By PRFSU Writers 2023-2024 
By: Autumn Parlatore
Photo Credit: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Four alleged members of the Black Axe organization were arrested for sex trafficking after a survivor’s report in Palermo and Taranto. The woman claimed to be bound to her trafficker through traditional juju, releasing control of her spirit to her captor. This survivor’s experience was not unlike others, as Italy is a hub for trafficking networks to exploit foreign victims and domestic victims. Sex trafficking in Southern Italy is a prevalent issue as Italy has failed to “meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” mixed migration flows, homelessness, and prostitution. Additionally, trafficking in Southern Italy is due to increased levels of prostitution, and the geographical advantage of the Italian mafia and sex trafficking organizations.
The Italian Familial Structure Linked to Domestic Violence and Homelessness
To begin to understand sex trafficking in Southern Italy, it is important to understand the history of Italian familial structures and the various conditions that permit the trafficking of women. The Italian Constitution defines family as “a natural society founded on marriage.” Graziella Bertocchi and Monica Bozzano (2016) illustrate in their statistical research that women in Southern provinces often get married at a younger age than women in Central and Northern provinces. Historically, southern provinces adhered to the concept of a patriarchal household. This claim is supported by the role of women in households.
Carol Bonomo Albright, Editor and Chief of the Italian Americana and former Harvard professor, states that in the past, “At least nominally [the husband] was considered to be the supreme authority over the wife, children, unmarried sisters, and younger brothers. He was respected, feared, and revered.” Subsequently, the wife was to pay the husband the proper respect and “present a clean house, orderly children, a hot dinner, and clean clothes.” These conditions, as well as the budding continental outbreak of fascism during the late 1800s, eventually drove women’s employment rates down to 18.35% in 1931.
Although the Italian women’s rights movement has made great strides towards its goals as a progressive community, “2.3 m [million] of women cannot work due to family reasons, 40% of them have a high school education or a university degree”. A study conducted by Gebremeskel Tukue Gebrewahd, Gebreamlak Gebremedhn Gebremeskel, and Degena Bahrey Tadesse concludes women are more likely to experience intimate partner related crime if they are housewives. In 2021, a national gender violence and stalking helpline recorded that of 3,635 cases, 3,114 occurred in the victim’s household. The European Federation of National Organizations working with the Homeless has also reported an increase in women and children homeless due to domestic violence. The increase in homelessness is consistent with statistics presented by a Polaris survey, stating that “64 percent of survivor respondents reported being homeless or experiencing unstable housing when they were recruited into their situation.”
Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in Southern Italy
There is a rich history of prostitution in Italy. Originally, the Italian government regulated prostitution by the Cavour Law of 1860. “The law required all prostitutes to register with the police, live in licensed brothels, undergo biweekly health examinations, and be treated in a special hospital if they became infected with venereal disease.” These actions were intended to protect women from venereal disease and human trafficking due to their license with the police, however, the law also restricted these women’s freedoms.
Now, in 2023, “of an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 individuals involved in commercial sex on the streets, NGOs (such as Polaris) reported approximately 60 percent are trafficking victims or at risk of trafficking and between 5 and 8 percent are children.” A survey conducted in Tehran, Iran, states that some of the reasons one may dedicate themselves to prostitution can include family breakdowns, seeking revenge for the husband’s infidelity, failure to meet sexual needs in the family, addiction, poverty, lack of proper context for marriage (which is the lack of assumed behaviors one must adopt to maintain a healthy marriage), the dominance of materialistic values over moral values, daydreaming and aspiring to wealth, the bitter experience of first sexual intercourse, unwanted sex work, excessive demand for sex, problematic social learning, insecurity in occupational environments, lack of talents and job skills, failure to deal with issues effectively, low self-esteem; excessive attachment, diversity-seeking, and narcissism.
Although trafficking victims from Iran do not frequently travel through Italian borders, other third-world countries with lower human development indexes are subject to these causes of prostitution, which may lead to their future trafficking to Italy. For example, the Human Development index in Nigeria is 0.535, 0.239 points below Iran.
The Italian Mafia and Trafficking Networks in Southern Italy
Italy’s geographical position allows trafficking organizations to import people by vessel without authority interference. Many organizations, including the Italian mafia, take advantage of weak Southern Italian border security. Some countries trafficking networks may import women from include “Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Albania, and Ukraine, but also from Russia, South America, North, and East Africa, [and] China.”
