Threads
HomeMultimediaModern day slavery: 'The girls trust the traffickers more than anyone'

Modern day slavery: ‘The girls trust the traffickers more than anyone’

For nearly three decades, a thriving sex-trafficking industry has been operating between Nigeria and Italy. Can this woman help break the chain?


Thousands of women and girls are being trafficked to Italy from Nigeria, into a life of forced prostitution. 

Abused and desperately vulnerable, they have a champion in Princess Okokon, who was herself trafficked from Nigeria in 1999. 

Okokon fled her captors, and, with her husband, Alberto, set up the NGO Piam Onlus. Together they have helped hundreds of women in Asti and Sicily to escape their traffickers, giving them refuge and support. See how.

This feature was originally published as part of The Guardian’s Global Development project. 

RELATED ARTICLES
MORE FROM AUTHOR