In a statement issued on Thursday in Washington D.C., the US-based organisation said on one occasion, its investigators met with groups of about 30 Nigerian women trafficked to the West African nation for prostitution.
Criticising the Ivorien government, the human rights group said, “Diplomats and international aid agency officials told Human Rights Watch that Ivorien authorities had rarely conducted in-depth investigations into trafficking for prostitution or successfully prosecuted traffickers.”
The report quioted its senior West Africa researcher, Ms. Corinne Dufka, as saying “These women and girls were sold dreams of migrating to better their lives, but then found themselves in a personal hell.” She added that the Nigerian and Ivoirien governments should find and prosecute the perpetrators, work with regional neighbours to shut down their operations and do more to protect victims of forced prostitution.
According to HRW, on one occasion last month, eight of the Nigerian women, who were described as victims, were interviewed by the human rights groups individually. The statement noted that “scores of similar cases involving Nigerian women and girls were documented by interviews with Ivorian officials, United Nations personnel, and Nigerian embassy staff. Many victims were either between the ages of 15 and 17 or had been minors when brought to Cote d’Ivoire.”
The report said that in two small towns in central Cote d’Ivoire, with populations of about 40,000 and 50,000, respectively, its officials documented the presence of five separate brothels of Nigerian women and girls. A gendarme in one of the towns estimated that at least 100 Nigerian women were working there as prostitutes.
HRW investigations indicated that the majority of them were likely to have been trafficked. According to the organisation, “All of the women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch described being deceived into migrating with promises of work as apprentice hairdressers or tailors, or to work in other businesses elsewhere in West Africa or in Europe.”
The statement added that Nigerian women recruited and transported the victims overland through Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Burkina Faso, adding, “Majority of victims told both Human Rights Watch and the Nigerian embassy that they came from Delta and Edo States in southern Nigeria.”
It added, “Nigerian embassy staff in Abidjan told Human Rights Watch that they had repatriated scores of women trafficked for prostitution, including dozens this year alone.”
The statement said that Ivoirien, United Nations and Nigerian officials narrated to the organisation’s officials how in July 2010, three 17-year-old Nigerians, who refused to engage in sex work after being trafficked, were locked in a room and denied food for three days.
But the girls finally escaped, went to the local police, and were repatriated by the Nigerian embassy. All the victims HRW officials interviewed said they wanted to leave Cote d’Ivoire and the sex trade. But they felt they had no escape because of the perceived consequences of failing to pay the debt.
It accused cote d’Ivoire of impeding the investigation due to what it called “an ineffective legal framework and a lack of will, or interest in the cases.” It said that Cote d’Ivoire had not signed the UN Trafficking Protocol and also lacked domestic legislation specifically criminalising trafficking.
HRW called on the Ivoirien government to sign and ratify the UN Trafficking Protocol without delay and pass a draft domestic anti-trafficking law, currently under consideration, in harmony with international standards.
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