US indicts Nigeria of using children to fight Boko Haram

United States’ government has accused Civilian JTF
of recruiting children to fight Boko Haram
insurgents, adding that Nigeria also remains a
source, transit and destination country for women
and children that are being subjected to forced
labour and sex trafficking.
The latest report on Trafficking in Persons released
by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, described
Nigeria as a transit point for West African children
subjected to forced labour.
The report also stated that West African women
were taken through Nigeria to other destinations in
Europe and the Middle East, where they are forced
into prostitution.
“Nigerian women and girls are subjected to forced
prostitution throughout Europe. Nigerian women
and children
are also recruited and transported to destinations
in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia,
where they are held captive in the sex trade or in
forced labour. Nigerian gangs subject large
numbers of Nigerian women to forced prostitution
in the Czech Republic and Italy,” the report said.
Similarly, the European Police Office TIP document
also added that Nigerian organised crime related to
trafficking in person was one of the greatest law
enforcement challenges to European governments.
“Nigerian women are transported to Malaysia,
where they are forced into prostitution and to work
as drug mules for their traffickers. West African
women transit Nigeria to destinations in Europe
and the Middle East, where they are subsequently
subjected to forced prostitution. Children from
West African countries are subjected to forced
labour in Nigeria,
including in Nigeria’s granite mines. Nigeria is a
transit point for West African children subjected to
forced labour in Cameroon and Gabon,” it stated.
According to the report, children who are trafficked
are also being used as child soldiers in the fight
against Boko Haram, calling on the Federal
Government and Borno State to stop provision of
“financial and in-kind support ” to the Civilian Joint
Task Force, which it accused of using children to
fight against Boko Haram.
The report however commended the Federal
Government for its fight against trafficking, urging
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to
investigate and prosecute individuals suspected of
recruiting and using child soldiers and perpetrating
other trafficking abuses against women and
children.