Nigeria, Facebook Set To Launch Amber Alert Against Child Trafficking – thewill news media

September 08, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP) has unveiled plans to partner with Facebook as part of efforts to fight child trafficking in the country.

The Anti-human Trafficking Agency said it will launch an Amber Alert, to stem the use of the social media platform to traffic persons.

The Director of Communication, NAPTIP, Josiah Emeriole, stated this on Thursday, at the UNESCO regional conference on Media and Voice of Migration in West and Central Africa, taking place in Niamey, Niger Republic.

Speaking on Thursday, at the end of the 3-day conference, Emeriole said the Amber alert “is aimed at fighting human traffickers, who now use online to recruit their victims and also abuse victims online by posting their nude pictures.”

The Amber Alert will be launched in Nigeria before the end of September 2022. It is a global “emergency response system that disseminates information about a missing person (usually a child), by media broadcasting or electronic roadway signs”.

Explaining Nigeria's best practices which are worthy of emulation, Emeriole listed core best practices as follows;

“NAPTIP's 5 Ps approach (Policy, Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Partnership), Policy Development and Implementation, Cooperation among Law Enforcement Agencies- Standard Operating Procedure for the Coordination of Law Enforcement Response to Human Trafficking in Nigeria, Synergy with and Coordination of Civil Society- NAPTIP developed a multi-sectorial approach for the engagement of all Civil Society Organizations on concurrent duties towards victim rescue, rehabilitation, referral and reintegration, Infusion of human trafficking studies into Basic and Senior Secondary Education Curricula, Television programmes and documentaries such as NAPTIP on the move, Establishment of Rapid Response Squad for prompt response to distress calls on human trafficking, Improving the employability of survivors of trafficking by sponsoring them to University level- NAPTIP has sponsored 16 VoT in university and has employed 3, Dedicated toll-free lines ”

NAPTIP urged the international community to treat trafficking as an economic crime, adding that proceeds accruing to traffickers were in excess of $150 billion.

It also called for more public education on the scourge of trafficking.