Now online the book published with Routledge and based on the research carried out for INSigHT Action!

NARRATIVES OF NIGERIAN WOMEN AND ANTI-TRAFFICKING PRACTITIONERS IN ITALY, by Michela Semprebon (with a forward by Giovanna Marconi, SSIIM Chairholder)

This book deals with social protection programmes targeted to people trafficked for the scope of sexual exploitation. It provides empirical evidence on the N.A.Ve programme, in the northeastern Italian Veneto Region, and its evolution. It elaborates on the programme by narrating the subjective experiences of practitioners and of a specific group of beneficiaries: young Nigerian
women – some in transition towards the age of majority.

The book builds on qualitative research, including a long ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews carried out in the period 2019–2021, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It takes an intersectional, social work and humanitarian governance perspective to examine the multiple dimensions of vulnerability (age, gender, geographical origin, type of  exploitation) characterising trafficked and sexually exploited Nigerian women. It draws attention to the precariousness of protection trajectories, but also their variability, stressing on the agency of these women.

This is done with a postcolonial feminist approach by building on the autonomy of migration and the critical humanitarian governance literature, while shedding light on the temporal tensions between biographical and institutional times.

Calling for greater space for women’s voices and for their involvement in the co-development of protection programmes, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, social work and politics, as well as to practitioners and policymakers interested in migration and trafficking.

The book is open-access in pdf format: you can download it here

To visit the dedicated page in the publisher’s website go here

The Open Access version of this book has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The book has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union, contracted by ICMPD through the Migration Partnership Facility. The contents are the sole responsibility of the author and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union or the one of ICMPD.

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My normal assignment with INSigHT ended over a year ago, however, I have participated in several on-going activities in the migration space and have keep collaborating with the SSIIM Unesco Chair and the University of Parma, to who my former supervisor, Michela Semprebon, has moved. In 2021, the African Diaspora Policy Centre (ADPC), in partnership with GIZ, invited me to be a member of a knowledge network for better migration governance in Africa. I participated in a series of webinars, between December 1-2 and I was invited by the ICMPD and ERRIN – European Return and Reintegration Network to the Meeting of the Working Group on Return and Reintegration, to give a presentation on ‘Strengthening the Provision of Support for Reintegration of Vulnerable Persons, including Victims of Trafficking, returning to Nigeria’. In February 2022, FINNWID (Finnish Women In Development) appointed me as the Evaluation consultant on the Vocational Skills Education Project to Prevent Human Trafficking in Benin City, Nigeria. In July 2022, the National Agency For The Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons and Other Related Offence, (NAPTIP) brought stakeholders for a walk and lecture to mark the World Day Against Trafficking In Persons #WDATIP2022 where I actively participated.

Over the past two years I have got several referrals to Child move Project, Seefar, Shining Hope Foundation Against Human Trafficking, and Street Child Care and Welfare
Initiative for round table discussions, seminars, and consultations. It has been great to continue working on human trafficking and the precious continous collaboration with Michela Semprebon has been important to get networking activities doing. I am more and more convince that “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”.

Oluwafemi Moses Abe

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We were out on a night shift (picture 2) to observe how the project is organised and volunteers’ outreach approach with sex workers. The project has received the support of the local municipality, which confirms the recognition of its important role in terms of supporting sex workers and in particular migrant sex workers, with the main objective of ensuring their safety but also of providing contacts, where searched, for legal and health assistance. Our encounter with the Red Van was a relevant occasion to exchange views on the reciprocal outreach approach.

On May 16th we visited the Sandholm reception centre, approximately an hour from Copenhagen (picture 1). It is a first reception centre for asylum seekers arriving in Denmark which is run by the Red Cross. Our visit was focused on the approach with unaccompanied minors, particularly from Northern Africa, who are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation in criminal activities. The practitioners of the centre explained their concern on the fact that many unaccompanied minors actually flee from the centre before they are transferred to the secondary reception centres across the country (normally, 2-4 weeks after their arrival). We met also two legal guardians with whom we exchanged experiences on legal guardianship in Italy.

In the afternoon of the same day we travelled to Malmo (Sweden) to meet a few volunteers of Noomi Association that has been working to support victims of trafficking by offering access to a dedicated protected shelter (no picture are shared because of privacy reasons). Noomi’s activities include also awareness raising with the community. Critical issues have been pointed out with specific reference to Nigerian migrants, who were described to be particularly vulnerable due to their precarious legal status. Noomi works also with women working in Thai massage centres. Furthermore, Noomi has been collaboration with law enforcement agencies to fight trafficking, by actively participating to their inspections in massage centres and hotels. It was extremely interesting for Equality workers to learn about Noomi’s outreaching strategy through web-based appointment announcements, while the mutual exchange on protection practices was enriching for both organizations. Furthermore, the Chair of Red Van initiative also joined us in this transnational exchange workshop, hence INSigHT Project contributed also to promote connections and networking between Swedish and Danish organisations that didn’t have the chance to meet before.

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However, we renew our  availability to present the briefs upon invitation and to discuss them with interested stakeholders. Stakeholders are also welcome to download and use the policy briefs for their own activities.

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On February 28th 2022, Michela Semprebon presented some of the findings of the INSigHT Action at the final conference of the EU Project “Cope and Hope”. The project has been managed by the Fondazione ACRA (IT), in collaboration with the Consorzio Passepartout (IT), ABD (ES) and the Municipality of Milan antitrafficking unit.

