The price of "love"
Marking EU Anti-Trafficking Day 2025, HopeNow is drawing attention to the critical issue of forced marriage as a form of human trafficking. We are promoting the recent publication from our international partner, La Strada International, alongside a localized case study from HopeNow. This case study features a specific case to illuminate the complexity and presence of forced marriage and emphasize the need for targeted responses.
La Strada International's report identifies direct family pressure as a primary factor in forced marriage cases. This is powerfully illustrated by the story of Amirah, whose experience began in Somalia.
After the death of her parents, Amirah was left in the care of her uncle. Struggling with illness and in need of money for an operation, her uncle made a deal. Amirah was sold to an agent, who arranged for her to marry a Somalian man living in Spain. It was a forced marriage that involved a financial transaction, which was an advantage for her uncle and his medical expenses.
In Spain, the man who called himself her husband used her as a slave and house servant, where he subjected her to sexual exploitation and physical abuse. She had no freedom, power, or individual agency.
After several months, Amirah encountered a group of Somalians at a market who told her that they could help her. They spoke of a better life in Sweden. Desperate and with nothing left to lose, she agreed to accept their help. The circumstances surrounding the offer, her vulnerability, the secrecy, and the lack of clarity about the journey all pointed to the same pattern of exploitation. There were clear indicators of trafficking, and Amirah now found herself at risk of becoming a victim of exploitation yet again.
The details of the arrangement of Amirah’s transport indicate a clear connection to a strong transnational criminal network. Money was exchanged, and negotiations were made, between her husband, the agent, and the new group of Somalian people who claimed that they wished to assist her with a new and better life in Sweden.
However, their promise of safety and opportunity masked a darker intent: to traffic her once again, possibly for sexual exploitation or forced marriage in Sweden. To this day, we do not know what would have happened to Amirah if she had arrived in Sweden, as she was stopped by border control in Copenhagen, Denmark. The arranged travel plan included a transfer at Copenhagen Airport, where Amirah was arrested in transit and charged for being complicit in smuggling and carrying false documents (provided by the traffickers), despite having sought asylum on arrival in Denmark.
The Danish authorities initially recognized that Amirah had been trafficked from Somalia to Spain; however, they concluded that her onward journey from Spain to Sweden was voluntary. Therefore, instead of receiving protection as a victim of human trafficking and an asylum seeker in need of protection from gender violence, Amirah was imprisoned in Denmark.
HopeNow heard about Amirah's case for the first time after a phone call with Amirah's lawyer in Denmark. The lawyer expressed concern for Amirah’s story and shared that he suspected that there were indicators of trafficking in her case. HopeNow was brought into the case as experts in Human Trafficking and met with Amirah for the first time at the prison. HopeNow conducted multiple interviews with Amirah, first to build trust and secondly to try to piece together a cohesive story that highlighted the elements of trafficking in her story. During the interviews, HopeNow identified multiple indicators for trafficking, including common transit patterns, recruitment methods, and common indicators for the exploitation of forced marriage. The interviews were lengthy and complicated due to not only various cultural barriers, but Amirah also could not communicate in Danish or English. It was a necessary measure that a translator was involved in the interview process, which added a 3rd party figure that, in some cases, could deter a traumatized person from sharing detailed aspects of their narrative. Fortunately, the translator was trauma-informed, empathetic, and helped HopeNow tremendously in understanding all the aspects of Amirah's story while also helping us to communicate with her.
Despite her prior traumatic experiences, Amirah was brave enough to share her story with us. Listening to her story, we discovered that she had never acted on her own free will. From the moment she was sold to a man in Spain, she had been trapped in a cycle of exploitation, control, and deceit. Her life in Spain was one of abuse, and her journey towards Sweden was yet another layer of coercion and trafficking.
Amirah’s story, sadly, is not unique. It is one of many cases HopeNow has witnessed evolve in recent years, illustrating a hidden reality that is often overlooked. While the trafficking of sex workers and drug pushers on the streets may have become more recognizable, other forms of exploitation are often more subtle. It can be as common as the new young couple who just moved in across the hall.
By sharing the power of Amirah’s experience, we aim to shed light on this area of human trafficking, urging both the public and institutions to work towards recognizing and protecting those who lack freedom, power, or agency in their lives.
* All names and some details have been changed and/or combined with similar stories to protect the identity of the clients of HopeNow.