How does a person get trafficked to Denmark?

*All names and some details changed to protect the identity of the clients of HopeNow. Peter, male, mid-20s, originally from Nigeria.  His name is altered for his protection. The following shows the five indicators of trafficking: Recruitment, Movement, Coercion, Deception and Exploitation. 

Who does the trafficking?

Human trafficking usually involves a global criminal network with members placed in strategic locations.

Some are responsible for recruitment, some for transportation, transit locations, pickup in the country of arrival, accommodation, money transfers etc. One madam living in Nigeria or Southern Europe often controls all the intermediaries and brokers and gives all the instructions and orders.

What were a trafficked person’s dreams and hopes?

Pervasive in cases of trafficking is the trafficker's ability to deceive vulnerable families in financial emergencies with a promise of a better life. Peter had always dreamt of working in Europe and being able to send money home. Peter was deceived by his trafficker, who told him he could earn lots of money to support his mother and sisters. He dreamed of buying a plot of land, building a house in Nigeria and providing education for his sisters and food and medicine for his mother. His father, the primary breadwinner, died a year before Peter could save the money to travel abroad. Peter had to find a sponsor to go overseas and earn a living.

What happened?

RECRUITMENT: A trusted friend introduced him to a sponsor, a recruiter called "the Boss", who arranged trips to Europe, including accommodation and work. The Boss first met his family to ensure that the traffickers had the victim's address and knew intimate details of the family. Therefore, the Boss and his gang prepared and laid out a clear strategy to ensure Peter paid off the debt.

THE CYCLE OF 'FICTITIOUS' DEBT: The main goal of a trafficker is to exploit their victim in any way possible to make a profit. Traffickers during the cycle of trafficking will subject a young, intelligent, ambitious person to sophisticated forms of physical and psychological violence, which create a state of acute stress, hopelessness, shame, fear and total disempowerment. Trafficked people believe they have no choice but to submit and pay the fictitious debt they have accrued with the trafficker before leaving their country of origin.

The majority of Nigerian victims of trafficking seal their agreement with their Boss or Madame with an oath which binds them to silence obedience and the repayment of the fictitious debt. However, penalties are sometimes incurred on arrival in Europe if they do not agree to pay off fast. In men's case, fast debt payment can only be achieved by selling drugs. Therefore, many of the men HopeNow meet are in profound debt. They try to avoid criminal actions and consequently seek low-paid jobs. However, this slows down the repayment. However, if the trafficked person disobeys the trafficker, the trafficked person's family is threatened, and the victim himself is abused both physically and psychologically.

MOVEMENT AND COERCION: The Boss ordered his gang to arrange for a visa and passport for Peter. He was given an initial 6-week Schengen visa to enter the EU and is scheduled to be moved to another EU country. His traffickers chose Denmark to be his final destination country.

COERCION AND JUJU OATH OF SILENCE: Peter was taken to a shrine, where he swore a Juju before leaving Nigeria. Peter later confessed to HopeNow: 

“In my head, I have for years been a Christian, but in my heart, I believe in the old spirits and practices of the traditional religion. This was my first time in a shrine, and my whole body shook with fear.”

Endemic corruption in Nigeria has eroded faith in the legal system, which is expensive and ineffective. Therefore, many ordinary people and traffickers have returned to traditional African practices to make binding agreements or oaths. However, these traditional practices have been hijacked by traffickers over the last three decades. This practice has become a central part of a highly lucrative business that lies in the hands of powerful transnational crime cults.   

The Juju oath has a tremendous psychological effect due to deeply embedded religious practices in West Africa. If oath takers divulge any information about the traffickers, are not obedient or do not pay their debts, they and their family members will be cursed with death or madness. It is essential to understand that classic mafia coercion methods are also used. HopeNow has worked with many cases where family members are dragged off to the shrine, beaten, or killed if the trafficked person does not pay their fictitious debt.

It's common for trafficked people to swear the Juju oath for the first time at the beginning of their journey. The oath-taking ceremony involves a variety of rituals, including making small incisions on the body with a razor and drinking the blood of an animal sacrifice.  

MOVEMENT: A week after the oath-taking, Peter was picked up in Nigeria and taken to the Lagos airport with a group of people. He landed in Italy and was collected at the airport. He was placed in a flat with other men from Africa and later transferred to Denmark.

Human trafficking usually involves a global criminal network with members placed in strategic locations. Some are responsible for recruitment, transportation, transit locations, pickup in the country of arrival, accommodation and money transfers. One madam living in Nigeria or Southern Europe often controls all the intermediaries and brokers and gives all the instructions and orders.

EXPLOITATION, COERCION AND DECEPTION:  In Denmark, Peter was told there is no legal work in Denmark. He was only 19 years old. The other trafficked men in the same household told him it was dangerous to disobey them. If he disobeyed the traffickers, they would enforce the oath upon him and his family. He was shocked and panicked that selling drugs on the street was the only way to make money in Denmark. Therefore, he complied and paid off 20.000 euros of his 30.000 euros of his fictive debt over a few years.

Trafficked persons are put under enormous pressure from their traffickers to earn money. Many aspects of their lives in Denmark are controlled by the trafficking network, ranging from the type of work they are forced to do, housing arrangements and the people they are forced to be with. As a result, trafficked people in Denmark are coerced into activities that can be criminalised, such as working without a work permit or drug dealing.

