North Cyprus records first human trafficking conviction — rights group

NICOSIA, Cyprus - North Cyprus has registered its first ever conviction for human trafficking and ordered the offender jailed, a lawyer from a rights organization told AFP on Wednesday.

The case involved a Nigerian woman in her 20s brought to the territory as a student with promises of "education and work", Fezile Osum from the north's Human Rights Platform said.

Cyprus has been split since 1974, after Turkey invaded in response to a Greek-sponsored coup. The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is only recognized by Ankara.

The victim "was forced into prostitution" by another Nigerian woman who told her she was indebted to her because she had "arranged her visa and university", Osum said.

She was manipulated with a "voodoo ritual" and "was very scared that she would be cursed" after disobeying the woman, said Osum, adding that the platform provided legal assistance to the victim.

The trafficker was sentenced to four years in prison, Osum said.

The north first criminalized human trafficking in 2020 but no convictions had yet been recorded, said Osum, whose organization runs a hotline for victims.

The rights group obtained a copy of the court judgement on Monday after the decision was handed down on December 13 but not made public, Osum said.

The US State Department does not formally rank the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

It says the territory would be in Tier 3 with the worst offenders including Afghanistan and North Korea if it did.

The Human Rights Platform has previously warned that traffickers in the north were abusing student visa regulations.

Osum said the platform assisted 23 Nigerian women sex trafficking victims in 2022, all of whom were brought into the north as students. -- Agence France-Presse