The Nigerian human trafficking in Palermo

Transcription

The situation of the Nigerian human trafficking
victims’ and their children in Italy. The study case of
Palermo.
Master in Diritto Umani e Intervento Umanitario
Thesis on Diritto, Immigrazione e Minoranze
Lecture Fachile, Salvatore
Rafaela Pascoal, number 0000646118
Sent in 19 /12/2012
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Abstract
While I was reading the book Le ragazze di Benin City, written by Isoke
Aikpitanya, I realized that the children of the Nigerian human trafficking victims were a
major manipulation point, used by the madams to maintain the girls on the streets and
also by their own families to get financial support. Many Nigerians girls leave their
children behind with their families in Nigeria, before they come into Europe, preferring
being apart from them, but providing them good conditions and education back home.
Since until now, all the research is based only on the main victims, I found
important to focus my research on the second victims of this complex and cruel
system, their own children.
For Nigerians, motherhood is sacred and using their own children as a threat is
forcing them into the life of sexual exploitation, is keeping them in the streets. These
threats are not only physical, but also physiological, since many families use the health
conditions of their children to keep them sending money back to Nigeria.
Despite the fact that this research has the aim to deepen the knowledge about
the children’s conditions of the Nigerian human trafficking victims and ex-victims in
Italy, especially in the city of Palermo, it also intends to lead to a more detailed
understanding of their living characteristics, mothers and children and to do a mapping
of the routes that the victims take until they arrive in Palermo. By the end of this study,
we aim to be able to have enough information on the subject and raise awareness on
these subjects in order to catch people’s attention about the Nigerian Human
trafficking in Palermo and moreover, in Italy.
We will take the study in order to investigate their conditions, especially in the
field of education, sanitary situation, social assistance and spare time. So, the research
will be made trough inquires, as in Italian, as in English to 22 mothers from the
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Nigerian community in Palermo, with the purpose to clarify and understand not only
their children’s situation, but also their mothers.
The lack of information on this subject had obligates us to work on the field,
having contact with the mothers, trough a Nigerian intercultural mediator, which is
also a Methodist pastor, staff from the shelter home Buon Pastore, Isoke Aikpitanyi, a
social assistant from Santa Chiara and the Questura, regarding the subject of article 18.
Interviews will be made to the people referred above, where we were able to deepen
the information on this subject in Palermo, Sicily.
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Introduction
Trafficking in human beings, historically has taken many forms, but in the new
context of globalization, has acquired shocking new dimensions. In the XXI century,
human trafficking is a global problem, and children and women are the main victims of
this cruelty, being exploited in this modern form of slavery. This phenomenon is
constantly growing and since the nineties is considered as a worldwide crime. The
human trafficking related to sexual exploitation is one of the most lucrative activities
for the transnational organized crime.1
The last studies of IOM (International Organization for Migration), in June 2012,
from 2002 until 2011, 20.9 million human beings were trafficked in the world.
According to the UNODC, 79% of the identified people used for sexual exploitation are
women and children. Trafficking human beings is a highly profit business, the US state
Department estimates that profits are between US $7-10 billion annually.
This type of criminality is a challenge to the entire international community and
is taking too many victims. Human trafficking violates fundamental human rights, and
infringes provisions of international law, such as the prohibition on slavery and forced
labor, in Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
According to the UNODC2 annually the number of new victims for sexual
exploitation, in Europe, is 700000 and the volume of market rounds 140000 victims.
The main groups of traffickers that import these victims into Europe are Western
European, Balkan, Eastern Europe, North African, Turkish, Nigerian and Chinese. Most
of these traffickers are from the origin countries or the destination countries. On the
study of UNODC, Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in Benin, Nigeria
and Togo3 in Nigeria the majority of the traffickers are Nigerians.
1
Trafficking Nigerian girls in Italy, The data, the stories, the Social Services, page 20
Trafficking in Persons to Europe for sexual exploitation, UNODC, 2006, page 3
3
2006, Page 13,
2
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Taking advantage of the poverty, corruption, low education in the country and
also the lacking to emigrate legally into Europe, Nigerians gangs export thousands of
young women in Italy, Spain, Netherlands and other European countries, with the
purpose to introduce them in the illicit sex market. (Colle 2006)4
During the last years, Italy has seen a growth of human beings commerce,
especially from desperate migrants coming from the North Africa and arriving by boat
into Lampedusa, the nearest island to Africa. The desperation of the migrants is taken
in advantage by the smugglers and the traffickers, most of them Albanian, Chinese,
Nigerian and Eastern European, that exploit them and risk their on lives to put
themselves in national territory.5
Italy is one of the favorite destinations, but the girls go to all Europe and even
other parts of the world. Still, is one of the first choices of the girls, is not randomly
that the traffickers in Nigeria are called Italos, it is because they organize everything to
arrive in Italy. In Benin City there are two night clubs, where the girls go to arrive in
Europe. They are called Italy and Spain, the destinations of the girls.
OIM declares that in Italy every year there are between 19,000 and 26,000
trafficked people; Caritas affirms that they are around 30,000.6 Italy is on of the main
destination countries in Europe for the Nigerian victims, the regions where we can find
a major concentration are Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and
Campania. However we can see a strong growth in Sicily, especially Palermo, Catania e
Messina.7
In accordance with a study taken by the Municipality of Rome-Parsec, ricerca ed
interventi sociali,8 in 1996 there were 19,800 foreign women involved in forced
prostitution, in Italy. However this number increased during the years, reaching 24,700
4
Anthropologica, Reducing the Damage: Dilemmas of Anti-trafficking efforts among Nigerian prostitutes in Palermo;
Jeffrey Cole, 2006, page 217
5
L’azione di contrasto al fenomeno della tratta di esseri umani. Le linee del Dipartimento di Pubblica Sicurezza;
Raffaele Grassi, page 1.
6
Datti tratta delle persone, Gruppo Abele, Novembre 2008
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8
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in 2008. During this period, we can notice that Sicily has reduced its number into half,
from 600/700 foreigner women to 200/300. The ups and downs in the region are really
prominent, as the numbers restarted to increase after June 2004, to almost the
double. This might confirm a more organized crime in the region, and in the origin
country or even the increase of a cause for immigration. Yet, since this study was taken
by the social assistance units, it can be seen as an incomplete study. For example, at
the moment, 2012, only in Palermo, the Association Pellegrino della Terra estimates
that are 500 Nigerian girls, victims of human trafficking.
In the same study, taken by the Municipality of Rome-Parsec, ricerca ed
interventi sociali,9 in 1996, regarding the national groups involved in human trafficking
in Italy, Nigeria is the one who inserts more victims in Italy, followed by Morocco,
Albania and Moldavia. The figures point to a minimum of 5,288 victims and a
maximum of 6,451 in 2000-2001. Yet, in 2008-2009 the number increased to a
maximum of 8,116 and a maximum of 10,176 Nigerian girls forced into the streets.
In the spring 2006 the Nigerian prostitution became more visible due to two
aspects; First, the decrease of the Romanians on the streets, due to the entrance of
Romania in European Union, so they were less interested in acquiring the residence
permit. The second fact was that many foreign girls were forced to work in the
apartments, giving more visibility to the Nigerian prostitution.10
From 2001 until 2007 the largest nationality in the projects for the human
trafficking victims was the Nigerian. Being more than 50% in 2001 and decreasing to
38% in 2007. The year with less people following the 18th article was 2003, reaching
the 32%. In 2007 the largest nationality included in the program was the Nigerians with
38%, followed by the Romanians with 30% and having at last the Albanians and other
ex-URSS nationalities and East countries, both around 5%.11
9
11
Verso la costruzione di un Piano nazionale Anti-tratta, COMITATO DI COORDINAMENTO DELLE AZIONI DI
GOVERNO CONTRO LA TRATTA, Roma, Marzo 2008, pag 15
10
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“In March, 2002, WOTCLEF in a seminar organized by the International
Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), it was reported that there are about 20,000
Nigerian women involved in the sex industry in Italy. The Daily Champion of July, 2002
reported that 80 per cent of foreign prostitutes in Italy were Nigerian women.
