Did you know?

Did you know that the population of the people in slavery in Nigeria is 1,384,000, more than the total number of all the other 16 West Africa countries when added together, which is 1,081,000?

Did you know that December 2 is International Day for the Abolition of Slavery?

Data from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) shows that the employment of children as domestic workers, as well as the procurement of persons for sexual exploitation and forced labour, are some of the numerous examples of modern day slavery in Nigeria.

The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

Slavery is not merely a historical relic. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) more than 40 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery.

Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term covering practices such as forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power. In addition, more than 150 million children are subject to child labour, accounting for almost one in ten children around the world.

Facts and figures:

An estimated 40.3 million people are in modern slavery, including 24.9 in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage.

There are 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world.

1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children.

Out of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labour, 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture;

4.8 million people in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million people in forced labour imposed by state authorities.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labour, accounting for 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58% in other sectors.

ILO has adopted a new legally binding Protocol designed to strengthen global efforts to eliminate forced labour, which entered into force in November 2016 and the 50 for Freedom campaign aims to persuade at least 50 countries to ratify the Forced Labour Protocol by the end of 2019.

1.Nigeria is not just the most populous nation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also has the continent’s largest number of people living in conditions of modern slavery.

2.This figure is according to the Walk Free Foundation’s 2014 Global Slavery Index, which defines modern slavery as any practice that traps people in modern servitude, including human trafficking and forced labor.

3.Examples include women tricked into migrating for non-existent jobs (who are then forced to work in brothels or enter into forced marriages), household workers who are promised paid work (but are then forced to work without wages and often without legal immigration status) and others.

4.This number also include children who are forced to work as street vendors or beggars and boys who are forced to work in mines, stone quarries and domestic service.

5.The definition additionally covers children who are forced to fight for military groups. In Nigeria, increasingly frequent reports have suggested that the northern insurgency is incorporating child soldiers more heavily.

6.In April 2014, after the Boko Haram jihadist insurgent group abducted more than 200 girls in northern Nigeria, leader Abubakar Shekau threatened to sell the girls into slavery. Their fate remains uncertain.

7.Many girls are trafficked out of Nigeria, with or without the northern insurgency. The European Union has estimated that 60% of all sex workers in Italy and Belgium are Nigerian women.

8.Nigeria’s total of 834,000 people accounts for about 15% of the 6.4 million people living in modern slavery in Africa.

9.Africa as a whole accounts for about 17% of all the people trapped in modern slavery today.

Sources: Walk Free Foundation with additional analysis by The Globalist Research Center.