The turn of a shock action to support little Mariama. Many passers-by were intrigued this Monday, June 13 around 6 p.m. in front of Gare Viotte in Besançon. The Solmiré migrant aid association and the Extinction Rebellion collective have mobilized to question the situation of a family from Sierra Leone. For nearly twenty minutes, about fifteen women dressed all in white symbolically received red paint between their legs, near the entrance to the station. The idea being to to denounce the threats of excision and therefore of sexual mutilation which weighs on the little girl of four years, in the event of expulsion.
An unthinkable return to Sierra Leone
Mariama’s mother Juliana spoke for a few minutes during the action. The latter was a victim at the age of 18, before taking refuge in Europe. Today, she still suffers from gynecological pain. This prevents him from having a normal sexuality. “I don’t want my daughter to go through the same thing because it was very painful. It was not good. I bled a lot afterwards, she explains with tears in her eyes to the loudspeaker. I was forced to do this. It’s not what I wanted.”
Several dozen people responded to the forecourt. There were messages on the signs like “Enough hypocrisy. Mariama’s place is in school, not on the excision plane.”
– Raphael Aubry
The supporters of the family are appealing today to the Prefect of Doubs. They denounce the inaction of the public authorities to help him. The latter arrived in France in the fall of 2021, after several years in Germany and a categorical refusal of her asylum application file by the authorities of the country. However, nothing has changed since, despite the mobilization of the Solmiré association. The Prefecture believes that it is up to Germany to welcome the familydue to the laws and the Dublin Procedure in force.
New actions planned
When we fight to defend this kind of situation with the Prefecture, we talk about files, asylum applications, things that may seem unreal. But there the real reality of things. A little girl who is threatened with an extremely violent act in her home country – Lucie, volunteer of the Solmiré association.
– Raphael Aubry
The Solmiré association and the Extinction Rebellion collective do not exclude new actions in the coming days, if nothing moves on the side of the authorities.