Nigeria: Human Trafficking Legal Framework

Relevant Legal Framework for HUMAN TRAFFICKING in NIGERIA

  • Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015
  • National Policy on Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons in Nigeria (2008)
  • Guidelines on National Referral Mechanism for Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons in Nigeria (NRM) (2015)
  • Child Rights Act, 2003
  • Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (2015)
  • Labour Act (1974)
  • Criminal Code (Sections 223, 224, 365, 366, 369
  • Edo State Criminal Code (Amendment) Law, 2000 (Section 223A) (It is anticipated that this law will soon be repealed and replaced by Edo State’s new anti-trafficking law which was unanimously adopted by the Edo State House of Assembly on March 14, 2018 and signed into law on May 23, 2018 by Governor Godwin Obaseki.)
  • Edo State Trafficking In Persons Prohibition Act (2018)
  • Penal Code (Sections 275, 278-280)
  • Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sections 17, 34, 42)
  • Immigration Act, 1963 (Section 1, G-H), 2015 + Immigration Regulation, 2017
  • United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
  • United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (Article 3)
  • United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1981 (Article 6)
  • African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Enforcement) Act, 2004
  • ECOWAS Declaration and Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons, 2001
  • Forced Labour Convention (1930)
  • Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
  • Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)