire report is a mere figment of the imagination of the writers as the narratives fall below the standards in the operations of our shelters as well as the standards for our victims’ support and assistance.
3. It is important to note that the Agency observes all the world best practices in victims handling as enshrined by the Palermo protocol which includes that no victim shall be kept in a shelter against his or her will. The activities in our shelters are further guided by the National Policy on Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons in Nigeria, a national document that has also been adopted by ECOWAS in dealing with victims of human trafficking.
4. The NAPTIP shelters are no doubt closed shelters where victims are given protections and assistance for a short while before moving them to open shelters so they can move about for their rehabilitation programmes which include going to school or learning a trade based on their preferences. The shelter is not a detention camp, neither does it look like one and can be accessed and assessed.
5. It may interest you to note that when victims are rescued from their exploiters or repatriated from abroad, their traffickers in order to avoid justice go in search of them to harm them or stop them from exposing what they have gone through. Under that circumstance, the victim needs protection to save his/her life. Some of the victims equally do not want to be reunited with their families as their family members were part of their trafficking in the first instance and reuniting them therefore amounts to further endangering their lives. Similarly, many of the victims as traumatised as they are have all manner of health situations that the Agency takes measures to deal with before allowing them back into the society.
6. It is equally wrong to say that the victims are not given access to their family members through personal contacts or through telephone conversations. Whenever they wanted to speak to their families or see them within the very short period of their stay there, they are allowed. However, the personal contact is made at any of the Agency’s offices and not at the shelter as it would be dangerous to allow everyone have knowledge of the location of the shelter considering the general security situation of the country and the desperation of criminals to destroy evidence of their crime. On telephone contacts, it is made from the shelter whenever the victim is desirous of speaking to the family members.
7. The Federal Government of Nigeria through NAPTIP spends a lot of money in keeping the victims safe and providing adequately for their welfare in our shelters. The Agency goes ahead to provide education and job opportunities to many victims. Just recently, four of such victims who have graduated from tertiary institutions under the sponsorship of the Agency have been employed as officers of the Agency. What else can be better than that?
8. The Human Rights Watch Report has mentioned some unnamed officials of the Agency as well as unidentified victims whom they claimed to have spoken with and they never spoke to any authorized person. This is quite curious. Again, why would the organisation visit the Headquarters of the Agency for input few hours to the release of their report and also not reflect the comments of the official they interacted with yesterday? Could it be that the Human Rights Watch had decided on its narrative and only visited the Agency’s headquarters for formality sake?
9. I will like to request the general public, the local and international media to disregard, discountenance this information as untrue, a pack of lies and an attempt to tarnish the image of NAPTIP and the Nigerian Government for whatever ulterior motive the Human Rights Watch wants to achieve.
10. I want to assure our local and international partners that NAPTIP will continue to abide by international standards and best practices in the protection and assistance to trafficked victims whether rescued within Nigeria or rescued outside the country and we will never put them in our shelters a day longer than necessary.
11. Thank you for your attention.