By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Network of Ex-asylum Seekers (NAES), in partnership with the Network Movement for Justice and Development, a rights-based non-governmental organization, have called for government action on Sierra Leoneans living in Lebanon.
Yusuf S. Mansaray, Technical Assistant for the NAES, told Politico that over 300 Sierra Leoneans, 90% of whom are women, have been staying and working in the Middle Eastern country under extremely unfavorable conditions. He said the situation of these Sierra Leoneans got worsened after the recent deadly blast that occurred in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, which has left many people jobless and homeless.
“We are calling for action for our Sierra Leonean compatriots stranded in Lebanon. We want to ask the government that since the President (Julius Maada Bio) is there now, he can use his visit as an opportunity to engage with the Lebanese government to see how they can bring our sisters back home, because the women are about 95% out of 300 and more people,” Mansaray said.
“We don’t know what the President went for in Lebanon, but we want him to use part of his time, even if it’s 10 or 15 minutes, to meet with those people and give them some words of courage and inspiration. That will be very fine of him; it will make the people become hopeful. But as it is now, nobody seem to care for them save for one group in Lebanon; Anti-Racism Group, which has been giving them some supports,” Mansaray added.
The activist therefore called on the group to continue their support as they work towards drawing the attention of the two governments – Lebanese and Sierra Leone - to the plight of the stranded Sierra Leoneans.
The NAES Technical Assistant explained that they partnered with NMJD as a rights based organization because the latter has more strength and broader platform, which is important to attain their goal of amplifying the voices of their stranded Sierra Leonean colleagues.
Speaking to Politico in an interview, Abdulai Daramy, National Coordinator of NAES, told Politico that as an institution, they are completely against deportation, noting that the effects or trauma associated to being deported cannot be underestimated as many people have died due to frustrations, whiles some have gone mad because of losing all what they had worked for.
He went on to note that on the 26th of August, a group of eight Sierra Leoneans were deported from the United States with nothing and nowhere to start from.
Daramy noted that if at all people should be brought back to their countries due to whatever reasons, they should be brought in dignity.
“We have buried most of them. So our advocacy is for government institutions dealing with migration and other development partners to support deportees. They are suffering, when you go to the psychiatric homes, you meet deportees there,” he said.
He went on: “We are against deportation because what myself went through, I don’t want anybody to go through it. But if they should come, we want them to be brought in dignity. Let there be a criteria for the man to pack back home because some have their families there and when they arrive in this country, they are like mad dogs with nothing and nobody to talk to them, even their family members stigmatize them,” he said.
Daramy called on the government and other institutions in place to have some structures in place to address the affairs of deportees, so that they are made to fit again into the society.
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