Asa Garcia
Pronouns: he/him/his
Research Mentor(s): Adam Simon
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences / LSA
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 6 (3:40pm – 4:30pm)
Authors:
Abstract
Studies over the past few decades have shown that primarily young women in Nigeria are targeted by both international and domestic human traffickers for the purpose of physical and sexual labor. Our team gathered information from several published research papers and worked with a professional from the United Nations to develop a website, using GIS StoryMaps, that aims to educate not only the targeted demographic of young women in Nigeria, but also for any student, parent, or child interested in educating themselves. Through research papers, such as “Trafficking Nigerian Girls To Italy†and “Patterns and Processes of Recruitment and Trafficking into Sex Work in Nigeriaâ€, we found that Italy is related to the majority of international trafficking and that the Edo State is the leading state for trafficking in Nigeria. Victims of trafficking are often tricked into going willingly through the promise of jobs and money, but they are soon met with outrageous “debt†which they are forced to pay off. Through GIS StoryMaps, we decided to use this information gathered to create a map based website to spread awareness of the mental and physical effects that victims experience and to create visuals of demographic and geographical patterns associated with human trafficking in Nigeria. By creating an accessible and comprehensive website, we hope to address the situation in Nigeria and push for more awareness.