Peter later escaped to Spain, where he paid tiny amounts to the traffickers. While in Spain, his family phoned him to say that the local gang had threatened them.

Broken and feeling powerless, Peter was instructed to return to Denmark. He was forced to work as a cleaner and handed over most of the money earned from illegal work to his traffickers. The police made a razzia where he was working and checked his documents. He was arrested on the spot.

Peter was terrified and did not say anything about his traffickers. Very few trafficked persons want to witness against their traffickers, which might give the police concrete information to use in their investigations. Since no witness protection is offered to trafficked persons witnessing against their traffickers, most dare not.

He was charged and convicted of fraud and sentenced to 40 days in prison and a six-year ban on re-entering the EU. He served 8-9 months in jail before HopeNow found him. He remained in prison because trafficked men in his situation are perceived as not showing solid indications of trafficking, unlike women arrested for sex work.

How did HopeNow get involved?

HopeNow does outreach work on the streets, prisons, asylum centres, and churches. In addition, HopeNow is a well-known name in the African network. Many potentially trafficked people contact HopeNow for support through referrals from people in the African diaspora.

Through extensive outreach work, HopeNow found and interviewed Peter in prison. During his trauma counselling, trust was gradually established. Most importantly, he shared his story and revealed that he had been through an oath.

After 4-5 visits, Peter told HopeNow what happened to him in detail. He recounted how he was terrified, had nightmares, and feared retaliation against him and his family and the spiritual ramifications of breaking his Juju oath of silence.

Trauma counselling became a safe place for a much-needed therapeutic container. Peter asked the caseworker to bring in a bible and place this book between them when they talked. The Bible was a vital resource for him, allowing the therapist to create a safe space. Over time, the caseworker built up enough trust between them. She asked Peter for his consent to write his story down, which described his vulnerability, recruitment, deception, manipulation, harbouring, physical and psychological violence and exploitation.

With his consent, HopeNow submitted his case to the Center Against Trafficking, and the Danish Immigration Department in a document developed by HopeNow and the CMM called the form 1A. Peter was defined officially defined as trafficked by the Immigration Service. However, he was not released from prison.

Generally, persons defined as trafficked in Denmark are offered a “voluntary” return to the country of origin.

A voluntary return means that the person returns home with financial and social support (in contrast to deportation, where a person is sent out of Denmark without any help or support. The support is given for six months. Unfortunately, despite being defined as a trafficked victim by HopeNow, Peter remained criminalised by the Danish government. Thus, he was not released from prison.

HopeNow cooperated further with CMM and the Danish Return Agency. This collaboration resulted in Peter finally accepting a voluntary return to Nigeria with funding from the Danish Return Agency.

The social support comprises payment for house rent, sometimes accommodation in a safe-house if needed; help to get training or get a small business started; medical support if required; support for children and a small amount of pocket money for essential needs. After six months, the support stops. In Peter's case, he got some money to start a small business as an Uber driver.

HopeNow wishes to state that although he received funding when he returned, HopeNow cannot accept this as a voluntary return. A voluntary return must include a reflection period. In HopeNow's assessment, an appeal should have been made to reverse his criminalisation.

Where is Peter now?

EARLY PREVENTION OF RE-TRAFFICKING: HopeNow has kept in contact with Peter. As a survivor of trafficking, HopeNow financially ensured that he could reintegrate and avoid re-trafficking. HopeNow provided financial help for a new driving license. Peter became an Uber driver for a living. He sends pictures of his car and his family and still leaves voice messages to HopeNow.

The trafficked persons who return to their community often risk re-trafficking or dangerous encounters with the local gang. Since 2007,  HopeNow has regularly contacted several key local Nigerian partners, including Idia Renaissance. Peter met the organisation upon return.

Peters testimony

The following is Peter’s testimony to HopeNow about his ordeal.

“ Thank you so much HopeNow I am strong now, I am proud that I can support my family, I am free, I can buy food, pay rent, and I am so proud I got a driving licence and run my own business as an Uber driver.

Without HopeNow, I would have been deported to my home with nothing, no money to start a new life and not possible to move my family to a safe place.

My life was ruined and my family in danger; my Boss was able to force me to work for him or even force my sisters into bad, bad things.

 I want people to know that in Denmark. I was confused, but I am not a criminal.

I was in prison in Denmark for a long time. The Danish Return Agency told me they must deport me. But with no help. None talked with me from the heart. I was so tired and worried for my family.

Hopenow came to the prison and talked with me many times. Slow, slow, I start to trust them. I told them my story. 

I told them about the crime cult, my Boss, the oath I made in a shrine, the fear for myself, how my mother and sister were ringing and telling me men had come and had threatened them, how my Boss tried to force me to make money for him in Europe and sell drugs, how I tried to find normal work to pay them, how they make me carry bad documents, how I now still owe big money but have moved to a new place and got help from the NGO in Nigeria.  

These people to whom I owe money are dangerous. They are politicians, police officers in government positions and schools and universities. Everyone in Nigeria knows they are everywhere in our society.

If you do not pay, they send people to hurt the families; they have tricked you into owing money to them. I made an oath which means they have more power over me and my family, and they can even enter me when I dream.”