WOTCLEF's areas of focus are human trafficking, child labour, abuse of the rights of women and children and HIV/AIDS.
[1] WOTCLEF was founded in 1999 by Amina Titi Atiku-Abubakar, the wife of Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria.
At the time, HIV/AIDS was the major issue being tackled by development partners in Nigeria, so WOTCLEF embarked on awareness campaigns against human trafficking to politicians.
[citation needed] Every state in Nigeria had a WOTCLEF branch with workers who served as watchdogs against human trafficking.
In 2001, after work by legal and policy experts led by Justice Mary Odili, the first lady of Rivers State, WOTCLEF presented a bill to the National Assembly which was passed and signed into law by then-president Olusegun Obasanjo.