UN justice institute promotes Nigerian-Italian cooperation against human trafficking

With 60 per cent of trafficked women in a major Italian city coming from Nigeria, the United Nations justice institute said it was organizing an international meeting in Turin tomorrow, aimed at stopping the trafficking in human beings from Nigeria to Italy.

In Turin, one of the main destination Italian cities, an outreach unit aided around 1,250 victims, of whom 60 per cent were Nigerian, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) said. Victims were offered practical assistance, including access to health services.

UNICRI said it had helped to devise programmes to raise awareness of the crime in the two countries and between 2000 and 2002 an Italian help-line received nearly half a million requests for help.

Some 2,700 lawsuits have been filed and witness protection was offered to those who wanted to break away from the trafficking network.

At Thursday's meeting, UNICRI will present the results of its anti-trafficking project, launched in September 2002 in Italy and, collaborating with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), also in Nigeria. It will also launch new proposals for stronger and more effective action against trafficking in human beings.