According to Agbu (2003), most of the trafficked women were from Edo, Delta and
Lagos States with an average age range of between 15 and 35 years. Also, Uzor (2001:
28) reveals that in one instance, 12 prominent businessmen suspected of trafficking 13
Nigerian women for prostitution abroad were intercepted at the Nigeria’s same border
with Benin Republic”12
The study from Pari Opportunità in 2008 affirms that from 2000 until 2007, in
Sicily, 38 social projects were taken for the human trafficking victims, in a total of 490
individuals. In this graphic we can observe that the region with a biggest number is
Piemonte, with 62 social protection projects and, the region with the smallest number
is Trentino e alto Adige. An interesting fact is that Sicily has almost the same number
has Lombardia, that counts with 39 projects.
The Nigerian girls territorially are organized in small groups, in Sicily the more
dense areas are the coastline and the outskirts of Palermo, reaching the Parco della
Favorita and also the road that goes from Messina to Catania.13 We can also observe
the strong presence of the victims in the city centers, being the Stazione Centrale di
Palermo also a meeting point.
In the 1980s, street prostitution was scarce in Palermo, however, in the 1990s,
the Nigerians started to arrive and invade the streets in Palermo and increasing the sex
market and also the number of clients that looked for the girls in Parco della Favorita.
Although, due to a strong intervention in 2001, from the Polizia dello Stato and the
Carabinieri, the prostitution in the streets of Palermo started to decrease. 14
12
In Combating Human Trafficking in Nigeria: An Evaluation of State Policies and Programmes, Emmanuel Joseph
Chukwuma Duru, pag 162
13
14
Anthropologica, Reducing the Damage: Dilemmas of Anti-trafficking efforts among Nigerian prostitutes in
Palermo; Jeffrey Cole, 2006, page 218
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Causes of the Nigerian human trafficking
The Nigerian Minister of State for Justice, Mr. Musa Elayo, affirms that official
statistics estimates that 45 000 women are trafficked into Europe, the Middle East and
America. 15 Decades of political instability in the country, due to the military regimes,
among with the constant violation of human rights at different levels such as political,
social and economic, had led the country into a precarious situation.
The economical and social situations in the country were the main aspects that
led the country into this high number of human trafficking, being predominant
poverty, large family size, lack of educational opportunities, gender discrimination and
lack of employment.16 All these events caused a negative impact on Nigeria, especially
on women and children and put the country as one of the African countries that is
more involved in internal and cross-border trafficking.17
According to Agbu, 2003; UNESCO, 2006; Ebirim, 2002; Newswatch, August 22,
2011; Newswatch, August, 8, 2011 there are several factors that are responsible for
the upsurge in the human trafficking in Nigeria. The principal causes are not only
economical, but also based in social factors, such as cultural and religious practices,
weak institutional and legal frameworks, unequal access to education, institutionalized
corruption, lack of employment opportunities, increasing demand for foreign workers,
lack of legal redress, globalization that increased the sex and entertainment industry,
devaluation of women and children’s human rights, gender discrimination and lack of
information.
During the last years, legal and institutional measures have been taken in
Nigeria to combat human trafficking, there also have been implemented many
reintegration and economical empowerment programs along with awareness
campaigns against human trafficking. Nigeria also ratified the UN Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in 2001
15
New Nigeria Newspaper, February 6, 2002
Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in Benin, Nigeria and Togo, UNODC 2006, page 11
17
Human Trafficking in Nigeria: Roots, causes and recommendations; UNESCO 2006, page 9
16
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and passed a national law against trafficking entitled “Trafficking in Persons
(Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003.”
However the effort of the country regarding some measures, we still face other
obstacles as the poor funding to the country, given by international donors’ agencies
and governments and the use of these funds, misdirected by officials of governmental
and non-governmental agencies, in corruption. Also the majority of the awareness
campaigns are taken in the urban areas, leaving the rural areas, where many human
trafficking victims are sourced, with no information on the matter.18
In 2005, Nigeria signed the Nigeria-Italy Republic Anti-Human trafficking
Agreement, as an international collaboration to combat human trafficking for sexual
exploitation. The agreement was signed by the two countries, to work together on a
program sponsored by the United Nations, that it was set by the United Nations
Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNCRI) and the United Nations
Office an Drug and Crime (UNODC). The program outlines greater judicial cooperation
between the two countries, public awareness, raising activities and measures to
strengthen Nigerians law enforcement, prosecution and criminal justice agencies.19
Some consider that the country is not doing anything to stop the human
trafficking and considers only a problem of migration and not human trafficking.
However, recently the government created the agency NAPTIP to fight the human
trafficking for sexual exploitation and also the trafficking o human organs.
NAPTIP funded the training of 90 senior NAPTIP officials that received training
in basic security and intelligence skills, necessary for any law enforcement officer.
Throughout the reporting period, the government reported collaborating with law
enforcement agencies in Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, Sweden, France,
18
In Combating Human Trafficking in Nigeria: An Evaluation of State Policies and Programmes, Emmanuel Joseph
Chukwuma Duru, pag 163
19
Nigeria trafficking page 125
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Slovakia, Belgium, Netherlands, and Italy on trafficking investigations, involving
Nigerian nationals.20
According to the report Human trafficking in Nigeria; roots
and
recommendations: “Restrictive migratory policies contribute to human trafficking in
Nigeria, as migrants often rely on traffickers, offering false hopes of future gains.
Moreover, the intensification of border controls in wealthier countries elevates the
risks associated with illegal migration, thereby creating demand for the perceived
sophistication of human traffickers.”
The Majority of the Nigerian girls trafficked in Europe for prostitution is from
Edo State. Okojie (2003) cited that “trafficking is now so ingrained in Edo State,
especially in Benin City and its immediate environs, that it is estimated that virtually
every Benin family has one member or the other involved in trafficking either as a
victim, sponsor, madam or trafficker.”21
Initially, most of them came from Benin City and other cities from the Delta
State. However with the antitrafficking campaigns, the traffickers are moving from the
urban centers to the countryside. There are also records of people being recruited
from other Nigerian states such as Imo, Enugu, Lagos, Ogun, Anambra and Akwa-Ibom.
22
In the book Traffico di Migranti e tratta di persone, the writer David Mancini
says that the Nigerian Mafia uses the human trafficking as the major instruments to
finance and develop other forms of trafficking. Their success is based on the control of
every phase of the human trafficking.
According to Isoke, there is a strong organization of trafficking in Benin City and
that is the main reason that most of the girls come from Benin City. But is the same as
20
Trafficking in Persons 2012, Nigeria
Trafficking Nigerian girls to Italy, Okojie, 2003, July, page 50
22
Report from the Nigerian Division of the International Criminal Police Organization, report
dated 25th August 2000.
21
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we identify Palermo for the mafia, it started there, but now there is more information
and many people start to understand the conditions of coming into Europe, and as I
said above, it started many prevention campaigns there. So, in the last years, many
girls arrived from the majorly deprived economic areas, mainly from the rural areas,
where many essential goods are absent, like water and electricity. The recruitment
now is near to the girls, like the villages or the market, where the girls help their
mother or aunt to sell some products.23
The low penalties and the high profits make human trafficking very attractive
for the human traffickers. African traffickers face low risk of arrest or prosecution. The
lack of laws on this kind of trafficking has been profited by the traffickers.24 Actually it
is less risky than other trafficking, since carrying a person catch less attention for them
than carrying a gun or drugs. The Nigerian organized crime was identified by EUROPOL
as one of the largest law enforcement challenges to European governments.25
Another major cause for human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Nigeria is
the lack of women’s education, since 40% of them are illiterate. However, there has
been an improvement of educational opportunities, and also an increase of women
holding several key governmental positions. Despite all these improvements, women
throughout the country experience discrimination in employment and are often
relegated to inferior positions.26
In the northern states governed under Sharia statutes, women’s rights have
suffered particularly serious setbacks. Rape and spousal rape are considered separate
offenses, though both have low rates of reporting and prosecution. Many women in
Nigeria depend on their fathers and later, on their husbands, passing from one man to
another.27 Many girls, especially while they are minors, come from large families and
23
La tratta delle minorenni Nigeriane in Italia, i dati, i raconti, i servizi sociali, page 73
Fitzgibbon, Kathleen (2003) “Modern Day Slavery? The Scope of Trafficking in Persons in
Africa” in Africa Security Review Vol 1 2 No 1
25
Trafficking in Persons report 2012, Nigeria
26
Trafficking in Persons report 2012, Nigeria
27
La prostituzione nigeriana, Enrica Ruffa, page 5
24
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with the premature death of one of the parents, many families are lead to extreme
poverty.
