Chioma Daisy Onyige (Port Harcourt, Nigeria/Bonn): Globalisation, Poverty, and the Shadow Economy of Human Trafficking in Nigeria
Abstract
In her lecture, Dr. Onyige will give insight into her research project at the center which examines the effects of economic globalisation in a poverty-ridden country such as Nigeria, and in particular how it encourages and fuels a modern day slavery. Specifically, the talk will highlight the relationship between economic globalisation, poverty, and the rise of shadow economies in the form of human trafficking. Shadow economies are a complex phenomenon that can be found in many developing countries such as Nigeria. Human trafficking since it is an economic activity that includes conscious efforts to avoid official detection, can be categorized as a shadow economy. While economic globalisation fostered a series of worldwide exchanges in labour, trade, technology, and capital between countries, which increased international migration and human trafficking, economic liberalisation policies caused great social inequality, allowing the accumulation of much capital by a few. Since the high indebtedness of the countries of origin, together with high inflation rates caused a drop in real income some try to migrate to find a better luck in other countries. The possibility of easier border crossing further enhances this effect. Therefore, migrational flows are basically the consequences of economic imbalance. People trafficking can so be seen as part of a much larger pattern of migration and social change.
The presentation seeks to provide answers to the following questions: To what extent does a free market of goods and services encourage shadow economies such as human trafficking? Does the local, national and global law regulate the shadow economic sphere of Nigeria in respect to human trafficking? And what is the role of the legal and cultural systems in promoting or undermining the shadow economy activities such as human trafficking in Nigeria?
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Chioma Daisy Onyige ist Senior Lecturer am Department für Soziologie der University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, wo sie 2007 in Soziologie mit den Schwerpunkten Kriminologie, Polizeiwissenschaft und Sozialarbeit promoviert wurde. Nach Erlangung ihres Doktorgrades war sie Fellow am Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Genf, Schweiz, sowie am Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society der LMU in München. Ebenso war sie Commonwealth Fellow an der Universität Oxford, Großbritannien, und Fellow des Africa Science Leadership Programme der Universität Pretoria, Südafrika. Darüber hinaus ist Chioma Onyige Mitglied verschiedener internationaler Expertengruppen und Organisationen. So agiert sie z.B. als Vorstandsmitglied des International Consortium for Environmental History Organizations (ICEHO). Ebenso ist sie assoziiertes Mitglied der Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). Ferner ist Dr. Onyige Mitglied im Redations-Beirat des „Feminist Criminology Journal, A journal of the Division of Women and Crime (DWC)“.
Ihre Forschungsinteressen umfassen Kriminalität und Geschlechterfragen, den Klimawandel sowie wirtschaftliche Globalisierung und Menschenhandel.
Seit Oktober 2019 ist Dr. Chioma Daisy Onyige Fellow am Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Recht als Kultur” in Bonn.