On Tuesday, Italian police rounded up four suspected members of a Nigerian mafia-like gang known as Black Ax. The suspects are charged with slavery, human trafficking, kidnapping and recruiting prostitutes. Behind this case lies a vast system of exploitation that stretches across Africa and Europe
Two Nigerian migrants have taken a case against Italy and Libya to a UN Committee. The two women, with the help of a legal rights association in Italy, claim that Italy and Libya failed to protect their human rights as women and left them at risk of trafficking, exploitation and abuse.
A judge in the city of Catania on Italy's island of Sicily has sentenced 11 Nigerian nationals to a total of 136 years in prison for the international trafficking of young women and girls from their home country to Italy, where they enslaved them and forced them to engage in prostitution.
A Nigerian couple heading to Europe via Libya was separated and forced to suffer at the hands of ruthless smugglers. Thanks to a safe house supported by the UN and the medical charity MSF, the two were eventually reunited.
In Italy, thousands of Nigerian women are being forced into prostitution. The Nigerian mafia is suspected of being behind it. Insiders warn of the dangers of this 'new mafia' – with connections to Italian organized crime gangs.
A German court has charged a nun €500 for assisting Nigerian women threatened with deportation from Germany. The two women reportedly fled from forced prostitution in Italy. Different groups criticized the court order and called for a decriminalization of church asylum.
Increasing numbers of Nigerian women are being trafficked into prostitution in Burkina Faso’s gold mining camps, an investigation has revealed. Lured by traffickers who promise them jobs, they end up with huge debts and no way out.
The economic repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis have forced many irregular migrants from Ethiopia to return home, where they are faced with destitution on a daily basis. Some turn to sex work as their only option to rise out of abject poverty. Others resort to prostitution to finance their next migration.
Police in northern Italy have arrested a woman who recruited young Nigerian women into forced prostitution. The woman has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.
Italian authorities announced Wednesday that they had arrested two 'madams' and put 10 other people of African origins under investigation for the incitement to prostitution of 15 young Nigerian women who had arrived in Sicily on migrant boats and were forced to sell sex.
Catania police have arrested ten alleged members of a criminal group suspected of trafficking and sexually exploiting young Nigerian women. The operation called 'Promise Land' led to the arrest of the suspected human traffickers, investigative sources said.
An order for pretrial custody has been issued for two Nigerian women residing in Italy. They are accused of recruiting women from Nigeria, including minors, and forcing them into prostitution in Ferrara, both on the street and in apartments. One of the women was arrested, but the other is still being sought by police.