The parents of poorer rural families have also an age-old tradition that they
send their children or allow the third or fourth child to be sent to live and work in an
urban centre, with a member of the extended family (often an uncle), in exchange for
a promise of education and instruction in a trade. So, by this way, the trafficker takes
advantage of this tradition to use them in human trafficking.28
In the 1991 Census, it is shown that 2% of the married women in Nigeria
entered into marriage by the age of 10, 8% at 12, 25% married at 13-15. The Census
also shows that 40% marries at the age of 15, while 64% by the age of 18. So, in Nigeria
the average age of marriage for females was found to be 16.5 years. During and after
marriage, the Nigerian woman is regarded as inferior to the man. She is also not
allowed to inherit, and subjected to physical, psychological and mental abuse and
violence. A study on widow confinement shows that 45% widows were confined for
varying lengths of time, 62% in South-South, 60% in North West, 51% in South West,
48% in North East and 27% in South East6.30
In the book Le ragazze di Benin City, the writer Isoke also refers to the fact that
many girls work in Europe to pay for the education of their brothers in Nigeria. In the
Amnesty International annually report 2012 on Nigeria31, the domestic violence, rape
and other forms of sexual violence against women and young girls from state agents
were invasive. Actually the authorities failed on the prevention and on the sexual
violence confront or even secure justice to the responsables.
28
29
Nigeria trafficking page 17
Brief overview of the legal Status of women in Nigeria by A
biola Afolabi-Akiode
REPORTOF THE DECADE OF REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION (BEIJING +10),
page 11
30
31
http://rapportoannuale.amnesty.it/sites/default/files/Nigeria.pdf
13
In Africa, older people must be respected, they are the symbol of knowledge,
experience and wisdom for all the community. Since many girls come into Europe very
young, they encounter older people, playing at the beginning the role as friend or as
family. Actually the name they give to the traffickers, ex- prostitutes is mamam, a
name regarding as an older person, taking care of the victim in Europe. This role is
used to manipulate the girls psychologically, since their values don’t allow them to
disobey an older and experienced person and also these ties are generally affective.
The victims call among themselves sisters, while the younger ones are called
babies. These family names give them the representation of a bond, the substitution of
their own family that they left in Nigeria. This also is a manipulative way to keep the
girls in the side of the mamam, and make them believe that they are the only people
that the girl can trust. According to Isoke, the mamam frequently is a friend of the
family or even some relative that is why the family names are given in Europe, so the
girls can be thankful to the mamam that gives her the opportunity to come in Europe.
In Nigeria, the power of the religion is very strong and present in people’s life,
unfortunately this power is misused and influences people on the wrong way. In the
conference G 8 contro la violenza sulle donne32 , Isoke Aikpitanyi affirmed that many
false priests follow the migrants and are the accomplices of many traffickers. Since the
priests have a very important role in communities and they are seen as models and
counselors, people tend to follow their advices. So they pressure the victim, using
religious and moral arguments to persuade the victim, saying that God wants them to
pay their debit, obey and keep their word.
In an interview with Isoke, she affirmed that religion is a moral foothold, but
also a scheme, since the priests work together with the traffickers and participate in
the network to control the victims. Obviously not all are as described above; however
the religion in Europe is distorted.
32
Rome 9 September 2009
14
Finally, the causes are not only originated in the sending country, but also in
the host country, where we can observe a significant raise of the demand for paid sex.
This is highly attractive to the traffickers and also to desperate people, looking for a
better life standard. The relationship between the genders, the respect for women
and also their empowerment in the Occident lead to decrease the number of European
women in the streets. We can also observe that the unavailability of many women that
in the XXI century have a job or a career may also lead to an increase of human
trafficking, bringing young women, from emergent countries, to the streets of the
Occident.
The globalization and the soap operas that pass in Nigeria also make the girls
dream about a luxury life, based on material goods. These luxurious lives that pass in
the Occidental soap operas transmit the idea that people in Europe or in the United
States of America live comfortably and that there is no misery in these countries. The
luxuries goods and the ostentation shown by the mamam in Nigeria, acquired in
Europe, are also an attractive way to catch the girls and their families’ attention and
pull them into the trafficking system.
I also would like to refer that, besides the empowerment of women in Europe,
the education of man on that subject, certainly has not followed the course of the
emancipation of women, being still attached to the image of woman-object. As Isoke
says:“One raped African girl is one Italian saved.”
15
The Nigerian human trafficking system
The Nigerian human trafficking system has been changing during the years,
during my research and analysis I discovered that the system has been perfect,
eliminating flaws, profiting the lack of legislation and the despair of people and also
overcoming the new obstacles. This system uses the psychological availability and the
material absence to push the girls, hoping to get a better life, into a net of abuse and
precarious life. The documents facility, given by the traffickers is also an attractive way
to the girls, seeking to pass the borders into Europe. These documents allow that the
girls arrive comfortably by plane and consequently, that the amount of the debit rises
significantly. According to Isoke these are reused documents that pass from on girl to
another.
In previous years, in the nineties, many human trafficking victims’ arrived
directly by flight from Lagos to Rome or to Milan, with legal visas, this phenomena led
to a four year process in Torino’s Court that confirmed, at 28 June 1999, the
involvement of some staff of the Italian Embassy in Lagos, on the Nigerian Human
trafficking.33 So, in the last years, the number of girls that arrive directly from plane has
decreased and, there has been an increase of the girls that arrive directly by boat from
Libya to Lampedusa and then Sicily. 34
In the study Trafficking Nigerian Girls to Italy, Okojie (2003) it is observed that
trafficking is a racket that involves many Law Enforcement syndicates, especially at the
airports and border posts. These officials often assist traffickers and victims to board
flights and cross borders. This includes immigration officers and various intelligence
agencies, based at the airports and borders as well as airline officials, who collaborate
with traffickers and enable them to depart the country with fake papers. Furthermore,
it was observed that similar rings exist at destination airports. Travel agents who dealt
33
34
Ragazze Edo, page 5
La tratta delle minorenni Nigeriane in Italia, i dati, i raconti, i servizi sociali, page 73
16
with airlines and embassies were found to collaborate with traffickers in order to
obtain false travel documents.35
The way used by the girl to leave the country influences the amount of money
that the girl will pay later to the Madam. If the girl reaches other countries comfortably
by plane, the amount of money increases drastically, if otherwise, the girl passes the
desert by truck and walking until she reaches Libya or Morocco and then passes into
Europe by boat, reaching Spain or Lampedusa, the debit is a little less. This trip can last
2 years and unfortunately leaves many people behind. “Four trafficking routes were
identified from northern Nigeria: Those leaving from Kebi or Sokoto travel to the
Republic of Benin on to Niger, Ghana and Senegal and from there to Libya, Algeria or
Morocco. These are transit countries for the destinations in the Middle East or
Europe.”36
When the girl arrives in Italy, the mamam takes the girl’s documents. The
documents are taken with the purpose to take the girl’s identity, to make her feel
lonely and isolated and also to reuse the documents with another girl. Without
documents also avoids that the girl walks around freely and have no afraid of the
authorities.
The debits today varies from 60 to 80 thousand, but also it can be 100 thousand
Euros. This debit also increases with other payments such as the shopping that it has to
be in the Africans shops, recommended by the Madam, the rent, the water, the
electricity and the sidewalk, called joint. Other peculiar situations may influence the
debit such as pregnancy and abortions.
The debit can be paid in cash, if the mamam lives near to the girl, but also can
be send to an address Western Union or by an illegal service, if the girl leaves in
another city.37 In this system the girls regularly change city, avoiding being recognized
by the authorities or even to have bonds with local people that can try to take the girls
35
Trafficking Nigerian Girls to Italy, Okojie, 2003, page 88
Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in Benin, Nigeria and Togo, UNODC 2006, page 32
37
Interview to Isoke, October, 2012
36
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out of the trafficking. Anyway if the girl lives in the same city as the mamam or in
another city, it doesn’t mean anything, since they are controlled wherever they are.
The debit has a simultaneous character, being economic, moral and
psychological at the same time. At first, the mamam says the amount in Naria, the
Nigerian coin, passing after to Euros and increasing the exchange. They also pass to the
girls an idea that gaining this money in Europe is something easy and fast to acquire.
