Sex Trafficking in Benin City (2023)

A sex trafficking case from 2023 in Benin City, Nigeria. 1 source on file.

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What happened

Young women and girls from Edo State are systematically recruited with false job promises and trafficked through Libya to Europe for sexual exploitation, controlled through debt bondage and traditional oath-taking rituals. Accused: Trafficking networks operating recruitment pipelines from Edo State through Libya.

Response and intervention

Human Rights Watch documentation based on interviews with 76 trafficking survivors. NAPTIP investigations ongoing; documented low conviction rates relative to reported cases. Survivors supported through NGOs and NAPTIP shelters in Lagos and Benin City.

Sources

Human Rights Watch (opens in a new tab)

Nearby cases

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CSEC2009

Lagos, Nigeria, 2009

Nigeria NG

311 children were intercepted in Lagos from other countries, many of whom came in through towns along Nigeria's border. Of these, 250 were from Benin, 67 from Togo, 12 from Ghana, 4 from Cameroon, and 3 from Congo. The children were sold as domestic servants and prostitutes for Nigerian brothels. More information: http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/living/2009/aug/22/living-22-08-2009-002.htm

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016

Forced Labor2009

Abeokuta, Nigeria, 2009

Nigeria NG

A group of 74 Beninese children ranging from 4 to 17 years old were trafficked to Nigeria and worked in the rock quarries at Abeokuta. For more information: http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Benin.htm

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016

Forced Labor2009

Abeokuta, Nigeria, 2009

Nigeria NG

A five year old boy from Benin was seized as he walked home from school in his home town near the Nigerian border. He was blindfolded and shoved into a waiting car, then taken by various motorbikes and busses. Eventually he joined other children aged 5 to 15 at Abeokuta, forced to dig up granite every day for his master. Working 12 to 16 hours a day, he was paid the equivalent of 38 cents a week. All the children were malnourished. In all there were seven child slave camps discovered in the Nigerian states of Ogun, Oyo, and Osun. More information: http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Benin.htm

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016