NAPTIP condemns Amnesty’s call to repeal prostitution law

Rights group alleges interference in Nigeria’s affairs

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has condemned the call by Amnesty International (AI) to decriminalise adult sex work and repeal most of the laws controlling prostitution.

In a related development, the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia and the President of Caritas Nigeria, Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji yesterday called for a workable roadmap to eliminate the scourge of human trafficking, organ harvesting and sexual exploitation.

Amnesty International had last week called for a repeal of most laws around the world controlling prostitution to protect human rights of sex workers

However, NAPTIP’s Acting Director General, Abdulrazak Zangiri, said at the International Conference on Human Trafficking Within and From Africa in Abuja yesterday, that this approach to prostitution is not only irresponsible but also rubbishes the huge investment that the EU has expended in combating sex trafficking.

Zangiri stated that about two million women and children are trafficked every year around the world in various ways, either for sexual or labour exploitation.

He maintained that human trafficking constitutes a ridicule of humanity and a threat to public health of the population of any nation as it plunders the social fabric of families.

Zangiri, represented by the Director, Public Enlightenment, Orakwue Arinze, queried: Why are we then looking for linkages between deregulated prostitution and human trafficking? What human rights of persons, exercise of liberty and freedom warrants the commodification and objectification of the body of a woman?

Also speaking at the International Conference on Human Trafficking within and from Africa in Abuja, Ugorji stated that poverty, unemployment, quest for further education, skills accusation and means of better livelihood constitute the engine that drives this despicable trade.

Meanwhile, a civil society organisation, ‎Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) also berated Amnesty International on what it alleged to be a campaign of calumny against the Federal Government

Executive Secretary of CESJET, Comrade Ikpa Isaac said during a protest march to the United Nations House yesterday, the group said they were aware of efforts by Amnesty International to rubbish and undermine the ongoing struggle to maintain the nation’s unity.