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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?
What happened
10 of 140 women who went missing from refugee centers in the Netherlands were traced and convinced to testify against their traffickers. They receieved both spiritual and legal intervention. A lawyer Wilma Hompe first came across the case with others, when they discovered similar stories of women dissapearing at asylum centers in the Netherlands. The 10 victims who were traced and freed, received a one year renewable visa to stay in the Netherlands after testifying against their accusers. They were convinced to testify because of the intervention of a local Nigerian pastor who intervened explaining to the girls that God was more powerful than the voodoo curses supposedly used by the traffickers to enslave the women along with a debt of 30-60,000 euros for their transit to the Netherlands, and threats against themselves and their family if the debt went unpaid. Because of the nature of the visa educational programs were unavailable to them. Other forms of aftercare were not mentioned.
Response and intervention
Yes. An international collaboration between Dutch, Nigerian, French, Belgian, British and US investigators took place. The case was code named Koolvis or Pollack. It went to trial in March of 2009 and on December 3, 2009 sentences were handed out. In Den Hague the two main traffickers were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of 4.5 years for people smuggling, others were given sentences of 1-2 years, and 3 were found not guilty in a Dutch court in Zwolle. Only 10 of the suspected 140 victims were traced. In return for testifying against the defendants, the women were given renewable 1 year Dutch visas. However because of the nature of the visas, access to education programs was not available to them. They received both spiritual and legal intervention, however other care after and during the trial is unknown. A laywer and a local pastor, other unknown. Wilma Hompe a lawyer and others connected the similar stories which began an international and collaborative investigation between countries, code named koolvis to apprehend the traffickers.