Survivor’s Perceptions of Human Trafficking Rehabilitation Programs in Nigeria: Empowerment or Disempowerment?

ABSTRACT

While disagreements about the value of rehabilitation programs persist, these programs are still largely seen as essential for the protection of the human rights of survivors of human trafficking, and the facilitation of their recovery and empowerment after trafficking. Consequently, it is not surprising that rehabilitation programs are a core component of the Nigerian government’s anti-trafficking policies. However, only limited efforts have so far been directed at ascertaining the extent to which these rehabilitation programs result in the empowerment of survivors in Nigeria. To address this gap, this paper explores the extent to which survivors’ perceptions and experiences in the rehabilitation programs reflect the ideals of empowerment. Drawing on qualitative data, we show that the government’s conceptualization of human trafficking influences their collaborative rehabilitation efforts, and that such efforts seem to simultaneously empower and disempower survivors.The paper concludes by considering the policy implications in the African context.

KEYWORDS:

• Human trafficking
• rehabilitation
• victim protection
• empowerment
• Nigeria
• agency
• survivors

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all the respondents for their kind support without which this research would not have been possible. We also thank the Editor-in-Chief and the anonymous reviewers for the constructive feedbacks that were provided. We also acknowledge the funding support for our research from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.