HUMAN TRAFFICKING RISES TO THE SURFACE IN NEW YORK CITY AFRICANS IN AMERICA SHOWS CAUSE FOR INVESTIGATION

New York, June 23, 2003-Africans In America shows cause for further investigation of the 19 years old Nigerian girl stabbed to death in her $2,000/month apartment at 60th Street and 1st Avenue. She may have been a victim of human trafficking and planning to escape her circumstances. The young girl arrived in New York in 1994, around the age of 9 years old. Police report that she was a prostitute for the past three years. Police also report that she may not be Nigerian, even though she has a Nigerian passport. Typically, the biological family of a wayward continental African child would immediately send the child back to their homeland to have his/her behavior corrected. This raises questions about the young womans true identity and true biological family and how she was brought into the United States.

New York, June 23, 2003-Africans In America shows cause for further investigation of the 19 years old Nigerian girl stabbed to death in her $2,000/month apartment at 60th Street and 1st Avenue. She may have been a victim of human trafficking and planning to escape her circumstances. The young girl arrived in New York in 1994, around the age of 9 years old. Police report that she was a prostitute for the past three years. Police also report that she may not be Nigerian, even though she has a Nigerian passport. Typically, the biological family of a wayward continental African child would immediately send the child back to their homeland to have his/her behavior corrected. This raises questions about the young womans true identity and true biological family and how she was brought into the United States.    

The U.N. reports that approximately 4,000,000 people are trafficked globally each year; more than 200,000 children are trafficked in West and Central Africa annually. According to Bonaventure Ezekwenna, Executive Director, Africans In America, "International child trafficking is a complicated reality and trafficking networks are camouflaged and kept secret within the community. This makes identifying traffickers and victims extremely difficult. The challenge to gather data on the victims is complicated by the silence of the victims. The scale of this problem is larger than the visible surface." The U.S. government data suggests that approximately 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States annually.

Many victims of trafficking are:

·   Economically disadvantaged women and girl children (ages 8 and up), as well as a smaller group of boys and men.
·   Held in bondage without getting paid. Not allowed to keep any money.
·   Abused physically and emotionally.
·   Sexually abused.
·   Fear for their safety and the safety of their family back home, and may be reluctant to open up.
·   Fearful of deportation.
·   At initial approach may give programmed answers designed to protect their captors.
·   Victims may present a bogus identification given to them by their captors. Not allowed to have friends, or contact with their family, or a social support system.
·   Not allowed to make decisions about their life and future while staying with their captors.
·   Unaware of their fundamental human rights and unaware that the law protects them in this country.

Some of the purposes of human trafficking include:

Domestic/household work
forced prostitution
sex tourism and entertainment
pornography
sweatshop/factory labor
illegal labor
bonded labor
begging
illegal/false adoption
servile marriage
use in other criminal activities

In most African countries, it is a common practice for the affluent to keep very young pets (girls) within the countries and overseas (United States and Europe) for 'escort and entertainment. Some take their 'pets with them when they travel. Most poor and suffering young girls in Africa would jump at such offer.

New York City residents need to be aware that human trafficking (a.k.a. modern day slavery) is a growing epidemic. Reaching out to these young girls is critical before another loses her life in an attempt to escape.

The severity and importance of this problem was recognized by the U.S. Congress who passed the Victim of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA). This legislation gives legal protection and other services to such victims including the establishment of a special T (Trafficking) visa. Africans In America, Inc. provides services and support, which empowered an emancipated young female victim to apply and obtain one of the first new T visas in the United States.

Africans In America is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to providing social services, self-empowerment and community awareness to the underserved and economically disadvantaged African communities in the New York metropolitan area. We assist current and former victims of human trafficking and domestic violence, especially African women and children, in the New York metropolitan area.                                                            

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