arms), tortured in many different forms 44 , if the rules are broken, or t<strong>here</strong> isincorrect behaviour: to have hidden part of the money earned, to be late talking to aclient, etc. In the major number of cases, however, the means of expression forcompulsion are more frequently subtle and shifty: it is not rare that on the first slip,the woman is pardoned and encouraged to earn more or she is “instructed” again onhow she should work and only later do the sanctions start, to underline the fact thatthe madam does not want to punish, but is partly forced to by the continuednegligence of the woman.Violence may arrive to high levels: even if not being a means of dailymanagement of exploitation, t<strong>here</strong> are numerous cases of violence, very cruel,often used as a warning to the others (for example, burning the body of a womanwith an iron and showing the burns to avoid any rebellion).In these last cases it is never the madam herself: the madam manages, with thecollaboration of some men (according to the tales of the victims, even Moroccansand Italians are paid to go and hit and frighten the woman), the daily violence “ofordinary administration”, but when it is needed to raise the profile specific Nigerianfigures intervene, who have the role of “hitters”. These enter on the scene on theorders of the madam, when the violence must go beyond the ordinary. Often thevictims are petrified with terror of some of the male figures noted in different localcontexts.These men are presented normally as friends or at least family friends, but the“hitter” is hardly ever a “man of the madam” who in general continues to have amarginal role and does not have a more violent behaviour.The threat does not cease with giving up prostitution or with complaints :numerous are the testimonies of victims who, under ex art.18 d.lgs. 286/1998, meetpeople near the madam or the madam herself and who are reminded of the debtpayment and threaten “retaliations” in case of the lack of respect for the pact.Sometimes the threats are pushed, silently, even to court: “ Even in the course of thedebate t<strong>here</strong> was a woman who could not say...In the preliminary investigationsshe told us she had been exploited, threatened, that the family had been threatened.However, during the debate she denied everything; following this I received aletter personally addressed to me which said that in the court t<strong>here</strong> were twoNigerians present - that t<strong>here</strong>fore they knew about the case - and she could not sayanything because they had already gone to the house of her mother and sister, andif she had spoken up they would have died ” (Questura of Udine).Numerous are the replies about the violence perpetrated on the families. On theone hand, to corroborate what the victims declare, t<strong>here</strong> are the declarations of thewomen that have decided to denounce the exploitation as well as the telephoneintercepts. On the other hand, in some cases, it has been possible to obtain realdocumentary proof (for example photographs which show scared family members),indicative of how real the threats to the families are. It should be noted that oftenthe threats are activated immediately after the rebellion of the woman, to44For example forcing the women to remain naked on their knees for hours until the moment to return towork, obliging the woman to remain immobile for hours holding very heavy objects on her head, pouringsaucepans of boiling water on the legs, hitting them with electric cables, hitting them with a stick, bitingthem.
demonstrate how close the links of the organisation are with those in Nigeria whocan bring about the retaliation.Following such violence often the families invite the victims to respect the pact,to honour the debt for fear that the retaliation on them increases, something that caneffectively happen, as cases show in which the level of physical violence increasedand was accompanied by other actions, such as destroying the house of the victim.The victims have also talked about periods of detention in prison suffered bythe family, following the complaints made by them and following the non paymentof the due sum, due to the contract underwritten through a notary or publicofficial 45 which would appear effectively to be legally valid or at least useable as ameans of pressure by those who can count on support and connivance in legalinstitutions or the police.The direct violence on the families opens unresolved problems: if in fact, thevictim in Italy can obtain help and protection thanks to programmes of socialprotection ex art.18 d.lgs. 286/1998, the families in Nigeria are without anyguarantee. In abstract, t<strong>here</strong> exists the possibility to apply the norms on thecollaborators of justice 46 , but it must involve a situation so serious as to justify itsapplication 47 . In abstract the possibility exists of taking advantage of the procedureto have the families join them, but in this case either a preferential channel isactivated or one must wait for the duration of the bureaucratic procedures, givingdue account also to the restrictive modifications introduced by Law 189/2002 - theso-called Bossi-Fini. 48From the elements collected one can t<strong>here</strong>fore affirm that we are not only facedwith an “affair between women” of limited criminal relevance, but a capillarynetwork, well structured, possessing a widely spread control system which poses aseries of questions on the character of the criminal organisation, on themanagement of the proceeds of the activity of exploitation of prostitution, on thelinks with other illicit trade carried out by Nigerian subjects and, not last, on theefficacy of the contrasting action undertaken until now.45Little is known about the person before whom these contracts are signed; one could talk about a“notary” because from the declarations of the victims it appears that it is an act legally signed in front ofsomeone endowed with certification powers.46Obviously with not a few difficulties if the family is still in Nigeria.47This is law 15 March 1991, No. 82 as modified by law 13 February 2001 No. 45 which has extendedthe measures of protection also to the witnesses of justice (see in particular Item II and IIb). For carefuldisheartenment see: Bernasconi (2002, page 75); for the analysis of the original regulation and asystematic picture: Bernasconi (1995).48Reference is made to the modifications introduced to Art. 29 of d.lgs 286/1998 and in particular thecancellation of the possibility of the joining of relatives within the third grade with inability to work, andthe limitations for the parents who are free to join “if they do not have other children in the originatingcountry or that of departure” or in the case of “parents above 65 years old, as long as the other childrenare unable to sustain them for serious health reasons”. On this point, see also the Chapter VII.
