WUNRN
IOM – International
Organization for Migration
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MIGRANT WOMEN MAKING DANGEROUS MEDITERRANEAN BOAT CROSSING – MANY ARE VICTIMS
OF ABUSE & TRAFFICKING
November 7, 2014
- Despite increasingly dangerous sea conditions, irregular migrants are
continuing to across the Mediterranean, bringing the total number of arrivals
in Italy this year to 154,075, according to figures newly released by the
country’s Ministry of the Interior.
The number of
migrants arriving in Italy by sea in the month of October was 15,279, a slight
decrease from the 26,107 who arrived in September. The overall total of
arrivals has now reached just under four times the number of arrivals recorded
during the same period last year (38,882).
Syria remains
the top sending country with 36,351 migrants in 2014, followed by Eritrea
(33,872), Mali (8,899), Nigeria (8,031), Gambia (6,787), Palestine (5,044) and
Somalia (4,965.) The increase in the number of Palestinians was notable fewer
than 1,000 arrived in Italy through the first six months of 2014.
Although October
number represented a 40 per cent drop from the number of arrivals during
September, IOM officials in Rome noted some worrying trends in the flow: among
them, the growing presence of women, many considered potential victims of
trafficking.
In 2014 there
has been an alarming increase in the number of women arriving: 23,735 in 2014
compared to 7,658 in 2013, said IOM Italy Chief of Mission Federico Soda.
particular we have noticed a sharp increase in arrivals of young women from
Nigeria. Over 1,290 Nigerian women have arrived so far this year, a more than
300 per cent increase from the 392 who arrived in the same period during 2013.
IOM has
established under the framework of the Praesidium project, co-financed by the
Italian Ministry of the Interior and the European Commission two
anti-trafficking teams in Sicily and Apulia whose job it is to detect and
identify victims of exploitation.
We have to move
fast. We start to talk to them immediately at the harbour, as soon as they
land, and before they can be approached by those who organized their
journey,said Soda.
According to IOM
counter trafficking specialists, many of the women interviewed confirmed that
they had been sent to Italy as sex workers. In some cases, their statements led
to the arrest of their alleged traffickers. A number of the women also reported
being raped.
According to
Soda, many girls come from the Edo State in Nigeria, where they were told that
finding well-paid work in Italy is relatively easy.
They
soon understood that they had been cheated. During the trip they were
repeatedly raped or forced to prostitute themselves in near slavery condition.
Many ended up in brothels in Libya and were then sent on to Italy by the
traffickers. Many of them had to swear an oath to repay the money for the trip
in a voodoo ceremony, a psychological manipulation that sometimes makes it
difficult to persuade them that they don’t need to pay off the to their
exploiters, he said.