New York, US (PANA) – The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said an unknown number of Nigerian women who have risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy have become sex slaves.
An IOM statement circulated in New York on Saturday said the women, who are mainly from Nigeria’s southern Edo State, were promised work as nurses and hairdressers on arrival in Europe but were immediately trafficked into the sex trade.
Many were also transferred to brothels in Libya where they were forced to pay off their transit fees.
The statement issued by IOM’s spokesperson Joel Millman noted that the agency’s mission went to Italy recently to find out about the migrants who have arrived there.
“The most notable fact that the mission wanted to point out was that quite a lot are from Nigeria, almost 1,300 this year compared to just under 400 this time last year.
“According to the IOM teams that are debriefing them when they arrive at the ports in Italy, many are complaining of being raped or trafficked as sex workers during their journey,” he said,
The spokesperson added that Nigerians are part of what IOM described as an “alarming” increase of more than 23,700 women who crossed from Africa to Italy this year compared to around 7,600 in 2013.
Photo: Paolo Patrizi
