The Prostitution System, Human Trafficking and Migration Pathways

The term international migrant refers to any person who leaves their usual place of residence to settle, either temporarily or permanently and for a variety of reasons, in another region within the same country or in another country, thereby crossing an international border. 

At present, the United Nations estimates that there are 281 million migrants worldwide, representing 3.6% of the global population. 

Although the proportion of women among international migrants has tended to decline relative to that of men since 2000, women still account for 48% of all people engaged in international migration in 2025. 

Migration is widely recognised as a gendered phenomenon. Women and girls are exposed to forms of violence that differ from those experienced by men, resulting in migration experiences that vary significantly according to sex. While one in three women worldwide experiences physical or sexual violence, the risk is even greater for migrant women. Due to their heightened vulnerability throughout their journeys, women and girls are subjected to sexual assault, rape, prostitution and forced marriage, often repeatedly and at different stages of their migration route. At least one in five refugee women is believed to have experienced sexual violence during her migration pathway, although the true figure is likely to be considerably higher. According to Gynaecology Without Borders, the proportion may be as high as one in three women, and even one in two according to UNICEF. 

Furthermore, women do not always have access to the same information as men regarding the safest routes, available means of transport, smugglers and potential dangers. According to a study conducted in 2023, only 40% of migrant women travelling through Latin America and the Caribbean had access to a mobile phone during their journey. 

These sex-based vulnerabilities expose women and girls disproportionately to the prostitution system and to human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation remains the most prevalent form of trafficking in human beings worldwide, with 67% of identified victims of human trafficking having been trafficked for sexual exploitation. The prostitution system and human trafficking overwhelmingly affect women and girls, who may be exposed to them even before leaving their countries of origin. Violence linked to prostitution occurs at every stage of the migration process: during the journey itself, at border crossings, and in destination countries such as France, which will be the focus of this article. 

Departure: Between Survival Strategies and Coercive Dynamics 

The reasons that lead women and girls to leave their countries of origin are varied and multifaceted. 

Women and girls may leave in order to escape armed conflict, natural disasters, poverty, gender-based violence, or religious and ethnic discrimination. Some are compelled or forced to leave by third parties. In all cases, they remain vulnerable to the prostitution system and to pimping and trafficking networks throughout their migration journey.  

Focus on Nigerian Women :

In 2016, on the Italian island of Lampedusa, 60% of the Nigerian women who arrived during that period reported remarkably similar experiences. 

Most were between 16 and 20 years old. They had been forced to leave Nigeria. Around 90% came from rural communities in Edo State or from the city of Benin City, and had grown up in conditions of extreme poverty with limited access to education. 

Some had been sold by their families, while others had been abducted against the wishes of their relatives. 

They had been subjected to juju rituals, during which a financial agreement was imposed in connection with traffickers. As a result, they were placed in situations of debt bondage and pledged to repay the debt upon their arrival in Europe. 

Most of these women and girls reported that they had never been informed of what they would be required to do in order to repay their debt. They stated that they had been deceived, manipulated and threatened by traffickers. 

Some women and girls are aware that they will be placed in prostitution once they arrive in Europe. This is, for example, the case for women who were already in prostitution in their countries of origin. O Ninho, a Portuguese grassroots organisation and member of CAP International, explains that certain Brazilian trafficking and procuring networks organise the arrival of Brazilian women in Portugal using tourist visas and regularly move women between the two countries. These women are aware of what the networks expect of them upon arrival and act primarily out of a need to support family members who remain in their home country. 

The departure of these women can therefore be explained in different ways and varies according to each individual's circumstances. However, although some choose to embark on a migration journey of their own accord, without any initial coercion or involvement from procuring networks, traffickers have adapted to the various migration routes and are also able to entrap women during their journey and in destination countries. These networks are often complex and highly organised. They involve a range of actors responsible for establishing and maintaining control, from the initial "recruitment" phase through to exploitation, with some traffickers relying on intermediaries. During the recruitment phase, traffickers frequently use deceptive tactics, including promises of lucrative employment opportunities. Their methods range from attractive but fraudulent job offers to more direct approaches, such as feigning romantic or emotional interest in order to gain trust and exert control. 

Migration routes are spaces in which traffickers are both able and adept at exploiting the vulnerability of those who travel along them. 

