endsexualexploitation.org/
2025-01-04
Jewel (pseudonym) faced severe economic insecurity in her home country of Nigeria. When she heard of the opportunity to work in Denmark as a caregiver for senior citizens, she felt incredibly fortunate.
"I was thanking God for the opportunity to be in this country. I was looking forward to starting work," she recalled.
When she arrived in Denmark, she was met by another Nigerian woman, who brought her to Copenhagen's red-light district. "This is where you'll be working," the woman said.
Initially confused, Jewel looked around for a hospital or something reminiscent of a caregiving facility. She quickly realized that the opportunity she had been promised was a hoax.
In that moment, Jewel's heart shattered into a million pieces. For several years to follow, Jewel was serially raped by sex buyers and experienced repeated threats to her life from her sex traffickers.
Her sex traffickers also imposed immense fees that she was demanded to pay. It is typical in cases of international sex trafficking for traffickers to demand payment for travel and living expenses. In Jewel's case her traffickers even went to her house in Nigeria, threatening her family members' lives if she did not pay them.