In December 2019, while the madam was away, Blessing finally got the courage to escape.
As part of a months-long investigation into sex trafficking and the gold mining industry, The Associated Press met with nearly 20 Nigerian women who said they had been brought to Burkina Faso under false pretenses, then forced into prostitution.
People with knowledge of the trafficking say most of the women come from Nigeria’s Edo state, where promises of jobs in shops or salons in Burkina Faso sounded like a good way to support their families.
As a result, the country not only struggles with trafficking within its borders but has also been identified as a transfer point for trafficking women into other countries, according to reports from the U.S.
“I feel somehow bad because it’s not a good job for them to do.
Burkina Faso is likely to be downgraded in this year’s Trafficking in Persons Report, an annual report issued by the U.S.
Burkina Faso’s gold mining industry is relatively new.
Today, Burkina Faso is the fastest-growing gold producer in Africa, and currently the fifth largest on the continent after South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania and Mali.
In the filings, companies say they perform due diligence to make sure that the gold used in their products is not being mined or processed by forced labor or exploited workers.
“These kinds of exploitation take place outside of the mining areas, so stakeholders don’t see it as their responsibility.
Much of it, particularly from the east, is smuggled across Burkina Faso’s borders with Togo, Benin, Niger and Ghana, according to the Institute for Security Studies, based in South Africa.
Salofou Trahore, general director for Burkina Faso’s regulatory body for small-scale mines, said he was unaware that women were being exploited at the sites.