FIVE WAYS OF IDENTIFYING HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

Osas, a 20 year old girl from the Southern part of Nigeria, was delighted when her distant relation fulfilled her promise to take her abroad. Like many girls from poor families, she was immediately handed over to ‘aunty Joy’ without indepth probing from her parents, for they believed that their daughter was safe in the hands of this distant relation on her father’s side, and also, the less mouths to feed, the better.

Imagine Osas’s surprise when, on getting to Italy, she was housed in a small, dingy room with ten other young girls like her and asked to bathe and change for work. Her surprise turned to shock when work turned out to be sleeping with men for money that she never saw. It was then it dawned on her…she was now a prostitute in a foreign country with no hope of getting out.

Osas is not alone in this experience. Many people both male and female have been promised a better future by people they trusted, only to find themselves sold as sex slaves. Brad Riley, founder of  iEmpathize, a youth empowerment organization that combats crimes against children, shares five characteristics that a human trafficker could have: 

1 - Pretender -- Someone who pretends to be something s/he is not, such as a boyfriend, a big sister, a father, etc.

2 - Provider -- Someone who offers to take care of an individual's needs, such as for clothes, food, a place to live, etc or their wants, like cool cell phones, purses, parties, etc.

3 - Promiser -- Someone who promises access to great things, like an amazing job, a glamorous lifestyle, travel, etc.

4 - Protector -- Someone who uses physical power or intimidation to protect (but also control) an individual.

5 - Punisher -- Someone who uses violence and threats to control an individual. When the previous disguises have been exhausted, an exploitative person often becomes a Punisher to maintain control.

picture courtesy: edition. cnn. com

Some of these girls are actually branded with codes, names, etc, to identify them as belonging to a particular trafficker or pimp.

So, the next time a distant ‘relation’ or benefactor comes to you promising all sorts of goodies in exchange for your child, please take time to do an in-depth investigation before handing over your child. While there are still honest people out there who genuinely want to help other people's children, there are also others who only wish to make a fortune at the expense of other people. May God save us all.