| Eunice Osayande | |
| Death Date: | June 2018 (aged 23) |
| Death Place: | Gare du Nord district, Brussels |
| Nationality: | Nigerian |
| Occupation: | Sex worker |
Eunice Osayande was a Nigerian sex worker in Belgium, where she was murdered in June 2018. The city of Brussels is set to name a new street after her to promote a campaign that recognizes women in Belgium.[1] The new street named after Osayande connects the Quai des Peniches and Quai de Willebroeck. This would be the first time a street is named after a sex worker.[2] This is in recognition of sexual violence, female victims, and femicide.[3] [4] Osayande came to Europe in 2016, hoping for a brighter future in the film industry.
Her ordeals started with a difficult journey, which included crossing over to Italy on a rubber boat and being raped multiple times. She arrived in Belgium, thinking she would start a career as an actress. The men who had invited her gave her the impression that they were film agents. However, when Osayande got to Brussels, she realized that the men were human traffickers. Her life of forced prostitution started after she was informed that she owed $52,000, which the syndicate claimed was money for transit, pimps, and rent. Too scared to make a formal police report because she was undocumented, Eunice contacted a sex worker charity and reported the violence and intimidation she faced.[5]
In June 2018, a 17-year-old client stabbed the 23-year-old Osayande 17 times in the head and chest.[6] He was arrested two weeks after her murder.[7] Osayande's death led to organized protests by the migrant sex worker communities in Brussels, led by Maxime Maes the director of the UTSOPI sex workers union.[8]
The young man who stabbed Osayande has been jailed for 25 years. The perpetrator, who was 17 years old when he committed this crime, was only identified by his initials SG. The crime took on Rue de Linne, Schaerbeek, near Brussels- North station. The judges described his action as senseless and an 'intolerable violation of respect for human life.'
Her four smugglers were arrested and sentenced to 33 months and four years imprisonment.
Advocates have also come together to demand the protection of women in the city, especially undocumented migrants. The area where Osayande was killed has seen increasing violence, and those targeted the most are marginalized women.[9]