Human trafficking is a grave violation of human rights, affecting millions worldwide. It involves the exploitation of individuals through coercion, force, or deception for various purposes, including forced labour, sexual exploitation, and organ trafficking, in other words, victims are lied to, assaulted, threatened or manipulated into working under inhumane, illegal or otherwise unacceptable conditions.
De Marillac Centre, owned and Managed by Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul is one of the very few Organizations that are committed to the fight against human trafficking in Port Harcourt.
De Marillac Centre (Hope for Street Children) is a non-governmental and non-profit making organization established by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul province of Nigeria for the rehabilitation of street children in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
The Centre provides care for children who are forced by circumstances to live and survive on the street without direct support from anybody – families, relatives, friends or government agencies. The Centre identifies children living in the streets, counsels and has them enrolled in schools or formal accredited vocational training institutions or trained by local craftsmen in the informal sector.
Street children are children under the age of eighteen years who spend most of their lives on the street with limited or no contact with their families. The life of street children in Port Harcourt is fraught with dangers and hopelessness.
Some of these children were taken by relatives from their parents with a promise of sending them to school and providing basic care and support they couldn’t get at home. The situation is usually different and in most cases, the Children often end up on the streets.
The children are often lonely, without shelter and food, harassed, exploited and frequently abused by adults including law enforcement agents. The girls are frequently raped and a large number of the boys resort to hard drugs, join or used by criminal gangs. For survival, they do menial jobs in the daytime and spend the night sleeping under bridges, market stalls, motor parks and other dangerous places, this often leads to a large number of them becoming victims of trafficking in their quest for survival.
To commemorate this year’s International Day against Trafficking in Persons, usually marked on the 30th of July every year, De Marillac Centre joined relevant stakeholders in the fight against Human Trafficking in Port Harcourt with a market sensitization campaign and Road walk to create more awareness among Market traders and the general public to be aware of the current trends and lies used by perpetrators of human trafficking to recruit their victims.
During the time of the sensitisation, the Team visited the Oil Mill Market, Creek Road Market, Mile 1 and Mile 3 markets and also participated in the Road walk organised by the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Cosmopolitan and the Rotaract Club of Miles and Towers in collaboration with NAPTIP Rivers State Command. The walk started from Isaac Boro Park mile 1 and ended at the Ministry of Justice building, Government House complex Port Harcourt.
Human trafficking is a social menace that is spreading rapidly in our society today and surprisingly even some reputable individuals are perpetrators of the act.
We invite the general public to join hands with the government and relevant Organizations to reduce the spread of Trafficking in our society.
To report any case of trafficking in your area, Contact the following numbers;
07030000203 (Toll Free)
627(Shortcode for MTN Only)
(N/B The identity of the reporter will not be revealed)