Médecins Sans Frontières - Sub-Saharan Migrants Stolen Lives - ANIMATION

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB126928

Date taken / Date Recorded 07/06/2022 12:00 AM

Country Niger

Commissioning section MSF-SPAIN

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

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Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 5m58s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 15.92 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist SCRIPT

Sub-Saharan Migrants:
Stolen Lives

Since 2016, violent clashes between government forces and Anglophone separatists in Cameroon have forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

Following attacks in their neighbourhood, a young Cameroonian couple saw all their belongings go up in smoke.
In February 2020, they decided to try and make it to Europe.
They would have to pass through Nigeria, Niger and Morocco, before reaching the border with Algeria.

THEY CHOSE TO SHARE THEIR STORY WITH MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES.

In Cameroon we lived in the Anglophone zone. Before the crisis there began, we were doing well, we made a good living. My wife was a hairdresser and I worked in construction.

We lost everything. We were devastated by the crisis, by the war.

The moment when the crisis began, that was when my husband started his career in the building trade.

But then they burnt almost everything. They even burnt the shops and my hairdressing salon.

We decided to take the road from the Anglophone region and cross the border into Nigeria, heading for Kano.

We went to the Algeria-Morocco border.

We even managed to cross, but they caught on the other side of the border.

That's where it started. We arrived and they told us: "take off your clothes".

When they take you, they lead you to the toilet. Whoever takes you, the others will abuse you too – they share you. That's how they do it.

The rapes started when we were released for the return to Assamaka. There were seven women on the bus from Tamanrasset to Assamaka and when the bus stopped, they told all the women to get off.

I couldn't leave my wife.

I said "no, I can't leave my wife. I'm getting off the bus with her." Nobody could imagine what was going to happen. We got off and they had their weapons in hand. They took the women aside and I went with them. They cocked their guns and told the women to undress.

I wanted to be strong – I wanted to protect my wife.

They put a gun to my head so that if I tried to scream, they would shoot me. I said, "God! What will happen now?"

That's when they started abusing the women.
My wife was raped; as a result she became pregnant.
It's hard for me to tell this story...

That's how they began to rape us, there were seven of us.

When they raped us, there was one woman who just couldn't bear it. We thought she fainted from the shock.

We saw the soldiers giving her little kicks, "get up, get up, get up, get up", but she didn't get up. She never got up again.

After that, they threw us into the Assamaka desert. We crossed the whole desert on foot.

I couldn't walk properly because the man had been so violent with me.

Sometimes, when I close my eyes and think about it, I even jump. I start to scream.

This journey... it's not easy. There are so many risks.

They treat you like an animal. They expose you to everything. Especially the Algerians there, the Algerians are mean, very mean. They have no mercy.

They put their hands on you, inside you; as if to show you that you have no value.

But what really hurts me is thinking of the sister we lost there.

It's better to be alive, despite everything.

I suffered, I suffered. I spent almost a year trying to forget the trauma. You see, when I go to bed, I always see the same image in front of me.

I cry out in the middle of the night.

When I left Cameroon, I weighed around 75 kilos. But when I went to the hospital after all that happened, I was just 47 kilos.

Nothing is as bad as the trauma. When they take you, your dignity is ripped away without consent! They rape you as if you were just an object. Then they ask another man if he wants a turn. I couldn't even talk about it before.

My wife was raped in front of me and to this day I am traumatised by it.

When I tell this story, I'm not in my right mind.

For me it felt almost like I was dreaming; like I was going to wake up and someone would tell me "no, no that wasn't real, it was just a dream". But it was reality and I lived it.

Extract from the Valletta Political Declaration, 2015
“We, the participants to the Valletta Summit on Migration reiterate our firm commitment to respect international obligations and human rights.
Respect for the dignity of refugees and migrants and protection of their human rights, regardless of their status, will remain our priority at all times. We recall our common commitment to fight all
forms of discrimination, racism and xenophobia.”

The inhuman and degrading treatment of people who are migrating damages their mental health.
Since August 2018, MSF has been providing emergency medical and humanitarian assistance to men, women, and children in the Agadez region.

Sub-Saharan Migrants Stolen Lives - ANIMATION - EN

Sub-Saharan Migrants Stolen Lives - ANIMATION - EN