Running from abuse: the migrant women trying to enter France
- Rising numbers of women are crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe, and have often suffered trauma, including rape, genital mutilation or forced marriage
- Many live rough near the border, hoping to make it to where people speak the same language as their native countries, such as Guinea, Mali and Ivory Coast
Women may still be a minority among migrants crossing the Mediterranean for Europe, but their number is rising and so is their need for special attention after what are often traumatic experiences, associations say.
“If you cross the Mediterranean, it’s because you had a problem back home,” said a 20-year old woman from Ivory Coast who asked not to be identified.
“That could be a rape, genital mutilation or a forced marriage, enough reason to leave your country,” she said.
The young woman had just returned to the Italian border city of Ventimiglia, having been stopped trying to cross into France and put on a coach back.
A few hours later, she made her way to a mobile clinic deployed by aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), which helps treat the hundreds of stranded migrants.
Many live under bridges hoping, some day, to make it across the border to where people speak the same language as back in their native countries which include Guinea, Mali and Ivory Coast.