Nigerian prostitutes held as slaves

Nina Berglund:

One of the many Nigerian women forced into prostitution in the Oslo area told newspaper Aftenposten Tuesday that she and several others were held captive in a house in Østfold, southeastern Norway. She says she knew she was in Europe, but had no idea where in Europe.

Like others in her situation, 19-year-old "Gloria" had fled poverty in Nigeria and was looking for a better life. She landed in a refugee camp in Morocco, and thought she was lucky when a man she calls "Mister" took interest in her and said he'd help her get to Europe.

It didn't matter, he said, that she had no money to fund her travels. She could pay "Mister" back after she got a job. He didn't mention what type of job that might be.

In what police in Oslo have described as a familiar pattern, the man was kind to "Gloria" in the beginning. He won her trust. "I thought he was a good man," she told Aftenposten.

She and several other women were smuggled over to Spain in a small boat. A bigger boat took them to Italy and from there the women eventually were sent to Norway, where police claim there's a large market of men willing to pay for sexual services.

"Gloria" says she escaped from the house where she was repeatedly raped by "Mister" and forced to have sex with men who'd talked with "Mister." She says she never saw any money.

Now "Gloria" is living in a shelter in Norway, hopes to win political asylum and become a social worker. She's reported "Mister" to the police, but hasn't been able to lead them to the house where she fears other women remain. "I'd never been outside it before, and don't know the area," she said.

Prostitution is legal in Norway, but pimping is not. The only chance police have for cracking down on the sex trade is to go after the men controlling the female prostitutes (called halliker in Norway) but it's not easy. Many of the women actually protect the men, refusing to testify against them and believing that someday the debt they accrued for their travel will be paid off, and they'll be free.

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