Sexual Exploitation Plagues Moroccan Farmworkers in Spanish Strawberry Fields

The 3,000 people who arrive each year in Huelva for the red fruit harvest campaign have become the target of human trafficking networks, denounces the association Andalucía Acoge in its latest report "Consequences of discrimination in the camps in the province of Huelva". The victims of these criminal organizations are often seasonal workers and young undocumented migrants living in shantytowns.

"Being a woman and living here is very difficult, we are alone and defenseless and we constantly receive threats and indecent proposals... Every day, I fear for my life, because of fires, fights and abuse..." says a woman of Moroccan origin in an irregular situation. The association collected dozens of similar testimonies in 16 camps in Huelva last year after conducting 770 personal interviews, reports El Confidencial.

The presence of women in these Huelva shantytowns, which have existed for nearly three decades, was detected about eight years ago. At first, it was mostly Equatorial Guinean and Nigerian migrants, but more and more Moroccan seasonal workers who choose to stay in Huelva at the end of the strawberry campaign find themselves in these camps. In an irregular situation and very vulnerable, they are often victims of physical violence and sexual assault.

According to the Acoge report, 40% of the women interviewed admit to having been forced to live in these shantytowns and 13.3% say they have lived there in the past. They are generally victims of sexual exploitation by these human trafficking networks that also recruit young sub-Saharan migrants whom they exploit through labor. "Fearing expulsion or being reported, these undocumented (seasonal workers and migrants) end up giving in to the pressures they are subjected to," laments Ana Pinto, the association’s spokesperson.