Complex roles of families in enabling sex trafficking in Edo, Nigeria

TY - JOUR

T1 - Complex roles of families in enabling sex trafficking in Edo, Nigeria

AU - Agwu, Prince

AU - Levy, Susan

AU - Okoye, Uzoma Odera

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Authors 2023.

PY - 2023/12/22

Y1 - 2023/12/22

N2 - Families are an expected haven for their members but can present threats in some contexts. Part of a large-scale PhD study with 101 participants, empirical findings on the roles played by families in encouraging sex trafficking in Edo, Nigeria, are presented here. Using in-depth interviews and group discussions, data were elicited from actors within trafficking in persons. Core findings included the exploitation of roles and responsibilities in families towards enabling sex trafficking, the abuse of shared meanings of family in communities and the exploitation of vulnerable families. Vulnerable families were identified as lacking fathers or those whose parents were older adults and/ or uneducated. Thus, poor women in such families were at greater risk of being trafficked. For a conceptual understanding of these family roles in sex trafficking, we employed structure–agency insights. In all, anti-sex trafficking interventions must begin with families as the smallest unit of interventions.

AB - Families are an expected haven for their members but can present threats in some contexts. Part of a large-scale PhD study with 101 participants, empirical findings on the roles played by families in encouraging sex trafficking in Edo, Nigeria, are presented here. Using in-depth interviews and group discussions, data were elicited from actors within trafficking in persons. Core findings included the exploitation of roles and responsibilities in families towards enabling sex trafficking, the abuse of shared meanings of family in communities and the exploitation of vulnerable families. Vulnerable families were identified as lacking fathers or those whose parents were older adults and/ or uneducated. Thus, poor women in such families were at greater risk of being trafficked. For a conceptual understanding of these family roles in sex trafficking, we employed structure–agency insights. In all, anti-sex trafficking interventions must begin with families as the smallest unit of interventions.

KW - human trafficking

KW - irregular migration

KW - Key words Edo

KW - sex trafficking

KW - trafficking

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85181242332

U2 - 10.1332/20467435Y2023D000000007

DO - 10.1332/20467435Y2023D000000007

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85181242332

SN - 2046-7435

SP - 1

EP - 19

JO - Families, Relationships and Societies

JF - Families, Relationships and Societies

ER -