::CRARN::

Though trafficking in person is very common in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, the situation is made even worst with the children, as there is high speed in child trafficking.

Unfortunately, the mechanism of child trafficking is made easier, safer and secure here because any child orphaned by HIV/AIDS, or any terminal disease and is given the trademark of a 'witch' or 'wizard' and is forced out of home or confined in a dark room does not enjoy any protection from the family, community, and the larger society. Even if the their parents are alive, their ultimate aim for the child will be just to wish her away,either by -outright neglect, abandonement , torture,poisoning or buring alive

Truly the child trafficking situation is made vulnerable so much that even broad daylight traffickers can easily woo or pick a child without any question from members of the public or reporting to the police or any security agent. Rather, the immediate instinct of such an observer is for the'nuisance'to be cleared away

This assertion is true in the sense that, in our dealing with street and abandoned children, we hardly find peoplpe coming to question us for interacting with or picting themto the children camp. More often than not is always the expression of aparthy or joy for clearing the 'nuisance'. So if we were traffickers, we also go without question

What is always common is the curosityand sympathy of why normal human being will ever go closer to to such demon possesed children_and these children will use their demonic power to wreack harvoc on us. But this a far cry from the truth as children in any way do not possess demonic power, let alone committing any diabolic harm

Undoubtedly, and according to our recent survey, in every four children trafficked of Nigeria one is from Akwa Ibom State. This is as result of the way children are callously abandoned and the hihg level of poverty - stricken families. As such any girl or boy taken to big cities for job usualy ends up being trafficked out of the country or treated as slaves in their own country.

Supporting Victims of Witchcraft Abuse and Street Children in Nigeria

Paper Presented by Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director, Stepping Stones Nigeria

Organisational Background

Stepping Stones Nigeria is a small UK registered charity, which works in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Our work with abandoned street children, who have been stigmatised as “witches” or “wizards”, is carried out in partnership with a local NGO – the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN).

Introduction

This paper highlights the traditional harmful belief in child “witches” in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and explains how this deeply held belief weakens the protection of child’s rights and pushes children towards traffickers in this region. The paper then goes on to examine the work that Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN are carrying out to support the victims of witchcraft stigmatisation and explore the potential link between child abandonment and child trafficking in Akwa Ibom State. A number of recommendations are then made for UK and Nigerian stakeholders.

Child Witchcraft: The Akwa Ibom Perception
Stepping Stones Nigeria works in partnership with a local NGO – the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) – to meet the needs of over 100 abandoned children. CRARN was set up by a small group of young volunteers in 2003 to shelter 6 children who had been accused of being “witches” as part of a widespread witch-hunt in their community, which left 120 people dead in the space of 6 weeks. The majority of the children accessing the services at the CRARN children’s shelter are orphans of one or both parents. Typically the surviving parent remarries and the incumbent spouse brands the child as a “witch” or “wizard” and casts them out onto the street. They have often spent much time living on the streets before they discover the shelter. Most children have suffered some severe violations of their right’s, either on the streets or at the hands of pastors and parents.

Joint research by Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN has highlighted that the belief in child “witches” in Akwa Ibom State cuts across all facets of society – the literate and illiterate, the wealthy and poor, the law enforcement agents, social welfare workers law makers and most specifically the leaders of revivalist Pentecostal churches. Such people believe that a mysterious, spiritual spell is given to a child through food and/or drink. The child who eats this spell, is then called out in the night where his soul will leave the body to be initiated in a gathering of witches and wizards. The initiated child will then have the spiritual power to cause widespread destruction, such as murdering innocent people and causing diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, typhoid and cancer. All accidents, drunkenness, madness, smoking of marijuana, divorce, infertility, and misfortunes are perceived to be the handiwork of these child “witches” and “wizards”. It is believed that in recent times, children have become the target for initiation by elderly witches as they are more susceptible to their spells and are quicker in action. This belief is supported and propagated by many pastors in the local churches. Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN strongly feel that the pastors who promote the belief in child “witches” often do so to extract fees for “delivering” the child(ren). There have

been numerous cases of groups of up to 6 children being incarcerated and chained up in churches for months at a time, whilst they undergo horrific exorcisms, which often involved drinking poisonous substances, severe beatings and torture. Parents of the children are told to frequently bring funds needed to carry out such deliverances. Most do so willingly in the hope that they will be able to save their children from the evils of the “witchcraft world”.