- Page 1:
TRAFFICKINGOF NIGERIAN GIRLSTO ITAL
- Page 5 and 6:
F O R E W O R D1. Objectives and st
- Page 7 and 8:
and who have identified the most si
- Page 9 and 10:
on the other hand, for those involv
- Page 11:
Case files analysed: Preventive det
- Page 15 and 16:
Table 2 - Socio-economic situation
- Page 17 and 18:
Table 3 - Nigerian citizens regular
- Page 19 and 20:
Table 5 - Social protection permiss
- Page 21 and 22:
Table 7 - Number of persons charged
- Page 23 and 24:
Table 8 - Detainee population sub-d
- Page 25 and 26:
and the United States enables this
- Page 27 and 28:
C H A P T E R IW a y s a n d p h a
- Page 29 and 30:
Figure No.2 - Edo State.It is not c
- Page 31 and 32:
Nigeria. From 1996 in Benin City an
- Page 33 and 34:
In this variegated framework, the d
- Page 36:
“Benin City is one of those State
- Page 39 and 40: Various privileged witnesses of the
- Page 41 and 42: In the first years of the traffic o
- Page 43 and 44: pay considerable sums for lodging,
- Page 45 and 46: The routesWe find at least three ty
- Page 47 and 48: Figure No.5 - Trafficking routes th
- Page 49 and 50: The journey overland through Africa
- Page 51 and 52: new dispositions and contacts to co
- Page 53 and 54: Then he sends her in a taxi to the
- Page 55 and 56: T. remains in this house for 21 day
- Page 57 and 58: detainees go towards the refectory,
- Page 59 and 60: At this point the organisation esco
- Page 61 and 62: was accepted by the Ivory Coast pol
- Page 63 and 64: B.E. «Yes, I was given a Ghanaian
- Page 65 and 66: Now the documents are “hired”:
- Page 67 and 68: It is understood however that the v
- Page 69 and 70: “There is no Nigerian passport wh
- Page 72 and 73: C H A P T E R I VL i v i n g a n d
- Page 74 and 75: have no shop and then there is no p
- Page 76 and 77: The cost to manage the house and th
- Page 78 and 79: mine since a long time, he can’t
- Page 80 and 81: A feminine managementIn analysing t
- Page 82 and 83: “There are many pimps that when y
- Page 84 and 85: The control of movementThe fact tha
- Page 86 and 87: Physical punishments can be made by
- Page 88 and 89: Control between psychological subje
- Page 92 and 93: C H A P T E R VT h e o r g a n i s
- Page 94 and 95: Each penal procedure on the subject
- Page 96 and 97: Often it is the same madam who move
- Page 98 and 99: Even in numerous recent criminal pr
- Page 100 and 101: work arrangements (…) persons tha
- Page 102 and 103: man all the money she had in the ho
- Page 104 and 105: in the plates and everything and th
- Page 106 and 107: exploitation) has reached an amount
- Page 108 and 109: C H A P T E R V IT h e e n d o f t
- Page 110 and 111: A: «You have to bring me a present
- Page 112 and 113: Often the family is however not abl
- Page 114 and 115: the different evaluations of the as
- Page 116 and 117: The discussions on the possibility
- Page 118 and 119: eal results: to distance herself fr
- Page 120 and 121: of a different culture is very impo
- Page 122 and 123: C H A P T E R V I IC o n s i d e r
- Page 124 and 125: In the case of the girls having mor
- Page 126 and 127: As has been many times noted, the c
- Page 128 and 129: under the profile of the “quality
- Page 130 and 131: person to obtain either relevant re
- Page 132 and 133: Numerous are the criminal juridical
- Page 134 and 135: If the accused claims to not knowin
- Page 136 and 137: sanctions, sometimes, also in prese
- Page 138 and 139: d) Investigative and judiciary co-o
- Page 140 and 141:
The reform foresees, under Art. 1,
- Page 142 and 143:
which the woman can definitively tu
- Page 144 and 145:
witnesses, social operators - agree
- Page 146:
and necessary, therefore, to think
- Page 149 and 150:
in many cases they are driven to th
- Page 151 and 152:
Melossi, D., (2002), “Le teorie s