Yet, to pay the debit, usually goes from 4 to 5 years. One of the first psychological
shocks that the girls have is discovering that the amount of money is bigger than what
they were told at first.38
When the girls arrive in Italy, many of them give false names not only because
of the false documents, but also to pretend that they are another person. Is like a
double life and their false name is linked with their life in Europe. Another common
method to obtain the documents is that the girls sometimes change the nationality,
declaring that they are many times from Ghana and Liberia, in order to get a refugee
status. Until 2005, many girls affirmed to be from Sierra Leone, acquiring by their
nationality a political asylum. Yet, with the changes in the legislation, this method it
turned to be useless.39
The Nigerian human trafficking system even if it is based on violence, is actually
more psychological then physical. The main example of this is the already known
voodoo, used as a contract between the victim and her mamam. Despite this is one of
the main threats used to pressure the girls, Isoke affirms that many girls also don’t do
it, because they are Christians. But this method is often used, especially with the most
fragile, the ones that the threats and the fear will keep them in the streets. But the
voodoo is more for protection measures than for good, if, of course, the promise is
kept.
38
39
Tratta delle Minorenni Nigeriane in Italia, i dati, i raconti, i servizi sociali. Rome 2010
Migrazione, tratta e sfruttamento sessuale in Sicilia Calabria, Giuliana Candia, Granca Garreffa , page 67
18
Since 1992, the Voodoo is recognized as an official religion in Benin and is
celebrated the 10th January, in the National Celebration of Voodoo. In the past, the
Voodoo was taken to the South America, where the slaves where taken to force labor.
By this time, the Catholic Church fought hardly against this ritual, giving death penalty
to the ones who practiced it. 40
Nowadays the voodoo is used as a powerful weapon in modern slavery. The
victims go to the Baba-loa, which is a religious traditional figure that is much respected
in the communities. Only in Edo State there are 5000 baba-loa, regularly registered as
professionals, whose duties is to act in familiar conflicts and in community cohesion.
This ritual uses the nails, blood or hairs of the girls to seal the pact and confirms the
obedience of the girl to the mamam. The power of this ritual is only used later to
threat indirectly the girl, with the power of the spirits. Certainly, this threat is more
psychological, leaving the girl in fear. Usually the mamam also profits to use violence
and explain to the girls that the misfortune happens because the girl disobeyed.
Talking to a Methodist Pastor, he explained that this ritual is psychological, but
also physical, because if it happens physically, it means that it had already happened
spiritually. The sickness when it affects the body it is because the body and soul are
together, so when the sorcerer says that the girl was killed because she didn’t wanted
to pay, enforces the idea of the power of Voodoo to the other girls.
The Voodoo is not only used to threat the girl, but also her family. Since the
trafficker is usually a known person, the family is also threat, using the Voodoo, legal
contracts, where all the family’s goods are taken, if the girl does not want to continue
to obey the mamam or even physical violence. This lack of protection and legislation is
one of the main control forms to keep the girl in the streets. Unfortunately, also many
families want that the girls still sends the money, so they try to convince the girls to
obey the mamam.
40
Le vittime della tratta dalla Nigeria: riti magico-religiosi e difficoltà di integrazione Bologna 27 marzo 2009
19
No matter the dimension and the means of the operation, the process is
systematic and always well organized in all sorts of levels, including the financial
meanings and also the movement of persons. The Nigerian traffickers abroad have
established mafia-like organizations, in order to control the destination countries. They
are ruthless and will sacrifice anyone to cover their tracks and protect their business.
They also use codes to communicate among themselves.41The Nigerian mafia is also
the only one in the world that can have good relationships with all other mafias.42
The Nigerian criminal organizations typically do not follow the mafia-type,
however they seem to less formal, but more organized along familiar and ethnic
lines.43 Regarding to other models of Mafia, the African Criminal Networks are usually
smaller and compartmentalized cells, between two and ten members, that
communicate mostly in the local language. These smaller groups share some
confidence between the members and also adapt quickly to new environments. These
networks usually arrange false identification documents, where they easily can change
nationalities and often include government officials, by corruption and bribes. Another
characteristic typical of these organizations is that they are highly mobile and usually
use violence to attract the attention of law enforcement operators.44
This Nigerian system for sexual exploitation is a peculiar organization, not only
because it can adapt to the obstacles and has different roles for the different phases
on the route, but also because the main exploiter is an ex-victim. In this way it is an
auto-sufficient system that is increasing significantly, because every victim is a
potential exploiter. Actually, talking with a Methodist pastor, he declared that when
the girl is finishing paying the debit, like 5000 Euros, the mamam, if is living in the
same house, says often to bring another girl from Nigeria to work for the girl that is
finishing to pay the debit. This method, not only keeps the girl near to the mamam, but
also she avoids being denounced to the authorities. Sometimes, some madams turn
over the victims to the Police and get them repatriated when they have nearly finished
41
Human trafficking in Nigeria; roots, causes and recommendations, pages 24,25
http://mafiatoday.com/tag/nigerian-city/
43
La Sorte, Mike. "Defining Organized Crime (http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_349.html) ".
AmericanMafia.com, May 2006.
44
Nigerian Criminal Networks; A comparative analysis. Aimar Alkholt 2010 page 62
42
20
paying back their debts. Anyway, several victims become sponsors or madams or
“recruiters” after gaining their “independence” from their madams.45
Among the mamam there are other people with specific roles that help her in
the trafficking. There is her husband or boyfriend, her assistant, her driver, her
bodyguard, the supervisor and the trolley. The supervisor can be a woman or a man, if
it is a woman, it also can be involved in prostitution. The others also help to control the
girls, with physical or psychological violence and to protect the main exploiter,
receiving rewards for the services. The same person also can play different roles.46The
mamam also can choose a favorite to watch the others, this situation usually puts the
girls against each other and destroy the trust they have among them. This
environment in the houses makes the girls distrust everyone and makes her live in
fear, obeying to the mamam. This system leaves the girl extremely fragile and makes
her count only on her own.
In the Report of Field Survey in Edo State, Nigeria, Okojie concluded that
officials as the Police, Immigration and the State Security Services (SSS) stated that
between 60-80% of cases of trafficking, the recruiters are the ones who seek out the
victims. According to this report, the victims and the recruiters come in contact with
one another by: word of mouth (58.1% of respondents), trough family members
(83.9%), and trough acquaintances (87.1%). 47
In the same report it was shown that, according to the Law Enforcement
agents, the recruitment places were: home (83.9) and in the neighborhood (77.5%).
The less recruitment places mentioned were bar/restaurant/hotel (38.7%) and school
(29%). Usually when the places are neighborhood or home, the recruiter is someone
that the victims know. In addiction, the recruiters act individually, between 40-80%
and 63.3% are family members and 53.3% by a formerly trafficked member.
45
In Parsec, Ricerca ed interventi sociali 2009, page 59
47
46
21
When the mamam or the recruiter seduces the girl, they not only let her
believe that the amount of money is easy and fast to pay, but also that the girl will do
other jobs, such as hairdresser, babysitter or beautician. However during the years,
this system has changed, and many girls that come to Europe are aware about the
work that they will do. Talking with a social worker48, she explained that the girls even
take photographs, from every part of they body, before they leave the country.
Despite of a part of them being aware about the work they will do in Europe,
the girls are not aware about the conditions they will have and suffer, like the weather
conditions, the number of hours and the days they have to do, the violence they are
submitted and also the space they have to share in the mamam’s house. The girls also
think they can trick the traffickers and have a different life. The goal of the girls is to
arrive in Europe and have the documents. According to Isoke, this issue is not
important, because even if the girls know, they still are obligated to pay the debit on
inhuman conditions.
At the moment some social workers say that there is a crisis in the Nigerian
trafficking system, since also some women left their mamam and started automanaged groups on their own. But these affirmations aren’t exact, since we have also
other examples. Today the organized crime groups are more organized than ever.49
While in Europe, the girls also have to pay the joint, in the book Le Ragazze di
Benin City, Isoke refers that the joint, the piece of the sidewalk that the mamam
affirms that she bought, can cost until 250 Euros to the victim, this money is also paid
to the trafficker. Besides the joint the girls also have to pay 200 for the rent, 100 Euros
for the food and also extra costs for clothes, transport or other personal needs.
Recently facts confirmed that in Castel Volturno the Gomorra was involved in the
payment of the joint, having a percentage of the amount, in order to leave the
Nigerian Mafia operate in the area.
48
Social worker from Santa Chiara in Palermo.
