US embassy cable - 02ABUJA1327

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ABUJA 001327 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL AND AF/RA 
 
 
DOL FOR ILAB 
 
 
E.O. 19358: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KCRM, KWMN, NI, IT 
SUBJECT:  NIGERIA:  A LOOK AT THE EDO STATE TIP PROBLEM 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified -- Protect Accordingly. 
 
 
1.(SBU) Summary:  A visit to Edo State, the core of 
the trafficking-in-persons (TIP) problem in Nigeria, 
revealed the dimensions of the steep challenge facing 
law enforcement agencies and social service providers. 
Criminality is widespread in Edo and much of the 
economy is fueled by remittances and other money 
generated by commercial sex trafficking.  Attempting 
to make a dent in this problem are a few local NGOs, 
including one started by the State Governor's wife. 
Post will submit separately (to USAID/WID) a proposal 
for prevention and protection projects in the state. 
End Summary. 
 
 
2.(U) RNLEO, USAID's Democracy and Governance Officer, 
and INL FSN visited Benin City, Edo State, April 18-19 
for discussions with state government officials and 
local NGOs  about the commercial sex trafficking 
problem from this state to Europe.  This trip 
coincided with the visit to Lagos and Edo State of 
Italian police, immigration and Ministry of Justice 
officials from Turin and the head of Italy's anti- 
trafficking NGO "TAMPEP." 
 
 
Recent History 
-------------- 
 
 
3.(U) Edo State emerged as the source of African 
prostitutes in Italy in the mid- to late-1980's. 
Thousands of young girls and women from Edo State now 
walk the streets and work the brothels of cities like 
Turin, Milan and Genoa.  Edo residents are unable to 
explain fully the genesis of this phenomenon, but the 
trafficking linkage to Italy is now firm and 
pronounced.  The Nigerian government (GON) estimates 
that 17,000 Nigerian girls, most from Edo State, work 
in Italy under coercive circumstances as prostitutes. 
 
 
4.(U) In late 2001, the Italian government negotiated 
a repatriation agreement with the GON, allowing for 
the efficient repatriation of large numbers of 
Nigerian women and girls (and a few men) found in 
Italy without valid immigration documents.  Most of 
these girls and women arefrom Edo State.  The 
agreement has dramatically increased the number of 
charter flights returning the trafficking victims to 
Nigeria.  Since the beginning of the year, almost 400 
TIP victims have been flown back to Nigeria, compared 
with a total of about 500 repatriated in all of 2001. 
 
 
5.(U) According to the Italian officials visiting 
Benin City, the Italian government also adopted a TIP 
law in 1998 allowing for trafficking victims to remain 
in Italy and eventually obtain citizenship if they 
"denounce" their traffickers or brothel operators, 
i.e. cooperate with police in investigating and 
prosecuting the syndicates behind the trade in women 
for sex. 
 
 
Edo's Criminal Economy 
---------------------- 
 
 
6.(SBU) State officials and NGO workers assert  the 
trafficking business is king in Edo State.  When asked 
to what extent the trafficking business affects the 
state's GDP, one official scoffed, "It IS the state's 
GDP!"  Many claim there is hardly a family in Benin 
City without a relative who is or has been involved in 
the sex trade in Italy.  According to one contact, the 
Western Union office in Benin City is flooded daily 
with transfers of hard currency remittances from 
Italy.  (Comment:  This tracks with detailed 
information recently shown to RNLEO by the Italian 
ambassador to Nigeria depicting huge money flows from 
Italy to banks and Western Union in Benin City.  End 
Comment.) 
 
 
7.(SBU) No one can adequately explain the Edo 
trafficking phenomenon; why and how one state of 
Nigeria has become the dominant source of sex 
trafficking from Nigeria to Italy and other countries 
in Europe is not completely understood.  Nevertheless, 
this trend has become self-sustaining as former 
trafficking victims recruit others to take their place 
or their perceived success in earning hard currency, 
coupled with economic deprivation at home, drives 
others to follow.  Mrs. Iki Igbinedion, the Governor's 
wife, claims the indigenous Bini culture has been 
corrupted; the export of sex workers is not only 
tolerated but flaunted in some instances.  Too many 
parents are proud to display the items purchased with 
the remittances earned by daughters in bonded sexual 
work in Europe.  Some husbands even send their wives 
to work in the brothels of Europe in order to increase 
the household income.  This stands in contrast with 
traditional Bini values that abhor prostitution, she 
asserts. 
 
 
The Code of Silence 
------------------- 
 
 
8.(SBU) According to the police and local NGOs, 
traffickers obtain the silence of girls who sign up 
for what they think will be great economic 
opportunities through the use of  rituals based on 
local traditional religions.  Submitting to these 
rituals performed by "traditional" priests, the girls 
takes oaths not to betray their "sponsors" 
(traffickers) or the brothel operators for whom they 
will work in Italy.  The explicit threat of breaking 
these oaths is punishment of the parents or relatives 
of the girls. 
 
