In a bid to curb trafficking of women in Nigeria, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has embarked on a community based project called “Reality Check”.
Speaking in Abuja during the presentation of the “Reality Check Campaign Project” UNHCR Head of the Unit Communicating with Communities, Vienna, Mrs Melita Sunjic said.
That UNHCR have discovered that over time, campaign slogan and materials had not really had much impact on the attitudes of its audience target.
Emphasizing the objective of the community based campaign she said the campaign is aimed at targeting a real life victims and in a bid to let youth come to know the dangers of embarking on the journey.
She further said the campaign is channeled towards communication reaction and their various communication pattern, pointing out that the reaction of the communities will bring the change.
“UNHCR is introducing a reality check campaign to numerous stakeholders; both governmental and non-governmental are already engaging in preventive information campaigns in Nigeria for many years.
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“UNHCR does not want to launch a campaign of its own in Nigeria but we have considerable experience in the use of testimonials in campaigning, that has been done very successfully targeting Eritreans and Somalis through the campaign.
“Through a financial contribution the European Commission is now giving us the opportunity to do the same work with Nigerian women.
“UNHCR will collect credible authentic and unbiased testimonials by Victims of Trafficking (VoTs) in Europe and present them a video in English and local Nigerian languages where useful,” she said.
However, Sunjic said that organisations in Nigeria can use these testimonials as an additional, persuasive tool and disseminate the clips through their usual campaigning channels.
Mr Emeka Obiezu who also spoke at the event noted that the project was a welcome development to help in the fight against human trafficking, irregular migration and relevant crimes.
He noted that the root causes that prompt Nigerians to embark irregular migration in a bid to seek greener pastures in the western world should be tackled.
He finally urged the government to put in place policies that would create jobs, protect the social welfare of its citizens.
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