According to the Global Slavery Index (2016), Nigeria has the world’s 23rd highest number of slaves – 875,500 – and its National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) reports that Nigerian girls make up 60-80 percent of the girls trafficked into the European sex industry. Other estimates are as high as 90% (UNDOC, […]
Pathfinders at NYC Museum School!
FEBRUARY 8, 2017- NEW YORK CITY. We were honored to have been invited to New York City Museum School to speak to their junior and senior students about our work and to inspire them to begin to dream about how they can be the change that they want to see in the world. Moving forward, […]
Trumped Awakening: How This African Women’s Rights Activist is Bracing for Trump’s America.
As a Nigerian women’s rights lawyer and activist who partners with survivors of rape and sex trafficking in West Africa, I’ve become accustomed to dealing with both the best and worst of humanity. I view my work at Pathfinders as a sacred gift which affords me the privilege to celebrate our shared humanity, yet simultaneously […]
Pathfinders’ Survivors Launch New Businesses!
DECEMBER 2016- Benin City, Nigeria. Because we value Empowerment, we recently launched several small businesses in fashion design, clothing sales, soft drinks sales and hair make up for some of our repatriating survivors who returned to Nigeria after being trafficked to Russia. Others are currently receiving vocational skills training and or business training so that […]
Entitlement and Sexual Violence.
When you work hard, you’re entitled to be compensated. When you pay for a meal, you’re entitled to receive it. Men, however, are not entitled to women’s bodies. A sense of entitlement is what fuels rape as a weapon of war around the world. It is what underpins the comments of the Republican nominee who […]
Hope Endures: Why the October 13, 2016 Release of 21 Chibok Girls of Nigeria Matters.
On October 13, 2016, 913 days after their April 14, 2014 abduction by Boko Haram, 21 of the 276 school girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria were released to the Nigerian government by Boko Haram. The Nigerian government contends that the release followed “painstaking” brokered negotiations by the Swiss government on behalf of […]
900 Days in the Lion’s Den: Has the World Abandoned the Stolen Chibok Girls of Nigeria?
It was the early hours of the morning on April 14, 2014. Martha was suddenly awakened by what had become the all-too-familiar sound of gunshots. Boko Haram, she thought. As she scurried to gather her thoughts, her husband Mark was already rushing their younger, panic stricken children out of their home in Chibok, Nigeria. […]
#TakeMeOffMute™Lagos!
April 9, 2016- LAGOS, NIGERIA. In partnership with CGMI Lagos, we sounded the alarm in Lagos, Nigeria with the arrival of our #TakeMeOffMute™ anti-child sex abuse campaign on April 9, 2016. Hundreds of children gathered to be educated on the dangers of child sex abuse and to learn how to defend themselves mentally, emotionally and physically against […]
The Naked Truth About Sex Trafficking!
Sex trafficking is defined by the United Nations as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Around the world, over 20 million people are trapped in modern day slavery, which is often accompanied by debt bondage. The overwhelming majority of […]
‘Letters to Our Daughters: Hope Endures’ Photo Essay
On April 14, 2014, 276 girls ages 16-18 were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents from their school in Chibok, Nigeria. 57 of them courageously escaped on their own. 0 have been rescued and 219 remain in the hands of the world’s deadliest terrorist organization whose members force grown men to swallow bullets for breakfast and […]