A plea for the Nordic Model from Nigeria

Arinze Orakwue, Director of Public Enlightenment at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Nigeria, sent this message of support for our campaign for the Nordic Model in the UK. He explains that it is only when men in Europe stop buying women and girls in prostitution that the tide of human trafficking from Sub-Saharan Africa, and all the suffering that entails, will end.

It is in the nature of man to draw maximally the benefits of any property purchased and paid for with his money. The presumption is that his right in such a transactory experience stretches to and is justified by the payment. This payment actually blinds him from seeing the discomforts he is causing the object but rather, he sees any attempt to deny him full enjoyment of his benefits as offensive.

When men buy SEX, the object is purchased completely, wholly and surrenders her rights to the buyer. This is demeaning, dangerous and leaves the woman in a very vulnerable position.

When men buy sex, it leaves the woman no choice, no alternative, completely at the mercy or whims of the buyer.

When men buy SEX, the atavistic transaction allows the man to dominate and exercise claim over the object till he satisfies the full enjoyment of his purchase.

Purchase of sexual favours is inhuman as it is a transaction that elevates the man and immediately turns the woman into an object of his pleasure. It promotes a culture of entitlement, a domination syndrome that blinds all to the bestiality of it all.

Men who buy sex trigger the spike in the number of girls selling sexual favours both in the streets and in online platforms. In Europe, this has boosted demand in the market for prostituted girls as the industry is in constant need of new objects to meet increasing demand in the prostitution industry.

The explosion in the market guarantees sustained recruitment into this shameful exploitative trade. Nigerian girls who can barely speak the language of the host communities are mercilessly inserted in their numbers into the sweatshops, red-light districts and sex work parlours in many cities in Europe. Just because they are girls. Just because demand guarantees immediate placement for any ‘fresh’ girl seconds upon setting foot in Europe.

So long as men’s ability to buy sex in Europe is not checked, all our attempts to contain the influx of victims of human trafficking from Sub-Saharan Africa into Europe will be an effort in futility.

The Nordic Model says NO to the purchase of sex. If no one is buying, no one will sell. When no one sells, the market dies naturally.