Women face increasing risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation as Europe tightens asylum rules

Trigger warning: article includes stories of sexual violence

Women are increasingly travelling alone in search of safety, work, or to escape gender-based violence on the Mediterranean and Balkan routes. But humanitarian groups say that as the number of women on the move is increasing, so are the dangers.

A report from the International Rescue Committee noted a 250% rise in single adult women arriving in Italy on the Balkan route. And with 3,419 migrant deaths or disappearances in Europe last year, the risks along these routes are already deadly.

Dreams replaced by nightmares

Esther left Nigeria in 2016 after years of abuse and homelessness. A woman approached her with what sounded like hope: a job and new life in Europe. Instead, she became a victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation. She recalled in an interview with the BBC:

She locked me up in a room and brought in a man. He had sex with me, with force. I was still a virgin, … That’s what they do… travel to different villages in Nigeria to pick young girls, and bring them to Libya to become sex slaves.

After enduring four months of exploitation in Libya, Esther managed to escape. She embarked on a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean in a rubber dinghy. She was rescued by the Italian coast guard and brought to Lampedusa island. Esther applied for asylum three times before finally being recognized as a refugee.

Other women share similar experiences of sexual violence and exploitation while on the move. Tragically, some pack condoms or get contraception before leaving, expecting sexual violence. Hermine Gbedo of the anti-trafficking network Stella Polare says workers report that smugglers often demand sex as part of the payment. And without an alternative safe route available to take instead, many women are forced to comply.

Nina, a 28-year-old woman from Kosovo, journeyed the forests of Eastern Europe with her sister, fleeing abuse at home only to face new attacks along the route to Italy. She recalls how men would choose women at night, saying, “You could hear the screams.” She and her sister later told authorities they feared they would be killed if they returned home.

Gbedo assists women migrants in Trieste, a north-eastern Italian port city that is now a key entry point into the European Union for people arriving from the Balkans. Many migrants move on from Trieste to destinations such as Germany, France, and the UK.

“We have to be hard-headed”

These abuses flourish because the systems meant to protect women often fail them. Poverty, insecurity, and gender-based violence push women to leave. Meanwhile, EU governments continue tightening asylum rules, making protection harder to access, and other means of migrating safely impossible while refusing to see the problem in its entirety. Nicola Procaccini, an MP in Italy’s right wing government stated:

It’s impossible to sustain mass migration — there is no way. We can guarantee a safe life to those women who are really in danger, but not to all of them.

But gender-based violence is recognized under the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention as grounds for asylum. A landmark EU court ruling affirmed this. Still, implementation is inconsistent.

Many asylum officials are men who lack training to identify gender-based harm, including FGM (female genital mutilation) survivors, says Marianne Nguena Kana, Director of End FGM European Network. Nguena Kana described cases where officials wrongly assume past FGM means no future risk. Judges have told women that they are safe to go back because they have already been mutilated.

Survivors of sexual violence are also put to the prejudiced task of having to prove their trauma because it does not have the same markings of physical abuse. On top of that, cultural sensitivities, rushed asylum interviews, and reluctance to disclose their abuse to an immigration officer they just met, are other reasons why the broken system often refuses to believe their claims.

A call for protection

According to the European Agency for Asylum, men comprise approximately 70% of irregular migrants and asylum seekers. However, there is a growing trend in the number of women, such as Esther, seeking asylum in Europe.

Some women, like Nina and her sister, eventually secure asylum. Others, like Esther, navigate years of rejections due to EU rules requiring claims in the first country entered. Their stories show why women continue to risk these journeys: lack of safety at home, no safe migration pathways, and systems that fail to protect victims of violence.

Freedom United stands with survivors and calls for governments to create safer migration routes and provide asylum to all trafficking survivors, including survivors of sexual exploitation. Sign the petition.