Migration: The Commodification of Women at the Heart of Predatory Systems  

Today, migrant persons increasingly rely on land and sea routes rather than air travel, which is subject to much stricter controls. The extreme precarity and vulnerability experienced by people on the move increase their reliance on smugglers, particularly when attempting to enter Europe. Investigations conducted by Europol and Interpol have highlighted the connections between migration routes and trafficking pathways identified across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Migration crises provide particularly fertile ground for the expansion of sexual exploitation. 

In this context, migrant women are often at the mercy of smugglers, traffickers, transnational organised criminal networks, military forces and border guards. Too often, prostitution becomes a means of survival or a condition imposed in exchange for crossing borders. Weakened socially, economically, physically and psychologically by migration journeys that are frequently marked by instability and hardship, women become especially vulnerable to sexual violence, including exploitation through prostitution. 

Certain migration routes, particularly those passing through Libya before reaching Europe, expose women to especially grave dangers. Numerous testimonies indicate that onward travel to Europe is often deliberately delayed. In some cases, militias sexually exploit women and girls in exchange for facilitating their passage, forcing them to remain in the country for months. Women and girls destined for prostitution in Europe are exposed to even higher levels of sexual violence throughout their migration journey. 

Libya is often cited as one of the clearest examples of the dangers associated with migration routes. However, migrant women are not safe on any of them. In 2024, for example, reported cases of sexual violence increased sevenfold in the Darién Gap, on the border between Colombia and Panama. Migrants who crossed the region described being subjected to robbery, abduction and gang rape in makeshift tents reportedly set up for that purpose. These abuses were presented as the price to be paid for crossing the border and maintaining any hope of reaching their destination country. 

However, sexual violence does not stop once the journey has ended. At the gates of Europe, in so-called “hotspot” reception and identification centres, the overrepresentation of migrants and asylum seekers who have been subjected to prostitution is also visible. This is the case, for example, in the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, where migrant women are drawn into prostitution networks. Between 2014 and 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified 2,000 victims of trafficking within camps themselves, the vast majority of whom were women and children. In 2017, the organisation identified 6,000 cases. 

So-called “sex buyers” are among the first to profit from their suffering and vulnerability. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has reported a 600% increase in online searches combining the terms “refugees”, “Ukraine”, “escort” and “porn”. 

In the ASPIRE study conducted by the Mouvement du Nid, respondents primarily migrant women who have experienced prostitution, were found to be exposed to extreme levels of violence, particularly at the hands of pimps and so-called “sex buyers”. 85% of them reported having suffered physical or psychological violence. 

Europe as a Space of Prolonged Exploitation: Focus on France 

In Europe and in destination countries, migrant women often face profound disillusionment. They are overrepresented among people in prostitution, accounting for around 70% of them on European territory. 

They are confronted with multiple forms of discrimination in access to employment, residence permits, housing and healthcare. These structural barriers increase both entry into the prostitution system and continued involvement in it. Prostitution thus becomes the literal price paid to repay fictitious debts imposed by pimps, or a means of survival to meet their own needs or those of their children. 

In France, the majority of people in prostitution are under the control of pimping networks. In 2025, foreign networks are particularly well structured, with a predominance of criminal networks originating from Latin America and the Caribbean, a resurgence of Chinese networks, the continued presence of networks from Central and Eastern Europe, and a decline in sub-Saharan African networks and Nigerian networks, which long dominated the so-called “market”. 

The main nationalities of identified Latin American and Caribbean victims, according to the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings (OCRTEH), are as follows: 

• 80% Paraguay 

• 32% Colombia 

• 31% Brazil 

• 26% Dominican Republic 

• 6% Peru 

• 6% Venezuela 

These networks promote the use of so-called “sex tours” in order to make tracing and victim identification extremely difficult. Victims are moved from city to city, several times a month, sometimes even weekly. This constant displacement leaves them disoriented, prevents them from forming social ties, and makes them harder to identify for law enforcement agencies and support organisations. 

With regard to Chinese networks, 110 victims were identified by the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings (OCRTEH). This represents 10% of all victims identified in 2025. These networks, rooted in a logic of community isolation, prevent victims from speaking out about their situation. They favour indoor prostitution in 61% of cases, ostensibly legal massage parlours in 23% of cases, and street prostitution in 7% of cases. 

Since 2016, the feminist NGO D’Antilles & D’Ailleurs has observed an increase in the number of women from Saint Lucia fleeing violence linked to drug trafficking and arriving in Martinique in situations of severe precarity, often with dependent children with significant health needs. 

• International
• migration
• traite des êtres humains
• TEHES