World day against human trafficking
It is a deadly attack on the rights, safety and dignity of children, women and men
In recent days Save the Children has launched the report “Small invisible slaves on trafficking and exploitation”, which shows that 1 in 4 victims in Europe is underage and that in Italy young Ivorian girls at high risk and mother victims with children often used as objects of blackmail by exploiters are on the rise.
(Source: savethechildren.it).
Image:www.savethechildren.it
The report profiles the groups of women and minors most exposed to trafficking and exploitation, starting with the cases of victims assisted by the anti-trafficking system, which mainly includes very young women or minors of Nigerian origin, exploited in the prostitution circuit.
“The phenomenon concerns 4.6 per cent of the 130 women and girls with minor children (161) who are assisted by the Italian anti-trafficking system as at 8 June 2022 and who are on the rise, twice victims of exploitation, abuse and often extreme blackmail that take advantage of their condition as particularly vulnerable mothers. In 45.4 per cent of cases they are between 18 and 25 years old, but there are also those who are less than 17”.
Image: www.cooperativaeco.it
Those who, like us at the Good Shepherd, have always been involved in the fight against sexual and labour exploitation, are strongly challenged by the Save the Children report, especially since it also signals the emergency of re-trafficking, the relapse into the exploitation system after leaving the anti-trafficking protection system.
“The economic crisis, the excessive bureaucracy that characterises integration pathways and the marginality in which they live, often in ghettos or degraded suburbs, favour the victims’ relapse into the same or other forms of exploitation, with a devastating impact on their personal life project already steeped in disappointment, failure and mistrust in another possible life.”
The challenge for us operators, sisters and lay people in the European regions, is to succeed in activating, during the reception period, a meaningful relationship with the guests in order to continue to be a point of reference to whom they can turn, especially in situations of high risk of re-trafficking or violence for the girls. Empowerment paths, although necessary, do not solve a structural problem: the condition of marginality and social exclusion.
“Even when they manage to gain economic independence and find a home to live in, the low social inclusion and hostile environment remains a difficult open question.”
THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO ACT IN AN INCLUSIVE
MANNER WITH ALL SOCIAL ACTORS,
TRAFFICKED PERSONS, INSTITUTIONS
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS AND CITIZENSHIP.