It aimed to offer psychosocial support services to survivors of trafficking in order to help them cope with traumas and regain confidence in themselves, in the people around them and in institutions.

The title of the final conference was “Beyond the crossing.Identification and support of women victims of trafficking: an exchange of practices and strategies for the post-pandemic in the European Union”.

Michela stressed the lack, to date, of a transnational European referral mechanism capable of favouring the collaboration across EU Member States as far as the identification of people victims of trafficking and referral to the appropriate support services are concerned. She reflected on the experience of the INSigHT Action, the importance of developing collaborations that reach beyond the EU borders, while also pointing out the on-going challenges, including the difficulty of ensuring sufficient funding for on-going long-term interventions and to build on established networks.

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The lecture will be delivered at the University of Parma as part of the B4PEACE Jean Monnet Module, co-funded by the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture of the European Commission (EACEA) for the period 2019-2022. This Module aims to promote excellence in teaching and research in the field of European Union studies.

It provides a course on “European Peace” within the Undergradate Degree Course in Political Science and International Relations of the Department of Law, Political and International Studies of the University of Parma. The course (for a total of 48h) can be freely attended by all students of the University. More information on the Module are available here: https://www.b4peace.unipr.it/

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Il webinar si terrà solo in italiano – the webinar will be in Italian only.

Si svolgerà online, sulla piattaforma Zoom. Per partecipare è necessario iscriversi a questo link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsdumprT0uGdIvNYtOmwWFuxbskgOSrDVu

In seguito all’iscrizione, arriverà un’email di conferma con il link per l’accesso.

Sex Work and Mental Health SWMH è un progetto di ricerca partecipativo e peer-inclusive che ha esplorato i modi in cui le persone che fanno lavoro sessuale e prostituzione percepiscono i loro bisogni di salute mentale e valutano i servizi di salute mentale a cui hanno accesso. Il progetto ha come focus quattro paesi con diversi modelli di welfare e approcci al lavoro sessuale: Germania, Italia, Svezia e Gran Bretagna. SWMH e’ stato finanziato da Open Society Foundations. Il capofila è l’Associazione di Sex Worker Hydra e.V. di Berlino.

Ne discuteranno con Michela Semprebon (Ricercatrice dell’Università di Parma e Coordinatrice del Team di Ricerca INSigHT della Cattedra Unesco SSIIM dell’Università Iuav di Venezia), Giulia Garofalo Geymonat (Università Cà Foscari di Venezia) e Aura Cadeddu (Assistente di ricerca SWMH Italia) del progetto Sex Work Mental Health.

Il rapporto finale del progetto e’ disponibile sul sito: https://www.sexworkmentalhealth.org/

Il webinar è parte di una serie di webinar organizzati dal progetto INSigHT: www.insightproject.net

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Michela and Gianfranco provided the students with basic tools to undertake non-participant observation in urban areas, with particular focus on people begging in the streets. Observations were carried out in Venice, Mestre, Padova, Verona (Veneto Region) and Pordenone (Friuli Venezia Giulia) and they were an opportunity to both explore the situation of beggars in these contexts and to sensitize students on the topic, while also sharing the findings of the INSigHT project.

The workshop was very appreciated by students as an opportunity to include in their future profession visions of the city that go beyond buildings and artefacts, to include the views of people, especially those who are often left without a voice. From their work it emerged that beggars are present in all the explored urban contexts, with differences that can be associated to more or less restrictive urban policies and the spatial characterists of the urban texture (i.e. Venice is characterised by bridges, Padova by many squares, etc.).

Additionally, in each context there are beggars of different origins, including native and immigrant beggars, while beggars of African (in part, Nigerian) origins are present in all contexts.

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After a detailed presentation of the findings emerging from the INSigHT research work, anti-trafficking works engaged in outreach activities shared their experience and knowledge on begging in the respective territories in Italy and pointed out pending issues in consideration of the on-going pandemic and the challenges posed by outreach activities with beggars.

It was confirmed that in most territories a considerable decrease in the number of people begging in the streets was recorded during the 2020 lockdown and in the following months too.

However, some workers report that beggars were still present, in some cities, during the lockdown too. The presence of Nigerian people has certainly decreased, compared to individuals of other nationality, particularly from Eastern Europe.

The question remains open on whether Nigerians have migrated elsewhere in Europe, have been deported back to Nigeria or are still in Italy in increasingly invisible situations.

As indicated in the INSigHT reports too, anti-trafficking workers further testified that the phenomenon of trafficking needs to be analysed from its multiple different angles considering the overlapping of various activities and their temporal dimension.

For example, there are situations in which girls and young women are involved in street-based sex work but also as drug mules and in begging. The need was strongly shared to find ways to improve the involvement of migrants in the definition of interventions capable of addressing their needs and of pieces of research that shed light on the trajectories of migrants over the medium-long term, to provide insights on the actions that can be taken to support them in the most effective of ways.

As far as beggars are concerned, the stress was put on the need to provide effective legal support to favour their regularisation as this is key to access to regular employment.

This was the last of a series of 6 webinars organised by the INSigHT Team to disseminate the results of the five strands of research undertaken.

They were successfully attended by an average of 100 participants and contributed to stimulating reflections among anti-trafficking workers and professionals, many of whom participated in several webinars, thus confirming the interest in the topics covered and the urgency to discuss about them.

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