InfoMigrants By Marion MacGregor Published on : 2021/05/04
Increasing numbers of Nigerian women are being trafficked into prostitution in Burkina Faso’s gold mining camps, an investigation has revealed. Lured by traffickers who promise them jobs, they end up with huge debts and no way out.
Blessing was lured to Burkina Faso, a landlocked country west of Nigeria, with promises of a job in a hair salon. It sounded like a good way to support herself and her family. But once she arrived, the 27-year-old was drugged and beaten: her captors dragged her from one gold mine to the next, where she was forced to have sex with dozens of men.
May 1, 2021 Share
For months, human traffickers beat and drugged Blessing, hauling the 27-year-old from one gold mine encampment to the next, where each night she was forced to sleep with dozens of men for less than $2 a person.
The madam who lured Blessing to the landlocked West African nation of Burkina Faso with promises of a hair salon job, threatened to kill her if she tried to run away.
“Nobody comes to your rescue,” said Blessing, wiping tears from her cheeks during a recent interview.
In December 2019, while the madam was away, Blessing finally got the courage to escape. With the help of local residents, she and six other women left the encampment and walked to safety, ultimately ending up in a United Nations transit center for migrants in the capital city of Ouagadougou.
For months, human traffickers beat and drugged Blessing, hauling the 27-year-old from one gold mine encampment to the next, where each night she was forced to sleep with dozens of men for less than $2 a person.
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