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[ElTorro]

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/n...l-harassment-on-their-journey-through-europe/

Governments and aid agencies are failing to provide even basic protections to women refugees traveling from Syria and Iraq. New research conducted by Amnesty International shows that women and girl refugees face violence, assault, exploitation and sexual harassment at every stage of their journey, including on European soil.

The organization interviewed 40 refugee women and girls in northern Europe last month who travelled from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans. All the women described feeling threatened and unsafe during the journey. Many reported that in almost all of the countries they passed through they experienced physical abuse and financial exploitation, being groped or pressured to have sex by smugglers, security staff or other refugees.

Women also reported having to use the same bathroom and shower facilities as men. One woman told Amnesty International that in a reception centre in Germany some refugee men would watch women as they went to the bathroom. Some women took extreme measures such as not eating or drinking to avoid having to go to the toilet where they felt unsafe.

“If this humanitarian crisis was unfolding anywhere else in the world we would expect immediate practical steps to be taken to protect groups most at risk of abuse, such as women travelling alone and female-headed families. At a minimum, this would include setting up single sex, well-lit toilet facilities and separate safe sleeping areas. These women and their children have fled some of the world’s most dangerous areas and it is shameful that they are still at risk on European soil,” said Tirana Hassan.

One Syrian woman was pregnant and breastfeeding her young daughter when she made the journey with her husband, said she was too scared to sleep in camps in Greece knowing she was surrounded by men. She also described how she went for several days without eating.

A dozen of the women interviewed said that they had been touched, stroked or leered at in European transit camps. One 22-year-old Iraqi woman told Amnesty International that when she was in Germany a uniformed security guard offered to give her some clothes in exchange for “spending time alone” with him.

Smugglers target women who are travelling alone knowing they are more vulnerable. When they lacked the financial resources to pay for their journey smugglers would often try to coerce them into having sex.

At least three women said that smugglers and those working with the smugglers’ network harassed them or others, and offered them a discounted trip or a shorter wait to get on the boat across the Mediterranean, in exchange for sex.

Hala, a 23-year-old woman from Aleppo told Amnesty International,

“At the hotel in Turkey, one of the men working with the smuggler, a Syrian man, said if I sleep with him, I will not pay or pay less. Of course I said no, it was disgusting. The same happened in Jordan to all of us.”

“My friend who came with me from Syria ran out of money in Turkey, so the smuggler’s assistant offered her to have sex with him [in exchange for a place on a boat]; she of course said no, and couldn’t leave Turkey, so she’s staying there.”

Reem, a 20-year-old from Syria who was travelling with her 15-year-old cousin:

“I never got the chance to sleep in settlements. I was too scared that anyone would touch me. The tents were all mixed and I witnessed violence... I felt safer in movements, especially on the bus, the only place I could shut my eyes and sleep. In the camps we are so prone to being touched, and women can’t really complain and they don’t want to cause issues to disrupt their trip.”

Rania, a 19-year-old pregnant woman from Syria, told Amnesty International about her experience in Hungary:

“On our second day there, the police hit a Syrian woman from Aleppo because she begged the police to let her go… Her sister tried to defend her, she spoke English, was told that if she doesn’t shut up they will hit her like her sister. A similar situation happened to an Iranian woman the next day because she asked for extra food for her kids.”

More testimonies in the article.

 

[Faustek]

People prefer to stick their heads in the sand and pretend to care every third to fourth year when their favourite tech company has an accident down the line where a few children died. Then They go back to ignoring all this until they feel the need to pretend to care again.

Refugees are the same. Pretend to care when you see them for a few minutes in the street then ignore everything again.

 

[DragonSworne]

So sad to read what the refugees have to go throw to find sanctuary. Why the hell are we making them cross thousands of miles without basic safety?

 

[dan2026]

Sad but not unexpected.

Evil people will exploit vulnerable people because they know they can get away with it.

 

[Faustek]

So sad to read what the refugees have to go throw to find sanctuary. Why the hell are we making them cross thousands of miles without basic safety?

Because of political power. If the liberal power that be did this you can bet your ass the right-wing racist would have a majority in the coming elections.

Also it costs more money. Better to pretend to care at home than to actually do something.

 

[Marauder Shields]

Hard to read about but sadly not surprising. I guess gender segregation is just not feasible?

 

[Sulik2]

People are all fundamentally terrible. When you put a bunch of refugee women alone with no legal ramifications they are going to be abused. Its happened for all of human history. If you had an international relief force with supervision and criminal punishments for abuse working at the borders directly, you might be able to limit this at best. Its heartbreaking, but if you want to solve the problem you need to stop the situations in their countries that are so bad they are willing to endure the plight of the refugee to get away.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

This is going to fuel all the right-wing fire here in Finland where the most common anti-immigration argument is that refugees bring in more rape.

We now have racist groups doing street patrols. It will probably get worse.

 

[Faustek]

Just fuck it all

 

[ElTorro]

People prefer to stick their heads in the sand and pretend to care every third to fourth year when their favourite tech company has an accident down the line where a few children died. Then They go back to ignoring all this until they feel the need to pretend to care again.

Refugees are the same. Pretend to care when you see them for a few minutes in the street then ignore everything again.

It's really weird how little you read in the media about such things. Generally speaking, the way we prioritize our attentions is bizarre. Nobody really seems to pay much attention to politically uncontroversial articles like this. Everybody, from the Left to the Right, would probably agree that this is an unacceptable situation and that we have to do something about it, no matter whether one thinks that refugees should be accepted by European nations or send back to their nations of origin. But this lack of political controversy also seems to be the reason why issues like this are not really addressed by the media.e

I would not have known about this had I not subscribed to Amnesty International's channels.

So sad to read what the refugees have to go throw to find sanctuary. Why the hell are we making them cross thousands of miles without basic safety?

I am not sure if this is a consequence of a lack of adequate settlements near the borders of places like Syria and Iraq, or if it's a consequence of the fact that many refugees only see long-term hope in countries like Germany. After all, living in settlements for many years is not an attractive prospect, even if those settlements are safe and provide for all basic needs. People want a real future for themselves and their families, especially when it comes to jobs. That's why they are taking the risk.

I guess the best way to handle the situation would be to control and stop the stream of refugees at the borders while providing settlements with adequate security; if need be, by deploying the military. Much of the inefficiency here can probably traced back to the fact that Europe is failing to reach a unified agreement on how to deal with the problem and how to distribute costs and refugees among its member states.