This book is dedicated to 3-year old Lamek, whose mother died in a Sinai torture house, and to 1-year old Ra’ee, who was born in a Sinai torture house, and to all who perished in the Sinai, or at Lampedusa or somewhere else along the route. May there always be hope.

 

RIP angel

by Selam Kidane, 6 October 2013

I wonder what she called you, little one?

Your precious Mama…

Maybe she called you Berhan? … my light

Or did she call you Haben? … my pride

She may have called you Qisanet… after rest she yearned

Or were you Awet? … Victory …

Tell me little one did she name you after her hope?

Or her aspirations … her dream?

Did she call you Amen as end to her prayers?

Did she name you after the saints your Grandma prayed to?

or were you named afther the brother she lost in prison?

Maybe after her father long gone?

Did she name you … Sina … after the desert she crossed?

Or Eritrea … the land she reluctantly left…?

Perhaps she named you for the land you were to inherit?

Tell me little one what did you precious Mama call you?

… For I can’t bear you being called number 92…

Available at: http://www.asmarino.com/writers-corner/1873-rip-angel#addcomments

 

Requiem

by Tekle M. Woldemikael, November 2013

…We will dice and slice the causes of this tragedy endlessly. Let us not go there yet. Not yet, it is too early. It is not even the past. I do not want to go there yet and I want you to stay with them, stay with these young people for a moment, and feel their fears and the horror of their last minutes on this earth. Do not dismiss them as dead yet for in my mind, in our collective mind, they still are here in the waters, they are here, drowning, drowning, drowning; gasping, gasping for air; swallowing, swallowing the salt water; gripping, gripping for something solid for anything that can give them safety, life.

 

About the authors

Meron Estefanos

Based in Sweden, Meron Estefanos is a human rights activist, journalist and radio presenter for Radio Erena (www.erena.org). She is also co-founder of the International Commission on Eritrean Refugees in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011, Ms Estefanos received the Dawit Isaac Award. She is co-author of the book Human trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between life and death (Wolf Legal Publishers, 2012).

meron.estefanos@gmail.com

Mirjam van Reisen

Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen is Professor of International Social Responsibility at Tilburg University, Endowed Chair in honour of Marga Klompé (Tilburg School of Humanities). Mirjam van Reisen is the founding director of Europe External Policy Advisors (EEPA), a research centre of expertise on European Union external policy based in Brussels. She is a member of the Dutch Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV) and Chair of the Commission Development Cooperation (COS). In 2012, she was awarded the Golden Image Award by Liberian President HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for her support to women in peace building. Mirjam van Reisen has authored several books including Window of Opportunity: EU development cooperation after the end of the Cold War (Africa World Press, 2009), EU ‘Global Player’ (International Books, 1999), and De verbeelding van Marga Klompé (Klement, 2012). She is co-author of Human trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between life and death (Wolf Legal Publishers, 2012).

M.vanReisen@uvt.nl

Conny Rijken

Dr Conny Rijken is Associate Professor of European and International Law at the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (Intervict) Tilburg University, the Netherlands. She undertook her PhD on the prosecution of those involved in trafficking in persons from a European perspective and has conducted numerous research projects and published extensively in this field. In addition, she is specialised in European criminal law and human rights law. She is coauthor of Human trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between life and death (Wolf Legal Publishers, 2012).

c.r.j.j.rijken@uvt.nl

Link: http://www.eepa.be/wcm/dmdocuments/Small_HumanTrafficking-Sinai2-web-3.pdf