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KABUL (SW): Among other hurdles in the treacherous journey to Europe, war-weary Afghan migrants reveal they also went through sexual assaults by the human traffickers.
The year 2015 and 2016 saw phenomenal exodus from Afghanistan as many of its citizens fled the war at home and went on the dangerous path to find better life in Europe. Many of such families took the route via Iran and Turkey to reach mainland Europe. Many factors played part in this disturbing phenomenon of our times such as raging violence at home, unemployment and fears about a bleak future. It was not just the young men risking their lives to embark on the thorny path, but women and children as well.
Farida, one of thousands of such immigrants, talking about her ordeal, said she travelled to Europe in a quest for peaceful life. She and her family took the journey despite knowing the hardships of immigration. Her family reached Iran and managed to cross Iran-Turkey border on foot. Farida along with her 6 siblings and parents were all uncertain about this odyssey.
Recounting those days, Farida said the difficulties they faced were ‘outrageous and the in-human’ and the rude behavior of the human traffickers was on top of all that hassle. The human traffickers treat women like ‘prostitutes’, she said. Some women said, Farida quoted, for the journey they were even raped.
According to Farida, the human traffickers negotiate with the men and women of a family for sexual favors to help them reach their destinations.
19-year-old Waheed is another migrant who borrowed up to $ 1300 from his friends and relatives to pay to the human traffickers. He said the traffickers took all the money away but did not abide by the promise to cross him over to Europe. “In Turkey, I was made to work in a shoe making factory in the night to gather more money for the traffickers, I was not skilled and cut four of my fingers while working in that shoe making factory”, he added.
Waheed returned home with a heavy heart. He suggests no one should risk this irregular immigration.
Previously, the Afghan Women Network (AWN) activists told Salam Watandar, many women immigrating to Europe have been gang raped. One activist told Salam Watandar on the condition of anonymity many migrants took the desperate measured of being sexually exploited by the traffickers in a bid to make it to the destinations of their choice.
Although, exact number of rape cases involving the Afghan immigrants are unknown, but those who have returned to Afghanistan say sexual favors and rapes on the journey to Europe are ,not common’.
Hafiz Miakhil, spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, told Salam Watandar the Ministry does not have any office in Turkey to help Afghan immigrants in this regard. “The issues of in-human treatment rape and sexual harassment of the immigrants and refugees by the human traffickers stem from illegal immigration”, said Miakhil.
Laurence Hart, country director of International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Afghanistan, said illegal immigrants face many problems in the west. “The IoM is trying to resolve immigration issues in the long run. We have collaborated with the Afghan government to provide employment opportunities for the people so that the large scale immigration can be prevented in the first place”, informed Hart.
ENDS
