Life after trafficking.......... A victim’s story in Benin City


Life after trafficking - a victim’s story in Benin City



During our research on human trafficking in Benin City we met Vicky, a 30 year old woman who was trafficked to Europe and lived there for five years. She worked as a prostitute in Italy. Vicky was deported back to Nigeria last year and tried to start a new life in her hometown. We met her at her home; we visited her in the market, where she now owns a little shop. We talked to her about her experiences as a prostitute and her start into a new life without prostitution

From Juju to Jesus
The life of those involved in human trafficking is characterized by secrecy and fear. It is not often that someone who has been there tells his story without inhibition.
Nosa Odiase, a juju priest now a church pastor is such a man who spent over fifteen years in the business of trafficking in persons. He decided to turn away in order to positively affect the younger generation in his community.
We met with pastor Nosa Odiase in his village, Egor, on the outskirts of Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria. He took us through his story and what he today considers to be the best position to be.

The Frankfurt story
The Western German city of Frankfurt am Main is a landscape of extremes : Futuristic skyscrapers huddle right next to the red light district. Thousands of prostitutes ply their trade here, among them many Africans. The police carry out frequent thorough controls - partly to let the human traffickers know that they are not beyond the law. We accompanied officers on the beat in Frankfurt’s sex district.

A Day with an Anti Human Trafficking Investigator
Aderemi Balogun heads the team of investigators of the Nigerian agency against human trafficking (NAPTIP) in Benin City. The city’s the hub of human trafficking in Nigeria. Investigating traffickers is a dangerous business: threats and physical violence are frequent, while the leads to follow are very unreliable. However, he’s determined to go on.
Fear of the Spirits - How Traffickers Exploit Traditional Beliefs
There are many reasons why young African women may become victims of human trafficking. In many cases, poverty and a lack of education are among the root causes. But there is one factor that makes some Nigerians especially vulnerable to intimidation and threats, and it is particularly hard for Westerners to understand. Traditional juju religious belief is strong, its rituals are often secret and bound up with a mystical world view. Women are forced to swear not only to pay their traffickers, but also to protect them from the police. In many cases, they are left in fear that if they betray their tormentors, they will face supernatural retribution. We investigate the link between trafficking and Juju. (Contributors: Kaneng, Vivienne, Heiner, Simon)

Vulnerable villages
Imagine a village so poor that the people are forced to sell their daughters into slavery. It sounds like a horror-story from the Middle Ages – but this is a reality in Nigeria today.
It is estimated that about 50,000 Africans are taken every year to Europe to work as forced labourers. Mostly the victims are women, and mostly they are used for sex.
With about 170 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa – and most Nigerians are poor. On average they have to get along on less than one dollar a day.
No wonder then that many young people dream of the chance to earn money in Europe.
But most cannot afford to pay for the cost of travel.
And that is where the human traffickers come in. Their search for vulnerable young women leads them above all to villages where the people are especially poor and desperate.
Janet Faden and Susanne Bruha report from the Nigerian village of Iguadolor:

Source: Dw-World {Deutsche Welle}