When she came to Spain on a journey that can last years, she stayed with her daughter in a room with 30 other people in Tangier and “one day at night the men abused all the women in the house and then fled because they thought they were We were going to report. “We were all raped, even my daughter,” says a 43-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast. It is one of the testimonies collected in the study 'Invisibilized. Migrant women crossing borders'. This violence is confirmed by the professionals of the Mujeres en Marcha program who work with them during their migratory route: “A mother had to tell her girl that if they raped her not to move, because if she did it would hurt more,” maintains a person in charge of the NGOs collaborating in the investigation. “They have to talk about these issues with their daughters clearly, and as far as possible try to protect them and keep them in mind what can happen.”
Throughout the world there are two major migratory routes, the one that goes from Central America to the United States and the one that crosses Africa to Spain. Half of those who cross these borders are women who undertake the journey independently. According to the study presented this Monday by Entreculturas, based on the statements of women and girls from twelve countries, they are subjected to physical, sexual, psychological, economic and institutional violence, whether directly (with a defined perpetrator), structural (due to inequality of opportunities) or cultural (legitimizing violence).
«I didn't know the route was so hard. I was lucky to have the support of my family, but those who do not have it must dedicate themselves to prostitution. There are many pregnant women on the route because there are no condoms. I have suffered physical violence and robberies. I remember one day that I could have died, but they let me leave because I started screaming,” says one of the interviewees in Tangier and Nador. The testimonies collected since 2020 belong to women who mainly came from Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea Conakry and Cameroon.
«I took the land route. I left Cameroon for Nigeria. We pay a 'passer'. This lasted a month. In Nigeria the group broke up. “Each one had to continue alone,” continues the 39-year-old woman. «I stayed in Algeria for five months. But it is very violent and the police are very annoying. They raided me and deported me to Niger. My family left me money and I tried again. I finally arrived in Morocco. “In the desert, we had to bury a dead person in the sand.”
Almost 200 people have died in the Sahara this year, according to data from the Missing Migrants Project, which indicates the causes: extreme heat, lack of shelter, dehydration, hunger, diseases aggravated by lack of attention, accidents, vehicle breakdowns, asphyxiation and violence carried out by trafficking networks or authorities.
After crossing the desert, in Moroccan cities they are exposed to working conditions described as “semi-slavery.” Among the stories is that of a 30-year-old woman with two children that she had left in the Ivory Coast. She says that she had “her passport blocked until she returned all the money to him (to whom she provided an advance). The nine months of work were difficult. She had to fulfill the contract. She got sick and she (the employer) told me that she had to leave.
Some 40,000 people arrive irregularly to the peninsula or the Canary Islands, from Morocco, the authors of the study estimate, where there is “systemic racism and xenophobia.” Raids without respect for human rights, theft of cell phones, money, documents, sexual violence, deportations to the desert itself or the burning of belongings make up a daily “brutality” that leads the sub-Saharan population to live in hiding.
Discrimination there and here
A quarter of migrants flee situations of sexist violence in their place of origin. They experienced attacks and continued to suffer them during the journey. Danger is also produced by nature. Last year 2,390 people disappeared on the maritime routes of the Strait, Alborán, Algeria and the Canary Islands; and on the land routes of Ceuta and Melilla, indicates the NGO Caminando Fronteras. In the first half of this year, another 951 deaths were added.
A new trend, “cheaper” than the route to Spain, makes people move to the east of Morocco, to try to cross to Algeria and then to Tunisia to jump to Italy. And the “extremely dangerous” Atlantic route is still active, from the western Moroccan coast, Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands. “On the migratory routes of West Africa, women who travel them by land are more likely to face some type of violence,” the report says.
Like the woman raped along with her daughter and other companions, they “must put their bodies in order to continue the route.” They suffer “road pregnancies” and sexual violence from the men who transport, guide or accompany them on the route. The experience generates an “impact on mental health generated by the fact of migrating and attacks against one's own body.”
Upon arriving in Spain the violence does not stop. “The racism and structural machismo that permeate Spanish and European society” condemns them to “dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs”, such as prostitution, hospitality or the domestic sector “in precarious and exploitative conditions that they are forced to accept.” for being the only source of income to support themselves and their families,” the study analyzes.
Now, “it is not the same to be a person who lives in Spain under the international protection system or in a regular or irregular administrative situation,” the authors of the document continue. “It is not the same to be a black or Latina woman, since skin color or language, among others, have a huge influence.” In any case, the stones on the road do not end once they arrive.
#raped #daughter