Ayodele Olalere
Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Fatima Waziri-Azi, on Thursday, explained how Nigerian women are sexually harassed and exploited in Iraq.
She narrated the plight of Nigerian women working in the oil rich country in a statement by the agency.
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According to her, most of the young Nigerian women working in Iraq were recruited by ‘ rogue labor recruiters who have been reported to be big players in the massive recruitment of Nigerians to Iraq for domestic servitude.
She added that he agency has taken proactive measures to stop exploitation of Nigerian women in some foreign countries by raising awareness around issues of human trafficking to some of the known destination countries, which has made traffickers to now shift attention to Iraq.
” We are inundated with pleas for rescue and repatriation from female victims trafficked to Iraq, especially to the cities of Baghdad and Basra where they are distributed to various homes by their recruitment agents to a hard life of domestic servitude,” the statement stated.
It added: ” Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospital many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions they are forced to undergo. Most of them have complained of deteriorating health resulting from the weight of work. They are constantly under threat of being harmed either by their direct employers or the Iraqi agents, each time they complain of unbearable workload.”
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Other forms of harassment includes prevention from having access to their phones, not allowed to leave the premises where they are working, constant sexual harassment by members of the household where they are staying.
” It is indeed a very scary situation,” the statement further stated.
The agency warned Nigerians to be cautious about ‘this desperate quest to travel out of Nigeria for greener pastures, which is the reason so many fall prey to traffickers, and the lies of labour recruiters who promise juicy jobs overseas.”