• by Sam Olukoya (benin city, nigeria)
• Thursday, January 17, 2019
• Inter Press Service

BENIN CITY, Nigeria, Jan 17 (IPS) - The International Organization For Migration (IOM) has taken its campaign against irregular migration to schools in Nigeria. The school campaigns are meant to educate children who are among victims of human traffickers.

After being recruited, victims of traffickers are made to embark on dangerous irregular journeys through the desert and by sea in an attempt to reach Europe. Many children die in the course of these journeys while many others are enslaved. Some young girls end up in the sex trade.

Students of the Itohan Girls Secondary School in Benin City, Nigeria sing during their morning assembly. The students have been joined by a team from the IOM and a group of young Nigerians who returned home after their failed attempt to migrate to Europe. With young girls at great risk of being targeted by traffickers who need them for the sex trade, Marshall Patsanza of the IOM says a girls' school like this is an ideal place for the organization to carry out its campaign.

© Inter Press Service (2019) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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