 
9.(SBU) These oaths, coupled with a country-wide 
mistrust of the police and other government 
authorities, form the greatest obstacle to fighting 
the TIP trade effectively.  Despite the new offer of 
immigration amnesty to TIP victims who denounce their 
traffickers and madams, Italian police find few 
Nigerian girls and women willing to testify against 
these criminals.  Similarly, police in Nigeria 
interviewing returned victims find little success in 
building criminal cases, though corruption and a lack 
of commitment also are factors in the lack of law 
enforcement efforts against the well-entrenched trade. 
 
 
10.(SBU) NGOs also face this obstacle.  According to 
NGO workers in Benin City, few returned victims are 
willing to speak out about their ordeals or provide 
valuable first-hand testimony to awareness campaigns. 
Convincing impoverished girls and their families that 
the stories  about easy money in Europe are false has 
been very difficult.  As a means to stop this illicit 
trade, NGOs have launched campaigns using several 
methods, including scare tactics, highlighting the 
dangers of HIV/AIDS,  violence of brothel operators 
and clients, and the risk of being arrested and 
deported without having earned any real money. 
 
 
11.(SBU) Most disheartening, note local observers, is 
the desire of many returned victims to trek back to 
Europe to resume their work as sex workers.  Some 
believe this is a result of the promises made to 
families to earn good money, the oaths taken during 
traditional religious rituals, and ultimately the 
desire to "succeed" as they perceive many before them 
having done.  The lack of economic opportunities in 
Edo State is another "push" factor that adds to the 
perception that commercial sex work is one of the 
limited available options for making money.  Anti-TIP 
efforts by local NGOs and the Governor's wife have 
been met by loud local opposition.  Many see these 
efforts as threatening the economic prosperity of 
families in the community. 
 
 
Shelter Lacking 
--------------- 
 
 
12.(SBU) Local contacts highlighted the problem of 
coping with increasing numbers of trafficking victims 
repatriated from Italy.  Most girls arrive in Lagos, 
are screened quickly by Police or Immigration, and 
released soon thereafter because of the extremely 
limited shelter space at Police and Immigration 
compounds in Lagos.  The Governor's wife was recently 
asked by Police in Lagos to receive and care for 150 
repatriated TIP victims from Edo state but she could 
not provide them with accommodations so they, like 
others arriving en masse, were released.  Many end 
making the trip back to Italy or other destinations in 
Europe. 
 
 
13.(SBU) A visit to the Skills Acquisition Center of 
Idia Renaissance found a well-equipped complex capable 
of training up to 250 girls in four skill groups -- 
computers, fashion design, hair styling, and home 
economics.  This vocational training center set up by 
the Governor's wife offers girls six months of free 
training and targets both returned trafficking victims 
and girls-at-risk.  The center, however, does not have 
accommodations for overnight lodging of trafficking 
victims.  Two buildings recently donated to Idia 
Renaissance are ideal for conversion to hostels for 
trafficking survivors and capable of housing 
comfortably 60 girls.  Mrs. Igbinedion will provide 
Post with a proposal for assistance in refurbishing 
these buildings.  Aside from immediate shelter needs, 
Embassy officers noted a lack of adequate counseling 
for returned trafficking victims. 
 
 
Trafficking or Illegal Immigration? 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
14.(SBU) Most local contacts estimate that 70 percent 
of the girls and women trafficked from Edo State are 
aware they will be working as prostitutes in Europe 
and give their consent.  This characterization tracks 
with Embassy  Officers' many conversations with police 
and TIP victims.  This apparent initial consent of the 
majority of girls leaving Nigeria for European 
brothels leads some to classify this trade as simple 
illegal migration and the girls and women involved as 
co-conspirators in this crime.  Weighing the coercive 
and the consensual aspects of  this large-scale 
movement of females from Nigeria is more complicated 
than assessing the sex trafficking that occurs in 
other parts of the world (where the lack of consent is 
clear-cut).  The trade from Nigeria is engineered by 
organized crime and does indeed involve a degree of 
violence and coercion in both Nigeria and Europe. 
 
 
15.(SBU) Discussion with the Turin officials 
reinforced the trafficking aspect of this migration. 
They describe the violent and coercive circumstance 
under which the trafficked girls work in Italy.  Their 
travel documents -- even if forged -- are taken away, 
as well as their most basic freedoms.  NGOs have also 
documented the use of force in transporting the girls 
along the routes from Nigeria to Europe, oftentimes 
with forged documents via neighboring ECOWAS 
countries.  While traffickers could once use direct 
flights from Lagos to Europe, more vigilant 
immigration screening has preempted these air routes 
and traffickers are forced to smuggle their human 
cargo through West and Central Africa, across the 
Sahara Desert, and finally across the Mediterranean 
Sea. 
 
