Gevangen en mishandeld: één jaar na de migratie-deal met Libië

Evelien van Roemburg was onlangs nog in Sicilië in Italië, waar veel vluchtelingen en migranten aankomen, en is beschikbaar voor interviews. Oxfam Novib en haar partnerorganisatie Borderline Sicilia spraken met 158 mensen. Enkele van hun getuigenissen zijn onderaan dit persbericht te lezen. Lees het Oxfam Novib rapport van augustus 2017 met getuigenissen van migranten die via Libië reisden. Het rapport toont aan dat migranten dagelijks lijden onder martelingen, verkrachtingen en slavernij: https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-08-09/torture-rape-and-slavery-libya-why-migrants-must-be-able-leave Oxfam vangt nieuwe migranten op en ondersteunt hen met onder andere eten, kleding, schoenen, hygiëne-kits, en psychologische en juridische ondersteuning. Oxfam heeft al eerder gewaarschuwd dat de EU steeds vaker geld voor ontwikkelingshulp misbruikt om migratie te stoppenm in plaats van mensen te helpen. Hierbij een link naar een Oxfam analyse over het EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa: https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/beyond-fortress-europe-principles-humane-eu-migration-policy en hierbij een link naar het Oxfam-rapport over de EU Migratie Agenda: https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-10-11/oxfam-grave-abuse-shows-urgent-need-shift-eu-migration-agenda De VN Vluchtelingenorganisatie waarschuwt dat honderdduizenden mensen in Libië momenteel leven in “onveilige situaties met weinig tot geen toegang tot gezondheidszorg, essentiële medicijnen, eten, schoon drinkwater, onderdak en onderwijs.” Voor meer informatie: Marthe van der Wolf | marthe.van.der.wolf@oxfamnovib.nl | 06 5757 1813 Getuigenissen verzameld door Oxfam en Borderline (namen zijn gewijzigd om de identiteit van de migranten te beschermen). Precious, a 28-years old woman from Nigeria “When I arrived to Tripoli, I was put in prison. There where men and women with me. They asked for money which we did not have. They treated us like trash. We only ate once per day, a bit of rice or raw pasta, and drank water from old gasoline barrels. Some people died from illnesses or the beating while I was there. The women among us were beaten and raped every day – only then did they give us anything to eat. I thought several times I would die. Ever since then, I struggle to sleep, and I have nightmares.” Blessing, a 24-year old woman from Nigeria “After the terrible journey through the desert I hoped the situation in Libya would be better than what I had experienced until then. I thought I would be employed as a maid in an Arab household, as I had been told. Instead they brought me to a center where I stayed for many months. They put a fistful of rice into my hands to eat each day. They sold my body to local men. When I tried to escape, they beat me violently and raped me. I remember a man with such a strong and disgusting smell that I vomited when he came close to me. He injured me with a knife on my breast and my legs to force me to do what he wanted. I was then taken to the sea in the middle of the night. I was so afraid, but I didn’t have any force to resist. Beating me and yelling at me, they forced me on a boat. I had never seen the sea, and I thought I would die. But God wanted me to arrive in Italy, he has given me a second chance.” F., an 18-year old man from Guinea Bissau “In Tripoli, I lived with other Africans in a ‘connection house’ [smugglers’ hideouts] for four and a half months. I could leave for small jobs, but I had to be careful as it was really dangerous. The house was managed by Libyans who, every day, took the money we had earned. When the Libyans did not receive money, they took the people and transported them far way, then beat them and often left them dead. One day the Libyans came to the place where I was working and forced me to go with them; they tied my hands and feet and put me into a car. They took me to an isolated place and beat me. I still vomit blood because of this beating. Then they brought me to a beach where they beat me again and shot me in the arm; I still have the scars. In the meantime, a boat arrived at the beach. A boy got: he had been meant to steer the boat, but returned because the sea was too rough. That was why the Libyans beat him in front of everybody, they cut one of his fingers, they cut his arm and they shot his hand. The Libyans then came to me and put me on the rubber dinghy with the others. Four of them came on board and drove us up to a certain point. There, they made me understand that I had to steer the boat. They were armed. The Libyans went on the other boat and I drove the dinghy until we were in international waters where we were rescued. As soon as I arrived in the port of Pozzallo, I was arrested for [abetting irregular migration]. Frances, a 20-year old man from The Gambia “In Saba, we were kidnapped by bandits that brought us to the Abdoul Kafir prison in the city center, an apartment building transformed by the kidnappers into a prison for migrants. There were more than 300 people closed in into one big room. I was there for five months. […] Every day we were forced to work. Anyone who opposed this was killed. The living conditions were terrible: we received little food and little water. The sanitary conditions were appalling. Many people got sick. Women were systematically raped. We were all forced to attend the killing of several people by the Libyans who managed the prison. […] [In another prison,] I was again forced to work on a construction site. There were hundreds of us, and we had to sleep on the ground. There were women and children, too. The women were systematically beaten and raped by groups of people. The children were raised in the prison and then sold as servants to Libyan households. There were people who had been held in prison for a year.”