This section examines the prevalence of reprisals against female trafficking victims from southern Nigeria in particular. Many of these victims fear reprisals against themselves or their family members if they flee sexual exploitation without paying off their debt. However, there is no clear picture of the scale and extent to which victims were actually subjected to reprisals after returning to Nigeria and few concrete cases of reprisals during this reporting period are known. Several sources noted that traffickers’ attitudes towards victims who return to Nigeria without paying their debt had hardened.1109 This resulted in reprisals against family members of victims and/or the retrafficking of returned trafficking victims. No information was available on the prevalence of reprisals against male victims of trafficking.
6.2.1 Fear of supernatural reprisals
Many female trafficking victims from southern Nigeria have a great fear of supernatural reprisals if they flee sexual exploitation in Europe before paying off their debt. Traffickers operating out of this region make most of their victims swear an oath of obedience (a juju oath) under the watchful eye of a voodoo priest before their departure. Victims are afraid that if they break this oath by evading the authority of madames/human traffickers, they will meet with some serious
misfortune.1110 However, the intervention of the Oba (traditional ruler) of Benin1111 in March 2018 seems to have diminished the impact of these spells on trafficking victims from Edo state. Together with 500 voodoo priests, the Oba declared all these juju oaths invalid. Several sources stated that this has had a positive effect on human trafficking victims from Edo state inside and outside Nigeria.1112 However,
1103 Confidential source, 19 November 2020.
1104 Al Jazeera, African footballers stranded around the world with crushed dreams, 26 August 2019; Premium Times, Football agents in Nigeria tasked on trafficking, other vices, 13 November 2019
1105 European Asylum Support Office, Country of Origin Information Report: Nigeria Country Focus, p. 45, June 2017.
1106 Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenhandel, Slachtoffermonitor Mensenhandel 2015-2019, p. 19, 2020; The Children’s Society, Boys Don't Cry: Improving identification and disclosure of sexual exploitation of boys and young men trafficked to the UK, p. 53, 2016. Social workers interviewed about underage male victims of human trafficking in the UK for this report stated that they had had frequent contact with Nigerian boys who had been brought to the UK for a mixture of domestic slavery and sexual exploitation.
1107 Confidential source, 28 October 2020.
1108 Confidential source, 19 November 2020.
1109 De Correspondent, Wie migratie écht wil begrijpen, moet naar de achterblijvers in Afrika kijken, 8 August 2018.
1110 De Correspondent, Vijfhonderd voodoo-priesters en een vloek laten zien: met magie kun je mensenhandel bestrijden, 26 September 2018; The Guardian, Escape: the woman who brought her trafficker to justice, 27 August 2020; Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Country of origin information report Nigeria, p. 65, June 2018.
1111 Benin or Benin City is a city in Edo state in southern Nigeria that serves as the centre of Nigerian human trafficking to Europe. It should not be confused with the African country also named Benin.
1112 De Correspondent, Vijfhonderd voodoo-priesters en een vloek laten zien: met magie kun je mensenhandel bestrijden, 26 September 2018; De Volkskrant, Sarahs Europese droom eindigt in de tippelzone van Turijn, 7 September 2020; Confidential source, 9 October 2020; The Guardian, Escape: the woman who brought her trafficker to justice, 27 August 2020.
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the sphere of influence of the Oba of Benin does not extend beyond the state of Edo, and some sources indicated that traffickers have started recruiting victims1113 and using voodoo priests from outside Benin City/Edo.1114 The number of victims from the states of Delta and Anambra has increased in recent years.1115
6.2.2 Lack of clarity about the prevalence of reprisals against victims in practice
Although there is great fear of reprisals among human trafficking victims, there is less information about the scale on which reprisals (violent or otherwise) occur in practice. The confidential sources interviewed for this country of origin information report also contradicted each other on this point. They broadly distinguished three types of reprisals: deadly/non-deadly violence and threats against returned victims, deadly/non-deadly violence and threats against family members of victims who have returned or are still in Europe, and retrafficking of returned victims. The views of confidential sources differed most on the extent to which victims themselves become victims of deadly/non-deadly violence. However, most sources acknowledged that victims’ families were subject to reprisals during the reporting period. Most sources also recognised the risk of retrafficking, but differed about whether victims were forced or decided of their own accord to travel back to Europe or other destinations with the aim of returning to work in prostitution. The following paragraphs take a closer look at each category of reprisals.
6.2.3 A possible hardening of attitudes on the part of human traffickers: indications of threats and violence against returning victims
In addition to the fact that victims of human trafficking fear the consequences of breaking a juju oath, research conducted with Nigerian victims (in Europe) shows that there is also great fear of the violent practices of the criminal networks/cults that coordinate human trafficking from Nigeria.1116 There is less clarity about the extent to which these groups do actually use violence against female trafficking victims who return to Nigeria without paying their debt. During the reporting period, several sources noted a hardening of traffickers’ attitudes toward trafficking victims who returned without paying off their debts.1117 An article in De Correspondent attributes this to the fact that the traffickers’ earnings model has come under pressure since it has become more difficult to get women to Europe due to the more active role of the Libyan coastguard in combating human trafficking.1118 This means that from a financial point of view it has become more important for traffickers to ensure that women stay in work and pay off their debts, according to this source.
