Journalists covering the human trafficking and irregular migration beat have been urged to be in-depth in reportage, and to go the extra mile in investigating and exposing the heinous crimes.
The call was made on Saturday in Abuja at the closing session of a three-day training on ethics, do’s and don’ts of human trafficking and irregular migration reporting organised for some journalists covering the beat.
The training was organised by the Action Against Trafficking in Persons Cluster (AATiP), facilitated by the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC).
It had the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Palladium Project, which is under the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) course.
Mr Nasiru-Muazu Isah, a Resource Person at the training, said that investigative reporting about human trafficking and irregular migration would go a long way in exposing the heinous crimes.
Isah, a former reporter with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said that investigation and exposure of human trafficking crimes would help to step down the issues in the society.
“Human trafficking is not just about moving people from one country to another, but it is also moving people, adult, underage children from one place (community) to another in the name of getting them job, assisting them and all that.
“The problem is that most people feel that human trafficking happens only when one crosses from one international border to the other. However, human trafficking can happen within the country, within states and communities.
“These small children that you see as house helps are being trafficked, but in most cases, we feel that we are assisting them because we are bringing them into our homes, feeding them, putting them in schools.
“All these assuage our guilt because we feel we are helping them but in actual sense, it is trafficking,” he stressed.
Isah said that investigative reporting would help in knowing why such a trend occurred, and the process involved in the recruitment of such people.
The Executive Director of JDPC, Rev. Fr. Solomon Uko, stated that he was pleased with the attention of the journalists throughout the three-day training.
Uko said: “this is actually my first time going through the training with participants, and I am pleased with the engagement, interest, conversation and discussion that I saw and engaged in at the training.
“I urge journalists to make use of the knowledge they have received in the course of the training to report knowledgeably about human trafficking issues.
“Our expectation is that the knowledge we got from here will be escalated to the entire world on the dehumanising effect of human trafficking, and the fact that human beings must be who they are, and must not be traded like commodities.
“People should say something when they see something that is unwholesome or degrading in any form to the point of being trafficked.
“Journalists should escalate the knowledge obtained from here, and help others know the effect of human trafficking in our society,” he said.
Uko said that the journalists are expected after this training to be fully armed with the weapon they needed to propagate the message and let people know the dangers of human trafficking and irregular migration. (NAN)
