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| The African Counsel
Sub-Saharan Africa Newsletter
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| July 2017 Volume 2, Issue 1 |
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Effective Strategies for Countering Human
Trafficking within Sub-Saharan Africa' s
Socio-Economic & Cultural Microcosm
By. Herbert A. Igbanugo*
Igbanugo Partners Int'l Law Firm, PLLC
Introduction
Human trafficking, an egregious form of involuntary servitude of women, children, and men has become a global epidemic with far reaching and damaging human rights implications, receiving a wide range of acknowledgment and responses from each African country's populations and institutions. Sexual exploitation - in particular, prostitution - is the most widely documented form of exploitation of women and children trafficked within and from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Africa is a place of origin for women and children trafficked to Europe, the United States, the Middle East Gulf countries and South-East Asia. Through deception and coercion, the unsuspecting victims are trafficked overseas and forced to work as prostitutes, to their eternal detriment.
The key to combating trafficking is recognizing that the process involves both a supply side and a demand side, as well as three main factors: (1) victims, (2) users, and (3) traffickers. On a continental scale, countries across SSA have reacted to this serious problem with widely varying degrees of action and inaction. In fact, until recently the vast majority of SSA countries did not consider human trafficking a criminal and punishable offense. Luckily, with the advent of globalization, the tide has turned but human trafficking still remains a low priority for law enforcement officials. Through the ratification of initiatives such as the United Nations Anti-Trafficking Protocol (which has been ratified by 13 African countries) and the Palermo Protocols, and the creation of national laws criminalizing human trafficking, ceftain African countries such as Nigeria have taken real, but barely successful, steps towards addressing the issue. Yet the problematic scourge of human trafficking remains endemic in SSA, and in countries such as Burundi and Zimbabwe, little has been done to stem the flow of trafficking.
Global experts are united in the belief that human trafficking could hardly exist or survive without its twin evil of public corruption, which enables traffickers and corrupt public officials to evade justice. And no country on Ealth is immune from this most unfortunate "corruption-human trafficking nexus." Corruption is truly the "nursing mother" of human trafficking, exacerbates the brutal consequences to trafficking victims, and provides a freeway for the unfettered proliferation of the "twin scourges." It is within the realm of weak institutions that corruption is particularly pervasive. Therefore, any efforts to develop effective solutions for human trafficking must necessarily articulate the same for public corruption. This article will explore the scope of human trafficking within SSA, the unique challenges faced by SSA countries and their governments in addressing it, and proposes solutions that may offer a clear path towards the reduction of human trafficking on the continent.
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Trump Travel Ban: US Sets Out Visa Criteria
BBC, 07/29/2017
The rules, affecting people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, are coming into force on Thursday.
They were issued after the Supreme Court partially restored President Donald Trump's travel ban on Monday.
The executive order had been blocked by lower courts since February.
The revised rules - taking conditions laid out in the Supreme Court ruling - come into effect at 20:00 Washington time (00:00 GMT).
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Johan Gustafsson, Swede Held by Al-Quaeda in Mali, Freed
Al-Jazeera, 06/26/2017
A Swede who had been held hostage by Al-Quaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed, the Swedish government has announced. Johan Gustafsson returned home and was reunited with his family, Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom told reporters late on Monday as she showed a picture of the ex-captive surrounded by his relatives.
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UN Rights Body Votes to Investigate Kasai Killings
Al-Jazeera, 06/24/2017
The United Nations has opened an investigation into killings in central Democratic Republic of Congo, though some Western countries and campaign groups say they hoped it would have a stronger mandate.
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Igbanugo Partners Int'l Law 250 Marquette Avenue
Suite 1075
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 USA
Phone: 612-746-0360
Fax: 612-746-0370
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Nigeria: Ogoni Widows Sue Shell Over Military Crackdown
BBC, 06/29/2017
The civil case, filed in The Hague in the Netherlands, argues that the company provided support to the army, which ultimately led to the executions.
Shell has repeatedly denied the claims.
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Otodo Gbame: Landmark Ruling Gives Lifeline to Evicted Lagos Residents
CNN, 06/27/2017
After months of setbacks the residents of Otodo Gbame waterfront community in Lagos have won a small victory, after a Lagos High Court ruled that their forcible eviction was unconstitutional.
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The Abolitionist Fighting to Free Mauritania's Slaves
CNN, 06/21/2017
A modest office block squeezed between a doctor's surgery and a south London housing project is an unlikely setting to find a man described on Time's most recent 100 List as "an inspiration to thousands."
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Anti-Corruption/
Terrorism
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Africa and the West Must Collaborate in Order to Eliminate Terrorism, Says Macron
The Telegraph, 07/02/2017
France and African states must work together to "eradicate terrorists, thugs and murderers" in the vast Sahel region, Emmanuel Macron said Sunday.
The French President, meeting in Mali with leaders from five regional countries, threw his weight behind a new multinational military force set up to fight jihadists.
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Over 100 Arrested in Nigerian Anti-Corruption Raid
ENCA, 07/03/2017
LAGOS - Nigerian anti-corruption agencies have recorded more than 100 convictions on economic and financial cries since the beginning of the year.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCU) Ibrahim Magu disclosed the number in the commercial capital Lagos. He said 113 suspects had been sentenced.
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Tanzania: Anti-Graft Policy Seeks to Protect Whistle Blowers
allAfrica, 06/23/2017
Plans are already underway for a national anti-graft policy that cuts across every sector, a strategy that will place an anti-corruption drive into top gear, Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan has stated.
Officiating at the opening of the International High Level Meeting On Anti-Corruption Reforms in Tanzania yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Ms. Samia said the strategy would, among other things, bring about accesibility to justice and protection of whistle-blowers and witnesses.
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