A group of non-governmental organizations, Rivers State Taskforce on Anti-Human Trafficking, NAPTIP, and the Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women & Children, have called on parents to be vigilant and always have a close watch on their children and wards, as schools shutdown for long holiday in the State.
The CSOs group while warning fresh graduates and school leavers not to be desperate for anything, but to be creative and diligent as they enter the larger society, said desperation to attain new and visioned status has made many to be victims of human trafficking, organ harvesting or sexual Exploitation and abuse.
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, as human trafficking is not only gender based violence, but a crime against humanity.
He hinted that the Programme is in commencement of activities to mark the World Day Against Human Trafficking, celebrated on the 30th of July every year as declared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Dumka-Kote said buyers and sellers in the market are in no way excluded from the population of persons who can be affected or impacted by the activities of traffickers, hence the need to take the message to their business places.
On her part, Queeneth Igbara, Programme Officer at Centre for Justice, Empowerment & Development, said human trafficking is a organized crime that affects families, especially children and women who face sexual Exploitation and abuse.
She harped on the need for members of the Oroworokwo Community markets to guide their children against abusers and persons whose sole aim is exploitation of vulnerable members of the society.
Donwile Apenu, representative of the OLEGH Centre for Community Development assured the women of the support of the CSOs and the Taskforce in working together with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to address all reported cases of trafficking, child Labour, and exploitation within the State.
Others who spoke during the sensitization campaign on ‘Zero Tolerance for Human Trafficking and Gender Based Violence at the Oroworokwo Community Market are representatives from NAPTIP, Relief International Africa, and the Together to Win Foundation.
The theme for the 2025 World Day Against Human Trafficking is; Human Trafficking is Organized Crime – End the Exploitation.
Queeneth Igbara
(Communication/Public Enlightenment officer)
09017017662, 09025764565