tourism visa is requested only exclusively by women, perhaps the level of attentionto this phenomena could be increased 31 .3.3 Connivance and controlsTo affirm that t<strong>here</strong> is connivance on the part of officials for the granting ofpassports or visas is always difficult and risky, it is particularly complex todiscover if one is faced with a single unfaithful employee or instead if one isdealing with a diffused phenomenon of corruption at the institutional level.As far as the visas are concerned, it can be recalled that some years ago t<strong>here</strong>was a criminal proceeding against two employees of the Italian Embassy in Lagoswho granted with ease, against payment of a sum of money, visas with Turin as adestination.The evidence which follows refers to events which occurred in 1998: “TheEmbassy is his. He goes in the morning and leaves in the afternoon with 20passports. At the airport of Lagos they did not even look at me because everythinghad already been bought” (Interview Victim No.7). After that isolated case, t<strong>here</strong>have been no other judicial cases.Nevertheless, it would be very useful to monitor requesting persons andtypologies of visas issued.However, regarding the passports, investigations have brought about someresults at least on the knowledge of the phenomenon. In various telephonicinterceptions a person from Italy orders, through the interlocutor in Nigeria, apassport, indicating the data that it should contain. In some cases Nigerianpassports sent by private courier have been found 32 .How these documents are procured and with what connivance is difficult tosay. From the interviews with an official of the police, who had the occasion inNigeria to meet some Nigerian officials, we know that it is not possible to issue apassport in Nigeria without the physical presence of the person requesting it:t<strong>here</strong>fore it is obvious that such documents are, at least ideologically, false.In the first investigations undertaken from the declarations of the women andtelephone interceptions, it appeared that some local authorities were corrupted insuch a way as to obtain passports and also certificates of nationality, but so fart<strong>here</strong> has never been a complete report on this involvement.On the basis of the declarations of the victims, in Nigeria t<strong>here</strong> do not seem tobe in existence real counterfeiters who falsify passports because in reality, uponpayment, one can obtain any passport.31On this point see Chapter VII.32On this point see Chapter VII.
“T<strong>here</strong> is no Nigerian passport which is false; it is not a thing that you canmake at home. You pay and they will make it, w<strong>here</strong> they are made. T<strong>here</strong> are nottwo places; you get them w<strong>here</strong> they are made ” (Interview Victim No.9).From some accounts of the girls it seems that t<strong>here</strong> are sometimesintermediaries who manage to obtain the documents from the authorities: “He wentwith me and another two, we went to a fairly big office in Lagos, t<strong>here</strong> were two orthree male persons, that do this business, then they made me a photo, they dideverything, they have contact with the airport, make false passports, all falsebecause in my country they do not respect the law, with money you can do whatyou like, you can also kill someone and nobody cares ” (Interview Victim No.14).The sensation is t<strong>here</strong>fore that in each case t<strong>here</strong> is a certain facility to obtainthe documents, even if it is difficult to gather elements of proof of such so as to besustained in court.The last sore point is the impossibility to make timely controls; t<strong>here</strong> do notexist in effect relationships between the Nigerian authorities and the Italians thatwould permit verifying with certainty and rapidly if the documents are authentic ornot.3.4 The false concept and identityThe victims are not personally concerned with the documents, nor are theyinvolved in any way during their preparation. The only request which is made tothem is to furnish a photograph after which, in a relatively short time, a few weeks,the documents are ready and they can depart.The presence in the passport of their own photograph, even if accompanied byanother name and the personal data which does not correspond to the truth, oftengives the illusion that in some way the document is valid. If this is lateraccompanied by an original visa, the perception of its validity increases.To better understand the origin of this attitude and to take with a sense ofproportion what for us is understood as undoubtedly false, one should bear in mindthe fact that “In Nigeria it doesn’t mean anything if the name is not yours”. Acultural mediator explains: “You can say «I am A.». The Nigerians don’t think thatthat name is false. If you go on the streets and ask «What is your name?» I say «Iam A.», but this girl has other names. I have 8 names. So also do other people.Now I am B., if now other people call me by another name you think that that nameis false, but it is not like this, because in Nigeria when a child is born all the familysits down, and each gives a name, t<strong>here</strong> are African and English names, yourfather will give you a name, your mother, your brothers, uncles, cousins. T<strong>here</strong> arepeople that use all these names. It is not that they invent these names, t<strong>here</strong> is not aNigerian that has one name, if he has only one name I think that this person hasfallen from the sky, he has no family. If you have family you have a lot of names”(Associazione Tampep - Turin).
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TRAFFICKINGOF NIGERIAN GIRLSTO ITAL
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F O R E W O R D1. Objectives and st
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and who have identified the most si
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on the other hand, for those involv
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Case files analysed: Preventive det
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Table 2 - Socio-economic situation
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eal results: to distance herself fr
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of a different culture is very impo
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C H A P T E R V I IC o n s i d e r
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In the case of the girls having mor
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As has been many times noted, the c
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under the profile of the “quality
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person to obtain either relevant re
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Numerous are the criminal juridical
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If the accused claims to not knowin
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sanctions, sometimes, also in prese
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d) Investigative and judiciary co-o
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The reform foresees, under Art. 1,
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which the woman can definitively tu
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witnesses, social operators - agree
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and necessary, therefore, to think
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in many cases they are driven to th
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Melossi, D., (2002), “Le teorie s