Niger: the government wants to tackle human trafficking
Boulevard de la Jeunesse, in the Yantala Ancien district of Niamey, Niger.
(illustrative image) © Wikimedia
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Nearly 600 Nigeriens arrived in Niamey from Senegal overnight from Friday to Saturday in a repatriation operation.
A report from Senegal revealed the living conditions of many Nigerien migrants, begging in the streets of Dakar.
The Nigerian government accuses the traffickers of human beings and intends to fight against this scourge.
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This is a phenomenon that surprised the Nigerien authorities.
In Senegal, hundreds of Niger nationals found themselves in poverty, forced to wander the streets of Dakar in search of money.
Faced with these revelations, President Mohamed Bazoum called a meeting.
While 600 people have returned to Niger, Tidjani Idrissa Abdoulkadri, government spokesperson, spoke of their fate at the microphone of Sébastien Németh: “
They are, for the most part, women and children.
They will be taken care of in Niamey, but in the end, these people must be escorted home.
»
“
Tackling the problem at its root
”
Tidjani Idrissa Abdoulkadri points to the responsibility of human traffickers.
According to him, these Nigeriens forced to ask for alms “
are not in Dakar for questions of insecurity
”, but because of “
the existence of networks of traffickers of women and children
”.
“
I cannot understand that a mother or a father entrusts a child to a person, even a known person.
It is against our values, religion and the law.
There is no objective economic reason that can justify this
,” he asserts.
The spokesperson assures that “
the government will take all the necessary measures in the face of this situation
”.
“
Those responsible must be brought to justice, as required by law.
But beyond that, the government must resolutely commit to attacking the problem at its root, so as to provide definitive solutions to this scourge which is discrediting our country
,” he said.
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Niger
mohamed bazoum
Senegal
Human rights