Widespread violations of children’s rights are taking place on a daily basis in Akwa Ibom State due to this belief. Experience has shown that suspected “witches” are either abandoned by their parents/guardians, taken to the forest and slaughtered, bathed in acid, burned alive, poisoned to death with a local poison berry, buried alive, drowned or imprisoned and tortured in churches in order to extract a “confession”. The following have been identified as the primary contributory factors to the belief in child witches, abandonment and killings: religious profiteering, poverty, disintegration of extended family structure, ignorance and superstitious beliefs, broken marriages and dysfunctional families. These factors lead to extremely high rates of child abandonment throughout Akwa Ibom State. There are countless children sleeping in bushes, abandoned buildings or on the street. The majority of these children fit into the 8-14 age range. However, Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN have rescued numerous younger children, some as young as three years old. On the streets these children are particularly vulnerable to child traffickers, ritualists (there have been recorded cases of children being used for body parts in Juju) and rapists. In Oron Local Government area, where the belief in child “witches” is especially deeply held, there are frequent “disappearances” of abandoned street children. The coastal area acts as a hotbed for child prostitution, with many boats travelling along the Gulf of Guinea using this area as a stopping off point. Many of these children are shipped to the Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to work on plantations. At this moment it is unclear how many of them end up in the UK. Oron LGA has also recently witnessed widespread killings of suspected child “witches” with one case involving 14 children being murdered by having hot pokers forced inside them. Numerous other gross violations of child’s rights are taking place due to this belief in this area on a daily basis.

Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN’s Work to Support the Victims of Witchcraft Stigmatisation and Prevent Child Trafficking

In the 18 months that Stepping Stones Nigeria has been working in partnership with CRARN a great deal has been achieved. This has been made possible with support from the Akwa Ibom State government, Eket local government and Stepping Stones Nigeria’s supporters in the UK. Achievements include:

Construction of Housing Units and School at CRARN Shelter – Children who were previously on the streets helped to design and build their own housing units, school and toilets. This was made possible by £20,000 funding from the Akwa Ibom State government.

Education – Stepping Stones Nigeria employs 2 teachers at the shelter to support CRARN volunteers in providing a high quality education to the children. Most of the children had never attended school before being abandoned.

Child Health – All children accessing the services at the shelter have been tested for HIV/AIDS with no children being tested positive. Numerous serious medical cases such as severely broken bones, acute tuberculosis, severe malnutrition, malaria, typhoid etc have all been successfully treated

Nutrition - CRARN used to struggle to feed the children one meal-a-day. All children now receive at least two nutritious meals each day prepared by a cook employed by Stepping Stones Nigeria.

Income Generation – Rabbit, snail and poultry farms have been established at the shelter to provide valuable source of income and protein.

Vocational Skills - Many of the children accessing the services at the children’s shelter are reaching an age where it is important to equip them with the skills needed to reintegrate themselves back into society. Children are currently taught farming, traditional building skills, carpentry, soap making and sewing skills. As the children get older CRARN and Stepping Stones Nigeria intend to work together to arrange apprenticeships with local professionals for each child.

Stepping Stones Model School – Established in 2006 this school provides an outstanding education to 125 children. 50% of the children attending the school are provided with scholarships, books and uniforms. 25% of the pupils are orphans of one or more parent.

Reunification of Children with Their Families – CRARN has successfully reunited 32 children with their families since their inception in 2003. However, it remains extremely challenging to reunite a parent with a child that he/she believes is a witch. There also remains the risk that the child will simply be murdered.

Numbers of children accessing the services at the CRARN emergency shelter tripled over a six month period in 2006. In response to these worrying developments Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN, in partnership with Akwa Ibom State Government, launched the Prevent Abandonment of Children Today (PACT) campaign in November 2006.

The Aims of the PACT Campaign

A wide range of stakeholders came together at the 1st annual international symposium on Preventing the Abandonment of Children Today (PACT) at the Villa Marina hotel, Eket, November 2006. Commissioners, NAPTIP officials, social welfare teams, police, international and local pastors, HIV/AIDS activists, women's groups, academics and NGO workers debated the current child abandonment crisis and what can be done to halt its spread. The event received widespread coverage in local and national papers, TV and radio. In addition to this local TV and radio now run daily adverts warning of the illegality and immorality of child stigmatisation and abandonment. The event was followed up by widespread police arrests of parents guilty of abandoning their children due to witchcraft stigmatisation. This sent out a very strong message to community members that the police force would no longer tolerate child abandonment. This had an instant effect of stopping the growing tide of children accessing the services at the CRARN shelter. However there remains countless other children still living on the streets of nearby towns and cities. Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN are committed to significantly expanding the scope of the PACT campaign to all corners of Akwa Ibom State.

Both Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN strongly believe that there is a significant link between the high rates of child abandonment and child trafficking in Akwa Ibom State.

The recent Home Office study carried out by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP) highlights the fact that the second largest source region for children trafficked to the UK is Western Africa (CEOP, 2007). Nigeria acts as the major source of children in this region, with 60% of cases having Nigerian nationality.

Figures released by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) in Nigeria, highlight that the state where Stepping Stones Nigeria works, Akwa Ibom State, has the highest rates of child trafficking and labour in Nigeria (CRIN, 2006). Out of 104 child trafficking victims rescued in the last quarter of 2006, 53 were from Akwa Ibom State. No official statistics currently exist to show how many trafficked children in the UK have come from this region.

