Nigeria records high number of sex traffickers in Italy, victims refuse to name sponsors due to oath
The number of Nigerians who are arriving Italy by sea, as potential sex trafficking victims, continues to rise at an alarming rate, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said.
IOM says in its report that the arrivals at the Italian capital, Rome in the first six months of 2017 have been mostly Nigerians.
A whopping increase from 1,454 Nigerian immigrants in 2014 to 11,009 in 2016 constitute a major part of the immigrants from Africa.
The report also indicated that most sex trafficking victims are women and often underage – between 13 and 24 years old.
80 per cent of the girls arriving from Nigeria are said to be potential victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Delta, Lagos, Ogun, Anambra, and Imo are said to be the states of origin that are most cited by the Nigerians met by IOM, with Edo State leading the pack.
Many of these migrants claim that they did not pay anything for the journey because someone else paid for their movements.
IOM said it is making efforts to rehabilitate the immigrants, who have, in various capacities, been made to experience suffering.
Many young women whom IOM staff meet have been victims of sexual violence during their journey. They are said to have experienced serious trauma and suffer from psychological distress.
The organisation, however, says it finds it difficult to extract information of the syndicates behind the human trafficking, as most of the victims would rather keep sealed mouths.
This, it says, was partly due to the victims’ allegiance to their madam or oga as the case may be. Many have reportedly sealed oaths with voodoo rituals or rites of initiation and are bound by fear.
Some even, IOM gathered, are bound by a sense of responsibility towards their families, nursing fears that their traffickers would retaliate by attacking the family members they left behind in Nigeria.
Federico Soda, Director of the IOM Coordinating Office for the Mediterranean, said “Trafficking is a transnational crime that devastates the lives of thousands of people and is the cause of untold suffering.”
“This is a theme we have been working on for years, committing to protect, prevent and collaborate with the authorities dealing with organized crime,” he added.
