Search This Blog

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Nigerian Connection

Nigeria is a hub country for trafficking: it's "a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation." (Trafficking in Person Report, June 2009, U.S. Dept. of State)

There is a Nigerian character in "The Walk" who was trafficked for eight years in Italy and who is trying to build a life for herself and her infant son in Canada. Her name is CELESTINE. She is based on a real person who is now my friend. "The Walk" tries to honour the journey of this woman, who relives her trauma virtually every day.

So stories about Nigerian trafficking hit a nerve with me. Here's the link to one such story from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12068974

Below the article, you'll see a link to an article about Nigerians trafficked to Italy. There are more sex slaves from Nigeria in Italy than from any other country!

1 comment:

  1. Catherine,
    Thank-you for always offering such necessary
    information for us to bring into our consciousness so that we can be a part to
    making the necessary changes. Cheryl xo

    ReplyDelete