A Voice For the Voiceless
The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change.
We are currently recruiting graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.
- Africa
- Arche d'Alliance
- Bureau pour le Volontariat au service de l’Enfance et de la Sante (BVES)
- Gulu Disabled Persons Union
- Landmine Survivors Network Ethiopia
- Undugu Society of Kenya
- World Peasants / Indigenous Organization
- Skills and Agricultural Development Services
- Asia
- Europe
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Middle East
- North America
- Outreach Partners
- Criteria for Partners
The Impact of Service
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Women's Consortium of Nigeria
| 13 Okesuna Street, Ikoyi, Lagos Tel: (234)-1-2635300 Fax: (234)-1-2635331 Email WOCON |
- Mission
- Advocacy
- Information/ News from WOCON
- Blogs
- Photographs
- Dissemination
- AdvocacyNet
- Networking
| Mission |
Established in 1995, the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON) monitors the status of women’s rights politically and socially, organizes resource centers for women’s groups in Nigeria, and works to educate the public on issues of women’s rights and welfare. WOCON is committed to the enforcement of women’s rights and the attainment of equality, development and peace. It also advocates against trafficking and child slavery.
- Topics: Women’s Rights, Human Trafficking, Childrens’ Rights
- Area: Nigeria
- Founded: 1995
| Advocacy |
- WOCON has campaigned to stop the trafficking of Nigerian women to Italy and provide better protection for those deported from Italy and sent home.
- WOCON has launched a campaign to put an end to domestic trafficking in Nigeria and neighboring countries. The practice involves the selling of women and girls into domestic slavery.
- WOCON has urged that immigration officials in Western countries should be trained to identify trafficking victims in transit and intervene.
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WOCON rescued 74 boys between the ages of four and 15 from slavery in the granite quarries of Nigeria. The child slaves, who are all from the neighboring state of Benin, were located by members of WOCON that then alerted the Nigerian police. After receiving medical treatment, the boys were returned to their families in Benin. (74 Child Slaves Rescued From Stone Quarries After Intervention by the Women's Consortium of Nigeria)
- WOCON cooperates with TAMPEP, an organization based in Italy and Nigeria, which also helps trafficking victims. When Nigerian girls are deported from Italy back to Nigeria, many face unemployment and ostracization in their villages and many choose to return to trafficking. WOCON’s role is to meet deported girls at the Lagos airport, help them through customs and police procedures, put them up in hotels, and then put them in contact with TAMPEP in Benin City, where TAMPEP also works with a network of Nigerian NGOs to prevent trafficking. This is done by spreading the word about the violence that awaits girls who are trafficked. TAMPEP is also exploring the possibility of small microenterprises for vulnerable young women. (Nigerian and Italian Civil Society Unite To Protect Trafficked Women Deported From Italy)
| Information/ News from WOCON |
- Blogs
In 2006, Jessica Sewall and Laura Cardinal interned with WOCON. Read Jessica and Laura's blogs.
In 2005, AP sent Malia Mayson of Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy to design and build a website for WOCON. AP also sent Jessica Smedstad of Örebro University. Read Jessica and Malia’s blogs.
In 2003, AP arranged for a Yale University graduate student, Erica Williams, to intern with WOCON. Read Erica’s blog.
- Photographs
Visit WOCON's website to view their photo gallery.
| Dissemination |
- AdvocacyNet
June 20, 2006
US State Department Ignores Trafficking to the United States, Say Nigerian Anti-Trafficking Advocates
August 24, 2005
Italian Group Uses ‘Street Units’ to Protect Victims of Sex Trafficking
March/April 2004
Nigerian and Italian Civil Society Unite To Protect Trafficked Women Deported From Italy
November 2003
74 Child Slaves Rescued From Stone Quarries After Intervention by the Women's Consortium of Nigeria
July 2003
US Global Trafficking Review Favors Governments and Ignores Civil Society Charge Advocates in Italy and Nigeria
March/ April 2003
Women's Consortium of Nigeria Launches Campaigns to Halt Domestic Trafficking and Monitor Elections
| Networking |
Outreach Partners
- TAMPEP
- Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF)
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