A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Malia Mayson and the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON)

Malia (Lia) Mayson is a Liberian-American who is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Economic Development and African Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Prior to that, she earned her BA in International Affairs with a minor in Economics from the American University of Paris, France. She later worked as an assembly fellow at the California State Capitol and then moved to Spain to work with Latin American immigrants at a local NGO in Madrid. In the summer of 2005, Lia joined The Advocacy Project as an intern for the partner organization the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON).

WOCON is committed to the enforcement of women’s rights and the attainment of equality, development and peace. Established in 1995, 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.

Trafficking women and children with the aim of sexual exploitation and domestic slavery is one of the most pervasive forms of forced migration. In the case of Nigeria especially, thousands of young women are taken every year to Europe and the Middle East where they are dragooned into prostitution. Thousands of children within Nigeria are trafficked from the rural communities to the cities or across borders to neighboring African countries where they perform forced labor.

 
An outreach campaign to educate Nigerians about the dangers and prevalence of human trafficking.

Initially, Malia’s primary objective was to design and build a website for WOCON. She spent the first part of her stay in Lagos searching for content for the website and honing her technical skills. As the summer progressed and she became more familiar with WOCON, Malia assumed more responsibility in the organization and the diversity of her projects increased. More of her time was allotted for writing proposals, articles, and reports, tasks which were central to the work done by WOCON.

Although she remained in the metropolitan area of Lagos for most of the summer, Malia did make two excursions to less urban regions in the Ogun and Lagos states. During these trips she was involved in the “sensitization of rural communities on human trafficking” campaigns organized by WOCON. Nigerian women and children constitute the largest percentage of Africans trafficked to Europe, most of whom are sold into prostitution, domestic servitude, and child labor.

During the summer, Malia provided reports online in the form of blogs about her experience. Visit her blog to read about her battle with malaria, her visit to one of WOCON’s children centers, and her impressions of child trafficking and forced labor in Nigeria in her own words.

• Malia Mayson's blog