Amidst a global increase in migration, women are undertaking increasingly perilous journeys to seek safety and opportunity in Europe, often facing heightened risks of violence and exploitation. This report focuses on the growing number of women, like Esther, fleeing domestic abuse and other forms of persecution, and the challenges they encounter navigating complex asylum systems – and the dangers they face along the way. A recent analysis indicates a significant surge in female migrants arriving via the Balkan route, underscoring a critical need to address the gender-specific vulnerabilities within broader migration patterns.
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- Author, Sofia Bettiza
- Role, Journaliste spécialisée en Santé globale à Trieste, en Italie
The number of women undertaking dangerous journeys to seek asylum in Europe is rising, exposing them to increased risks of violence and exploitation. Esther’s story, like many others, highlights the complex challenges faced by female migrants.
Esther fled Lagos in 2016 after a woman promised her a path to a better life in Europe, offering employment and housing. Driven from a violent and abusive home, she felt she had no reason to remain in Nigeria. But her journey, which took her across the desert towards Libya, quickly devolved into a nightmare of sexual exploitation and years spent navigating the asylum systems of multiple countries.
While the majority of irregular migrants and asylum seekers are men – accounting for 70% according to the European Union Agency for Asylum – organizations are reporting a significant increase in the number of women like Esther seeking protection in Europe.
“We are seeing a rise in the number of women traveling alone, both on the Mediterranean and Balkan routes,” explained Irini Contogiannis of the International Rescue Committee in Italy.
A 2024 report from the organization revealed a 250% annual increase in the number of single adult women arriving in Italy via the Balkan route, while the number of families increased by 52%.
Migration routes are notoriously dangerous. Last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 3,419 deaths or disappearances of migrants in Europe, marking the deadliest year on record.
But for women, the risks are compounded by the threat of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation, as Esther experienced after being betrayed by the woman who initially promised her a better life.
“She locked me in a room and brought a man in. He raped me. I was still a virgin,” Esther recounted. “That’s what they do… they go to different villages in Nigeria to recruit young girls and take them to Libya to be sex slaves.”
“Their experiences are different and often more risky,” Ugochi Daniels of the IOM told the BBC. Even women traveling in groups often lack adequate protection, leaving them vulnerable to abuse from smugglers, traffickers, or other migrants.
Many are aware of the dangers, but feel they have no other choice, carrying condoms or even undergoing contraceptive procedures in case of assault during the journey.
“All migrants have to pay a smuggler,” explained Hermine Gbedo of Stella Polare, a human trafficking network. “But women are often expected to offer sexual favors in exchange for payment.”
Gbedo supports migrants in Trieste, a long-standing port city in northeastern Italy and a major entry point into the European Union for those traveling the Balkan route. From there, they often continue on to countries like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
Crédit photo, Barbara Zanon/Getty Image
After four months of exploitation in Libya, Esther escaped and crossed the Mediterranean Sea in a rubber boat. Rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, she arrived on the island of Lampedusa.
She filed three asylum claims before finally being granted refugee status.
Asylum seekers from countries considered safe are often denied protection. At the time, Italy considered Nigeria a dangerous country, but revised its assessment two years ago as European governments tightened rules in response to the large influx of migrants to Europe between 2015 and 2016. Since then, calls for stricter asylum criteria have grown.
“It is impossible to support mass migration, it simply is impossible,” stated Nicola Procaccini, a member of parliament with Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government. “We can guarantee a safe life for women genuinely in danger, but not for all.”
“We need to be pragmatic,” cautioned Rakib Ehsan, a senior research fellow at the conservative think tank Policy Exchange. “We must prioritize women and girls in immediate danger in conflict-affected territories, where rape is used as a weapon of war.”
Currently, this approach is not systematic, he lamented, and while he understands the distress of women taking perilous routes to reach Europe, “the key lies in measured compassion.”
However, many women arriving from countries considered safe argue that gender-based violence has made life impossible in their home countries.
That is the case for Nina, a 28-year-old from Kosovo.
“People think everything is fine in Kosovo, but that’s not true,” she explained. “The situation for women is terrible.”
Nina recounted that she and her sister were victims of sexual abuse by their boyfriends, who forced them into prostitution.
A 2019 report by the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, indicated that 54% of women in Kosovo have experienced psychological, physical, or sexual violence from an intimate partner since the age of 15.
Women persecuted for gender-based violence are entitled to asylum under the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, a right affirmed by a landmark ruling from the European Union Court of Justice last year. The Convention defines gender-based violence as psychological, physical, and sexual, and includes female genital mutilation (FGM).
However, charities say its provisions are not yet applied consistently.
“Many asylum officers on the ground are men insufficiently trained to deal with such a delicate issue [as FGM], both medically and psychologically,” explained Marianne Nguena Kana, director of the European Network End FGM.
Many asylum claims are rejected, she continued, based on a flawed assumption: that women who have already undergone FGM are no longer at risk.
“We have heard judges say: ‘You have already been mutilated, so there is no danger to you returning to your country, because it is impossible for you to be subjected to it a second time,’” lamented Ms. Nguena Kana.
Crédit photo, Comité international de secours
In cases of sexual violence, Carenza Arnold, of the British charity Women for Refugee Women, explains that it is often harder to prove, as it does not leave the same physical marks as torture. Taboos and cultural sensitivities surrounding women’s experiences further complicate the process.
“Women are frequently rushed through and may not disclose sexual violence to an immigration officer they have just met,” Arnold explained.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the BBC that much of the violence experienced by women occurs during their journey.
“Women are generally escaping sexual violence from partners in their country of origin, and then during their journey, they experience it again,” explained Ugochi Daniles.
This was the case for Nina and her sister, who fled abusive partners in Kosovo to reach Italy and start a new life. Traveling with other women, they crossed forests in Eastern Europe to evade authorities. There, they reported being accosted by migrants and smugglers. “Even when we were in the mountains, in the dark, you could hear screams,” Nina recalled. “Men would approach us with a flashlight, blind us, choose who they wanted and take them further into the forest.”
“At night, I would hear my sister crying and begging for help.” Nina and her sister told Italian authorities that if they returned home, their ex-boyfriends would kill them. They were eventually granted asylum.
Esther’s fight for refugee status was much longer.
She first sought asylum in Italy in 2016, but after a long wait, moved to France and then Germany, where her asylum claims were rejected. Under the EU’s Dublin Regulation, an asylum seeker must generally lodge their claim in the first EU country they enter.
She finally obtained refugee status in Italy in 2019.
Nearly ten years after leaving Nigeria, Esther questions whether her current life in Italy was worth the suffering she endured to reach it: “I don’t even know why I came here.”
