DW: Stunning Stories of Women Living in Moria – Walking on Earth



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They are exhausted in Lesbos and face daily violence, endless asylum procedures and inhuman living conditions.

Refugee women from Moria spoke to Deutsche Welle about what they are facing. Some of them took a false name, fearing not to get asylum.

Moria, hell on earth

Amal is only 20 years old. She managed to escape with her family from the civil war in Yemen. After a dangerous trip to the Aegean, he arrived in Lesbos. She thought that she would regain the freedom and peace that she was looking for in her country.

Instead, they went to Moria, an open prison where it is the largest refugee facility in Greece. Or hell on earth, as he calls it.

Fear – the danger is everywhere

The conditions are indescribable for everyone, but especially for refugee women. Violence has become daily. People are fighting for processes that are self-evident. Like food. To get his share, he has to wait for hours in the queue.

Moria is an open prison or hell on earth, as reported by refugee women / Photo: AP

The recent Amnesty International report on women and girls in Moria explains how women's lives are a threat to their lives in a place of shelter more than twice the normal number of refugees. Amal tells images of violence that she saw from her eyes, men hitting women until they get angry. The incident occurred in front of the police who ignored it.

"The situation of women in Moria is unfair," he said. The danger is everywhere, even in the rest areas. Men are not allowed to enter, but they are still there. One of his friends was harbaded by an old man. But she managed to get away with the worst in front of her.

Rumors that anyone who speaks negatively about Moria does not take refuge

"As a feminist, I learned that I should not fear anyone, but I'm afraid I can not leave this place."

Fear is a characteristic common to all women in Moria, as she told DW. She did not want to speak with her name. There are rumors that anyone who speaks negatively about Moria can not take refuge.

"Being a feminist and a refugee is very difficult," she says. "We have so much to say when we have an asylum interview, but we have to be quiet because we want to get out of here."

Race in Moria

Sommae, originally from Afghanistan, is trying to say something positive about Moria. He is grateful to PIKA, a self-managed refugee organization for vulnerable refugees. As he describes it, life in Moria is very difficult not only because of unhealthy living conditions, but also because of long food queues and the constant incidence of violence.

She talks about her life in Afghanistan and her husband's pressure to stop attending university when she gets married. "Afghanistan is a country where men have power, here we can not fight for women's rights, why should I come across a man?" Here we fight for our lives, "he says.

Fear is a common trait among Moria women / Photo:

Sommey was a human rights defender in Afghanistan, not easy at all for a strict patriarchal society. She thinks that women do not have the same opportunities and even fewer refugees. "Europe has to inform refugee women, know their rights, it will build confidence, but it is necessary to give security," he said in DW.

At the bottom of a lake in Iran

Koumy Nido is a known activist and, since August 2018, Secretary General of Amnesty International. She was surprised at the difficulties faced by women and stressed the need to pay more attention to their particular situation.

"Women are more vulnerable to the reality of badual violence," he said. "On the other hand, his resistance to all this, just to survive and keep a smile on his lips, requires a high level of emotional and spiritual strength."

Amal is such a case. "My life is at the bottom of a lake in Iran, where I lost my papers," he says. But that did not stop. When he fled to Greece, he wanted to return to Moria to help refugee women find the strength to fight against inequality. As he did in the past.

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