Urgent Action Needed: UNHCR, NAPTIP, and Others on Irregular Migration

A patrol boat of the Italian Coast Guards (Guardia Costiera) transports migrants towards the port of Palermo, Sicily, on September 17, 2020 after they rescued them at sea after a group of 76 migrants threw themselves into the sea from the rescue vessel of Spanish NGO Open Arms, off Palermo, Sicily. - The Open Arms vessel, which is located off the coast of Palermo waiting to transship men and women, had onbOard 278 migrants rescued in the last few days in the Sicilian Channel. (Photo by Alessandro FUCARINI / AFP)

Some local and international organisations have raised concerns over the menace of human trafficking and the plight of refugees across the globe, saying there is need for concerted efforts by all to check the growing trend.

The concerned organisations include the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), among others.

They made the call in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State during the premiere of a film ‘Dangerous Hope’ which seeks to enlighten and sensitise vulnerable and other people of concern to the dangers of irregular migration.

Calling for an attitudinal change, increased knowledge and awareness for potential traffickers, they sought necessary tools and assistance that could help survivors reclaim their lives.

The Head of the UNHCR Lagos Field Office, Ephraim Kabura, expressed a need for adequate awareness on the risk of being trafficked and the need for all to be proactive towards reducing the menace.

The need to fight the growing trends in human trafficking is a task that must be done by all, he argued.

With the growing rate of economic exploitation and harvesting in organs of victims, trafficking in persons remains a subject of global concern.

Targeting children, refugees were among the stakeholders at the film premiere educated on dangers of irregular migration as they remain key targets of traffickers due to their vulnerability and aspirations.

A Cameroonian master’s student and refugee in Ogoja, Cross River State, Bobga Derrick, was one of those who attended the event.

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