Nigerian prostitutes explains how they went to Europe with the hope of a better life but they became sex slaves.

It is no longer news that Nigeria women are taken to Italy in the pretext of going to work in factories or as nanny but ended up as prostitutes.

A Nigerian cultural mediator offers condoms and psychological support to some of the younger prostitutes working close to Acerra.
 

A Nigerian called Faith having a blood test at the Amedeo di Savoia Hospital in Turin

                                          This photograph shows a Nigerian woman waiting for a client in the summer season

Nigerian women working as prostitutes in the North area of Turin

Nigerian women in a Catholic shelter for victims of trafficking

A Nigerian woman, working as a prostitute in the countryside, is taken to a police station because she was found without a passport

A Nigerian in Italy waits for a client in the countryside during the winter season

A Nigerian woman in a temporary detention centre
Their plight has been highlighted by Paris-based photographer Elena Perlino, originally from Italy, who began to notice the presence of young African women working on the streets during her commutes from Turin.

She said: 'I decided to start from this surreal vision to tell a story. I have been working on the topic for several years, focusing mainly on the Italian connection.'

Eighty per cent of women trafficked to Italy come from Benin City, Edo State, in south Nigeria.

The photographer explained: ‘My work attempts to show a complex phenomenon that crosses Italy from North to South.

‘This involves many cities including Turin, Milan, Genoa, Rome, Naples and Palermo and thousands of Nigerian and Italian people.’

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime declared Nigeria among the top eight countries with the highest human trafficking rates in the world.