49
Tratta e prostituzione di strada in Italia. Percorsi di reinserimento ed esperienze a confronto, page 7
22
In the same book, we can see that the Nigerian victims usually accept only 10
Euros for the services, so they have to at least submit to 4000 sexual services, while
the Eastern girls never accept less than 15 Euros from the clients. In Sicily, there is also
this racial discriminative stratus that puts the Romanian as a high “material” and the
Nigerians as the bottom material. Since there is a lower price to pay to be with a
Nigerian, there more frequently exposed to violent clients. Furthermore the Romanian
usually are on closed houses, having by this way more protection than the Nigerians
that are on the streets. 50 The debit has to be paid as soon as possible, so, with these
sums, the girls have to work 7 days a week and several hours a day.
In Italy, the violence used in the girls is not only from the exploiters, but also
from the clients. In the last 15 years 500 Nigerian girls have been killed in Italy. In the
streets, the girls are vulnerable to rapes and physical aggression from the clients. As
Claudio Magnabosco51 says “The Nigerian prostitution is a paid rape”.
The girls that are recruited usually have between 17 and 27 years old.52 In the
research made by a team headed by Isoke across Italy, the major part of the girls had
18 years old. There was also a considered number of victims between 23 and 25.53 The
girls are usually picked between these ages, because the mamam searches for girls,
who are not virgins. If the girl is a virgin, the exploiter finds a group of boys to rape her
in group. This “treatment” is considered as a favor to the girl, from the mamam. A
research made in Nigeria confirmed that most of the girls by the time they were
recruited had less than 20 years.54
Is also frequently that the mamam changes the age of the girls to obtain other
gains. Often the girls, who have from 20 to 25, suddenly pass to underage in order to
pass the borders. However, the contrary is also seen, when the false documentation is
50
The partner of Isoke
52
La prostituzione Nigeriana, Ruffa, page 6
53
Indagine Isoke Aikpitanyi tratta prostituzione, ragazze nigeriane.
54
Trafficking of Nigerian girls to Italy, 2003, page 9
51
23
from an adult. Once in Italy, the age can also be changed.55While on the streets and
with no documents the girls usually say their real age.56
Prostitution is morally unaccepted in Nigeria, so when the girls go back to
Nigeria there can be two reactions from the communities. If the girl comes back with
money, she is accepted in the society, even if the community knows that she was a
prostitute in Europe. However, if the girl comes deported or without any money, the
community puts the girl aside and even the family refutes the girl.
The girls recruited usually are from lower classes and with low-income
background. They usually also have basic education, like primary or secondary school.
57
With this background it is easier for the traffickers to recruit the girl, who takes the
offer, often with the goal to help her family, the traffickers take the advantage of their
basic economic goods, to offer to pay the trip and the necessary documentation.
Even if the Nigerian system in human trafficking is based on these components
and organized as it is described above, it has been changing during the years, in order
to overcome the legislation that have been made on this issue. The traffickers also
have adapted the procedures and changed the recruitment. These networks are live
organisms that overcome and adapt to cultures, traditions, societies and judicial, penal
and legislative systems.
55
Trafficking of Nigerian girls into Italy, the data, the stories, the social services, page 43
Trafficking of Nigerian girls into Italy, the data, the stories, the social services, page 65
57
Trafficking of Nigerian girls to Italy, 2003, page 9
56
24
Motherhood being a human trafficking victim
Nigeria has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Every
ten minutes a woman dies in childbirth. According to the study Gender in Nigeria
Report 2012, from the British council, Nigeria only spends 6.5% of its budget on
healthcare; unfortunately this measure leaves many young mothers into death.
In the same study it was verified that 47% of Nigerian women are mothers
before they reach 20 years old.58 Mothers giving birth before the age 15 have more
possibility to die at birth than the 20 years old. In the country, women who are under
18, particularly those under 15, women also over 35 years old and women whose
births are closely spaced are especially at risk. The women becoming mothers before
18 years old is declining in Nigeria, however 25% of 15-19 years old girls have already
given birth to at least one child.59
In Italy the only reference to the motherhood of the Nigerian human trafficking
victims is Isoke Aikipitanyi that talked about this matter on her two books Le Ragazze
di Benin City and 500 storie vere. Interviewing Isoke this year, she reported the
violence that the girls suffer while they are pregnant and when they abort. In her
replies to my questions, Isoke told me that 50% percent of the victims suffer more
than one abortion and 75% suffer more than one in their lives.
While the Eastern girls can go up to three abortions, the Nigerians usually have
less, since being a mother to them is a blessing. In the last years, many girls go on with
the pregnancy, also because the traffickers tell their victims how to seek asylum and
explore the law to avoid deportation. This point is also profitable for the mamam,
because she makes the girl believe that she also concerns with her legality in the
country.60
58
Gender in Nigeria Report 2012, British council, page 12
Gender in Nigeria Report 2012, British council, page 53
60
Indagine Isoke Aikpitanyi tratta prostituzione, ragazze nigeriane page 18
59
25
Unfortunately, many girls are raped during the trip, before they arrive in Italy,
they are submitted to extreme violence and rape. Consequently, the girls get pregnant
and or they arrive pregnant in Italy or they have the children during the trip. This
pregnancy raises the debit, a Methodist pastor in Palermo referred that the debit can
raise 10 thousand more, when the girl is pregnant.
Isoke testimonies that the abortion is often made at home with horrible
modalities obligated by the mamam, like physical practices, poisonous mixtures. Many
girls tell that they often drink a shake, where it is used their own fetus and blood. The
Madam pays the woman to help with the abortion and this also raises the debit.
According to a community’s Methodist pastor in Palermo, these homemade illegal
abortions put the life of the girls in danger and consequently many cannot have
children after the incident. The pastor also affirms that in Palermo sometimes the girls
are taken by the mamam into the hospital to do the abortion.
When the girls take the pregnancy until the end, the babies become a way to
control the girl, by the mamam, in order to obligate her to pay the debit until the end
and maintain her on the street. I also would like to underline that the babies also raise
the debit’s amount, since the trafficker uses the babysitting and all the products used
for the baby, as an excuse to raise the debit, keeping the mother more time on the
streets.
According to Isoke, this situation is really peculiar, since many children are
taken away from their mothers, by the social services, because the mothers don’t
leave the prostitution. So by one side the girl has the social services that force the girl
to leave the streets and by the other side the girl has the trafficker who threats her
own son with violence and even death.
When the mamam doesn’t accept the child, the mother sometimes sends the
baby to Nigeria, so her family can take care of the child. Yet the families, with the
purpose to keep having the money that monthly arrives from Europe, say to the girl
that the boy is sick, or that he needs more money to school. In Edo State, many
26
families pride themselves on having relatives in Italy, Spain or the Netherlands,
pointing to houses, cars, boreholes and other luxury material sent by the victims. This
is especially noticed in obituary announcements where all surviving children are in one
European country or the other.61
The mother is played by her own family and keeps sending the money. In an
interview with a Methodist pastor from the Nigeria community in Palermo, it was
confirmed that the families used the children to get the money from the girls. Yet, he
phrased that not only the families of the human trafficking victims’ use to manipulate
them, but also every family of a migrant seeks to have money from them.
The life of a human trafficking victim, not only affects her, but also her children.
Since the motherhood is the dream of most Nigerian girls, even at young ages, this is a
powerful way to control and manipulate the victims. Unfortunately the control used on
their mother affects also these little boys and girls, even if at early ages they don’t
understand the pressure that exists between the trafficker and their mother. In an
interview to Isoke, she affirmed that many times these children don’t go to the
kindergarten or school, so people can not notice the difference on their behavior. At
this point many children are raised in Italy as they were raised in Africa.
61
27
The Nigerian human trafficking in Palermo
In Palermo, I received the information from people who work directly with the
human trafficking Nigerian victims, that includes a local Methodist pastor, a social
worker, working with many young Nigerian victims, who are also mothers and also a
social assistant that works with the children in a center. Unfortunately, there is no data
about the human trafficking in Sicily, the only literary reference used to support this
study is the book Migrazione, tratta e sfruttamento sessuale in Sicilia Calabria financed
by the program Parì Opportunità.
