About the project

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 80% of women brought to Europe from Nigeria are unknowingly “sponsored” by sex traffickers who have paid for their journey. Those who are not sponsored, are nevertheless unlikely to escape the sex-trafficking rings. The present project is prompted by the need to inform and raise awareness among the citizens of Alessandria and Asti on the subject of forced prostitution, through the eyes-witness reports of those girls and women from Nigeria who, after an appalling journey to Italy, found themselves forced into street prostitution. The project aims at offering a consistent view of the human trafficking dynamics by giving specific consideration to the issue of gender differences and to the consequent disparity between men’s and women’s opportunities, both in the native countries and in Italy. One of the focuses of the project is to allow these women to be an essential part of the local community’s resources, by promoting them from the role of merely vulnerable people to the role of social protagonists of change. Another goal of “When the sun goes down” is to make young people aware of the inevitable connection between the phenomenon of trafficking and the local prostitution’s consumption, by involving high school students in interactive laboratories led by peer tutors, with the participation of the local social workers. A video-interview will be created by experienced reporters based on the Nigerian girls experiences, whose voice will be reported as well, in order to tell the stories of both the girls who managed to break the cycle of prostitution thanks to the support of the local operators, and the girls who still are victims of trafficking.