ACTIVE LISTENING & RESEARCH
Active listening and information gathering is a part of what we do on a daily basis in engaging with survivors, understanding community needs, and collecting data through quantitative and qualitative research. The communities where we work are a multifaceted fusion of religions, cultural norms, tribes, languages, traditional laws, and national laws and policies. Dream On has dedicated 12 years to cultivating dynamic conversations in communities and utilizing the services of traditional leaders to foster a culturally sensitive approach in its work to reduce practices that are harmful and violate the rights of children and women.
PUBLISHED WORKS
Bound by Silence: Psychological Effects of the Traditional Oath Ceremony Used in the Sex Trafficking of Nigerian Women and Girls
By Jennifer Millett-Barrett, President of Dream On International
Published in Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol4/iss3/3
“This groundbreaking research sheds important light on the devastating impact that this particular form of sex trafficking has on its victims and will be of significant value to social service providers, policymakers, and academics alike. This beautifully written and well organized study, grounded in well-conducted, original social science research and legal analysis, makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the harm and impact of a contemporary form of slavery predicated by the subordinate status of Nigerian women and girls in conjunction with the exploitation of a traditional cultural belief system.”
Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage.
This study explores the psychological effects of taking the oath, the linkages to the definition of torture as outlined by international law in the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the culpability of non-State actors who participate in, and profit from, the trafficking of women and girls. Original quantitative and qualitative research was conducted, which was comprised of 51 surveys and 28 interviews of Nigerian survivors of sex trafficking, as well as 15 interviews with key experts who are working on the ground in Italy. In addition, observational research of prostituted women who are currently exploited on the streets of Turin, Italy, was critical to understanding the world in which the women live and the immense psychological control of the oath. The study concludes that the traditional juju oath, as performed in the sex trafficking of Nigerian women to Europe, creates a mechanism for perpetual trauma, coercion, threat, and mental control, thus meets the criteria for torture as defined by the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH IN FISHING VILLAGES
Lake Volta in Ghana is considered the largest man-made lake in the world. This body of water also represents a place of daily misery for 20,000 children in Ghana who have been sold into slavery to fishermen on the lake. Most of the children are sold to slave masters by family members and are subjected to 12 to 14 hour days of pulling up fish, scooping buckets of water out of leaky boats, and diving into hazardous waters to untangle fishing nets. Children are exposed to hazardous conditions and illnesses, as well as deprived of an education, medical care, and a nurturing family environment. For some, the lake becomes their final resting place as many children drown in the water. Dream On has conducted research and outreach to communities to listen to fishermen and children, understand the challenges in the fishing industry, educate communities on the human rights of children and the long-term impact of child labor, abuse, and deprivation of education.