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Sexual Slavery Haunts Nigerian Women in Italy, June 15, 2007

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 102, June 15, 2007
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Turin, Italy: When Angel, 21, decided to leave her home in Nigeria for Italy, she expected to work in a factory. Instead, on arrival, she found herself forced into degrading sexual acts with multiple customers.

Angel (not her real name) is just one of thousands of young Nigerian women who have been trafficked into sexual slavery, and she recounted her story to counselors at the offices of the Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Project (TAMPEP), in Turin last week.

Among those in attendance was Leslie Ibeanusi, one of two AP Peace Fellows who are volunteering with TAMPEP this summer. Ms Ibeanusi describes how Angel realized she had been enslaved in a recent two-part blog ("Angel's Story"):

"She (Angel) was alone in a new country and confused and scared. She shakingly followed the orders of her madam (also a Nigerian woman) and was placed on a street where she was to sell her body. Her first job was 'sex by mouth' for 20 euros.

"The room grew quiet, as if we all needed to process this information," writes Ms Ibeanusi. "In halting speech, she described how she finally escaped from her madam's house and refused to continue the work she was doing. "I want to stop it. It is bad work. I want to go back to my parents in Nigeria.' As I listened to her experience, I wept inside."

Ms Ibeanusi's blog was published on the same day as the latest annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report from the US State Department, which rated the anti-trafficking efforts of 164 governments.

The report placed Italy on the "Tier 1" category and commended the government for tough measures, including an operation ("Spartacus") earlier this year, which led to the arrest of 784 suspected traffickers. The approval is noteworthy because Italian law allows prostitution, a policy which the Bush Administration strongly opposes.

The TIP Report typically provokes strong reaction outside the United States. Many governments resent the fact that the US itself is excluded from review, even though up to 20,000 people are thought to be trafficked into the US each year.

Although civil society advocates use the report to put pressure on their own governments, they often find the rating arbitrary and confusing. Contacted by The Advocacy Project (AP), Rosanna Paradiso, the Director of TAMPEP in Turin, suggested that the authorities in Turin could do much more to deter and arrest
the "madams" and pimps who prey on girls like Angel.

"The police don't have enough manpower to continuously arrest madams and traffickers," said Ms Paradiso. "These people end up in the streets again, still doing the same thing."

TAMPEP is considered a pioneer in the international fight against trafficking. As well as using "cultural mediators" to help survivors like Angel in Turin, TAMPEP recently opened an office in Benin City, Nigeria, to spread the word about the dangers of trafficking and provide support for victims who are forcibly returned from Europe.

The Advocacy Project has made a major commitment to supporting anti-trafficking civil society initiatives this summer. Two Peace Fellows - Ms Ibeanusi from George Washington University and Michelle Lanspa (Georgetown University) - are volunteering with TAMPEP in Italy, while Jennifer Hollinger (Georgetown University) is working in Albania with a local partner of the network Churches
Alert to Sex Trafficking Across Europe (CHASTE).

All three fellows are blogging about their experiences, and their early blogs have shown how good writing can help to spread the message of their hosts.

Commenting on Ms Ibeanusi's story of Angel, one commentator writes: "Thank God for TAMPEP and keep doing the good work, girl. Take care of yourself."

"Leslie, I've read this blog many times. Tears fall each time. You write beautifully," writes another.

• Read more on TAMPEP
• Read Leslie's blog
• For Michelle's blog
• For Jennifer's blog
• For the TIP Report