This hardening of traffickers’ attitudes was also referred to by Daniel Atokolo, the head of the NAPTIP office in Lagos, in an interview with Deutsche Welle.1119 Several sources indicate that they believe this development lies behind an increase in violence and threats against victims and their families. A number of sources indicated that they were aware of cases in which returning victims of human trafficking had been threatened.1120 A confidential source indicated that contacts within the Nigerian police had stated that there had been lethal violence against
1113 Reuters, Nigerian sex traffickers fleeing hotspot for new havens, activists warn, 3 July 2019.
1114 De Correspondent, Vijfhonderd voodoo-priesters en een vloek laten zien: met magie kun je mensenhandel bestrijden, 26 September 2018; The Guardian, Escape: the woman who brought her trafficker to justice, 27 August 2020; Confidential source, 5 October 2020.
1115 Confidential source, December 2020.
1116 De Correspondent, Vijfhonderd voodoo-priesters en een vloek laten zien: met magie kun je mensenhandel bestrijden, 26 September 2018; De Volkskrant, Sarahs Europese droom eindigt in de tippelzone van Turijn, 7 September 2020; Confidential source, 9 October 2020; The Guardian, Escape: the woman who brought her trafficker to justice, 27 August 2020.
1117 Confidential source, 10 November 2020; De Correspondent, Wie migratie écht wil begrijpen, moet naar de achterblijvers in Afrika kijken, 8 August 2018;Deutsche Welle, How the 'Nigerian mafia' exploits African women in Europe, 25 December 2019.
1118 De Correspondent, Wie migratie écht wil begrijpen, moet naar de achterblijvers in Afrika kijken, 8 August 2018.
1119 Deutsche Welle, How the 'Nigerian mafia' exploits African women in Europe, 25 December 2019.
1120 De Correspondent, Wie migratie écht wil begrijpen, moet naar de achterblijvers in Afrika kijken, 8 August 2018;
Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
female trafficking victims on their return to Nigeria during the reporting period.1121 However, none of the confidential sources interviewed for this country of origin information report could provide specific details of cases of this type, such as date/location. There were also confidential sources that indicated that they had hardly ever encountered cases of reprisals against victims in daily practice.1122 Traffickers, according to one of these sources, prefer to stay off the radar of the judicial system, and it is more efficient for them to send a new victim to Europe than to use force against a returned victim.1123
Regarding the reasons behind these differing views on the prevalence and nature of reprisals against returned victims, the literature consulted for this report gave the impression that there has historically been a wide range of views in this area.1124 The above analysis of recent sources confirmed that there is still a lack of reliable figures on this phenomenon and that few concrete cases of reprisals are reported in Nigerian media. Some confidential sources indicated that this is the case because female trafficking victims are not a newsworthy topic in southern Nigeria in particular.1125 One of these sources stated that this was also the case because so many people in southern Nigeria are caught up in human trafficking, so that few people want more attention to be paid to this subject in the media.1126 A source working with trafficking victims in Nigeria stated that after experiencing threats or abuse, most victims are afraid to share their stories with the media for fear of further reprisals.1127 Another source indicated that the lack of clarity about whether trafficking victims suffer reprisals is partly due to the fact that Benin City is a dangerous place for women in general. According to this source, it is therefore not always clear whether violence against returning trafficking victims is a reprisal or some other form of violence.1128
6.2.4 Retrafficking
In many cases, threats and violence against victims serve the purpose of forcing women to pay off their debt through sexual exploitation. According to EASO, the main form of reprisal against trafficking victims was retrafficking: forcing victims to return to prostitution in Europe or elsewhere.1129 For traffickers primarily interested in collecting ‘the debt’ that is still outstanding, this is the most efficient measure to take against a ‘disobedient victim’, according to several confidential sources.1130 A confidential source stated that eight or nine out of every ten female trafficking victims who are forcibly repatriated to Edo state will become victims of human trafficking/sexual exploitation again.1131 Another confidential source reported receiving regular calls from victims who, after returning from Italy to Nigeria, had ended up in a situation of sexual exploitation again in another country, such as Israel or Russia.1132 Several online publications also indicated that retrafficking is a common phenomenon.1133 Sources also stated that as it has become harder to bring
1121 Confidential source, 13 November 2020.
1122 Confidential source, 9 October 2020; Confidential source, 19 November 2020.
1123 Confidential source, 9 October 2020.
1124 A 2015 report by the Finnish Immigration Service also included testimonials from Nigerian trafficking experts who believed that the risk of retaliation is slight, and testimonials from other Nigerian experts who believed the risk of retaliation is real. Finnish Immigration Service, Human Trafficking of Nigerian Women to Europe, 2015.
1125 Confidential source, 21 October 2020.
1126 Confidential source, 13 November 2020.
1127 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1128 Confidential source, 12 November 2020.
