Every year thousands of female migrants from all over the world are forced into prostitution as soon as they reach Italy. Women and girls spend their nights on the streets across the peninsula and, sometimes, also work in apartments that they are not allowed to leave. Often beaten and generally mistreated, these unfortunate women can have the money they generate taken from them by their procurers, under threat to them, or often to their families back in their countries of origin, if they refuse to work or seek to escape.
Rosanna Paradiso is the president of the Italy-based Tampep , an NGO that promotes the human and civil rights of migrants and migrant sex workers. She believes every year thousands of women and girls are kidnapped and smuggled into Italy and other European countries and forced into sex slavery of one form or another. In some cases - such as the ones involving Albanian women - they are kidnapped by their boyfriends who convince them to go to Italy and then force them to become prostitutes.
Paradiso explained that what she calls "the trade of sex workers in Italy" has changed over the years. They were mainly African prostitutes. After 's, women started coming first through Morocco and Spain. Today, a lot of women come from Libya asking for asylum status due to the political unrest in their country.
They are then forced into prostitution. Paradiso also explained that migrant sex workers today are forced to work for long hours due to the economic recession and widespread competition. Street prostitution poses a serious risk for women who can be harassed and even killed, Paradiso explained, urging authorities to increase investigations.
Police forces should investigate until they find out the identity of the victims and the culprits. In order to help street prostitutes, Tampep provides so-called "street unities" formed by people who approach sex workers and explain to them what they can do to escape their condition of slavery. Paradiso explained that migrant sex workers rarely go to the police as they are scared of repercussions and they do not trust authorities.
