IOM warns of steep rise in women trafficked from Nigeria to Italy

Rome - There has been an alarming rise in the
number of girls and women trafficked from
Nigeria to Italy this year, the International
Organization of Migration warned on Friday.
Citing Italian government figures, the IOM said
4,371 Nigerian girls and women had arrived by
sea since January.
"Over the past few months we have observed
an exponential rise in sea arrivals of African
women, mainly from Nigeria," IOM's Federico
Soda said in a statement.
Soda said about 80 percent of these women
and girls were victims of human trafficking.
He said many of them were from Edo state in
southeastern Nigeria, adding: "they are
subjected to voodoo ceremonies or rites
involving psychological blackmail to convince
them that any attempts to flee or to rise up
against the traffickers could have
repercussions for their families."
IOM called upon Italy to open more reception
centres for victims and to quickly draw up a
national plan to help trafficking.
NGOs say many of the women are promised
non-existent jobs in Europe and then savagely
beaten and even raped during the journey to
force them into submission and prepare them
for the sex trade in Italy and other European
countries.
- AFP