 
Police vs. Immigration 
---------------------- 
 
 
16.(SBU) Mission Officers were surprised to learn that 
both the Nigerian Immigration Service and the state 
Police Command have set up anti-trafficking units in 
Edo State.  The immigration unit has been operational 
for two months but the police unit was only 
established in April.  Both are benefiting from 
equipment donated by the Italian government for anti- 
trafficking purposes.  Neither unit, however, 
confirmed the level of cooperation that will needed to 
tackle the state's trafficking problem. 
 
 
17.(SBU) During a frank discussion with Mrs. 
Igbinedion and her NGO's staff, one worker stated that 
corrupt Immigration officials have been known to 
facilitate trafficking, though Immigration officials 
present claimed  they are now screening young female 
passport applicants to see if they have valid 
justification to travel to Europe.  One local 
Immigration anti-TIP official, however, showed his 
true colors when, after the visit to the Idia 
Renaissance vocational training center, he solicited 
money from EMBOFFs  to buy beer. 
 
 
Italians Take Hits 
------------------ 
 
 
18.(SBU) A formal April 18 meeting of the US and 
Italian visitors with the Governor's wife and the 
committee of local leaders steering her anti-TIP NGO 
became lively as some Nigerian participants attempted 
to pin responsibility for the trafficking problem on 
the Italian demand for African prostitutes.  This 
criticism was particularly motivated by a statement 
from one of the Italian visitors that prostitution in 
Italy is tolerated and customers are seldom arrested 
or prosecuted, though prostitution is technically 
illegal.  A related complaint was the perceived 
consequences of deporting girls to the shame awaiting 
them in Nigeria (for having failed to earn money for 
their families) after having been subjected to extreme 
hardships in Italy.  The head of Italian NGO "TANPEP" 
responded by highlighting the immigration amnesty 
available to TIP victims willing to cooperate in 
police investigations and the "Turnaround" project of 
her NGO in sheltering, training and rehabilitating 
Nigerian trafficking victims in Italy. 
 
 
Law Enforcement Cooperation Needed 
---------------------------------- 
 
 
19.(SBU) Seeking to balance the Nigerian-Italian 
debate (that Mission officers observed as bystanders) 
one of the Turin police investigators noted the lack 
of law enforcement cooperation between Italy and 
Nigeria. He stated that Italian efforts to investigate 
trafficking crimes in Turin frequently produce details 
on traffickers in Lagos and Edo State but Italian 
authorities are powerless to act on this information. 
He called for a channel of communication to pass 
actionable information on these trafficking crimes. 
 
 
20.(SBU) In a side meeting, the Italian police 
officials stated they only have been able to exchange 
business cards with relevant Nigerian police and 
immigration officials, but still hoped to open up an 
effective channel to exchange criminal evidence on 
trafficking. One Italian police investigator expressed 
concerned to RNLEO over the Nigerian perception that 
Italian police do not arrest or prosecute traffickers 
in Italy but only focus on arresting and deporting 
Nigerian commercial sex workers.  He claimed that he 
and his colleagues arrest, on average, one Nigerian 
trafficker or brothel operator a week.  This action is 
perhaps not recognized in Nigeria because the arrested 
Nigerian traffickers often have legitimate Italian 
residency or citizenship and therefore are not 
deported, but incarcerated in Italy.  RNLEO suggested 
that the Italian government, through its diplomatic 
mission in Nigeria, publicize these enforcement 
actions in Nigeria. 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
 
21.(SBU) Edo state is the center of a lucrative and 
well-entrenched criminal trade that probably has the 
support of many  local officials and local law 
enforcement officers. This is underscored by the fact 
that a former Police commissioner of the state was 
arrested in Conakry last year and extradited to stand 
trial in Lagos for trafficking.  Making progress 
against this criminal trade in Edo State will require 
a much stronger, multi-faceted strategy:  greater 
public outreach efforts, more resources to care for 
and rehabilitate trafficking victims, and much 
stronger law enforcement operations against the 
trafficking syndicates. 
 
 
22.(SBU) The upsurge in Italian repatriations of 
Nigerian TIP victims has highlighted the immediate 
need for short- and long-term shelters for these girls 
and women.  While many Edo State observers call for 
Italy to cease or reduce the level of deportations, 
the immediate establishment of care facilities in Edo 
State to provide housing for the returnees while they 
are trained in marketable vocations is a dire need. 
There is also a need to set up HIV/AIDS screening 
facilities for repatriated girls/women.  The 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) at 
TANPEP's "Turnaround Project" have expressed interest 
in carrying out coordinated repatriation and care 
activities in Italy and Nigeria.  Post's TIP committee 
will submit separately a funding proposal addressing 
Edo State's acute shelter and vocational training 
needs for TIP victims. 
 
 
23.(SBU) The increased deportations of TIP victims are 
clearly not popular in Edo State, but ultimately they 
may serve as a deterrent to future trafficking of 
prospective victims.  It also hits the traffickers 
where it hurts -- cutting into their initial 
investments in smuggling these girls to Europe.  But 
to be effective, this strategy of increased 
deportations must be matched by increased joint 
Italian-Nigerian prosecution of traffickers and better 
care for the victims returned to Nigeria. 
 
 
JETER