The Samilia Foundation Wins First Prize for Its Short Film on Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation
The Samilia Foundation was awarded First Prize in the category of “organizations active in the social profit sector” at the Video Experience Day competition organized by AP Hogeschool Antwerpen, for its short film dedicated to human trafficking for sexual exploitation, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of Lover boys.
This short film, directed by Agustin Eguia and produced by the Belgian production company 87 Seconds, with the support of Wallonie-Bruxelles International and the Culture Service of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, is intended to be used as part of a large-scale awareness campaign on human trafficking for sexual exploitation, which will be launched in September 2020.
A teaser of the short film is, however, already available today on Samilia’s social media channels.
Samilia emphasizes the urgent need to better prevent and protect potential victims of sexual exploitation, who are recruited through various manipulative techniques. The recruitment method illustrated in the short film, better known as the “Lover boy” phenomenon, remains a cunning trap widely exploited by human traffickers today.
The Lover boy phenomenon acts as a lure, through which traffickers seduce young, vulnerable women — often those with weakened family ties or at risk of dropping out of school — by creating a romantic attachment through promises of an illusory future together. The trafficker then gradually leads the young woman into prostitution networks. After a few weeks of apparent romance, the lover boy will pressure her to “sacrifice herself” by engaging in prostitution under the pretext of temporary financial problems or the need to accumulate capital for the couple’s “shared dream.”
Caught in a spiral of emotional and psychological dependence, these young women are often unaware of their status as victims of human trafficking and find it extremely difficult to escape. It is also very common for a lover boy trafficker to have multiple girls “working” for him in organized prostitution, generating substantial criminal profits.
The phenomenon of Lover boys is widespread in Eastern European countries, such as Romania, which is one of the main sources of human trafficking victims in Belgium.
However, current events show that the Lover boy trap is now being used against young girls residing in Belgium and France, as evidenced by the January 2020 arrest of several members of a Brussels gang who sexually exploited multiple young girls through online ads, one of whom had been sold to the network by her “boyfriend.”
Following the health and economic crisis caused by COVID-19, which has increased vulnerability and school dropouts, the Samilia Foundation fears that the social isolation of some young girls will provide traffickers with new opportunities, potentially leading to a worrying rise in human trafficking, particularly for sexual exploitation.
For this reason, public awareness and targeted prevention for at-risk populations are essential to effectively combat this form of crime and sexual violence, as also required by European and international obligations imposed on Belgium in the fight against human trafficking.
