Italy: legislative loopholes leave some victims vulnerable to re-trafficking

Two weeks ago, Italian police busted 40 pimps selling Romanian girls' virginity on the internet. The investigation began in 2007, when the Romanian girls reported the police that they were forced into prostitution by the criminal organization and that they were willing to collaborate with the investigation. According to the report, the virginity of young Romanian girls were auctioned for 6000 euros ($8000), and the victims were rescued from the police and receive victim assistance programs from the Italian government. But, many other victims are not as fortunate as these victims at the mercy of Italian police. In fact, the legislative loopholes lead some victims to be left behind in the immigration detention facilities without even getting a chance to explain their situation to the police.

The legislative loopholes

Though Italy's legislation, like Article 18, provides a relatively good victim assistance programs, victims are eligible for the assistance only when they cooperate with the police in catching the predators. In Italy, though nonprofits is in charge of assisting victims to receive aftercare assistance, the police has the ultimate authority to grand the victims a residential permit and an eligibility to receive the victim assistance. And, more often than not, police grants the victim assistance and residential permits to those who are willing to collaborate in catching the traffickers. Therefore, if a victim is unwilling to collaborate with the police, she or he is not considered as a victim by the police and deported to his or her own country. In such case, a victim is often re-trafficked by the same exploiters.

Neglecting victims living under fear

The problem rises when victims are unable to collaborate with the police investigation because they are afraid of their traffickers. For instance, many Nigerian traffickers use voodoo to force victims into slavery. Traffickers control victims with the threat of "destroying their souls or making them crazy" through voodoo magic. Therefore, under such circumstance with a cultural misconception, it is difficult for many Nigerian victims to testify against their traffickers to collaborate with the police and become eligible to receive victim assistance from the Italian government. In fact, one research recalls that more than 100 Nigerian trafficking victims were deported to their own country without even being granted the chance to explain their situation during the period of spring and summer 2003. Meanwhile, nonprofit groups said that Nigerian made up more than a half of Italy's 19000-25,000 street prostitutes in 2008.

What needs to be done

The Italian government should extend the definition of trafficking victims so that victims will be eligible to receive the aftercare assistance even if they are not able to speak against the exploiters. Of course, the Italian government may only be willing to use victim assistance program as an incentive to the victims who helped the police out to crack down on traffickers. But, without receiving aftercare assistance, many victims become vulnerable to not just being re-victimized but to become traffickers themselves for survival. In fact, many female traffickers in Italy initially came to the country as victims but become traffickers after paying off their debts. Therefore, Italy's failure to grand victim assistance to all victims, in essence, is the very source of proliferation of sex trafficking in Italy.