Human Trafficking Around the World (26 page)

PART V

Conflicting Agendas

In Italy the conflict has resulted in a focus on the illegal status of a person, not on whether he or she is a victim of human trafficking. Illegal migrants commonly face fines and expedited deportation without proper screening to determine whether they are in fact trafficking victims. This state of affairs not only allows traffickers to evade culpability; it also creates a setting in which victims are denied proper treatment and services and are returned to nations where they may face retribution or re-trafficking. The Italian government, often commended on its victim-centric focus, has approved a security package that includes the option to deport prostitutes. Prostitution and human trafficking are not synonymous, but the uniform deportation of street prostitutes means that potential victims are not screened before deportation. The policy also treats potential victims as criminals and, by deporting them, places these persons in a position where they are at risk of re-trafficking and potential retribution by traffickers. To decrease the number of illegal immigrants in Italy, the government made an agreement with Libya that permits Italy to return and reroute boat migrants to Libya. These persons are not screened for signs of human trafficking prior to return
.

The French government has also taken measures that focus on immigration to the detriment of its anti-trafficking agenda. One population that is particularly vulnerable to human trafficking in France, and elsewhere in Europe, is the Roma ethnic group. In August 2010 the government of France began to deport Roma persons, and though, after some controversy, this was eventually stopped, it is reported that Roma continue to face discrimination. Another problematic policy issue is the transit zones
(zone d’attente)
that allow the government to treat persons physically in France as though they are outside the nation. The result is that those detained in the zones have restricted rights and face rapid deportation. Among those adversely affected by the policy are unaccompanied child trafficking victims. Border police lack screening procedures to adequately identify victims and have a history of immediately deporting these children. There are even instances where the border police have allowed traffickers to visit their child victims in detention. The zones facilitate instances of human trafficking by allowing the transport of victims to their destination or transit nation to continue without question
.

The European Court of Human Rights, which ensures compliance with EU law and rules on the interpretation and application of the treaties that establish the EU, held in the 2010 case of
Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia
that member nations of the European Convention on Human Rights, such as France and Italy, must provide safeguards to aid and protect potential victims of human trafficking. The court held that such safeguards include a state’s immigration rules, which must address relevant concerns relating to tolerance, facilitation, or encouragement of trafficking. The anti-immigration measures by Italy and France hinder each step of the anti-trafficking process. By deporting potential victims and marginalized persons, these nations prevent not only the proper identification of victims, but also their access to proper treatment and services, and their right to be a part, if they wish, of the prosecutorial process against their traffickers
.

CHAPTER 10

Italy

Here I found true hell. A world of daily violence perpetrated by men, and by other women, and also by our own families who pretend they’re not aware, and take their part of money.

—ISOKE AIKPITANYI, SEX-TRAFFICKING VICTIM

It is estimated that roughly 40,000 people are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation in Italy. Trafficking cases are categorized under a variety of laws, most commonly Articles 600, 601, and 602 of the Penal Code, but determining the scope of labor versus sex trafficking is difficult as the current collection and distribution of comprehensive law enforcement data does not separate forced labor from forced prostitution convictions (UNODC, 2009a, 2009b; U.S. Department of State, 2012a).

There is a conflict between Italy’s agenda to keep out immigrants and its effort to properly aid trafficking victims. Until this conflict is resolved, foreign victims will continue to lack access to the services to which they are entitled; face arrest and deportation without a thorough investigation of whether they are trafficking victims; and be returned to their country of origin, where they may be vulnerable to retribution from their trafficker(s).

ITALY AS A PRIMARY DESTINATION AND AS A TRANSIT NATION

Italy is both a destination and a transit nation for human trafficking. Women and children are trafficked into Italy from Albania, Bulgaria, China, the Middle East, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, North and East Africa, Romania, Russia, South America, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan for forced prostitution. Persons from Albania, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, and Romania face forced labor, mostly in the agricultural sector in the south but also in sweatshops throughout the nation. Victims identified by law enforcement between 2003 and 2007 were primarily foreigners. Nations of origin were Romania (68.5 percent), Nigeria (7.5 percent), Thailand (5.9 percent), Albania (4.4 percent), and Brazil (3.7 percent) (UNODC, 2009a; U.S. Department of State, 2010a).

Children are particularly vulnerable to child labor and other forms of trafficking, especially those who are unaccompanied. Experts estimate that there are about 24,000 unaccompanied minors in Italy. The law prohibits employment of children under the age of 15 (with some exceptions) and places restrictions on employment in unhealthy or hazardous occupations for girls under the age of 21 and boys under the age of 18. The Italian government appears to sufficiently enforce the formal economy, but enforcement of the informal economy presents a challenge. Child laborers from China, the Philippines, and North Africa, ages 15–18, work primarily in the service and manufacturing sectors. Most arrive with their parents, but some are unaccompanied (U.S. Department of State, 2010b). Children are also believed to be a vulnerable population for sexual exploitation and forced begging. The Ministry of Interior estimates that children make up 20 percent of the total trafficking and smuggling victims from Romania. Of that 20 percent, the ministry estimates that 75 percent are engaged in prostitution. One example is a Romanian girl trafficked under the promise of a caretaker job in Sicily. Instead, the traffickers—one Italian and three Romanians—repeatedly raped and abused her, took her passport, isolated her, and forced her to prostitute (U.S. Department of State, 2010b). In June 2010 Italian and Romanian authorities dismantled a large syndicate that trafficked more than 150 women, including minors, from Romania to Monza and Milan as well as other Italian cities for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation. The 57-person trafficking ring was made up primarily of Romanians but also included several Italians, one Albanian, and one Egyptian. The majority, if not all, of the arrests took place in Romania (AFP, 2010).

