‘They expect women to sell their bodies for money’

Waiting for a client in the countryside during the winter season. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

ELENA Perlino, a 42-year-old photographer originally from Italy, began to notice the presence of young African women working on the streets when she would commute from Turin.

Curiosity piqued, Perlino delved into what has become a long-term picture essay on the shocking reality women trafficked to Italy from Nigeria face.

"I decided to start from this surreal vision to tell a story," Perlino says. "I have been working on the topic for several years, focusing mainly on the Italian connection."

Nigerian women working as prostitutes in the North area of the city. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have declared Nigeria among the top eight countries with the highest human trafficking rates in the world.

80 per cent of women trafficked to Italy come from Benin City (Edo State), in south Nigeria. These women come to Europe under the pretence that they will be working as nannies or work in factories, with the hope they can send money back to their families. However, most of their dreams of freedom quickly collapse into a nightmare of prostitution and abuse.

This photo shows a woman waiting for a client in the summer season. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Traffickers demand on average more than 50,000 euros for travel expenses and accommodation, with the women having to work as prostitutes until their debts are paid off.

Fatima shows the scars on her body due to strong fighting with Nigerian colleagues working as prostitutes in the outskirts of Acerra. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Perlino explains: "My work attempts to show a complex phenomenon that crosses Italy from North to South.

"This involves many cities including Turin, Milan, Genoa, Rome, Naples and Palermo and thousands of Nigerian and Italian people.

"I was really interested to show the effects of a phenomenon that affects thousands of people in Italy and Europe every year. The Nigerian women I met showed me a strength that I didn't expect to see. Even though their lives are really tough, they still manage to see the beauty you can find in it."

A Nigerian woman, working as a prostitute in the countryside, needs to go to the Police Station because she was found without a passport. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Highlights of the poignant photo series, titled Pipeline, show the women waiting on derelict streets for customers, and others who have been caught by the police without a passport, remain in detention centres while the authorities decide their fate.

80 per cent of women trafficked to Italy come from Benin City (Edo State), in south Nigeria. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Former prostitute Faith Jackson appears in many of the photos.

"I met Faith in 2006 while she was working on the street as a prostitute in Turin," says Perlino. "We have managed to keep in touch."

Faith had a debt to pay of 60,000 euros. She met an Italian man who is now her husband, and once she had almost cleared her debts they got married. She now lives with him and their child just outside of Turin.

Faith at home with her daughter Stefania. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Faith's story represents a happier ending after years of abuse, however Perlino explains that not all of the women can escape. Faith told Perlino many things about Nigerian habits, she said that Nigerian men change once in Italy.

"We call Nigerian men pure boys. Once they arrive in Italy they don't move a finger anymore. They expect women to sell their bodies in order to provide money.

"But once it happens women become untouchable to their eyes: they become whores. To pick their brides up, to get married men go back to Nigeria. But Italian men often fall in love with Nigerian women, they arrive to sell their houses, to help their women to pay the debt back: 'They are catholic and romantic' said a magistrate I met. The number of clients in Italy reaches between nine and ten millions of people," says Faith.

Faith, a former victim of trafficking, visits her Nigerian friend Stella and her children. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Faith went on to tell Perlino that the key to understanding Nigerian trafficking is always the maman (in charge of the direct exploitation, connected to a wide network of people).

"She can be a family friend, a cousin or your sister: She is always a part of the community you live in. She is in charge of the debt you need to pay before to get released. She doesn`t allow you to integrate in the new world.

"The first step to get free is to understand that your own people are exploiting you and that your clan's culture create chains that need to be broken," explains Faith.

A Nigerian woman in a temporary detention centre. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Perlino says that throughout her project she saw a mix of violence and desolation, but also bravery, pride and strength which really touched her.

"When I started to take pictures in 2005 I was interested in showing Nigerian women and their relationship with the natural environment they were in.

"Then things changed and I decided it was important to enter their world, and show the different sides of their lives. The contradiction of the hard conditions they face, but also the fragments of normality for women that are only twenty years old."

A Nigerian cultural mediator offers condoms and psychological support to some of the younger prostitutes working close to Acerra. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Palermo explains that she did not take the photographs in order to make a moral statement about prostitution.

"I wanted to show something that is just there, in front of our eyes, every day.

"I felt very close to the women I photographed: they were strong, passionate and scared. I was not there to judge their lives."

A shelter for trafficked women who entered the Protection Program run by the Italian State. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Faith having a blood test at the Amedeo di Savoia Hospital in 2006. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Stella and son in her apartment downtown Turin. Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

Joy and friend on their way back home from the countryside (working area). Elena Perlino/Rex Features Source: Austral International Press Agency

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