According to Elizabeth Ekaete the Uyo Zonal Director of NAPTIP, “The child victims are not usually aware that they are being exploited. In most urban cities trafficking, servitude and child labour has been synonymous with the “Akwa Ibom people”. Every year children are being trafficked from this State to other parts of the country for child labour and prostitution. Parents often release their children on trust to the traffickers. The girls serve as house helps and many of them are exploited sexually and raped by their employers and agents. Many become mentally derailed, others return with unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, many of victims live the rest of their lives with low self esteem and feeling of abandonment. Child trafficking and child labour pose a serious threat mostly to the communities of Oron, Mbo, Eket and Esit Eket Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State” (NAPTIP, 2007). Stepping Stones Nigeria currently operates projects in both Esit Eket and Eket Local Government areas and is planning to implement projects in Oron, Mbo and the state capital, Uyo in the coming months.

No quantitative research has been carried out into the potential link between the high rates of child abandonment and child trafficking in Akwa Ibom State. However, children living on the streets with no protection are clearly extremely vulnerable to traffickers. Qualitative research carried out by CRARN volunteers has highlighted cases of traffickers dressing as police officers, falsely arresting children and then putting them on a boat to the nearby Gabon where they are forced to work on plantations. There have also been cases of suspected traffickers trying to snatch children from the CRARN children’s shelter.

It is, as yet, unclear how many of these abandoned child “witches” are then trafficked to the UK. More research needs to be carried out to further substantiate this link and its impact upon the supply side of child trafficking to the UK.

Recommendations
The shear scale of the problems of child abandonment and trafficking and the depth of the belief in child witches in Akwa Ibom State means that the situation can be fairly described as a crisis. There exists an urgent need for all stakeholders, both in the UK and Nigeria, to address these issues. The recent UK Action Plan on Human Trafficking (2007) contains detailed actions which highlight work already underway to tackle trafficking at source. However, very little research has been carried out in Nigeria, despite it being a major source of child trafficking victims in the UK. Stepping Stones Nigeria therefore makes the following recommendations for UK stakeholders:

1 Further research into the specific vulnerabilities of those children at risk of trafficking in Nigeria needs to take place. This should include an initial assessment of where Nigerian child trafficking victims in the UK originate from. Progress in understanding these vulnerabilities would undoubtedly improve individual agencies capacities to deal with the problem.

2 Major stakeholders such as DFID, FCO, UKHTC, ILO and UNICEF need to adopt a much more proactive approach to awareness raising in vulnerable groups and communities in Akwa Ibom State. This awareness raising needs to reach all tiers of society not just political elites.

3 UK stakeholders should look improve collaboration with NAPTIP and other agencies working to prevent child trafficking.

Recommendations for Combating Child Trafficking at Source in Akwa Ibom State

There are a number of preventative measures that Stepping Stones Nigeria recommends takes place in Akwa Ibom State to curb child abandonment and trafficking. These include:

1 Raising Public Awareness – Prevention campaigns in Nigeria often target government officials or public opinion leaders and rarely penetrate into rural areas or the marginalised communities at risk. There exists the need for a well planned and vigorous advocacy campaign to be launched in Akwa Ibom State. This campaign should target the particular towns and villages where there is a recognised trend for child abandonment and trafficking.

2 Promotion of Education as an Alternative Strategy – Education undoubtedly constitutes an effective long-term linchpin strategy to combat child trafficking. Educating and keeping children at school reduces the risk of them becoming victims of child traffickers. Emphasis needs to be placed on female literacy and vocational training for both boys and girls.

3 Strengthening Partnerships and Co-operation – One of the most effective ways of combating child trafficking is the forging of strong partnerships amongst the key players (NGOs, governments, etc). The role of partnerships will be central to preventing the trafficking of children in Akwa Ibom State.

4 Establishing a Legal and Penal Support System - There exists a real need to strengthen the legal framework to protect child’s rights in Akwa Ibom State. Pressure from outside agencies needs to be exerted on the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to enact the Child Rights Act.

5 Focus on Development - There exists a need for prevention approaches that go beyond awareness raising to focus on development. E.g. micro-finance loans to families of children who have been trafficked or families thought to be at risk.

Conclusion
It is the author’s sincere wish that this paper will act as a wake up call to some of the larger agencies working in this field and that it will lead to action being taken to prevent children from becoming abandoned and trafficked in Akwa Ibom State. It is clear that the first step in any such action must include carrying out in-depth research into these worrying new phenomenons. A deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding child abandonment and trafficking will then allow for a well coordinated and effective plan of action to be drawn up and implemented. The recommendations contained within the paper may help in the formulation of such a plan. The potential consequences of a failure to act on this pressing issue are quite horrific. Countless children’s lives will depend upon UK and Nigerian stakeholders working together to further understand the issues behind child abandonment and trafficking. The UK and Nigerian governments should be the primary driving forces behind any such work. Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN wishes to seek active collaboration with any agencies working in this field so that we may share experiences and work together to prevent more children from being killed, tortured or enslaved.

Bibliography
Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and Home Office, A Scoping Project of Child Trafficking Into and Within the UK, 2007.

Home Office and Scottish Executive, UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking, 2007

NAPTIP – Uyo Zonal Office, Report on Child Trafficking in Akwa Ibom State, 2007

Email: gary@steppingstonesnigeria.org

Phone: 01524 542762 / 07923 092 811