1129 European Asylum Support Office, Country of Origin Information Report Nigeria: Targeting of Individuals, November 2018.
1130 Confidential source, 9 October 2020; Confidential source, 28 October 2020.
1131 Confidential source, 10 November 2020.
1132 Confidential source, 5 October 2020.
1133 De Correspondent, Wie migratie écht wil begrijpen, moet naar de achterblijvers in Afrika kijken, 8 August 2018;
Human Rights Watch, “You Pray for Death”: Trafficking of Women and Girls in Nigeria, 27 August 2019
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victims to Europe, victims are more likely to be employed in the sex industry in neighbouring countries such as Ghana or Libya, or in Nigeria itself.1134
It was not always clear to what extent victims of retrafficking were driven by violence and threats when they travelled abroad for a second time to end up in the sex industry. Both confidential sources and articles in the media referred to cases in which women, out of financial or other forms of despair/shame at having returned empty-handed, decided to travel to Europe or another destination again with the help of a human trafficker.1135 A source indicated that women who have paid off a large or smaller part of their debt wanted to return to Europe in order to pay off the entire debt and then be able to work for their own account.1136
6.2.5 Reprisals against family members
Various sources consulted for this study indicated that victims’ family members were particularly at risk of being subjected to threats and violence when victims had fled their madame but were still in Europe. 1137 With regard to this category, sources also cited recent concrete examples. In a report on human trafficking in The Guardian, an Italian lawyer specialising in assisting trafficking victims stated that families of several of her clients had been attacked.1138 She also cited an example in which a client’s mother had been murdered by traffickers in Nigeria. A recent French study highlighted the role of cults in organising human trafficking and cited testimonials from three Nigerian trafficking victims (in France) who said their relatives in Nigeria had been threatened and/or abused by cult members.1139 A confidential source knew of two recent cases of violence against family members. In the first case, traffickers in Nigeria had murdered the father of a victim in Italy. In the second case, they set fire to the parental home of another victim who had fled her madame in Italy.1140 Another confidential source said that in 2020 the brother of a trafficking victim living in Denmark was murdered.1141 Finally, a third confidential source was aware of a planned attack against the family of a trafficking victim that had been foiled by police stationed around the family’s home.1142 However, this last source stated that it was relatively rare for families to be subject to reprisals, as they are often involved in the trafficking of their daughters and thus often encourage their daughters to go back to their traffickers/madames after they have fled.1143 Threats through children
There is also evidence that human traffickers kidnapped their victims’ children in order to ensure that they would not flee. An article in InfoMigrants stated that many Nigerian women in Libya are made pregnant by their Libyan and Nigerian guards in order to make it easier to control them once they arrive in Italy. When the women try to ‘rebel’, the guards/traffickers threaten to harm their children.1144 Another source knew of a case in which the child of a human trafficking victim was abducted after she fled her madame in Italy.1145
1134 Confidential source, 28 October 2020; Confidential source, 13 November 2020; The New Humanitarian, Nigerians returned from Europe face stigma and growing hardship, 28 July 2020.
1135 Confidential source, 9 October 2020; Confidential source, 19 November 2020.
1136 Confidential source, 19 November 2020.
1137 Confidential source, 5 October 2020; Confidential source, 10 November 2020; Confidential source, 13 November 2020; Confidential source, 28 October 2020.
1138 The Guardian, Escape: the woman who brought her trafficker to justice, 27 August 2020.
1139 Lavaud-Legendre & Plessard, Groupes cultist et traite des êtres humains du Nigéria vers l’Europe, p. 36, 2019.
1140 Confidential source, 5 October 2020.
1141 Confidential source, 10 November 2020. Confidential source, 19 November 2020.
1142 Confidential source, 9 October 2020.
1143 Confidential source, 9 October 2020; Confidential source, 13 November 2020. Such a situation was also described in an article in Trouw in May 2018: Trouw, Benin City loopt leeg: waarom de vrouwenhandel van Afrika naar Europa niet te stoppen is, 25 May 2018.
1144 InfoMigrants, Tricked, trafficked and sold: How criminal gangs are bringing Nigerian women to Italy, 25 January 2019.
1145 Confidential source, 5 October 2020.
6.2.6 Reprisals against underage and adult male victims of human trafficking
Sources did not provide any information about the risk of reprisals against underage and adult male trafficking victims returning to Nigeria. A source interviewed for this report stated that the risk of reprisals is low for adult Nigerian men returning to Nigeria from Europe, as they often pay people smugglers in advance for their passage.1146 This differs from the situation of female trafficking victims, for whom the traffickers advance the cost of the journey to Europe and who are then expected to repay this debt by working in the sex industry. Another confidential source reported having heard of a few cases where men who had returned from Libya were put under pressure to pay smugglers for the Libya-Europe journey even though they had not made the planned crossing to Europe.1147 However, men did become victims of human trafficking/slavery1148 during the journey, especially in Libya, even though they had actually paid for their journey in advance and thus not made a deal to repay the traffickers the cost of the journey through exploitation/unpaid work. No information was available on the extent to which this category of individuals suffered reprisals on returning to Nigeria.