According to the book mentioned above, there is a major number of victims
that are following the protection program, that are from Nigeria and have between 19
and 30 years old.62 The major two nationals groups in Sicily are from Eastern Europe
and from Nigeria. In the same book is referred that there are between 500 and 600
foreign girls in prostitution.63 Yet, according to a Methodist pastor in Palermo, only in
this city, there are around 500 Nigerians girls. In winter months many girls are moved
to the invisible houses.64
The same study affirms that the majority of the foreign prostitution is located
near to the sea, in Palermo is very clear that they are agglomerated near to Parco della
Favorita, near to the beach Mondello. Many girls concentrate themselves also near to
the Historic Center, i.e., near to the train station.65 Yet, I should say, as I noticed, that
the majority of the Nigerian girls are near to the sea, since the ones near to the
Historic Center are from the Eastern Europe.
According to the Methodist Pastor, in Palermo some girls have to pay the
sidewalk, the joint that they say it was bought by the mamam. Yet, there is no record
that this payment is connected to the local Mafia, Cosa Nostra, like in the Torino and
62
Migrazione, tratta e sfruttamento sessuale in Sicilia Calabria, Giuliana Candia, Granca Garreffa, page 40
64
65
63
28
Castel Volturno. In Sicily there is the preoccupation to camouflage the human
trafficking, however during the last years there has been an increasing of the
phenomena. To avoid a social alarm, there is a tendency to push the girls into the
private houses. 66
In Sicily there is not an active link between the Cosa Nostra and the human
trafficking for sexual exploitation, yet there seems to be a connection between some
individuals from Cosa Nostra, in the peripheral areas, and foreign criminal
organizations. According to some people interviewed for the study, the Cosa Nostra’s
disinterest is due to a financial balance that attracts the attention of the authorities to
the foreign groups’ organizations.67
Despite the ethical rule of Cosa Nostra, that despises the immoral behavior of
its elements, like being linked to the prostitution, these criminal organizations like
Cosa Nostra and the Ndrangheta are also known to adapt rapidly the ethical codes into
the present. This adaptation shows, that even if they are not directly connected to the
prostitution, because they consider that the profit is not relevant, there is some link
between the transnational groups and the local criminal groups in Sicily.68
It is known that the human trafficking victims from Nigeria, usually comes from
Benin City, yet the social assistant stated that the despite they say that they are from
Lagos, because it is easier to locate the city, many are from the rural areas, the little
villages situated in near to Lagos.
Since the year 2000 that the Host Center (the one I interviewed the social
worker) works on the article 18 and it is able to assist the foreign human trafficking
victims on their exit process. Speaking specifically on the Nigerian case, the social
worker phrased that they have host hundreds of women without children that usually
don’t pass the 30 years old and arrive in the center without documents. Some of these
women are minors. When asked about the women that arrived with children, she
66
68
Migrazione, tratta e sfruttamento sessuale in Sicilia Calabria, Giuliana Candia, Granca Garreffa , page 76, 77
67
29
stated that around 40% enter in the center with children, who are in early ages, still
babies, most of the times. Some women also arrive pregnant, without referring who
the father is, if it is a boyfriend or a client.
What concerns to abortions, many suffer miscarriage even in Nigeria,
sometimes provoked, with the help of the older ones, sometimes aren’t, due to the
weak sanitary system in the country. In Palermo, the abortions are many times made
by the mamans, with mixtures that frequently include blood and herbs.
When asked about the children left in Nigeria by their mothers, the social
worker referred that is an ambiguous issue, since the victims usually tend to lie about
their lives, so is not possible to give a number to it. However, she stated that the
women often leave the children in Nigeria with their families. The social assistant that
works in a kindergarten for immigrants, stated that the ones who come with 25-28
years old, usually already have children in Nigeria. But, since the African family ties are
different from the Occidental ones, it is normal to leave the children, even being
babies with 3-5 years old, with the family.
The women are very affective with the children, however, culturally they leave
the children freer, and so even if it costs a mother to leave their children in Nigeria,
while they immigrate to Italy, they accept it normally and let the children with their
families. The social worker also stated that normally, the families use the children to
ask for the money. In addition, the social assistant referred that a Nigerian that comes
to Europe is a model to the big African families, so it is normal, that the families use
the fact that the victims are in Europe to ask for money.
According to the social assistant that works especially with the children, many
of them are born in Palermo, and during that period their mothers usually don’t go to
the street, since they have to stop for the breast-feeding. She also stated, as I said
before, that the babies are also an advantage to have the resident permit or, as stated
above, an advantage to the trafficker, to keep the victim in the streets and raise their
debit.
30
When the girls arrive to the center, they have to do a health check-up, and
some of them discover that they have HIV. This fact, unfortunately, helps the girl to
decide to exit the streets and engage in the program of the article 18. Many of the
victims didn’t know before that they were infected, and even had no idea where they
contracted the disease, so besides the psychological trauma, the ones who contract
HIV need also an extra psychological support.
Following the exit program, the girls, even if they are not legally obligated to
cooperate with the authorities, they have to cooperate in the investigations and
denounce the trafficker. In this case, the victims are often threat by the traffickers, and
are afraid that the traffickers can harm to their families.
Since 2007, only 15 resident permits were given, by the authorities in Palermo,
to those who followed the article 18, including 4 Ghana nationals, 8 Nigerians, 1 from
Brazil, 1 from Bangladesh and 1 from Liberia.69 The low number of resident permits to
the human trafficking victims is due to the fact that some Questure do not permit the
victim to follow the social way and also the long wait to obtain the resident permit.
The lack of the victim’s family protection is also one major issue that influences the
victims not to denounce their trafficker.70 There should be underlined that many
Nigerians change their nationalities at their arrival, to facilitate the asylum request.
According to the Methodist pastor many victims say that they are from neighbor
countries that are in war, facilitating, by this way, the seek asylum request.
The social worker and the social assistant referred that some of the girls
travelled to Italy together with their children; however most of them come alone and
have children in Italy. Unfortunately, many are raped during the trip to the destination
countries and arrive at Italy pregnant. Sometimes, also the trafficker becomes their
husband and together they have a child. When the trafficker is the husband of the
victims, is even more complicated to keep the victim out of the trafficker, since there
69
70
Data given by the Questura di Palermo
31
are more affective and emotional ties to the exploiter. Many victims marry to their
exploiter to have the resident permit, as some exploiters are already legal in Italy.
According to the Methodist Pastor, many husbands profit from the fact that the
woman, in the past, worked on the streets, even if they already have paid the debit,
the husbands put their partners into the prostitution again, in order to have some
money. Consequently, many women get pregnant to avoid to go to the streets.
The situation with the victims’ partners is very complicated, since even if they
are some husbands that don’t allow the girls to go to the street, because they consider
that is not dignified, there are others that pretend to be lovers, but in reality they are
their exploiters. In this case, they are the ones that take care of the children, by this
way, the exploiters threat the victims psychologically, using the matrimony as a way to
keep the victims linked to the exploiter. Since the victims need a husband for their
children, they keep falling on this kind of traps. Before the threats were more
physically, yet, now they are more psychological, since there are more laws to protect
the victims.
The Nigerian mafia is already a known and spread system all over the world. At
first, they were the people from the university’s fraternities, but after this, the
fraternities got bigger outside the campus. In Palermo, these mafias are already
operating with a specific method in the human trafficking. Since this mafia is
constituted by males, they offer the girl protection and obligate her to do what they
want. The affective side is also often used to maintain the girl into prostitution or
passing drugs. In Palermo, if the Nigerians on the streets are arrested, is not because
of the prostitution or the documents, but because of the drugs that they pass.
In the Nigerian culture a woman has no significant value without a husband or
a child, it is difficult to the Center to make these women leave their husbands.
However, and according to the social assistant the best thing to impulse the girls to
leave the streets is the love for their children.
32
In Palermo, the girls arrive to the protection services through three main ways,
which includes: the mouth-to-mouth, mainly in the religious community, where the
Methodist pastor works and helps the girls trapped in the human trafficking, or the
clients that also save the girls; the street unity, that goes to the streets to support the
girls; and finally are the people from the services that go directly to see the girls on the
streets and publicize their services.71
When the girls follow the article 18, the children live with them, and this is one
way to make them stronger and certain in leaving the streets. The mothers in the
Center are affectionate mothers, in case that there is violence, the Center is obligated
to tell the Court that they are not good mothers. The victims usually see in their
children the way to change their lives, as a rebirth. As Isoke said to me, “when the
victims give birth, is not only the birth of the baby, but also the birth of the mother.”
According to the Methodist pastor, when the mothers go to the streets, the
children can be traumatized by this, not only because the mother has not a regular
behavior, usually she is nervous, but also because the mother is also absent during the
shifts on the street. When the children see their mother putting make up before going
out, they think that their mothers are always frequenting parties. So, it is normal, as
the social worker stated that they are hyperactive children, even if it is also a cultural
aspect. They also tend to be very sensitive and sensible children.
