Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 4

1. What was the frequency of newspaper coverage given to human trafficking stories by the selected newspapers? 2. What was the prominence accorded to the reports on human trafficking? 3. What were the patterns of coverage used to sensitize the society about the ills of human trafficking? 4. What is the dominant form of human trafficking reported in the selected newspapers? II. T he L iterature a) Understanding Human Trafficking Human trafficking depicts several different things to diverse individuals and groups. Over time this devious trade in human beings has taken varied forms. Historically (chattel servitude, debt bondage, involuntary marriage, agreement slavery, etc.), trafficking in persons has continually involved the obtaining, keeping and using free labour through the application of threat, force and compulsion (Bales, 1999; Wallinger, 2010). Gimba (2005) in Iyanda and Nwogwugwu (2016) aver that trafficking or trade-in human beings entails the act of movement of an individual or persons after having conscripted the person, from one location to a new one using the assurance of offering the individual an employment or a proposal to marriage, often through the use of deceit, falsehood, trickery, coercion or force. From whatever angle the phenomenon is considered, the consistent final outcome of human trafficking is involuntary labour and/or sexual exploitation of the victim either of which Gimba like several other scholars view considers as a major and significant violation of the person's fundamental human rights. According to Nkememena (2009), human trafficking includes all involuntary prostitution, child prostitution, home servitude, unlawful and bonded labour, subservient marriage, dishonest adoption, sex leisure industry and show business, pornography, systematized begging, bodily parts/organ harvesting, and other illegal and criminal activities. The historic nature of human trafficking in this nation has been studied by academics and there is the belief in some quarters that the issue of human trafficking is significantly connected to the Structural Adjustment Programme. The structural adjustment programme was designed and recommended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to bring economic restoration to the countries of the African continent that were neck-deep in debt. The requirements of the policy, however, necessitated cutbacks in several social areas that were of benefit to the citizenry especially in areas such as food, agriculture, education, and employment etc. (Babawale, 2006; Taran & Demaret, 2006, Attoh & Okeke, 2012). The different types of trading in human beings according to the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report cited in Badejo (2016, p.27) are summarized as sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, forced labour, forced child labour, bonded labour, domestic servitude, organ trafficking, child soldiers, forced marriage, servile marriage. There exists also some variants of trafficking which may consist of using victims of human trafficking for spiritual rituals (see: Fitzgibbon, 2003; U.S Department of State, 2006; Kamala, et.al, 2001) as cited in Oppong (2012, p. 40). As stated by Oppong (2012) this form of trafficking for rituals, sometimes involves the religious priests using the trafficked victims for involuntary labour while in some circumstances they may utilize their bodily organs for prescribed religious rituals (Oppong, 2012). Gleaning from the literatures, factors forcing human trafficking are illiteracy, lack of knowledge, greediness, the absence of opportunities, inequity, gender-induced cultural biases, ignorance, growing unemployment and underemployment, poverty (a principal driving force), and large family size, absence of government support etc. Other factors include the high demand for cheap labour from overseas, the absence of a political commitment, weak porous and permeable borders, the absence of a strong political will, low access to education, sex-selective/discriminative migration policies, disruption of the supportive system, traditional community attitude, manipulation of religious rituals, HIV and AIDS, insecurity and insurgency, the loss of parents or guardians, ie. orphans, human deprivation, etc. (Moore, 1994; ILO, 2004, Osakwe & Olateru- Olagbegi, 1999a, De Dios,1999; Aghatise, 2002, Adepoju, 2000, 2005, 2010, UNESCO, 2006; UNODC, 2006; Eghafona, 2009; Attoh, 2009). Fundamentally, some identified undeniable causes of human trafficking are: biting poverty, the quest for migration for both study and work in better cities and overseas, battles, defective and weak legal system, absence of sufficient legislative regulations, the lack of a political will on the part of government etc. (Adepelumi, 2015; Okeshola & Adenuga, 2018). b) Human Trafficking and the Media The media is considered as the ‘fourth estate because it is an authoritative tool in influencing societal opinion and uplifting awareness concerning a matter or an issue (UN.GIFT, 2008). According to Baran and Davis (2000), the world appears different to diverse person’s subjects both to their own personal interest and also on the map drawn for them by the publishers of the newspapers they read. Thus, the press helps to shape the thought of the people based on their news reports, which means there is a correlation between press reports and the public view and ranking of issues in society. Habte (as cited in Olube, 2015) affirms that the media has the capacity to influence and define the perception, beliefs and attitudes of individuals and © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue IV Version I 21 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 A 49 A Content Analysis of Newspapers’ Coverage of Human Trafficking in Nigeria