Trafficking for Forced
Marriage… the case of Ms Ese Oruru
Joseph Chidiebere
Osuigwe
The
news about teenage girls (minors) being forced to leave their home to be
married to men who don’t have regard to the word: “consent”, is not new in
Nigeria. There are yearly incidences
about teenage girls who are deceived, coerced, or abducted to live with
men. However, few of these incidences
appear to the public while majority are unnoticed. But it is so lamentable that
government is not taking immediate and adequate actions to prosecute the offenders,
nor rescue the victims. This is an issue that should be audaciously handled by both
the government and public without consideration of the geo-political region or
religion of the offender.
The
story of Ese Oruru, a 13 year old girl who
was abducted from Bayelsa and
taken to Kano, by one Yunusa, where she was converted to Islam and forced
into marriage; has brought the issue of this criminal act to the public
attention, igniting reactions among
Nigerians. Though this is one out of
twenty cases of abduction and forced marriages happening in Nigeria every year,
but there have been mixed reactions among journalists and human rights activists
on this matter. A lot of people have argued if Ese was actually abducted or consented
to the Yunusa’s request to go to Kano.
In
an exclusive audio recording obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday 29th
February 2016, the abducted girl, whose Islamic name is now Aisha Chuwas, said,
“I am 17-year-old. I came here to be a Muslim and I will stay here,” Her “new age and name” has made several
people, even a human rights lawyer, to see the whole story as a reflection of
love or juvenile delinquency. No matter
how the story is painted to appeal to people’s mind, it can never be an act of
love between Ese and Yunusa. He may have
succeeded in brainwashing the girl to accept a new religion, making her claim
that she is 17 years instead of 14, and turning her mind against her parents;
but the fact still remains that she is still a minor.
The
abduction of Ms Ese Oruru , whether 14 or 17years
for the purpose of marriage through is an act of trafficking in persons, which is
prohibited under section 13 of Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act. This is nothing less
than a “forced marriage”. We need to call it by its name, “trafficking for forced marriage”, hence Mr. Yunusa is a trafficker, and should
be seen as nothing less than a trafficker.
It is important to note that Trafficking for
Forced marriage is the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, especially girls by means of threat or use of
force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving
of payments for the purpose of marriage. In the case of Ese , she is still below the age of marital consent.
The age of consent in Nigeria is 18
years. [Section 31 of the Child's Rights Act 2003.] Also Sections 21 and 22 of the same Act
prohibit Child marriage or betrothal. Forced marriage is a form of human rights
abuse, and it violates the principle of the freedom and autonomy of
individuals.
I call
on government, all appropriate agencies/authorities and the general public to
take this case as a violation of the basic human right of Ms. Ese Oruru, and to
treat the perpetrator as a criminal.
To
ensure that the trafficker, Mr. Yunisa is prosecuted, we have launched our
media campaign tagged #ProsecuteEsetraffickerNow. Every Nigerian is advised to
speak out that Yunisa be prosecuted.
Joseph Chidiebere Osuigwe is Executive
Director Devatop Centre for Africa
Development,
And Coordinator, The Academy for
Prevention of Human Trafficking and Other Related Matters.
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