This document discusses the trafficking of women from Nigeria into Europe for the purposes of prostitution. It notes that Nigeria has one of the largest sources of women trafficked to Europe, especially Italy, where they may make up 10,000 of the prostitutes. These women are often recruited through trafficking networks that use deception and coercion, promising jobs but forcing the women into prostitution to pay off large debts for their transport. They are entrapped through a system of sponsors and religious pacts that make them feel obligated to repay their debts through prostitution.

1. POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
By
J.Q. Hammer
http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=318

2. -The Western European prostitution market has become increasingly globalized
during the past 15 years.
- The processes by which Eastern European, Southeast Asian, Latin American,
and Sub-Saharan African women end up as sex workers in Western Europe are
varied highly.
-The largest group of prostitutes from Sub-Saharan Africa comes from Nigeria,
and they are usually recruited through a specific type of trafficking network.
-The term "trafficking in persons" is restricted to instances where people are
deceived, threatened, or coerced into situations of exploitation, including
prostitution.
-This contrasts with "human smuggling," in which a migrant purchases services
to circumvent immigration restrictions, but is not necessarily a victim of
deception or exploitation.
-In West Africa, there is widespread trafficking in women and children within
the region as well as to overseas locations.
-Nigeria has signed and ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.
-Among the other countries in the region, Ghana has been commended for
successful anti-trafficking initiatives, while Equatorial Guinea has failed to
address the problem and is a hub for trafficking in women and children.

3. -The most important European destination for Nigerian trafficking victims is Italy, where
there may be as many as 10,000 Nigerian prostitutes.
- Other significant destinations include the Netherlands and Spain, and, to a lesser degree,
Germany, Belgium, Austria, and the United Kingdom.
-Italy is the only European country where a clear majority of legally resident Nigerians are
women.
-The first Nigerian women who worked as prostitutes in Italy usually did so independently
and were not trafficking victims.
-In the early 1990s, however, the rising difficulties of travelling to and settling in Europe
meant that prospective emigrants were increasingly dependent on large loans.
-Coupled with the prospect of large revenues on the Italian prostitution market, this
provided an opportunity for traffickers. Young women were enticed with promises of good
jobs, and subsequently coerced into prostitution in order to repay their debt.
- The victim's initial contact with the smugglers is often through a relative, friend, or other
familiar person.
-After the initial contact, the victim is put in contact with a madam, the network's most
important person in Nigeria. In many cases, the madam also has the role of sponsor, the
person who finances the journey.
-At this point, the victim and her sponsor make a "pact" that obliges repayment in exchange
for safe passage to Europe.
-Emigration pacts are frequently also sanctioned with prayer rituals in the Pentecostal
churches to which most of the victims belong, further broadening the pact's legitimacy.
-The victims' commitment to the pact makes it particularly difficult to combat this form of
trafficking. In several European countries, authorities have "rescued" women from their
traffickers, but they return to prostitution to fulfill their obligations towards their sponsors.
-For the police, the religious element has provided a convenient explanation. For the media,
the combination of vice and "voodoo" has fueled sensational coverage.
-It is vital to understand the social and cultural context of trafficking while recognizing that
the most intriguing aspects of this context, as in the Nigerian case, are not necessarily the