Migration Crisis: IOM: Underage Nigerian girls sold as sex slaves upon arrival in Italy
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According to the International Organisation for Migration, thousands of underage Nigerian girls are being sold as sex slaves as they arrive in Italy, after crossing the Mediterranean Sea. And, the situation is seeing many of these victims getting younger and younger.
FLAVIO DI GIACOMO, SPOKESMAN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION  "According to our anti-trafficking specialists, 80 percent of Nigerian girls arriving by sea to Italy are potential victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation."
According to the IOM, the number of potential sex-trafficking victims from Nigeria to Italy has shot up by 600 percent in the past three years, and there is an increasing number of minors among these girls. More than 5-thousand Nigerian women and girls have arrived in Italy by sea this year. Various groups working to stop the trafficking have been able to save just over 250 young women from a life of selling their bodies on the street, and have put them in protection programmes.