Nigerian Women Enslaved Via Voodoo

In Spain this week, Spanish authorities busted a Nigerian human trafficking ring which trafficked women into prostitution, in part by threatening them with voodoo curses.

The trafficking ring itself was very typical of Africa-to-Europe trafficking into commercial sex. The traffickers lured young Nigerian women to travel to Europe, promising them good jobs where they could make money to support themselves and their families.  They then held false debts over their heads to prevent them from leaving prostitution and controlled them through intimidation and threats.

An additional technique these traffickers used was to tell the women they would go mad or have their souls destroyed if they disobeyed orders given during Voodoo rituals that were held in Nigeria.  For these rituals, they used the victims fingernails or hair, performing authentic Voodoo.

Traffickers can use a victim's religion or spiritual beliefs to keep him or her enslaved in a number of ways.  Sometimes, traffickers will find a corrupt religious official to "sanction" their abuses.  Other times, especially with victims trafficked into prostitution, traffickers will threaten to tell victims' families or faith communities about their "sin" of having sex with multiple people.  Victims may be reluctant to leave trafficking because they have been forced to go against their religious beliefs, especially if they are from conservative families or communities.

In some ways, using Voodoo, a religion mostly followed in Africa and the Caribbean, to enslave is just like using Catholicism or Islam or any other religion to enslave.  However, it can be even more powerful because followers of Voodoo believe in the power of such rituals to destroy their souls.  In this way, the trafficker can use the victim's spiritual and religious beliefs to enslave, and followers of Voodoo may be even more vulnerable to such abuses.