Underage girls trafficked to Italy holiday destinations for sex

Migrants are a big issue in Matteo Salvini’s Italy and could be a decisive factor in the next election – whenever it comes.

The busiest frontline of migration has traditionally been around the island of Sicily, a popular tourist destination with a famously shady past and a convenient geography for the people traffickers. There, underage girls often arriving from Nigeria are being coerced into the sex trade.

They are trafficked in a complex web of exploitation that starts as soon as they leave their home. Our investigation has been out on the streets of Palermo and talking to those who have escaped the traffickers.