When the children have 8-9 years old, they live in a more complicated situation
than the smaller ones, since they start to understand the real situation and since,
usually they go to school, the abnormal behaviors are more obvious. As the victims
work in shifts in the streets, the children are left at home, with other victims, when the
mothers go to work.
When the children go to school, everything changes, because, in general these
children are hyperactive and live in a house full of women, usually without a male
71
Migrazione, tratta e sfruttamento sessuale in Sicilia Calabria, Giuliana Candia, Granca Garreffa , page
71, 72
33
figure. And then, there is the problem when the mother changes city, since in this
system, many times the mothers are obligated to change city or go to a country
wealthier than Italy, like Netherlands, Norway or France.
It is not easy for the mothers to change city because they have to do the
documents and change residency. In addition the girls also tend to stay close to where
they did their documents, this situation applies with or without children. The girls
change city if the exploiter is someone who can help with their legalization in the
country, otherwise they have to wait to be regular in the country.
The classic mamam, often is at home with the girls. Yet, according to the
Methodist pastor, the majority of the mamans live outside Palermo and have the girls
in the Sicilian capital. There are also cases that the exploiter lives in Palermo along with
the girl and cases that the trafficker is in Palermo and the girl is in another Italian city.
The Nigerian human trafficking system is auto-sufficient, since usually many the
victims become mamams themselves, the older ones, or the wife of the trafficker, if it
is a man. Unfortunately, the girls even before they arrive in Italy suffer, from bad
treatment and bad conditions.
When the girls are pregnant from their clients and they have the child, it is
because they choose to have it. The clients choose their “girl” and usually go to the
same girl many times, being in love with her. There are many girls that marry with
Italians that used to be a client. At this point, the baby usually is an excuse to be with
the client and leave the streets.
Usually the girls arrive by boat in Lampedusa and there they stay for a while in
some host Centers. Some that arrive without contacts, so they don’t pass for the usual
recruitment system, however when they arrive they start creating contacts with other
girls and they are the ones who contact the mamam. The Nigerian mafias search also
34
for the girls when the boats arrive in Sicily and put them in the prostitution circle. 72If
the contacts are in Palermo, they stay in the city for a while, if the exploiter changes
city, the girls sometimes also change the city. What often happens, generally with the
immigrants that come alone is that they stop for a whine in Palermo to have some
money, and then they go to wealthier places or countries, like the north of Italy,
Netherlands, Norway or Sweden.
When asked if Palermo was the first European city that the victims put their
feet on, the social assistant said that it depended on the transport they use. If the girls
arrive by plane, Italy can be the second or the third country that the girls arrive in
Europe. Nowadays, it was seen that the majority of the girls arrived by boat or land
and not by plane. Furthermore, arriving by plane means that the visa only lasts 3
months. However, if they arrive by boat, many arrive to Lampedusa and then go to
Palermo.
Palermo is not only one of the first cities that the victims stop in Italy to make
some money, is also one of the last. According to a social worker that participated in
the study financed by Parì Opportunità, the Sicilian market is a second hand market,
where the girls, when are finishing to pay the debit go from the north of Italy, where
the payments are higher, to the south, where the climate conditions are more
adequate to work on the streets. 73
When the girls arrive in Nigeria, for holidays, the people pretend not to know
what they do in Europe, yet, since everyone has a cellular and it is easier to contact the
families, it is known that the girls are into the prostitution in Europe. At this point, the
families are only interested in the money acquired by their relatives and the
advantages that this can bring to them in Nigeria and the social status. If the girl is
deported and arrives with no money, many times the family despises the girl and don’t
accept them into the family.
72
73
35
When asked if the girls want to come back to Nigeria, the social assistant
replied that they want to go more to see the family. In addition, the social worker
stated that after knowing the occidental way of life, where women have more
advantages, many don’t want to live in Nigeria, only go to see their relatives.
36
The inquiries
The inquiries were made to 24 people from the Nigerian community in
Palermo, which 22 were women and 2 were man. Regarding the fact that the inquiries
were taken in order to improve the knowledge of the women in the Nigerian
Community in Palermo, as well as their children, I accepted the inquiries taken by the
two males, but I didn’t count for the statistics.
These women were noticed by the local pastor that announced thT was going a
study about their conditions and their children conditions. Besides the fact that the
pastor affirms that they were or are victims of human trafficking, these words were
not pronounced during the survey. It is known that, when someone that they don’t
know well, talks to them about the human trafficking issue, they do not trust the
person and usually they don’t say a word.
The inquiries were based on 34 questions regarding their children, but also
their age, the route they take until they arrive in Palermo and when did they arrive in
Italy. By this way I was able to have also some information regarding to the entries of
the victims in the city.
The survey was based on the following questions:
1. Which neighborhood do you live in Palermo?
2. How many children do you have?
3. How old are they?
4. Do they live with you?
5. How old are you?
6. What route did you take to come to Palermo?
7. Do you speak Italian?
8. What is your level of Italian?
9. Did you study in Nigeria?
37
10. Until when?
11. When did you come in Italy?
12. Where do you come from in Nigeria?
13. Do you have a husband or a boyfriend?
14. What is the nationality of your husband or boyfriend?
15. Do you work? Where?
16. With who you leave your children when you go to work?
17. Do you know about other people who have children and have no place to leave
them, when they go to work?
18. Do your children speak Italian? What level?
19. Do your children go to school?
20. Did they have any problem at school?
21. Do you have a residence permit?
22. What do you need in Italy?
23. How do you find yourself in Italy?
24. What do you think about the authorities in Palermo?
25. Do you feel safe in Palermo?
26. Do you have a professional project for your future?
27. Do you have to send money to your family?
28. Are you aware about your rights in Italy?
29. Is there anyone who helps you?
30. Did you ever suffered an act of racism?
31. Did you denounce the case?
32. How would you assess the authorities’ treatment?
33. Do you trust in the people around you?
38
The first question was made mainly to assist the mothers and to have
information about their neighborhood, in order that the street unity could identify the
area that the mothers live. A big majority lives with their children, except one mother
that have left her child in Nigeria with her family, as we can see on figure 1. Regarding
that one of my concerns was that the families of the victims could use the children to
have money from their mothers, it was verified that this situation does not occur
among the inquired mothers. Only one mother has her child in Nigeria.
fig. 1
As we can see in the figure 2, the majority of the mothers (12) have only 1 child,
followed by a group of ten mothers that have 2 children and a minority, only one, that
have 3 children. So besides in Nigeria there are big families, while in Italy, the family
numbers change to a smaller number of children. This also can be related to the year
that the victims arrived, being most of them on the last years, as we can see in the
figure 8. Furthermore if raising a child in Nigeria it requires less money and
consequently, less conditions, in Italy it requires more effort and financial resources.
fig 2
39
Also related to the years of arrival of the victims is the children’s ages. During
the survey, it was observed that the majority (7) of the children was only 4. Only one
was 17 and it was the one who was living in Nigeria. After the four years olds, are the
ones with 2 and one year olds. The most significantly ages are all under 4.
Fig 3
According to the graphic below, almost half of the mothers have between 31
and 35 years old. This number is followed by 27% of the victims with their ages
between the 27 and the 30 years old. This graphic show us that the more are aged
between the 22 and the 36 years old. So, contrary to what happens in their origin
country, the age of the mothers is not as early as in Nigeria.
fig 4
40
Asked about their Italian, it was noticed that only 9 % of the victims didn’t
speak Italian. In this 91% of the mothers interviewed, 11 classified their Italian level as
C1, 6 as A1 and 3 as B2.
fig 5
Regarding their studies in Nigeria, only 9 % didn’t study at all. From the ones
who studied, 16 studied until secondary school, 2 until University and 2 until
elementary school.
Fig 6
Fig 7
The year that it was pointed as their arrival, it was between the year 1999 and
2011. Besides a constant variation of their arrival year, it was notable that the year
41
2008 is extremely high, comparing to the other years. On their routes the majority
arrived in Palermo by boat, walking and going by bus to Libya and then by boat to
Lampedusa and Palermo, around 10 people. It is also evident that these cases have
occurred mostly in the last years. It was also identified four people that walked also
until Morocco and passed into Europe, by Spain. Eight of the other women arrived
directly by plane, passing before in Germany, Holland, Rome and Milan. These last
eight women arrived mostly after 1999.
