“Since the 9th of March, I have been sick, and I don’t know what exactly is wrong with me. I often feel a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. I informed my sponsor about the pain, but instead of showing concern, my sponsor told me that I must not use her (the sponsor’s) money for treatment. She told me I had to complete my repayment before seeking any medical help. Till this moment , I had only paid for 8 months, with 18 months remaining.
Apanise Toyosi, a 27 years old Nigerian woman, was also deceived to Libya with promises of a fashion designing job. She left behind her two precious children, hoping to provide a better life for them. But her dream quickly turned into a nightmare. She was packed together with raw food, hidden from view, and smuggled out of Nigeria. The drivers who transported her demanded sex, and when she refused, they abandoned her in a desolate animal shelter. With no food or water, she was forced to sleep with animals.
“But my ordeal was far from over. In the dead of night, three men armed with machetes and guns attacked me. They stabbed me repeatedly, raped me, and left me to death. I survived 34 days of unimaginable horror before reaching Libya. Upon arriving in Libya, I thought my suffering had finally come to an end.
”However, my ordeal continued as I was forced to hand over my entire salary to the agent for over a year, with a month still remaining. Against my will, I was employed as a nanny for an elderly person, subjected to inhumane treatment, and left to endure the traumatic experience of being urinated and vomited on.m”, she narrated.
In spite of perceptions, traffickers are rarely strangers
Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, an anti human trafficking expert and former director general of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) ascertains that human traffickers often approach young women with seemingly legitimate offers of jobs such as good paying domestic work, modeling, caregiving, or hospitality roles. In some cases, they even promise scholarships or opportunities for vocational training in Europe, the Middle East, and other African countries.
“The agency had handled cases where friends, colleagues, acquittances, relatives, neighbors, and even former victims turned recruiters were responsible for trafficking victims.
(Ripples)
