PROSTITUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION: A STUDY OF CHIKA UNIGWE’S ON BLACK SISTERS’ STREET AND AKACHI ADIMORA-EZEIGBO’S TRAFFICKED

Abstract

Prostitution has been regarded as a global phenomenon in which one’s fundamental rights are being encroached upon. However, this phenomenon is escalating at an unprecedented scale with severe implications on the human rights of the victims. This paper therefore examines prostitution and human rights violation using Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked. The novels expose the socio-economic conditions of Nigerian women and their harrowing experiences in diaspora as prostitutes... The paper adopts Radical Feminism theory which sees prostitution as sexual exploitation and a vehicle of oppression used by men to subjugate women. The research methodology is library oriented. The paper discovers that many Nigerian women involved in prostitution did not go into it out of their own volition. They are pushed into prostitution by prevalent socio-economic pressures in Nigeria. The women therefore are victims of circumstances who have unfortunately fallen prey to the snares of heartless traffickers and avaricious agencies that specialize in trafficking and prostitution. The paper concludes that the men and women should make the society a better place by cooperating with each other to celebrate modernity and the Nigerian government should create job opportunities, so as to alleviate poverty, arrests any procurer or trafficker, create sensitization programmes that can educate not only women but also parents and family members on the dangers associated with prostitution.