Colombia-Madrid-Malaga: just one of the people-trafficking routes into Spain

The typical profile of the majority of victims is young, vulnerable, undocumented and abused women

María José Díaz Alcalá

Thursday, 27 February 2025, 21:09

A few months ago the police in Malaga dismantled one of the largest criminal organisations dedicated to trafficking women for sex work. More than 500 victims had been forced into prostitution, doing it as piecework and without protection, in four brothels in the capital of the Costa del Sol. Most of them had left Colombia with the false promise of working in a beauty salon or clinic in Spain, thus securing for the mafia-style gangs there one of the predominant people-trafficking routes for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Unfortunately, it is not the only one. There are also established routes departing from Venezuela and Brazil, passing through Madrid and Tenerife, and ending up in Jaen and Granada. From Latin America entry into Spanish territory is usually done by plane. However, this is not the case when migrating from Africa. That journey begins long before they reach the sea borders, usually in illegal boats such as pateras or cayucos.

A recent report Mirando a la Frontera Sur (a review of Spain's southernmost borders), published by Federación Andalucía Acoge (an NGO and independent immigration watchdog, founded in 1991 and based in Seville), offers a diagnosis of the migrant profiles and the itineraries and recruitment methods used by the traffickers to acquire victims. According to the report the routes of the African migrant populations are "more complex" and "dangerous", with several stages that can take months or even years. There is a decrease in women coming from Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Guinea, but more women are coming in particular from Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania and Somalia.

The study also reflects some changes noted over the last two years, including the detour from Senegal and Gambia to Morocco, where victims are duped by an offer of work in that country, making their stay there last up to two years. Afterwards, they are offered domestic work as a means of persuading them to travel to Spain. On the route from Guinea and the Ivory Coast to Morocco, victims pass through several countries where they often experience violence and exploitation, including suffering destitution, sexual exploitation and assaults. Their final destinations include Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Melilla.

However, even once they are on Spanish soil at one of these places, the victims' futures are still very much left up in the air. Often they do not know the exact place in Spain where it is planned for them to go. Other times they cannot say. Aside from that, in cases of sexual exploitation as the report highlights, their presence in the cities of Malaga and Seville is significant.

The first steps in their recruitment occur via relatives, acquaintances or friends who know the circumstances of vulnerability that surround the victims, either because they are known to them personally or through social media. The proposal is nearly always a job linked to hospitality, home care or the beauty business. The promise, high income and help with getting documented.

In some cases criminal organisations use a mechanism known as the 'lover boy'; the deception is carried out by an individual with whom the victim has an emotional connection - her 'boyfriend'. In other cases, the recruiter tells the victim that he or she is involved in prostitution, but in conditions that are "more lucrative and less harmful" than the real sex trade, so he lures her with the offer of easy money.

"He invites her to make the journey by telling her that it will be a short-term effort that will generate a lot of income and then she will be free to move on." At the destination, her earnings are divvied up, with one half going to the brothel. She is even monitored by cameras and has no breaks from work, even for menstruation or pregnancy.

In terms of profiles, according to the report, the majority of trafficked persons are women (93%) and young, vulnerable people. There is a worrying presence of minors and young people aged 18 to 25 - these represent 55.8% of the total number of cases identified.

In addition, 81% of the people are not properly documented, making it difficult for them to access essential rights and resources. Many of the women recruited have suffered previous violence, including female genital mutilation, gender-based violence or forced marriages, which makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Another key feature is the presence of dependent children who make exploitative situations acceptable to ensure their survival.

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