Nigerian victims of human trafficking drift to Finland, too
In recent years, asylum seekers in Finland have included dozens of Nigerian women who have become victims of human trafficking and ended up as prostitutes in Europe. Consequently, the Country Information Service of the Finnish Immigration Service compiled a report on human trafficking in Nigeria.
“Poverty is the most significant reason that exposes women to human trafficking,” says researcher Tanja Saari. “In a desperate situation, people are more inclined to believe even too-good-to-be-true promises of work as a nanny or hairdresser and becoming wealthy in Europe, and even if they do not fully believe these promises, they may consider the risk worth taking as they have nothing to lose,” Saari says.
According to the report, the majority of victims of human trafficking come from Benin City, the capital of the state of Edo, where people are generally aware of trafficking women to Europe. Practically everyone knows someone involved in human trafficking, either as a victim, a recruiter or an exploiter. Before their departure, the women do not always know the nature of the work awaiting them in Europe.
Juju induces fear and debt binds
Juju is a traditional religion in West Africa and a special characteristic in human trafficking in Nigeria. With the help of juju oaths sworn by the victims, traffickers control their victims. Breaking juju oath would lead to a punishment by spirits, inducing fear.
Many women only find out in the destination country that the journey has incurred a debt of dozens of thousands of euros payable to their “madame”. A madame is a person in charge of the exploitation of the victims in the destination country. The harsh working conditions often come as a surprise to the women. “In Europe, the position of Nigerian prostitutes is extremely weak; they must work on the streets all year round, in all weather conditions and also when ill,” Saari says.
Due to their debt and juju oath, the women do not easily turn to the authorities. Many struggle in intolerable circumstances to get their debt paid. Some escape from Italy, for instance, to other European countries, such as Finland.
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The theme report published now is one of the outcomes of the Suuntaus project. Suuntaus is a country information development project funded by the European Refugee Fund. Four country information researchers are involved in the project. They look for current themes in the interview records of persons who have sought asylum in Finland. Topics for public theme reports, compiled from public sources, have been gathered from more than 300 interview records. Theme reports on Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and stateless persons will be published during spring/summer 2015. The Country Information Service of the Finnish Immigration Service is constantly gathering information on the countries of origin of asylum seekers. The Suuntaus project is part of this work. The information gathered helps the Finnish Immigration Service officials making permit decisions. |
For further information, please contact:
Project Manager Arno Tanner, tel. +358 (0)295 430 431, firstname.lastname@migri.fi
