HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN FICTION

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN FICTION. A STUDY OF CHIKA UNIGWE’S ON BLACK SISTERS’ STREET AND IFEANYI AJAEGBO’S SARAH HOUSE

ABSTRACT 

Human trafficking is a global phenomenon, and in most cases, women are core victims of trafficking for sexual purposes. The push and pull factors are what contribute to the growth of trafficking, in which traffickers use the pull factors to lure vulnerable women and girls into this global capitalist flesh trade. This study will be using Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street and Ifeanyi Ajaegbo’s Sarah House as case study to examine how women are being subjected to all forms of exploitation and oppression in the world of trafficking. The theoretical approach to this study is Marxist Feminism which reveals how powerful individuals (traffickers) gain wealth through the business of buying and selling of women for sexual purposes, thereby exploiting and robbing them of their self-worth and dignity as humans in a classed society. 

CHAPTER ONE 

1.0 INTRODUCTION 

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 

Human trafficking is a global phenomenon in which one’s fundamental human rights are being encroached upon. According to the International Labour Organization (2012), nearly 21 million people across the world were forced into labour. Out of these 21 million victims, 11.7 million came from the Asia-Pacific region, 3.7 million from Africa, and 1.8 million from Latin America (International Labour Organization, 2012). The demand for prostitutes contributed to young women being trafficked and forced into prostitution. This incessant need for victims causes traffickers to harbour and transfer victims across states and countries (Lutya & Lanier, 2012). The huge gain traffickers will receive causes them to keep control of their victims by any means necessary, which includes scaring and forcing them to stay (Jakobi, 2012).  

Trafficking in human beings is not a uniform phenomenon. Its scope and extent varies in different cultural and political contexts. Trafficking in persons is a hidden criminal activity and the number of victims that come into the limelight is only a fraction of the actual number that suffers under the ambit of human trafficking (Touzenis, 2010). Human traffickers target those people in society who are poor, isolated and weak. The majority of victims of human trafficking are women and children who end up being used as sex objects. Human traffickers use different creative and ruthless ploys to trick the victims to fall into their trap by winning their confidence (Trafficking in Persons Report, 2008).  

Traffickers often use force, fraud, or coercion to control women. Labour trafficking holds much in common with sex trafficking, but one of its key difference concerns the citizenship of such labourers. Labour trafficking victims identified in the United States are 67% undocumented workers and 28% documented workers (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011). Based on that information, approximately 95% of labour trafficking victims in the United States are foreign. Anecdotally, it seems that many individuals have confused human trafficking and human smuggling as the same issue that primarily affects foreign labourers. It is not uncommon to see explicit statements that human trafficking is unrelated to smuggling or transportation across borders in the educational literature of anti-human trafficking organizations (Polaris Project, 2012). Human trafficking is a crime against a person while human smuggling is considered a crime unto a country by crossing borders illegally (Polaris Project, 2010). 

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN FICTION. A STUDY OF CHIKA UNIGWE’S ON BLACK SISTERS’ STREET AND IFEANYI AJAEGBO’S SARAH HOUSE

Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 70

Price: 3000 NGN

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