Fig 8
An important information to the research was the provenience of this women
in Nigeria, since I wanted to verify if actually the majority of the women came from
Benin City. According to the survey 12 women were from Benin City, 5 were from
Lagos, 2 were from Delta State one from Port Harcourt and one from Ozolun.
42
Fig 9
Regarding to their partner and since it was declared by the people interviewed
that sometimes it is their own partners to put the girls into prostitution, it was
important to know their civil status. However, as the social assistant said, many aren’t
really married, they only declare themselves married, when they arrive in Italy, since it
is easier to documents and have babies. According to the graphic below, 14 of them
are married and only 5 have a boyfriend, three of the mothers have no partner at all.
Fig 10
Also important for the survey was their partners’ nationality, since the ones
referred to put them into the streets were their own conational. It was observed that
74% of the partners were Nigerians, followed my other African nationalities, such as
Ghanaians (11%), Togolese (5%), Gambians (5%) and Italians (5%).
43
fig 11
Regarding their situation in Italy, 73% don’t work, 18 % have work and 9% only
works sometimes. When asked about what they need in Italy, the majority of the
mothers (77%) answer that they need a job. The rest of the mothers asked for the
passport for the babies, documents and assistance for a better life in Italy.
fig 12
fig 13
One of the questions was “how did they find themselves in Italy”, only 18% said
good, the majority (41%) replied that they were ok and 23% that they more or less. A
44
very small percentage (4%) said that life in Italy was very difficult and 14% said that life
in Italy was not good. Regarding to their legality in Italy, 82% affirmed having residence
permit, while 18% don’t have residence permit in Italy.
fig 14
fig 15
fig 16
45
Regarding their situation in Italy, the women were asked if they had a project
for their future, according to what they answered half said no, 41 % said yes, most of it
to get a job and 9% didn’t answer.
An important subject on this survey was to know if the children were integrated
in the occidental society in Palermo. So, the first question was if their children were
able to speak Italian, which 59% answered yes. However, due to the age of the
children, 36 % of them are too young to speak.
fig 17
Most of the children are also in school, the major part in the kindergarten,
fifteen of them, followed by 6 children in elementary school, and only one in
secondary school. The ones who were not in school is due to their early ages.
fig 18
46
One of the questions was “if anyone helped with their children in Palermo”.
Most of the answers were “no”, as we can see in the graphic below. The ones that
answered “yes”, appointed to their families (some with no biologic ties) or
associations, as their helpers.
Fig 19
When asked about the authorities in Palermo, there were different opinions,
yet 64% defined the authorities as being “ok”, 14 % declared them as “not good” and
9% as “good”.
fig 20
As for feeling safe in Palermo larger majority, 20 people affirmed to feel safe in
the city, and only one said no.
47
fig 21
About sending money to their family in Nigeria, 15 mothers replied that don’t
send any money to Nigeria, 5 answered that they send money back to their families in
their origin country, and 2 said that they should, but they cannot afford to send any
money.
fig 22
The women were also asked about their knowledge of their rights in Italy, this
question was mainly to know if they were aware about the article 18, even if it was the
article was not clearly expressed in the question. About this matter 73% of the
inquired said yes and 18% said no.
48
fig 23
Due to the lack of trust between the Nigerian Community or even between the
victims, one of the questions on the survey was about their trust among them. As the
previous affirmations in other books, also in Palermo the women don’t trust other
people in general. As the graphic below shows, 10 people said they didn’t trust other
people and 7 people said “yes” 4 people said that “it depended” and 1 didn’t answer.
Fig 24
Another question was related to the racism versus the Nigerian community.
Meanwhile I was in Palermo, it started to appear big groups of young people that
started to attack not only Nigerians, but also the city mosque. The dramatic incidents
in the past December with the victims of human trafficking also pushed me do this
questions. However, it seems that most of the inquired people were not victims of
racism. Only 3 women admitted to have been victims of racism in the city.
49
Fig 25
By this inquire I realized, that even if with a smaller sample of Nigerian
women from Palermo, Palermo is an arrival city, as mentioned before. Also the victims
that are mothers are people that arrived in Italy after 1999 and the majority did the
route by Libya and Lampedusa. It was also seen that their children are integrated in
the Palermo’s society, going to school and speaking also Italian.
50
Conclusion
On this research I found that the Nigerian human trafficking system has been
changing during the years, it has been perfect, eliminating flaws, profiting the lack of
legislation and the despair of people and also overcoming the new obstacles. The
Nigerian organized crime networks are live organisms that overcome and adapt to
cultures, traditions, societies and judicial, penal and legislative systems. At the
moment this system also uses more the psychological violence and manipulation than
the physic one, in order to avoid the victims to denounce the traffickers.
In the specific case of Palermo, the Nigerian mafias are already operating with
their own method in human trafficking. Since this mafia is constituted by males, they
usually use the affective side to manipulate the girls and keep her in prostitution or
passing drugs.
In Palermo, most girls arrive from Benin City and come by Libya, arriving on
Lampedusa, by boat. So as we have seen, the Nigerian system is not only the mamam
or the recruiter that puts the girl into the prostitution, but also males who bond to the
girls emotionally. Also sometimes when the girls arrive with no contacts, they start
creating contacts with other girls and they are the ones who contact the mamam.
AlsoThe Nigerian mafias search also for the girls when the boats arrive in Sicily and put
them in the prostitution circle. If the contacts are in Palermo, they stay in the city for a
while.
Palermo is not only one of the first cities that the victims stop in Italy to make
some money, is also one of the last. According to a social worker that participated in
the study financed by Parì Opportunità, the Sicilian market is a second hand market,
where the girls, when are finishing to pay the debit go from the north of Italy, where
the payments are higher, to the south, where the climate conditions are more
adequate to work on the streets.
As for the children, many of them are born in Palermo, and during that period
their mothers usually don’t go to the street, since they have to stop for the breast51
feeding. The babies are also an advantage to have the resident permit or even an
advantage to the trafficker, to keep the victim in the streets and raise their debit. Most
of the children have been born recently and it seems that they are integrated in
Palermo.
As for the article 18, it has not been that successful, since in 5 years only 15
resident permits were given by the Questura in Palermo. Unfortunately, many victims
cannot collaborate with the authorities, since there is no protection to the family in
the origin country. Also, for the victims, a main problem is that they cannot get a job,
so, on this matter the coordination prepares formation for the girls and also prepares
them to help others victims. A massive raising awareness campaign is also being taken
in the city.
Through the last year, the Coordination Favour and Loveth has been fighting
against human trafficking, uniting many associations that work with the victims on
several fields. For the first time, they are trying to put together all the data and
information about this phenomena in the city. Despite all the effort, and also the
participation of very important people on my research this is a very complicated
phenomena that has to be study and measured, not only in the European countries,
but also in the origin country.
By this survey I realized that many women arrived in Italy, after 1999, and that
the majority did the route by Libya and Lampedusa. It was also seen that their children
are integrated in the Palermo’s society, going to school and speaking also Italian.
However this survey it is just a minimal research, since it should be done in years, not
months and by people that follow the victims progressively day by day.
52
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Trafficking Nigerian girls in Italy, The data, the stories, the Social Services
Trafficking in Persons to Europe for sexual exploitation, UNODC, 2006
Anthropologica, Reducing the Damage: Dilemmas of Anti-trafficking efforts among
Nigerian prostitutes in Palermo; Jeffrey Cole, 2006
L’azione di contrasto al fenomeno della tratta di esseri umani. Le linee del Dipartimento
di Pubblica Sicurezza; Raffaele Grassi,
Datti tratta delle persone, Gruppo Abele, Novembre 2008
Verso la costruzione di un Piano nazionale Anti-tratta, COMITATO DI
COORDINAMENTO DELLE AZIONI DI GOVERNO CONTRO LA TRATTA, Roma, Marzo
2008,
In Combating Human Trafficking in Nigeria: An Evaluation of State Policies and
Programmes, Emmanuel Joseph Chukwuma Duru,
New Nigeria Newspaper, February 6
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2006
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La tratta delle minorenni Nigeriane in Italia, i dati, i raconti, i servizi sociali,
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in Africa” in Africa Security Review Vol 1 2 No 1
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Nigeria trafficking
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Ragazze Edo
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54

The Nigerian human trafficking in Palermo

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