As the state’s schools close for a long holiday, a group of non-governmental organizations called the Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children and the Rivers State Taskforce on Anti-Human Trafficking (NAPTIP) have urged parents to be watchful and constantly keep a close eye on their children and wards.
The CSOs also cautioned recent graduates and school dropouts against being desperate and instead advised them to be resourceful and hardworking as they integrate into society at large. They emphasized that the haste to quickly achieve a new status has led to many becoming victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, human trafficking, and organ harvesting.
According to a statement signed by Queeneth Igbara, Communication and Public Enlightenment officer, on Saturday, Tombari Dumka-Kote, Coordinator, Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children, and Secretary, Rivers State Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce, said the joint campaign has become necessary because human trafficking is a crime against humanity in addition to gender-based violence.
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According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the program is starting to commemorate the World Day Against Human Trafficking, which is observed on July 30 of each year.
According to Dumka-Kote, the message must be delivered to the market’s buyers and sellers because they are not in any way excluded from the group of people who may be impacted by traffickers’ operations.
According to Queeneth Igbara, Programme Officer of the Centre for Justice, Empowerment & Development, human trafficking is an organized crime that impacts families, particularly women and children who are sexually exploited and abused.
She often emphasized that parents of children in the Oroworokwo Community markets must protect them from abusers and those whose only goal is to take advantage of the weaker sections of society.
In order to address all reported cases of trafficking, child labor, and exploitation within the State, the women were reassured by Donwile Apenu, a representative of the OLEGH Centre for Community Development, that the Taskforce and CSOs would work in tandem with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Representatives from NAPTIP, Relief International Africa, and the Together to Win Foundation also spoke at the Oroworokwo Community Market’s awareness campaign on “Zero Tolerance for Human Trafficking and Gender Based Violence.”
End the Exploitation: Human Trafficking is Organized Crime is the topic for the 2025 World Day Against Human Trafficking.
