By Debbie Ariyo

The recent change in the UK machinery of government presents a meaningful opportunity to address the array of issues and racial disparities faced by Black and ethnic children in the UK. At AFRUCA Safeguarding Children, we are confronted by these issues on a daily basis in our work supporting Black and ethnic children and families through our range of programmes and services in London and Manchester.

By Debbie Ariyo

Standing on a roadside trying to flag down a taxi near Termini Station in Rome, Italy some years ago, the harsh reality of the humongous scale of Nigerian human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Europe was brought straight home to me.

By Debbie Ariyo

As far back as the 1980s during my undergraduate years at the University of Benin in Benin City, Bendel State (now divided into Edo and Delta States) Nigeria, female students were leaving the university to migrate to Italy for work. During this period, Nigeria was experiencing a terrible economic downturn. There were national debates whether Nigeria should take on a huge IMF loan and the consequence this would have on citizens, as the government introduced “austerity measures” to address the crumbling economy.

By Debbie Ariyo

In May and June 2019, I visited Ghana as the first part of my 2019 Winston Churchill travel fellowship. My aim was to better understand the various drivers of child trafficking in Ghana’s fishing sector and to explore some of the responses on the ground by engaging with a range of government agencies, NGOs and those working to support children who have been rescued.