The identikit of those who live in the darkness of indifference: a minor, in most cases female, in turn the daughter of a woman who is exploited, harassed, in many cases beaten. She too “transparent” in the eyes of most. It is a merciless picture that painted by Save The Children Italia who drew up the report “Invisible Little Slaves – Out of the Shadows: The Suspended Lives of the Children of the Victims of Exploitation”, in view of the “International Day against Trafficking in Human Beings”. A picture where it emerges that in the world more than 1 victim in 3, in the case of trafficking, does not reach the age of majority and is predominantly female. A percentage that, even if only concerning the judicial cases ascertained of a much wider phenomenon, has tripled in the last 15 years. And it is increasingly higher in low-income regions (Sub-Saharan and Western Africa, South Asia, Central America and the Caribbean).
The phenomenon is also amplified by the outbreak of the pandemic which has impoverished and made most of the people even more vulnerable, especially those who were already defenseless. Even before the health emergency, the tip of the iceberg consisting of 50,000 confirmed victims worldwide indicated an alarming scenario; a picture destined to worsen due to the consequences of the Covid-19 emergency which drove 142 million more children and adolescents into poverty in 2020. In the acute phases of the pandemic, containment measures have left 1.6 billion boys and girls out of school, with the serious consequence that 10 million of the most vulnerable could drop out of education and thus be exposed to the risk of trafficking and labor exploitation or sexual, forced marriages or early pregnancies, particularly in lower-income countries. According to estimates, labor exploitation alone could engulf another 8.9 million children and adolescents by the end of 2022, more than half under the age of 11.
And down with the numbers and percentages to tell the horror: on a global level, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation affects 72% of girls and boys victims, while the prevalent form in the case of males is working (66%) “. Among the regions of the world, however, the highest number of confirmed cases with minors victims is that recorded in Western and Southern Europe, with 4,168 minor victims, mostly males (59%).
But the report also focuses on the condition of girls, boys, adolescents and young victims or potential victims of trafficking and exploitation in our country, especially now in light of the coronavirus impact. Last year in Italy, 2040 people were taken care of by the national anti-trafficking system. Mostly women and girls (81.8%). One in 20 victims, minors (105). The countries of origin? Nigeria (72.3%), followed by Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Gambia and Morocco. The prevailing form of exploitation, sexual (78.4%), labor (13.85). 0.6% of the victims are begging and 1% are involved in illegal economies. “A particularly alarming element – explain from Save the Children – and little considered concerns women victims of trafficking and sexually exploited with small children, often also in the hands of exploiters and traffickers, forced to suffer or witness violence against their mothers “.
Cases have almost doubled since 2016, going from 6% to 11.6% of the total number of cases taken care of. The system currently serves 190 households. “The children of the victims of trafficking and exploitation – he says Raffaela Milani, director of the Italy – Europe Programs of Save the Children – they are often prisoners, with their mothers, of a circuit of violence, blackmail and abuse that must be broken at any cost. Their mothers are women, even very young ones, who have been deceived, sold, kidnapped. Who bear on their skin a repeated series of violations suffered in many cases already in their countries of origin, in situations of extreme poverty. Also forced here in Italy to undergo the worst conditions of exploitation. For this reason, every measure must be put in place to avoid that these people run the risk of falling back into the hands of their tormentors in order to survive.
The pandemic has also worsened the situation in Italy. At the beginning of the emergency there was a decrease in complaints. But the criminal networks have not stopped. Intensifying the sexual exploitation that has moved indoors from the street to indoor places. “The limitations caused by the Pandemic – he continues Raffaela Milan – they have been transformed into opportunities by traffickers, who are using technologies and resources of the online network to consolidate a real system of trafficking in human beings “.
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