{"id":5120,"date":"2015-11-21T19:09:14","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T19:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=5120"},"modified":"2015-11-21T19:10:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-21T19:10:09","slug":"desperate-eritrean-child-escapees-are-committing-suicide-in-ethiopia-by-sally-hayden-november-20-2015-1002-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/11\/21\/desperate-eritrean-child-escapees-are-committing-suicide-in-ethiopia-by-sally-hayden-november-20-2015-1002-am\/","title":{"rendered":"Desperate Eritrean Child Escapees Are Committing Suicide in Ethiopia \u00a0 By Sally Hayden November 20, 2015 | 10:02 am"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VICE News is closely watching the international migrant crisis.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Eritrea \u2014 nicknamed the “North Korea of Africa” \u2014 is currently experiencing an exodus of children.<\/p>\n

After Syrians, its citizens\u00a0were the second most common nationality attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe this summer. That voyage is only one hurdle\u00a0on the\u00a0long and treacherous journey out of the tiny Horn of Africa\u00a0nation, which is\u00a0estimated<\/a> to have lost nearly 10 percent of its population \u2014 400,000 people \u2014\u00a0in recent years, as they risk death\u00a0to escape its repressive dictatorship.<\/p>\n

A large proportion of these people are minors, often unaccompanied, who are fleeing compulsory and indefinite military service.<\/p>\n

What happens to those who don’t make it\u00a0across the Sahara,\u00a0to Libya, and on into Europe?\u00a0VICE News has discovered that between June and August this year\u00a0at least\u00a0four unaccompanied Eritrean minors in refugee camps in neighboring\u00a0Ethiopia attempted to kill themselves, while a fifth succeeded.<\/p>\n

Job Onyango, a counselor for the Center for Victims of Torture \u2014 who work in several\u00a0camps in northern Ethiopia, close to the Eritrean border\u00a0\u2014\u00a0told VICE News the spike in suicide attempts came during the summer\u00a0when the seas were calm and migration to Europe reached a peak. “Most of these young people had expectations of migrating [further on],” he said. “And so they are not being able to go, and that’s one of the reasons that is causing them to feel desperate and take these measures.”<\/p>\n

It is common for families to save up and pay for one child to make the journey to Europe, Onyango said. Those left behind can feel devastated and become\u00a0desperate.<\/p>\n

Eritrean refugees are currently\u00a0arriving\u00a0into the\u00a0camps in northern Ethiopia at an average of 200 each day, according to Onyango.\u00a0“Almost half of them are minors,” he said. “The majority are under 35 \u2014 minors and young men and women, and even the adults coming in are coming with two or three children.”<\/p>\n

Medhanye Alem, an\u00a0Ethiopian counselor and\u00a0focal person for child protection issues in the Mai Aini refugee camp, south of Shire, a town in northern Ethiopia,\u00a0told VICE News that challenges for Eritrean\u00a0minors include not getting enough food or other basics like soap. “The ones who stay in the camp for three or four years get depressed and attempt suicide,” he said.\u00a0“And there is also peer pressure, especially the ones who are living under group care.” In Alem’s experience, many young Eritreans discriminate among each other based on ethnicity. Eritreans from the south are particularly vulnerable, according to Alem, because they’re believed to be “evil-eyed.”<\/p>\n

“Those children usually attempt suicide,” he said.<\/p>\n

Eritrea has compulsory military service, meaning many young people flee the country before they have to enlist. Those who stay\u00a0are paid low wages and often\u00a0enlisted indefinitely. Some are thought to be sent to conflicts\u00a0abroad \u2014 Eritrean troops are believed to be currently fighting<\/a> with UAE troops in Yemen.<\/p>\n

Refugees\u00a0who survive the border-crossing \u2014 where a “shoot-to-kill policy is enforced \u2014 arrive in Ethiopia owing money to smugglers or saddled with the knowledge that their escape has put their families’ lives at risk and swaddled them in debt. “In most cases the ones who are close to Ethiopia, they cross by their own but the ones who are far they pay the smugglers 5000 nakfa ($298) per child. Most of them cannot afford that,” Alem said.<\/p>\n

Alem has worked with young people who were caught the first time they tried to escape Eritrea and sent to prison, or\u00a0have been victims of\u00a0rape and other attacks along the border.<\/p>\n

“Among the recent group of young people we had were those who had been captured at the border and were taken into prison and tortured in prison and these are minors under the age of 18,” Onyango said. Their condition was “very symptomatic with trauma and similar to other marks that we have seen in other escapees.”<\/p>\n

Onyango agreed young people \u2014 including those in refugee camps \u2014\u00a0tend to be very concerned about their future. “The Ethiopian government gives them access to education to the highest level \u2014 primary, secondary, and university,” he said, though admitted that life was still a struggle.<\/p>\n

“Our main role is just to teach them to cope with life in the camp. Control emotions, deal with conflicts, and have realistic goals for the future.”<\/p>\n

Onyango said the camp’s\u00a0services had responded quickly to the crisis by offering emergency help and training for those working directly with children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      VICE News is closely watching the international migrant crisis.\u00a0 Eritrea \u2014 nicknamed the “North Korea of Africa” \u2014 is currently experiencing an exodus of children. After Syrians, its citizens\u00a0were the second most common nationality attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe this summer. That voyage is only one hurdle\u00a0on the\u00a0long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDesperate Eritrean Child Escapees Are Committing Suicide in Ethiopia \u00a0 By Sally Hayden November 20, 2015 | 10:02 am - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Desperate Eritrean Child Escapees Are Committing Suicide in Ethiopia \u00a0 By Sally Hayden November 20, 2015 | 10:02 am - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"      VICE News is closely watching the international migrant crisis.\u00a0 Eritrea \u2014 nicknamed the “North Korea of Africa” \u2014 is currently experiencing an exodus of children. 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