A group, Safe House for Justice and Human Empowerment Centre, has appealed to the federal government to address the rising humanitarian crisis in Plateau.
Edith Gumut, the executive and campaign director of the organisation, made the appeal at a joint press conference to commemorate the 2025 World Humanitarian Day on Tuesday in Jos.
The 2025 World Humanitarian Day has as its theme ‘Strengthening Global Solidarity and Empowering Local Communities’.
The press conference is organised in collaboration with the Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse and Mission for the Vulnerable and Displaced Persons, both Jos-based organisations.
Ms Gumut attributed the rising cases of child trafficking in the Plateau to the current humanitarian crisis in the state.
She noted that the security situation in the state had impoverished many parents, forcing them to release their children for trafficking in order to make ends meet.
She explained that the security challenges in the state had also denied children access to quality education, healthcare, and other basic needs of life.
“Thousands of children already displaced and vulnerable have been torn from their families. They are not in a place of safety; instead, they have been forced into labour on the farms of the privileged with the unthinkable approval of some community leaders.
“The rising humanitarian crisis in the state has stolen the childhood of these children and replaced it with back-breaking work and despair. Only recently, the state Ministry of Women Affairs rescued more than 300 children trafficked from various parts of the state,” she said.
Ms Gumut also decried the rising cases of gender-based violence and early marriage by displaced women and young girls in the state.
“It is sad to note that displaced persons, many of them women and children, exhibit trauma-related symptoms like anxiety and depression. They live with constant threats of exploitation, their mental trauma a silent wound,” she added.
She called on the federal and state governments to support the activities of local non-governmental organisations in addressing the humanitarian needs and conflicts in Plateau.
(NAN)
