The Federal Republic of Nigeria
Positions for the Human Rights Council (HRC)
- Protecting and Promoting the Human Rights of Migrant Domestic Workers
The Federal Republic of Nigeria recognizes that the rights of migrant domestic workers is a vital human right. Migrants commonly face unjust abuses due to their immigration status, and often receive meager pay for excruciating work. In Nigeria, migrants have become a vital part of the economy. Nigeria even supported migrant rights in a joint initiative with Poland, the Nigerian-Polish Initiative. The Initiative, however, ended in early 2011. Recognizing this, Nigeria will continue to take prompt action to reduce abuse of migrant workers in accordance with the International Convention on Rights of Migrant Workers, ILO C-97. Nigeria has also recognized the lack of oversight within the international community regarding the protections of migrant workers. Nigeria strives to enforce these fundamental human rights with any Member State. A coalition of Member States with the goal of protecting workers will greatly improve human rights in Nigeria, and throughout the world.
Historically, socio-economic conditions in Nigeria resulted in an unsatisfactory record, including a massive failure for ensuring the protection of migrant workers. Nigerian policy was essentially nonexistent with regard to ensuring protections for migrant workers. Lack of substantive policy was pervasive not only within Nigeria, but throughout the African continent as well, as workers were subjected to harsh conditions in diamond and gold mines. However, over time the situation in Nigeria improved. Legislation was passed which included provisions granting the right to collective bargaining, elimination of forced labor, and abolition of child labor. The Nigerian government was and has been dedicated to the protections of rights of workers.
In order to ensure the security and stability of migrant workers, Nigeria proposes a commission to oversee and recommend policy to Member States; the Commission on Rights for Domestic Workers or the CRDM program. This commission will review and suggest legislation for Member States who are committed to improving rights and securing protections for migrant workers. Funding for this commission may be provided by Member States with sizeable monetary assets. The CRDM program can ensure the realization of equitable treatment for underrepresented migrant workers who lack political power. This commission will function as follows: with the permission of Member States, all sovereign states seeking to improve conditions of their migrant domestic workers may request an observation and analysis conducted by the commission; the commission shall then provide a comprehensive report highlighting areas needing improvement and strategies for achieving positive outcomes. While this report is intended to provide reasonable, attainable solutions to problematic policies (or lack thereof), an enforcement mechanism is not yet in place, meaning the report itself offers suggestions Member States may evaluate for implementation. The Federal Republic of Nigeria believes this commission promote improvements in human rights for all Member States. Again, we are willing to form a coalition with any Member States that wish to implement equitable human rights policies.
II. Combating Human Trafficking Among Refugees and Displaced Persons
The Federal Republic of Nigeria has committed to focusing on and improving the procedures of early intervention and prevention for the human rights issue of human trafficking. Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women vulnerable to trafficking. Nigerian children and women are recruited from rural areas within the borders. The women and young girls are trafficked for involuntary domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, and young boys for forced labor in street vending and mining. Children from West African states, where Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rules allow for easy entry, are forced to work in Nigeria, and some are subjected to hazardous jobs in Nigeria’s granite mines.
In 2000, Nigeria became a signatory to the Transnational Organized Crime Convention and its Trafficking in Persons Protocol, which enjoins to criminalize practices and conduct that subject human beings to all forms of exploitation, including minimal sexual and labor exploitation. The Trafficking in Persons Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 passed by the National Assembly was an outcome of a private member bill sponsored at the National Assembly by the Women Trafficking and Child Labor Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), a non-governmental organization. National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) was subsequently created as a specific multi-disciplinary crime fighting agency and the nation’s focal institution to fight the scourge of trafficking in persons in the country using the four-pronged approach of prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership. The Trafficking in Persons Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 was amended in 2005 in a bid to further strengthen the Agency. As a result of the new trends in the crime of human trafficking and the need to further strengthen the institutional framework, the Enforcement and Administration Act 2015 was enacted.
Acknowledging that women and children are disproportionately affected by human trafficking the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we propose the following three step plan to address this urgent international crisis. Firstly, trafficked women are often manipulated by traffickers into working in the sex industry with the promise of prosperity. Nigeria, along with the Human Rights Council, must create an international press campaign entitled Nations Allied Against Trafficking (NAAT) with the purpose of reducing the steady flow of victims. Secondly, this press campaign will include the indicators of human trafficking along with who to report the crime to within each Member State. Finally, to address ground level corruption in law enforcement we propose the creation of Avocats Sans Frontières (A.S.F), or Lawyers without Borders. This organization would serve as advocates for current and past victims of human trafficking and would possess the necessary technical knowledge to seek settlements for victims in their individual Member States.