₦airaland Forum

Iamnavido:
Nigerian women are being trafficked to Italy under
the pretence that they will be working as nannies or
in factories – but often end up working the streets
as prostitutes.
Their plight has been highlighted by Paris-based
photographer Elena Perlino, originally from Italy,
who began to notice the presence of young African
women working on the streets during her
commutes from Turin. Perlino reveals that many Nigerian women come to
Italy hoping to make enough money from honest
work as nannies or factory workers to support their
families back home, but are tricked by traffickers
into working in the sex trade. Eighty per cent of women trafficked to Italy come
from Benin City, Edo State, in south Nigeria.
The photographer explained: ‘My work attempts to
show a complex phenomenon that crosses Italy
from North to South.
‘This involves many cities including Turin, Milan,
Genoa, Rome, Naples and Palermo and thousands
of Nigerian and Italian people.’
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
declared Nigeria among the top eight countries with
the highest human trafficking rates in the world. Traffickers demand on average more than 50,000
euros (US $60,000) for travel expenses and
accommodation, with the women having to work as
prostitutes until their debts are paid off.
Eighty per cent of women trafficked to Italy come
from Benin City, Edo State, in south Nigeria.
The photographer explained: ‘My work attempts to
show a complex phenomenon that crosses Italy
from North to South.
‘This involves many cities including Turin, Milan,
Genoa, Rome, Naples and Palermo and thousands
of Nigerian and Italian people.’
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
declared Nigeria among the top eight countries with
the highest human trafficking rates in the world.

See photographs

• A Nigerian woman commuting between Turin and Milan on
the 4am train (Caption of first picture)

• A Nigerian woman, working as a prostitute in the
countryside, is taken to a police station because she was
found without a passport (Caption of Second picture)

• Nigerian women in a Catholic shelter for victims of
trafficking (Caption of third picture)

• Nigerian woman Fatima shows the scars on her body due to vicious fighting with colleagues working as prostitutes in the outskirts of Acerra (Caption of last picture)

dechandel:

dechandel: