Migrants share horror stories of rape instead of a new life in Europe

Held in a Libyan detention centre and raped by one of the guards at the tender age of 17 is the horrid tale that Joy shares of her dreams of going to Europe.

Joy is one of more than 14,000 Nigerians who agreed to return to Nigeria after experiencing horrors in Libya.

Faith has a rather similar story, getting pregnant after being sold into sexual slavery by human traffickers in Libya.

Joy is one of more than 14,000 Nigerians who agreed to return to Nigeria after experiencing horrors in Libya.

Both women, with a third of the the other women returnees carry with them their children born out of rape. A reminder of their torment in the war ravaged north African nation but also a light that guided them back home.

“When they come with children that are not wanted. Especially children that have been brought back being raped. Their identity is not there. It’s a lot of trauma for the mothers. We have cases where the mothers are very aggressive to these children,” said Jennifer Ero, National Coordinator of the Child Protection Network.

Reintegration and protection centres have been put in place to give the young single mothers financial and psychological assistance.

Libya still holds a majority of migrants that are too scared to return to their families with the extra mouth to feed. The United Nations estimates that about 60,000 Nigerian migrants are still in Libya.