Criminal justice response to human trafficking in Nigeria and South Africa: suggestions for better performance

This article evaluates the response of the criminal justice system of Nigeria and South Africa in relation to human trafficking, and offer suggestions on pragmatic steps that can be taken to combat its scourge. Over the years, concerted efforts have been made to develop effective, and internationally coordinated approaches to combat the phenomenon at the national, regional and continental levels, but unfortunately, such conscientious have not yielded the desired results. Nigeria and South Africa have criminalised the menace by enacting anti-trafficking laws, but these regulations have not been able to adequately stem the tides of the crime, considering its rising profile in recent times. The reason (among others) is essentially due to the fact that these laws are selective, and not all-inclusive. Policy makers in both countries are merely formulating and adjusting strategies on an experimental basis. Though there is improvement in inter-agency cooperation within each country, but there is a wide gap in cross-national cooperation. The author draws on evolving international standards to propose six fundamentals of an effective criminal justice response to human trafficking that can be adopted by these two countries.