Boy tortured in Libya camp, reunited with mother after Ombudsman’s intervention

Close collaboration between the Parliamentary Ombudsman in Malta and the Spanish El Defensor del Pueblo have speeded up the reunification of an 11-year-old unaccompanied minor from Cameroon, with his mother

Migrants in a Libya camp (Photo: Euractiv)
Migrants in a Libya camp (Photo: Euractiv)

Close collaboration between the Parliamentary Ombudsman in Malta and the Spanish El Defensor del Pueblo have speeded up the reunification of an 11-year-old unaccompanied minor from Cameroon, with his mother, in a case which casts a light on the torture and abuse of migrants held in detention in Libya.

The case surfaced after the Spanish Ombudsman was informed by NGOs working with migrants that a boy rescued and transferred to Malta was claiming to be the son of a woman seeking asylum in Spain, who together with her other two daughters, had been rescued at sea.

The minor had expressed the wish to be reunited with his mother and two sisters who were currently residing in a Spanish reception centre.

The Spanish ombudsman sought the assistance of the Maltese ombudsman to facilitate and speed up the reunion. The Maltese ombudsman’s case notes for 2019 describes this particular case as “a tale of pain, suffering and torture.”

Information compiled by NGOs and their lawyers revealed that upon their arrival in Libya, the family was apprehended by an armed group that took them to a prison-like facility, where they were held against their will for months, suffering torture and extortion.

The family had been ‘sold’ upon their arrival and kept in an overcrowded house without any windows. The boy witnessed torture on a daily basis and saw men and women being bought for work like “cattle”.

While the son had managed to escape after jumping over a fence in an escape attempt, his mother and sisters were apprehended by the guards, who took them back to prison and tortured them for attempting to escape. But eventually both the son and the mother had managed to flee Libya and reach Europe separately.

The minor eventually embarked to Europe and was rescued at sea and transferred to Malta, while the mother and sisters were rescued and transferred to Spain.

The UNHCR had met up with the mother, who had repeatedly expressed her will to be reunited with her son upon her arrival at the Centre.

DNA samples were essential to reunite the family because the mother had lost her son’s birth certificate when they crossed Cameroon’s border.

Given the difficulties to have the document reissued, she had expressed her willingness to run DNA tests in order to prove her biological maternity.

After the boy was contacted, the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers launched a reunification request as laid down in the Dublin Regulation, while the Spanish authorities initiated one on behalf of the mother. However, this reunification process is usually lengthy as it involves DNA testing to eliminate the possibility of human trafficking.

Upon receipt of the request from the Spanish ombudsman, the Maltese ombudsman contacted officials of UNHCR Malta to obtain further information and try to facilitate the procedures to finalise the DNA tests on the minor to ensure the biological connection.

It was established that the DNA sample had been taken but was still in Malta awaiting authorisation from the appropriate authorities to be sent to Spain. The Ombudsman took the matter up with the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry for Home Affairs and the Chief Executive Office of AWAS. The authorities confirmed that the process had been initiated and that they were cooperating to facilitate reunification pending the DNA result. Thanks to the ombudsman’s intervention the case was speeded in view of the minor’s vulnerability.

The minor’s DNA was found to be compatible and by mid-July 2019 he was accompanied by an AWAS social worker to Spain where he was finally reunited with the mother and his sisters.

Both the boy and his mother had applied for asylum and were being offered psycho-social support in connection to offset the trauma they suffered while in Libya.