Of concern is the recent increase in Nigerian women and girls who are trafficked to Italy for forced prostitution. After the United Kingdom, Italy is host to the largest number of Nigerians in Europe. Experts believe that the majority of 10,000 Nigerian women and girls engaged in prostitution in Italy are trafficking victims (Germano, 2001; IOM, 2006; Aminu, 2010). In the 1980s a demand for low-skill labor in the agricultural and services sectors in Italy caused an influx of Nigerian workers. The Nigerian women who came to work in the sex industry during this time were probably not trafficking victims, but in the 1990s the increased challenges of migrating and settling in Europe created a ripe opportunity for human traffickers. Persons migrating from Nigeria to Italy were promised legitimate employment and charged high fees by alleged recruiters and/or smugglers. Upon arrival they were forced to prostitute in order to repay their debt (Carling, 2005).

Jørgen Carling of the International Peace Research Institute says there is a systematic pattern in human trafficking from Nigeria to Italy. First, family and friends often put the victim in touch with a smuggler. The smuggler then puts the victim in contact with a madam/sponsor who finances the travel. Costs range between $500 and $2,000 for the necessary documents and between $8,000 and $12,000 for travel expenses, though victims are typically charged much higher fees amounting to somewhere between $40,000 and $100,000. It is these charges that place the victims in debt bondage (Carling, 2005). The victim then enters into an emigration pact with the sponsor that obligates the victim to repay the sponsor in exchange for safe passage to Europe. This agreement is affirmed by a traditional ceremony that in effect establishes a contract not only with the sponsor, but also with the local priest and the victim’s community. Increasingly, victims and their families enter into a formal agreement with the sponsor and even use family assets as security (Carling, 2005). Some of the women do not know that they will be working in the Italian sex industry. Others are aware that they will be prostituted but are unaware of the conditions they will face upon arrival. The women are transported to Europe via air, land, or through the Sahara by smugglers. Those who are transported by land are often raped and forced to have sex with border officials. Upon arrival in Italy, the women often live and work under the control of a Nigerian madam and a male assistant. The victims are often indentured—working between one and three years to pay off their debt. They frequently are forced to work as low-wage street prostitutes in the suburbs or along intercity highways (Carling, 2005, 2006).

One case of human trafficking from Niger to Italy is that of Isoke Aikpitanyi, a woman from Benin City, Nigeria, who accepted a job in London. Instead she was sold to a criminal group that sent her to Turin, Italy, where she faced debt bondage and was forced to prostitute in order to pay the $42,000 that she “owed” traffickers. Aikpitanyi was beaten and raped and in one instance was nearly stabbed to death (Povoledo, 2007; Zaccaro, 2009). “Here I found true hell,” Aikpitanyi told the Inter Press Service. “A world of daily violence perpetrated by men, and by other women, and also by our own families who pretend they’re not aware, and take their part of money” (Zaccaro, 2009). Fortunately, Aikpitanyi was able to escape her trafficking scenario. Today she is an advocate for trafficked persons and coauthor of the book
Le ragazze di Benin
(The Girls in Benin City). “I made a promise with myself that I would help them [other victims] as a sort of therapy to heal a wound I know will never heal,” Aikpitanyi told the
New York Times
. “Sometimes all they need is someone to listen” (Povoledo, 2007).

Persons are also trafficked to Italy for forced labor. Some of the primary source nations are Albania, Bangladesh, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, and Senegal. Of 291 forced-labor victims who received assistance from NGOs between 2005 and 2009, the top countries of origin were Egypt, India, Morocco, and Romania. Seventy-one percent of the victims were male, and more than half went to Italy voluntarily. Sixty-seven percent of female forced-labor victims and 48 percent of male forced-labor victims received deceptive employment offers; 25 percent worked in the construction industry, 17 percent worked as caregivers, and 14 percent worked in the agricultural sector. In March 2008 a Chinese entrepreneur was charged with abetting illegal immigration and exploiting 47 Chinese victims, including 6 minors and 2 pregnant women working and living in a sweatshop near Reggio Emilia. In May 2010 police arrested the Chinese owner of a textile factory near Perugia and charged him with exploiting 15 Chinese illegal laborers. The laborers were working and living in poor conditions at the textile factory. According to one NGO, 90 percent of foreign seasonal workers are unregistered and two-thirds are in the country illegally, and thus vulnerable to human trafficking (U.S. Department of State, 2010a, 2010b, 2011b, 2012b). Italian police reported identifying 410 victims of labor exploitation in 2009 and 640 victims in 2010 (U.S. Department of State, 2011a). In 2009 labor inspectors discovered 98,400 unregistered workers working in the agricultural sector. In fact 79.5 percent of the 100,600 inspected farms employed unregistered workers. Unregistered workers are extremely vulnerable to human trafficking, typically in the form of forced labor and debt bondage (U. S. Department of State, 2010b).

In January 2010, race riots brought to public view the labor exploitations of African immigrants, particularly in Italy’s agricultural sector. Two immigrants were injured when white youths fired air rifles at a group of farm workers in Rosarno. “Those guys were firing at us as if it was a fairground,” a worker said. “They were laughing, I was screaming, other cars were passing by, but nobody stopped.” In the ensuing riot the laborers smashed cars with bricks. Fifteen farm laborers were arrested and 19 were injured. The next day more than 2,000 Africans went to the town center to demonstrate against the shootings and their living and working conditions. They chanted, “We are not animals.” It is difficult to know exactly how many migrant workers are employed in the Calabria region of Rosarno, but as of 2007 the Italian General Confederation of Labor estimated the number at roughly 26,400. Over 19,400 of the workers did not have permits to be in Italy, and thus were susceptible to exploitation. They earned $28 per day for 9-hour days but were forced to hand over a quarter of what they earned to the Ndrangheta, a large crime organization in Italy (Day, 2010).