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| Senate President, David Mark and Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal | credits: File copy |
The National Assembly on Monday
prescribed a minimum of 10 years imprisonment for persons convicted of
human trafficking in addition to payment of fines.
This position was canvassed in Abuja on
Monday at the opening of a joint public hearing on a Bill for an Act to
repeal the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and
Administration Act 2003.
The Chairman, House Committee on Human
Rights, Mrs. Beni Lar, said fines alone were no longer an option for
persons convicted of trafficking.
Lar said, “NAPTIP estimates that eight
million Nigerian children are engaged in exploitative child labour,
hence the need to provide legal and institutional support for the
agency.”
She highlighted four of the bill’s key
amendments to include that “NAPTIP would no longer have to rely solely
on government for funding;
“The bill provides for greater
integration of counter trafficking strategies by including a wider range
of state security agencies and Civil Society Organisations; and
“It broadens the definition of
trafficking by including activities such as the procurement or
recruitment of any person for organ harvesting.”
The lawmaker added that the bill would
provide a parental verification clause to make parents/guardians
criminally liable if they failed to verify where their children/wards
were being taken to.
According to her, human trafficking is a
multi-faceted problem, which violates fundamental human rights,
increases global health risks, contributes to transnational organised
crime and undermines security and stability.
She expressed regrets that in spite of
concerted efforts, Nigeria had remained a source, transit and
destination country for women and children subjected to forced labour
and sex trafficking.
She restated the commitment of the committee to ensuring that the bill was passed expeditiously.
Declaring the public hearing opened, the
Senate President, Mr. David Mark, noted the need for stakeholders to
focus more on awareness, education, prevention, rescue and restoration
campaign.
Mark, who was represented by Senator Abu
Ibrahim, expressed regrets that human traffickers had continuously
changed their tactics and devised new means of carrying out their
nefarious acts.
He said, “This review is, therefore,
imperative to make the law more responsive and proactive to counter
emerging trends in human trafficking.”
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