Adjustment patterns and obstacles against social rehabilitation of sex workers in Nigeria

The literature on the trafficking of young women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation focuses on the causes and effects of sex trafficking, the legal instruments aimed at curtailing sex trafficking and governments’ policies with respect to the UN and US standards of compliance with anti-trafficking. Few studies, however, have been conducted to assess the aftermath of victims’ ‘rescue’ from sex trafficking. This article, which is based on research carried out between November 2006 and June 2007, examines the coping pattern of victims of sex trafficking undergoing social rehabilitation in Nigeria, a country referred to by Unicef as a leading country of origin, transit and destination of the trafficked, particularly the under-aged. The article examines the adjustment patterns of the clients of the rehabilitation centres, the response rate of specific social categories of clients, and obstacles militating against effective social reintegration processes in Nigeria. Bibliogr., notes. [ASC Leiden abstract]