Coercion or volition: making sense of the experiences of female victims of trafficking from Nigeria in the Netherlands

This study examines the claim that Nigerian girls working in the unregulated parts of the Dutch sex market are trafficked victims for commercial sexual exploitation. In the last decade, various discourses (Aghatise 2004; Monzini 2005) have arisen on how women of Nigerian origin are coerced by a madam and her syndicates. The girls are supposedly taken to a shrine to swear an oath of allegiance to comply with all instructions, many of which include, but are not limited to, engaging in forced sex work and other hideous crimes. However, this study aims to systematically produce new and emerging evidence that goes against this notion of coercion leading to trafficking in the women's journey into sex work in Europe. Close examination reveals that many 'trafficked victims' are sex workers seeking better professional pathways in Europe and, in fact, approach smugglers to assist in transporting them to countries of destination for better opportunities.