Trafficking fears as hundreds of Nigerian refugees, some pregnant, vanish
Almost 1,000 Nigerian refugees disappeared from Dutch asylum centres last year, and there are serious indications many of them have been trafficked, according to an investigation by radio programme Argos.
The figures, obtained from the refugee settlement agency COA using freedom of information legislation, show pregnant women are among those who vanished, Argos said. The disappearances coincide with a sharp rise in the number of Nigerians applying for asylum in the Netherlands – a total of 2,461 last year.
While some are sent back to Nigeria or Italy, which is an important arrival point for Nigerian refugees, at least 961 have disappeared while living in a Dutch refugee centre, Argos said. A further 128 disappeared in January this year. The reports would indicated that Nigerian drugs and prostitution gangs have gained a foothold in Europe, Argos said.
Many of those who have disappeared said they had been forced into prostitution or drugs smuggling in the past.
__
Read more:
Dutch,
English