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Nigerian girls forced by older women into sex slavery
by Joseph Ernest September 29, 2010
Newscast Media --Nigerian officials report that young Nigerian girls are being forced to work as prostitutes in neighboring Mali slave camps. Many of the girls in these sex camps are under age, and have often been promised jobs in Europe, only to end up in brothels.
The brothels are run by older Nigerian women who prevent them from leaving and take all their earnings. The Nigerian government said it was working with Malian police to free the girls and help them return to Nigeria. There has been no official comment from the Mali authorities.
Nigeria's National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (Naptip) said officials visited Mali this month to follow up "horrendous reports" from victims, aid workers and clergy in Mali. They said there were hundreds of brothels, each housing up to 200 girls, run by Nigerian "madams" who force them to work against their will and take their earnings.
"We are talking of thousands and thousands of girls," Simon Egede, Executive Secretary of Naptip, told a news conference in Abuja.
"We are talking of certainly between 20,000 and about 40,000," he said, but did not give details of how the figure had been reached.
The trade is centred around the capital Bamako and large cities, but the most notorious brothels are in the mining towns of Kayes and Mopti, where the sex workers live in near slavery conditions. Many were lured with the promise of work in Europe, given fake travel documents and made to swear an oath that they would not tell anyone where they were going. On arrival in Mali they were told they would have to work as prostitutes to pay off their debts. Prostitution is legal in Mali but not if it involves minors.
Naptip said it had also uncovered two major trafficking routes used to transport the women from Nigeria through Benin, Niger or Bukina Faso to Mali.
The ring is ran by older women who skillfully trick younger women into becoming prostitutes, then retain all their earnings. Add Comments>>
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