Human trafficking: 1,863 Nigerian women have become prostitutes in Russia – Report

The United States 2019 Trafficking in Persons report has revealed that 1,863 Nigerian women are currently in Russia being forced into sex work by their traffickers.

The report indicates that the majority of these were taken into the country during the 2018 World Cup in Russia under the pretext of finding jobs, but later exploited for sex work.

The 2019 TIP report, which presented a country-by-country situation report on human trafficking, said the Nigerian government failed to convict complicit government officials despite reports of officials committing a variety of trafficking offences each year.

The US report partly read, “For the fifth consecutive year, the government did not convict any complicit government officials despite consistent reports of government officials committing a variety of trafficking offences each year. The government did not investigate, prosecute, or hold accountable for any military or Civilian Joint Task Force members for exploiting Internally Displaced Persons in sex trafficking or past recruitment and use of child soldiers.

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“The government also identified fewer trafficking victims and did not fully disburse the budget allocated to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.

“Authorities identified Nigerian trafficking victims in at least 34 countries in four regions during the reporting period. Nigerian women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking within Nigeria and throughout Europe, including in Italy, Spain, Austria, and Russia.

“Following relaxed visa requirements for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, traffickers fraudulently recruited Nigerian women for jobs in Russia and later exploited them in sex trafficking; as of early 2019, 1,863 Nigerians remained in Russia without travel documents.”

The US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, in the report summary, said traffickers robbed a “staggering 24.9 million people of their freedom and basic human dignity which is roughly three times the population of New York City.”