It Happened in the Desert, in Libya and in Italy: Physical and Sexual Violence Experienced by Female Nigerian Victims of Trafficking in Italy

Abstract

Nigerian girls and women constitute a large percentage of African victims of human trafficking in Italy. Extensive research has been conducted on the causes, push-and-pull factors, and the perpetrators in the phenomenon of trafficking Nigerian women and girls into Italy. However, limited data exist on the women and girls’ narratives of their experiences during their migratory journey from Nigeria to Europe. Using data collected through a mixed method, longitudinal design, 31 female Nigerian victims of trafficking in Italy were interviewed for this study. This study gives voice to the experiences of sexual violence that these women and girls encounter during transit, leading to many of them arriving in Italy severely traumatized. It also discusses the health impact of these experiences and the different survival strategies that they are forced to employ. The study shows how sexual and physical violence is employed by smugglers, traffickers, and people in authority alike. It shows that the violence experienced along the way does not end after arrival in the destination country (in this case, Italy), but is, in some cases, exacerbated and similar to previous experiences of violence.

“You are merely a Nigerian prostitute”: Sexual stigma and labeling of Nigerian victims of trafficking in Italy.

“…This study, therefore, aims to illuminate how these Nigerian victims of trafficking experience(d) stigma and sexual stigma during their trajectories, and how they perceive, interpret, and are impacted by those experiences of stigma. This study adds to the limited literature on the narratives of victims of stigma (Sidhom et al, 2014), sexual stigma (Dahal et al, 2015), and Nigerian victims of trafficking (Esposito et al, 2016; Tessitore & Margherita, 2022) who must deal with the lasting consequences of sexual violence while navigating the negative individual and societal perspectives, judgements, and labels (Adeyinka et al, 2023). The central intersectional approach which includes the participants’ identities as female and Black adds complex and integrated layers to their experiences with the understanding that “social positions intersect at the individual level (e.g., race and gender)” (Bauer et al, 2021, p. 2).…”

Gender and migration aspirations in Nigeria: A comparative study of the states of Edo and Kaduna

“…Another plausible explanation for this finding could be that wealthy households are reluctant to send women abroad because they consider female migration riskier than that of men. Female migration in Edo is closely associated with sex trafficking and exploitation (Adeyinka et al 2023;Plambech 2022Plambech , 2017Damon et al 2018;Spaggiari 2016;Hyland 2016). Since wealthy households are not in a precarious socioeconomic condition, they might weigh the risks associated with female migration alongside the potential remittances from female migration and decide that the risks outweigh the benefits.…”

“…A plausible explanation for this finding is that households allocate more of their resources towards men's emigration plans than those of women. This might be because wealthy households in Edo consider women's migration to be riskier than those of men, especially given women's vulnerability to sex trafficking (Adeyinka et al 2023;Plambech 2022Plambech , 2017Taub 2017;Hyland 2016). Moreover, since wealthy households are not in a precarious socioeconomic condition, they might weigh the risks associated with female migration alongside the potential remittances therefrom and decide that the risks outweigh the benefits.…”

The Role of Juju Rituals in Human Trafficking of Nigerians: A Tool of Enslavement, But Also Escape

“…These women and girls experience different forms of physical and sexual violence during their migration trajectories (Adeyinka et al, 2023a;IOM, 2017;Orsini et al, 2022). Upon arrival in Italy or another European country, they live with and work for a ''madam'' who controls their lives and puts them to work on the streets where they solicit clients (Suuntaus Project, 2015) or, in other cases, they are locked in private homes and forced to attend to clients there.…”