The Italian Mafia
The Italian mafia has benefited from mixed migration flows through the Southern borders. “Italy plays a relevant role in mixed migration flows as most individuals in mixed migration “start their journey by sea towards Italy.”’ The group is known for trapping their victims by forcing them to engage in “mafia-related criminal enterprises in Sicily.” Italian mafia organizations, as well as other organizations, may go to asylum centers and take women under false pretenses to live a life of prostitution. Italy has seen a rise in “the number of potential sex trafficking victims” since 2017.
Loverboy gangs
Loverboy gangs are scattered amongst popular vacation spots such as Ibiza, Spain, and Nice, France. These traffickers operate by convincing young girls to fall in love with them. Although these traffickers once convinced girls to fall in love with them over a long period, they now “resort more quickly and frequently to threatening their victims, using blackmail and violence.” due to the prevalence of social media outlets. Social media outlets provide additional methods of communication between traffickers and young girls, causing an increase in loverboy scams. After a loverboy persuades a woman to fall in love with them, they will convince them to travel to Italy or meet them in a private location where they will kidnap them and transfer them to Italy. Women living in eastern European states, primarily Romania, are at an increased risk of being trafficked through these methods.
Trafficking Today
Black Axe
Black Axe originated as a Neo-Black Movement at Benin University in Nigeria during the late 1970s. Although the group originally sought freedom from neo-colonialism and the restoration of African dignity, they now pride themselves on violence as maintained in their fraternity name, ‘Axeneb’, which can be defined as ‘Butcher.’ The organization exploits Nigerian women exclusively by luring them in with a promising job offer in Italy; however, when they cannot pay the travel debt or discover the promised job never existed, they are sentenced to a life of forced prostitution. “More than 80% of women brought to Europe from Nigeria are unknowingly “sponsored” by sex traffickers who have paid for their journey, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).” Victims remain bound to their traffickers, known as the ‘maman,’ through voodoo rituals and ‘juju.’ Nigerian women are imported into southern Italy by vessel. Once reaching land, these victims may or may not be transferred to northern provinces, France, or Greece.
The Italian mafia and Nigerian trafficking networks, specifically Black Axe, maintain an alliance based in human trafficking processes. The Italian mafia provides Nigerian trafficking networks with resources and protection to continue pursuing their operation. These resources are in exchange for the trafficked victims’ sexual exploitation.
There are three main forms of sexual exploitation the Italian mafia may engage in: “prostitution, the transfer of persons from one party to another for commercial sexual purposes in exchange for money or another recompense, and pornography.” “According to police data, 90 percent of prostitutes in Palermo- the Sicilian capital city and a transit migration area located at the core of the Central Mediterranean Route- come from Nigeria.”
Trafficking Prevention in Southern Italy
The Dipartimento per le Pari Opportunity (The Department for Equal Opportunities) has attempted to take a victim rights-centered approach toward ending sex trafficking in Italy. Two main laws protect victims from human trafficking: Article 18 of the Consolidated Act and Article 14 of the National Law against Trafficking in Human. Article 18 of the Consolidated Act, otherwise known as Legislative Decree No. 286, determines whether a victim may receive a special residence permit “for reasons of social protection.”
When gaining a special residence permit, the victim has the opportunity to develop a life outside of criminal organizations. To attain a special residence permit the victim must prove the existence of a situation that displays concrete danger for the foreigner’s safety during the victim’s attempt to escape; police operations, investigations, social service assistance, and proceedings must be capable of identifying the situation, and the victim must complete an article 18 program. An article 18 program is one that assists the victim’s reintegration into society. This law applies to European nationals as of 2007. Although there are programs assisting reintegration, it still remains difficult for victims to enter society.
Susan, a Nigerian trafficking victim, is well known for her survival story, however, it is still difficult for her to rebuild her life in Italy. Francesca De Masi, a lawyer who offers legal advice to inmates who may have suffered from human trafficking, met Susan while detained in prison. Although Susan was reluctant to provide information regarding her arrival, De Masi realized she was a victim of trafficking. Since their introduction, De Masi has assisted Susan in rebuilding her life in Italy. De Masi stated, “We should roll out a red carpet for trafficking survivors”, “from immigration offices to prosecutors’ offices, every door should be wide open to them. But everything remains so difficult.” Although changes are currently implemented to improve trafficking phenomena in Italy, further augmentation is required to abolish trafficking.