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Nigerian Girls and Women RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND CRIMINAL GROUPS IN TRAFFICKING OF NIGERIAN GIRLS AND WOMEN The case of shrines, "Ladies’club" and "cultist groups" This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL this publication are the sole responsibility of ECPAT France and its Partners and can in no way be taken AND CRIMINAL GROUPS to reflect the views of the European Union. IN TRAFFICKING OF NIGERIAN GIRLS AND WOMEN The case of shrines, "Ladies’clubs" and "cultist groups" March 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS A - Shrines: historic places ............................................................................... 42 1) Places combining worship and judicial functions .................................. 42 2) The organization of space in places of worship ..................................... 43 3) The anchoring of symbols in the culture of the FOREWORD 8 Kingdom of Benin ........................................................................................... 45 B - Actors ............................................................................................................ 46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 1) The Oba ....................................................................................................... 46 INTRODUCTION 13 2) The "priests" ................................................................................................ 48 3) Other religious actors assisting the Ohen ............................................... 49 SECTION 1 – Historical contextualization of contemporary forms 4) Devotees ...................................................................................................... 50 of trafficking in Nigeria 15 C - Financing ...................................................................................................... 51 I - Prostitution 15 III - Functions performed by shrines 52 II - Slavery, trafficking and sexual exploitation 17 A - Fight against witchcraft and healing powers ........................................... 52 B - Divinatory and protective functions .......................................................... 53 SECTION 2 – Research Method 22 C - Administration of justice ............................................................................. 54 I - Survey in Nigeria – data production and field reporting 22 1) Consulting deities ....................................................................................... 54 II - Survey in France – survey population and data collection method 24 2) Judicial oaths............................................................................................... 55 A - Professional stakeholders ........................................................................... 24 3) Recognition of the payment of a debt ..................................................... 56 B - Interviews with victims ................................................................................. 25 D - Relationship between neotraditional justice and state justice .............. 57 III - Methodological difficulties and biases 27 SECTION 2 – Involvement of shrines in trafficking activity 59 SHRINES 33 I - Functions performed by "chief priests" in relation to trafficking 59 II - The oath of allegiance 62 SECTION 1 – The role of shrines in the religious landscape 34 A - Context .......................................................................................................... 64 I - Distinction between shrines and other religious actors 34 1) The place ..................................................................................................... 64 A - Articulation between juju, voodoo and witchcraft. .................................. 34 2) The actors .................................................................................................... 65 1) The Edo deities ........................................................................................... 35 B - Components of the oath ............................................................................. 66 2) Juju ............................................................................................................... 37 1) The promise ................................................................................................. 67 3) Witchcraft ..................................................................................................... 39 2) The gesture/acts ......................................................................................... 70 B - Relationship between Pentecostalism and other beliefs ........................ 40 a) Ingestion ..................................................................................................... 70 II - The role shrines play in Benin City society 42 b) Immersion .................................................................................................. 71 c) Marks made on the body and scarifications .......................................... 72 4 5 III - Items 73 "LADIES’CLUBS" 103 IV - Perception of trafficking and the activity of the shrines in this area in Nigeria 74 SECTION 1 – A Contributory Economic System 104 A - Public perception ......................................................................................... 74 B - "Priests"’perception ..................................................................................... 76 SECTION 1 – A Contributory Economic System 105 C - Families’perception ..................................................................................... 78 I - An informal banking system 105 D - State authorities’perception ....................................................................... 78 II - Women’s economic associations 108 III - The "Ladies’clubs" of Benin City 110 SECTION 3 – The function of shrines in trafficking 80 I - Oath and bond created with the "madam" 80 SECTION 2 – The social organization of the "Ladies’clubs" 113 A - The defect tarnishing the oath of allegiance............................................ 81 I - A space for socializing 114 B - The effect of the oath-taking ceremony .................................................... 83 A - Being and having recourse/resources .................................................... 114 C - The almost irrevocable nature of the promise ......................................... 84 B - Social relations contextualized by and for the club ............................... 116 1) Aspects that make the promise difficult to revoke ................................. 84 1) Social criteria ............................................................................................. 117 2) Uncertainty surrounding possible cancelation ....................................... 86 2) Socio-professional and financial criteria ................................................ 118 II - Contextual elements and link to group members involved II - A space of social regulation and identification 119 in trafficking 88 A - Regulation and structuring of social life ................................................. 119 A - The partitioning of the group ..................................................................... 89 1) Regulations and group conformity ......................................................... 119 B - The collective dimension of the promise .................................................. 91 2) Hierarchical stratification of the group ................................................... 121 C - The bias of the "priests" in the relationship between the "madam" and 3) The hosting, where the regulations are framed .................................... 123 the swearer of the oath ..................................................................................... 93 B - Sharing values, practices and a social identity ....................................... 124 1) The close relationship between the "madam" and the "priest" ............ 93 2) The possible lack of neutrality of "priests" at contract execution ........ 94 SECTION 3 – Involvement in Human Trafficking 125 CONCLUSION 96 I - A transnational social practice 125 A - Members and clubs in Europe ................................................................. 126 APPENDIX: EXTRACT FROM THE OBA OF BENIN PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST B - The image of the Clubs amongst victims interviewed in France ......... 128 HUMAN TRAFFICKING 98 II - Prostitution and the Clubs: mutual support 129 A - From financial support… ..........................................................................129 B - …to support for human trafficking .......................................................... 130 CONCLUSION 131 6 7 "CULTIST GROUPS" 137 GENERAL CONCLUSION 173 SECTION 1 – The "Cultist groups"’origin 138 BIBLIOGRAPHY 176 I - Secret Societies 139 Introduction .....................................................................................................176 II - Student Confraternities 141 Chapter 1: Shrines ..........................................................................................176 Chapter 2: "Ladies’club" ................................................................................178 SECTION 2 – The three constitutive dimensions of "cultist groups" 144 Chapter 3: Les cults ........................................................................................ 179 I - The violence that constitutes part of the identity of "cultist groups" 145 A - Rivalries between groups ......................................................................... 145 B - A reputation through fear ........................................................................
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