FAME foundation was established to solicit, encourage and advance the social, emotional and economic wellbeing of women and girls as well as formulate programmes within the framework of national development plan with a view to enhancing the participation of women and advocate for gender parity in the society.
FAME foundation firmly believe that the entire nation, businesses, communities and groups can benefit from the implementation of programs and policies that adopt the notion of women empowerment.
The Women conference was focused on two major topics: Driving and Sustaining Women Impact in the society and Tackling Human Trafficking in Nigeria with an academic angle to the menace by Prof. Kwem Kadima of Obafemi Awolowo University.
Human trafficking is a fraudulent recruitment, transfer or harbouring of persons by means of threat or deceit for
exploitative purpose, which could be for prostitution, forced labour, ritual, among others. It is a form of modern day slavery that involves abduction, coercion, violence and exploitation in the most reprehensible ways (Loar 1999, Essien 2001)
The 2003 Trafficking in Persons Law Enforcement and Administration Act, amended in 2005, and eventually re-enacted in 2015 by President Goodluck Jonathan to increase penalties for trafficking offenders, and for greater effectiveness prohibits all forms of human trafficking. The law’s prescribed penalties of five years’ imprisonment and/or a $670 fine for labor trafficking, 10 years’ imprisonment for trafficking of children for forced begging or hawking, and 10 years to life imprisonment for sex trafficking are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.[1]
Nigeria’s 2003 Child Rights Act also criminalizes child trafficking, though only 23 of the country’s 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, have enacted it. According to the Nigerian constitution, laws pertaining to children’s rights fall under state purview; therefore, the Child Rights Act must be adopted by individual state legislatures to be fully implemented. NAPTIP reported 149 investigations, 26 prosecutions, and 25 convictions of trafficking offences during the reporting period under the 2003 Trafficking in Persons Act. Sentences ranged from two months to 10 years, with an average sentence of 2.66 years’ imprisonment; only two convicted offenders were offered the option of paying a fine instead of serving prison time.
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